This is How it Ends interview

By Aoife Barry on Tuesday, 30 June 2009One Comment | Print this post

Influence-wise, Austin says that My Bloody Valentine would have a big hold over his bandmates, while it’s another Irish band that provide him with inspiration. “I really love Whipping Boy’s ‘Heartworm’ – I think that’s one of the most underrated or under-bought albums of the last 15 years. I like the way when people talk about their top Irish albums it’s always ‘Astral Weeks’ or ‘The Joshua Tree’ that gets in there, but it’s ‘Heartworm’ that’s such an amazing album,” he enthuses. However, some of his musical choices don’t always meet the approval of his band members. “At the moment the lads hate me for it because I’m playing it non-stop in the car – Gemma Hayes’ new EP,” he laughs.

One thing that’s very important to TIHIE – as with any band worth their salt – is ensuring that their live shows sound damn good. Some of their favourite gigs they’ve played were at some of the most popular venues in Dublin, including Whelans and the Village. “We’ve had really good gigs in there, whether they got the sound right off-stage or on-stage. We’ve recorded with some of the guys from the Village and Whelans out in their studio in Grand Canal in Inchicore, so they’ve pretty much been some of our best gigs,” explains Austin. “With the stuff we’re playing you have to be confident in the sound you’re getting on-stage and off-stage to really be confident in your playing. With those venues we’ve always been really happy with the sound, and when you’re happy with the sound you’re that bit more confident and more assured so we can be sure the people are hearing the songs the way we’d like them to hear the songs. If we’re confident in what the sound is like outside there then we’ll play a good set and have a good gig. Hopefully the people listening will have a good gig and enjoy what they hear and the sound engineers won’t hate us with a passion at the end of it!”

When it came to recording the EP, a similar element of gentle perfectionism was brought in. “We’ve all been through different bands, we’ve all been through the recording process before. We were happy to put the time into it so everybody would be happy. That’s how the songwriting process works for us, everyone is happy or relatively happy,” describes the bassist. “So it was the same when we were going in recording and mixing, getting the sounds and everything. At times it would have been nicer to have it in our hands a month earlier – but I’d rather have it a month later and have the artwork down, and have it sounding good, the recording and mixing good, and even those last minute changes in the studio for us writing and playing. I’m much happier it coming out on 2 July and something I’m happy with, rather than something coming out in March that I’m a bit cringeworthy about and apologetic for.”

The fact that this is of course the band’s debut release meant that the pressure was on to create something that showcased their sound to their satisfaction. “It’s the first time a lot of people are getting the chance to hear us [so] we didn’t want to give the wrong impression or under-impression initially,” outlines Austin. “It’s literally a case of putting our best foot forward – not just for the sake of making impressions on people, but we put a lot of time and effort into making these songs, and it would be a disservice to ourselves if we actually didn’t put as much work and effort into recording them as we did writing them.”

So what’s the plan for TIHIE in the coming months? “The plan is we’ve been writing some more stuff and hope to go into the studio in late July early August. We’re going to go to a house down the country and write more songs, just lock ourselves away for the weekend and just pretty much dedicate ourselves to music for four or five days and get some tunes written,” says Austin, adding that the band are also putting the feelers out to set up some gigs around the country. “So there will be a lot more homecoming gigs played by This is How it Ends, fingers crossed!”

With the forthcoming EP finished, work has already begun on its follow up. “We’re really excited to get out there and get this music out there. But we’re probably more excited about our new stuff we working on as well,” says Austin. “These three songs on the EP we’re really happy with, and we’re really happy with how they’ve turned out. But we’re actually more excited about the new stuff we’re writing. ..there’s another three or four songs now that we’re working on that we think have taken a giant leap forward and given a more rounded impression of the band.”

Have they any other hopes for 2009? “There’s talks about doing a proper single,” says Austin tentatively, before adding: “Obviously it’d be about ten minutes long so it won’t be a number one hit!” He laughs, and with that he’s off – no doubt for a listen of that Gemma Hayes EP before hitting band practice to knock out another epic with his bandmates.

Photo by Toni Ireton.