Shrug Life are one of those bands who’s name can generate confusion, much like Elastic Sleep. Hands up how many called them Elastic Sheep? Oh that many…. In the creation of this article, Shrug Life kept being called Shrub Life until it had to be proof read. In hindsight that mistake was a great name for a garden centre but a shit name for a band.

The brain child of Danny Carroll, Shrug Life are about to drop their debut EP ‘The Grand Stetch’. In many ways it’s a typical Popical Island release, with guitars rougher than a Sunday morning hangover, spiked with sugary hooks and knowingly coy lyrics covering anything from working in Super Macs, Jeremy Kyle to Kevin Kilbane.

Songs about footballers are nothing new and Belfast band Wonder Villians wrote one about Gianfranco Zola. But it’s about time someone did one about Kilbane and the result is Long Ball Game. For Carroll it wasn’t a singular moment during Kilbane’s career that merited this particular devotion , it was more general in that “he encompasses a kind of ignorant, dogged determinedness. 

An ‘A’ for effort if nothing else.  Truly a deity of Irish averageness. I can’t build statues, so songs will have to do.”

You could argue that in the realms of Irish football the award for the deity of averageness would be a very crowded field with many other worthy recipients of such an accolade.  Other contenders like Richie Sadlier had an opera wrote about him. Step Forward Stephen Ireland  and Carroll admitted he’s album worthy material “Hair 2: The Stephen Ireland Story – I can’t divulge too much detail at this stage, but suffice to say it’s sung from the perspective of his abandoned hair piece.  

"Andy Reid will provide the comedic light relief.”

Carroll has tried to gain Kilbane’s attention “There’s been some tactical tweeting to no avail”. Wonder Villians even got Zola to appear in their video of the single ‘Zola’. Admittedly he didn’t do a whole lot in the video, but if you got a famous footballer it’ll at least boost the YouTube views.

"There are loads you could get Kilbane to do in any potential video, but Carroll would settle for something modest “I’d like to think he’d be the Mr. Miyagi to my “Daniel son”.  I guess I’d just wax his car or something…”

Carroll’s furtive mind draws inspiration from the mundane turning them into something gleaming, “For comedic and cathartic purposes, it’s good to go somewhere uncomfortable.  At least you’re mining something distinct.  I think avoiding repetition is my biggest concern.  To that end, if I haven’t written a song about it yet, I’m likely to try”. He references working in telesales during the song Chewing Gum Breakfast which begged the question if a Bachelor of Arts is the best degree for telesales and cold calling? “There’s a scene in Mad Men where ad executive Don gets a hallucinatory visit from his dead father, who was a farmer.  His father asks, “What do you grow all day? You grow bullshit!” 

"In short, yes.”

There is nothing bullshit about the lyrics of Shrug Life's songs. With such diversity and down right hilarious passages in the songs, you have to wonder what conditions or environment make for the most fertile breeding ground for these lyrics “Public transport is useful.  That little time penned between destinations.  I find I could scroll through endless opinions and internet nonsense, or I could get around to working on that little lyric.” It’s unclear which mode of public transport is the best but for less disruption to the creative process we’ve guessing the Luas.

The Grand Stretch is released on 25^th July with a gig in Bello Bar.

You can download Chewing Gum Breakfast and pre-order the EP here. Or if you are a soundcloud aficionado, stream Chewing Gum Breakfast here: