SOSB GoldenPlecWith the return of the Barn Dance almost upon us again, one of the must see acts, Sounds Of System Breakdown are in the midst of a flurry of activity between working on new songs and playing a bunch of festivals. Managing to find time amongst all this to speak to the media is even trickier but Sounds Of System Breakdown’s Richie Kelly took time to speak to GoldenPlec.

Richie was in an upbeat mood ahead of their live shows over the Easter weekend. Not only are they at the Barn Dance, but also taking part in Phase One (in Carrick-On-Shannon) and making a trip to Crane Lane in Cork. With part of the band (Rob Costello) based in London and Ed Costello and Richie in Dublin, it does make touring difficult. This year it seems to be falling into place in terms of festivals.

Richie admitted as much. “I’ll book three or four gigs for one weekend in Ireland while Rob will do the same for London the following weekend. So gig-wise we have to be smarter, we can’t just do a one-off gig randomly, it just doesn’t work out well that way. It does work out well how we are doing it.“

This is also affecting the songwriting process where Richie explained that they are “trying a process of this back and forth thing, a lot people kinda do it but we tended to shy away from it. At the moment, we do have a new single we are ready to drop and it’s been done back and forth. Rob will have an idea and flesh it out and send it to us and we’ll add a few bits and send it back to him. When we do get together for a weekend of gigs, we do get a good bit of rehearsal.”

News of new material is always welcome but rather than it being the forerunner of a new album, Richie said they “are going to try a few different one-off singles just to see how they are received” instead of putting all their eggs in one basket in terms of an album.

Richie further elaborated on their songwriting process. “Everything we’ve done is different in the way we approached it. The first album was mainly Rob on his own. When I joined the band with six months left in the recording process, the songs were almost done. I kinda came on board and had to fill in the blanks and contributed to three or four of the songs, but not a whole lot really.  The whole thing was we had to try and play the songs Rob had developed by himself.

“For the second album it completely changed, we went in as a band to various locations. As a live band we wrote the songs fully together and were able to play them as they were written which was completely different to the first album. At the moment because we are not in the same place, we have to adapt. A lot of the time, Rob would be the main spark for the songs. We’ll kind of see how we fit and what works and what doesn’t work. It’s really nice that we are developing stuff as a band.”

Does the music the band is listening to at the time of songwriting have any effect on how the songs turn out? “It does have an effect but only sometimes really. An awful lot of the times when we’re together what we’re doing is not based on what we are listening to. Some things I’m listening to wouldn’t translate into what we would or could do in our band. Then again some kind of music that would be of a similar vein to us, we wouldn’t want to try and emulate it as it would be obvious that you are trying something derivative.

Sounds Of System Breakdown’s last album ‘Nomad’ had enough beats to shake your ass to all year, but it also had some scathing lyrics such as those found on King of Reptiles. Richie explained that the process for the lyrics changed over time and “what we start to write might change over time as they were only fleshed out when current events were happening. In the middle of the songwriting process something might happen now and again. Rob doesn’t do a whole lot of throw away lyrics and likes to actually have something to say. He likes to develop a bit of a story about what he’s saying. It gives a lot more personality to a song. He likes to take time with his lyrics.

Now that the band’s process is much more collaborative, it begged the question: is there someone external to the band that they would like to work with, be that a producer or vocalist? “We probably would. It would be nice to have more people round, but there isn’t anyone in particular apart from maybe the obvious ones that everyone in a dance band now would kinda say.”

When put to Richie if Sounds Of System Breakdown could work with Mick Hucknall and still appear credible, it was met with a hearty laugh and a polite decline to that potential collaboration. “It’s difficult enough to get the three of us to do what we’re doing, so an extra person or two would be even harder. I think every band would like to have a nice world class producer who’ve looked after some big acts listening to your stuff, but we can all dream.

So what are the bands goals and aspirations? “If I could make a living from music I’d be very, very happy. You wouldn’t discount being signed to a major label as at the end of the day that’s how you get heard. They have the money to push you and to get you heard internationally. But the big thing is if we got a decent distribution deal for Europe. It’s about trying to widen your audience. If I knew we were being played on radio in Europe that would make me happy. There’s only a certain amount you can do in Ireland. It’s a great music scene and everything else but there’s only a certain amount who buy records.”

That leads onto the point of radio and the role it plays of trying to gain exposure. It’s still a fundamental part in helping to break bands. Richie definitely has noticed a difference in how Sounds Of System Breakdown are treated in the UK and Ireland. “There are a whole lot of radio pluggers [in the UK] who are paid to get stuff played on radio. There’s a whole shady area that radio stations are only playing stuff because they are being plugged by these pluggers. A lot of people have it in their heads that if you just send in your stuff and it’s good enough it’s gonna be played. But there is whole other grey area of stuff going on that you’re just not aware of. It’s very difficult for bands to actually get heard when you’re kinda competing with that and everything else.”

That contrasts with what Richie has experienced in Ireland. “From our point of view we do get played on Irish radio. Not that it’s easy either but we have been picked up by actual presenters. That helped us a lot. There’s a lot who would personally speak to us and be into what we’re doing. It’s a lot more of a personal thing, not a business thing. They’re not being approached by others telling them what to play. They like what we’re doing and wouldn’t have a problem telling you. You don’t mind sending new stuff before it’s released and they’ll pay back the favour and actually play your tracks.”

Speaking of the new single, Richie wasn’t at liberty to disclose much about it other than it’ll soon be ready for release. But for those heading to the upcoming festivals at Barn Dance and Phase One, Richie, did let it slip that it could get an outing in their set-list. It’s just another reason to catch Sounds Of System Breakdown over the Easter weekend.