Last year the writers and photographers of GoldenPlec selected The Eskies for our Plec Picks series (our equivalent of a ones to watch) and it’s safe to say that they didn’t let us down. The sea-soaked gypsy rock quintet’s debut album ‘After The Sherry Went Round’ was one of the best records produced in our little isle last year. They sold out Whelan’s several times, headlined Knockanstockan and ventured into the UK and Europe with an almost religious zeal for gigging. You may also have seen them playing Jesus Don’t Save Me on the much maligned RTE Saturday Night Show.
What do five lads from Tallaght and Donaghmede do when they meet Ainsley Harriott? No, they don’t mug him, you racists, they have their woodwind section serenade him with the Ready Steady Cook theme tune as he comes off stage, obviously. “It's amazing how excited you can get a couple of twentysomething year olds if you put Ainsley Harriot in front of them,” says lead singer Ian Bermingham as he sups a coffee in the Mercantile on Dublin’s Dame St. “He's very charming, very charismatic. He's got this presence about him. He's just infectious.”
“We got to eat some of his food as well. Ainsley Harriott cooked for us. No he didn't. He left two bowls and when he went we had it,” says Bermingham, releasing his infectious, cheeky chappy laugh. The lust for life contained in The Eskies' music is reflected in Bermingham and the rest of the band’s characters. No town comes without a story and no story comes without at least two punchlines.
It seems that after a busy six months following the release of their debut album ‘After the Sherry Went Round’, The Eskies are finally able to take stock of the work that went into the album and appreciate its success and the doors it opened (and question those it didn’t) both here and abroad.
“It was number one on the iTunes chart for a while,” says Bermingham of the album. “We gave Hozier a smoke break. He came back when he was finished and swept us aside of course, but that's no problem. It was strange for us because I don't necessarily see our music as chart music. But, in the Irish charts, with no major backing of any description, no PR, it still got to number 12.”
The Eskies launched the album in Whelan’s in front of a sold-out crowd, a feat which they repeated in December.“It was a nice way to finish the year, we've sold out Whelan's twice and before that we sold out The Button Factory and The Grand Social,” says Bermingham. “The album launch was sold out over a month in advance, we didn't even print posters for it. We've never printed a physical poster for the Whelan's gigs.”
“Any Dublin gig we've put on ourselves has sold out" says lead guitarist Seán O'Reilly. With a proven track record selling out venues, you’d think the larger media outlets in Ireland would’ve noticed something is happening with The Eskies, but the opposite seems to be true.
"No one like that has picked up on us," says Bermingham at the lack of mainstream media exposure despite the aforementioned string of sold out shows. "Hot Press have done a few bits and pieces on us here and there. The Independent and The Irish Times? Nothing. We try not to think about but it's impossible really, because it would benefit us greatly if there was coverage outside of our own circle.
“It's a blessing to have blogs pioneering us. Looking around the place at some of the bands out there, the lack of coverage they get is ridiculous. I'm not one of these people that bangs a drum saying ‘nobody gives a bollocks’. There's a lot of good music out there but there's a lot of bad music too. Let's call a spade a spade.
“I don't think it's enough to be hard working. People think, ‘well we're working hard so why aren't we getting a load of coverage?'. You mightn't be getting a lot of coverage because your music isn't relevant to that publication’s audience and that's fair enough. I do think there's room for more diversity though. If you go to England, there are specialist blogs for every conceivable genre of music.
“You’d have to wonder is there enough people here to sustain all those genres, like there is in the UK, Europe or America. Unfortunately it's 100% necessary (to get out of Ireland).”
Despite the lack of mainstream media coverage, The Eskies' fan base is steadily growing in Ireland and further afield.
“The old word of mouth cliché is absolutely true and we're lucky; people who are into us, are really into us. Facebook and Twitter have been a huge help for us. It's great because the people who do like us, feel passionate about us,” says Bermingham.
