Interview - The Clockworks
Photo by Nicholas O’Donnell
Following your dreams is such an idealistic notion that it’s easy to be sneered at. It’s apparently unrealistic to expect your life to go the way you want it to, ‘that doesn’t happen’.
And yet time and time again, it does: footballers, entrepreneurs and social media stars have got where they are through belief and ambition. Musicians (despite some exceptions) are no different. Even so, to up sticks and relocate to a different country just to make your voice heard takes guts – around this time last year, a young four-piece from Galway decided to do just that.
The Irish music scene is in a healthy place right now: The Murder Capital and Just Mustard are playing to large venues in the UK, while Fontaines D.C. are the indie success story of the year. Yet these acts had an advantage, being in or around the Dublin area. The Clockworks had no such luck.
“We’re a funny one because I think if you asked the bands in Dublin, they do hang out, whereas we just don’t get to,” lead singer and lyric writer James tells me. “But that’s what made the decision to come here easier, because there was nothing tying us to Dublin.”
“There isn’t much of a scene in Galway, it’s all in Dublin,” notes drummer Damian. “If you’re not in the scene in Dublin, you’re not in the scene at all,” James agrees: “We just thought we’d come here and open ourselves up for some more opportunities.”
‘Here’ being the south of England. The band decamped to London in early January, the sensible logic being there is more opportunity in the capital. Such an opportunity presented itself within two weeks.
“We moved over on January 17th, and I think it was January 29th I sent him an Instagram message on the way to work one day on the train,” guitarist Sean tells us. “He saw it straight away, which was rare because apparently he got 700 messages that week. He said, ‘Send me your best song’, so I sent him ‘Bills And Pills’. He fucking loved it.”
The ‘he’ in question was Alan McGee, founder of Creation Records. The man who signed Primal Scream, Oasis and The Jesus & Mary Chain (among many others) now runs a new label, Creation23, and his hunt and thirst for new bands hasn’t dimmed. “He came to see us rehearse in Mill Hill,” Sean continues. “Me and James picked him up at the train station.”
“We treated it like a gig,” Tom remembers. “We set up the room like a gig rather than rehearsing when we face each other.” McGee was impressed: “He said it was the best rehearsal he’d seen since Oasis in the 1990s. He said, ‘I’m signing you now’.”
High praise from a man who’s seen and done it all. Yet it’s not without foundation; The Clockworks already have a TV appearance (on Soccer AM) under their belts and a few high-profile support slots including a current tour with The Bluetones, all on the back of one single. The band and McGee were in agreement that their growth should be quite organic, but circumstances are overtaking them:
“We played tiny little gigs, little club nights and supports, without mentioning it around London. Just picking up one or two people at a time. Just very quiet, and at the same time we were recording ‘Bills And Pills’. We started playing a couple of headline venues that between us and McGee we decided were not typical venues, like the Boogaloo in north London which has a history but is not on the circuit anymore. There was a whole scene in Brixton with south London bands, but we were like, ‘We live in north London, we’ll just play here’. It ended up working really well.”
The plan is going well so far, but in 2020 they’re unlikely to get away with being so discreet. Plans are afoot, as James informs us, for another single and their own gig in London, at The Old Blue Last in February. As well as this, the interest in the band isn’t just in the UK: Sean took it upon himself to cast the net further afield. “We put out some feelers on Instagram last night to see who wants to play where,” he reveals. “The results have been funny. A lot of different places; the UK, Sweden, Washington, Sao Paulo. Boston!”
“We go to the Netherlands in January for a festival. We’ve got a few festivals confirmed for early summer, we’ll be quite busy next year. The gig at Old Blue Last is a must.”
Tom is adamant: “Come see for yourself.”
Their gig at the Bristol Trinity Centre is a tour de force – eight short, sharp bursts of rock energy that are angular and muscular at the same time. Of the familiar songs, ‘Bills And Pills’ is a frenetic ocean of noise, while ‘Can I Speak To A Manager?’ sounds titanic, with excellently dexterous bass heard above the all-consuming sound. Better yet are the songs to come; ‘Rumours In The Stockroom’ and ‘Stranded In Stansted’ are watertight anthems. The Clockworks are professional without being pretentious, and clearly mean business.