How has the year been since ‘Family’ was released for the guys of The Cast of Cheers?
“Well it’s been up and down to be honest, mostly down actually” they joke as they decide this is the worst way to start off an interview.
“A rollercoaster ride really, I mean we’ve been all over the world, we’ve been touring Europe and we’ve managed to get as far away as Australia which, I mean, is as far away as you can get unless you go into space, which we might one day… but it’s been pretty gruelling as well because its not like we have loads of big fancy tour buses or anything” Neil tells us.
Not ones to spare any expense until they have to though.
“We had one for the first tour, and we were all like ‘CHECK IT OUT’ and then we realised we can’t tour like this when we lost all our money” Conor butts in.
Currently vanless and home for the time being, with some members starting a family, The Cast of Cheers look set to have a mostly quiet summer with fewer festivals than usual lined up as they gear up to get back into the studio.
“The priority is new music and it just takes so long to do it, with the stage we’re at now, the songs are there but its got a long way to go. ‘Family’ was out nearly a year ago and the songs were recorded a year before that. With them being written another year before that, ‘Family’ almost feels like it was made in the 70’s. It sounds like it was made in the 70’s too, so the new album is just way more exciting for us.”
The foursome even debuted two new tracks at the Jameson Live show on St. Patricks Day, to great response from the audience. with many people finding their dancing feet to ‘Half-Century’ and ‘Chameleon’, with the former taking on the form of something that bit heavier than what we’re used to from the Swords foursome, ‘Chameleon’ took us back to a sound very reminiscent of the guys first record.
When asked about what we could expect from the new album, the guys only tangible response came out as this, after suggesting Conor was one to lock the guys up in a room and kick them into recording;
“All the songs kind of grew moustaches, it started out that they were all weird, creepy songs from under the ground, in a cave, that sounded weird, then I think we scrapped most of them. Then they all became like The Police-ish and then we started using distortion pedals and The Police songs grew moustaches and grew all tough kicking in doors and everything.”
With so much rigmarole when it comes to releasing an album through a label, the band can’t be sure when everyone else will get to hear these weird, creepy songs with moustaches, as, “album tends to get made, and then it gets put out six months later, so when this one gets put out it will just be like ah, so boring again”. A far cry from their first release, Chariot, which saw them self release the album the day it was pretty much finished.
For a band looking to release their third studio album soon, with two Choice Prize nominations under their belt and numerous publications lauding them as one of the best bands of 2012, it’s a wonder to see the band are still so grounded in their music and are just in it to have as much fun as when they first started out, getting as excited about playing live as they do about the goodies they’re given before the show.