“They feel a part of it,” says mandolinist Rob Murphy. ”They are a part of it, that's the thing," adds Bermingham emphatically. "If you come to an Eskies gig and the crowd don't participate, it's crap. We enjoy it anyway because we love playing together, but the difference between a room full of people who aren't into us and a room full of people who are into us - I mean since we brought the album out, people are singing the verses and bridges. They're not just singing choruses; they're singing entire songs.
“I don't think this is indigenous to us by any means. I think with the rise of the internet and social media, people are able to communicate directly with bands and artists. Rather than just reading about them in a magazine and buying their album, they can interact with them. You go to a gig and it's not about the people on stage. It's about everybody there.”
Of course, with the rise of social media, the smartphone has become the enemy of bands and live music venues across the world. How do The Eskies deal with this and the other problems that face bands on the live circuit?
"I hate that you go to the cinema and there's some cunt on his phone. I paid €12 to watch this, get out to fuck," says Bermingham at the mention of the constant chatter and phones being used at gigs. “I went to see David O’Doherty in the International Bar about four years ago and there's this fucking arsehole sitting right at the front locked, talking over him, shouting at him. So eventually he lost his patience and he was like ‘right if you wanna have a conversation there's a lovely bar downstairs, would you not just go down? Here's twenty quid, go get yourself a round’ and in the end everyone in the room had a whip round until it got up to €80 and O’Doherty was like; ‘No, we are not giving this woman €80 quid to get out of the room it's just not fair’. It really pisses me off going to gigs and people talking, just fuck off outside. Luckily enough our shows are based on everyone having a buzz, people don't generally come to our gigs and talk. The worst thing is not wasting your own money it's wasting other people's money.
“It's a weird thing to do, stand on a 5ft platform at the side of a room making loads of noise at a room full of people who are trying to do other things. What’s this all about? This is a really fucking weird thing to do to make a living, but then you have nights when people are really engaging with you, singing, dancing having a great time and it's like, this is the best thing you can do, ever. This is the best way to communicate. This is the best way to express yourself. This is the best way to create that profound level of energy between a group of people.”
“You would wonder if someone who would shout something like that at someone on stage, who is in a compromising position as is, understands the meaning of the word respect to begin with,” says Birmingham on the unsavoury sexist and antisocial behaviour, which at time blights gigs.
Like many bands before them, The Eskies are venturing into the UK and beyond to try and find an audience to sustain their existence. This often involves driving for 13 hours a day and staying in questionable hotels. “We've to stop every two and a half hours to let the van cool down. It's on the way out. It's gonna explode at the side of some motorway in France or the UK, one of these days,” says Bermingham.
“Our whole ethos from the start of the band was just gig. It gets to the point then where you're playing five, six, seven gigs in five to six days, resting for a day, then going and doing it again. Going to festivals and playing three, four, five gigs. There was one weekend in Dunmore East we played twenty hours of gigs in one weekend and had a great time.
“The first year we existed, it was try play as many gigs as we possibly can. We did the vast majority of them for free and the ones we were paid for, we got paid diesel. The second year it was the same again but twofold. In the third year, we had people coming to book us and it was like we're really busy, if you want us you're gonna have to pay for us.
“Since the album's come out, it's been a game-changer - the summer's pretty much booked up. We've got the Irish tour throughout February, the UK during March, a tour of Italy at the end of March then the summer's loads of travelling - we've booked gigs in Ireland, UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain.”
So how does an unsigned band manage to pick up so many international gigs and keep on top of the logistics?
“We started working with Matt Bartlett from Midnight Mango in the UK” says Birmingham. “He's been a revelation, because for the first 3 years we did everything ourselves. It was great that Matt came along when he did because we couldn't keep up with it anymore.
“We are releasing the album in the UK in August which is weird because we released it here in May last year but that's just the way things have worked out. It's imperative for the survival of this band and our careers that this band works in the UK. The tour we've booked in March is nine gigs - six headliners and three supports.”
The Eskies release the single Jesus Don’t Save Me in the UK on February 19th, with the album following on August 26th.
You can catch The Eskies on their Irish tour on the following dates. Tickets for all shows are available here.