As their debut single ‘City Of Culture’ comes out, Irish three-piece Slow Riot come out in defence of their hometown of Limerick and how they’d love One Direction to cover one of their songs. They may have their tongues firmly in their cheek…
17 Seconds: Please introduce yourselves
Niall: Hi I’m Niall Clancy and I play bass and sing, Aaron Duff is on guitars and Paul Cosgrave on drums
17 Seconds: How did the band come together? Had any of you played in bands before?
Paul: All three of us were in different bands growing up but Slow Riot in its current format started in December 2013.
17 Seconds: Who are your influences as a band?
Paul: I grew up listening to Nirvana but when I heard Turn On The Bright Lights by Interpol something clicked and I have loved that band ever since. There is such a wealth of talent between Ireland and the UK musically-wise that we are spoiled with influences.
Aaron: Biggest influence on me when I was growing up and learning guitar was the local music scene in Limerick. I was amazed as a 14, 15 year old that kids my age could even be in bands. I’d sneak into pubs and venues to try catch some of the older bands in the scene too. Somewhere along that timeline I was hooked and needed to be in a band. Unfortunately that DIY music scene went away.
Special mention goes to my parents’ record collection too!
17 Seconds: Tell us about the single ‘City of Culture’…
Niall: ‘City of Culture’ is the most immediate track that we’ve written to date. I started with the initial bass riff and we built on it from there. The song is specifically about our experience with the Limerick music scene.
17 Seconds: What’s the strangest thing that’s ever happened at one of your gigs?
Paul: People clapped… No I’m joking, obviously!
Niall: Nothing that strange – to be honest, we haven’t played too many shows to date. We’re hoping to change that soon and play some dates to coincide with the release of our debut EP.
Aaron: I got in a fight with a heckler once in an old band I was in but I’ve been behaving myself recently.
17 Seconds: What’s the best thing about living in Limerick? And the worst?
Paul: Limerick is a great city that has been painted by the Irish media in very poor light. It’s been tagged as ‘Stab city’ but we feel this isn’t a true representation of the city. It has been hit hard by the recession with a lot of big factories closing down but the people of Limerick are a proud bunch and have started regenerating the city with big plans.
Aaron: The people. 100%
17 Seconds: What future releases have you got planned?
Niall: ‘City of Culture’ is our first release on London label Straight Lines are Fine, which is out on July 10th. This will be followed by our next single ‘Demons’ and our EP Catherdral in September. We are looking forward to getting the tracks out and start playing some shows in the UK and Ireland. We’ve also been working on some new tracks so I don’t think it will be too long before we are back in the studio.
17 Seconds: Who would you most like to cover one of your songs?
Niall: The Darkness.
Paul: Probably One Direction as I’d like to see what those crazy guys would come up with.
Aaron: I’d love for The Simpsons to give it a go. They always knock it out of the park.
17 Seconds: Who would you most like to work with or collaborate with?
Aaron: Such a tough question because there’s too many. Brian Eno, actually!
17 Seconds: What are Slow Riot’s plans for the next twelve months?
Paul: We want to release the E.P in September and get out playing shows. We are currently writing new material that we plan to record early next year as part of a new EP or full length album.
‘City Of Culture’ is out now on Straight Lines Are Fine.