Name: Freak’s
Formed: February 2013
Hometown: Strabane
Genre: Indie Rock
Line-up: Ronan Duffy, Pete Devine & Ronan Doherty
Similar to: The Black Keys | The Libertines | Bob Dylan
What They Say: A Strabane based band, united by our love of Barry White.
What We Say: Quirky, intriguing band still nailing down their sound
◀ Q & A ▶
▶ Tell us about your band name?
“Freak’s” has been spray painted on the shutters of a local shop for a few years – grammatically incorrect apostrophe included. Who is Freak? Does Freak own the shop? No one knows! And to be honest we loved the fact people we know who walk past it everyday have never questioned it. Its the absurd against the mundane, and that suits our mindsets well. So we got it from there. We’ve been told the graffiti could be like the new Salford Lads Club, but if I ever see Morrissey cycling around outside it I’ll come down and tell him to wind his neck in! note: no one in the band is responsible for the vandalism of said local shop’s shutter.
▶ When did you start playing music and how long did it take to find your own sound?
The 3 of us properly came together sometime around Febuary-March 2013 but there was no agenda as to gigs or recording. In April we put a song called ‘Symmetry & Correlation’ online that did quite well with local radio (and my mammy loves it too!) and with that response we decided to book our first gig that june. I dunno if we found a “sound”, or are even looking to find one. There’s a lot of music we all have a common bond over, but I think we ought to find out whether Harvey and Sabrina get back together after university before we go finding our own sound.
▶ What releases have you put out so far?
We put a stand alone track called ‘Symmetry & Correlation’ online in April and followed that with the “Freak’s…with an apostrophe” EP in November. We very recently put up a Christmas song written about our hometown Strabane in preparation for our Merry Freak’smas gig! We think our newest songs are our best yet and hope to get them done and out in the first quarter of 2014!
▶ Is there a particular live show that stands out amongst all the rest?
We’ve only played very locally but that’s being remedied massively in 2014 in all parts of Ireland and the UK. We’re very lucky to be buddies with Those Ghosts and White Male Actors and have happily supported both on different occasions. In saying that, the show where our singer Ronan Doc started laughing and got put off his lyrics cause he saw my mammy singing along in the audience was pretty funny!
▶ Can you talk about a Highlight and a Lowlight of the journey so far?
Getting a good reception from well respected music heads like Stephen McCauley and Micky Ferry has been a definite highlight. As for a lowlight…..our video for the demo of ‘Deconstructed’ has some potentially career-threatening pictures of ourselves and our good friends in it. Watch at your own discretion
▶You are in control of forming a 4 piece ‘super group’ – who is in it and what do they do?
Conor O’Brien/ Villagers. He’s the greatest going. He can do all the work!
Jack Steadman/Bombay Bicycle Club. The work he has done production wise on the last few Bombay Bicycle Club releases is amazing. He can help Conor out in the studio.
Eddie Vedder/Pearl Jam. All-round good guy and veteran of the industry. Would be a great person to have on your side. If it was Home Alone he would be the Old Man Marley to Conor and Jack’s Kevin McCallister!
Santa. He can fly around the whole world in one night. They’d save a fortune on tour bus petrol.
▶ If you and 3 bands of your choosing were to do a world tour, who would the other 3 bands be?
Wavves – Following Nathan William’s twitter/interview log when he’s on tour is like watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas crossed with Saved by the Bell. He’s seems like our type of dude!
Lisa Hannigan – I reckon if she was on a world tour with us one of us would annoy and nark her so much that she would eventually give in and finally become said Freak’s girlfriend. That is the plan anyways. It worked for Damien Rice!
Nathan Carter – His sheer existence is an insult to the human race. If we were brutally hungover some day just seeing at him in the flesh at sound check would ease the horrors and make us feel better about ourselves.
▶ What will be the 3 strangest things on your rider when you’re able to make any demand?
Taco sauce. Life blood of the gods! Food is just an excuse to get taco sauce into our bodies.
Football Special in a glass bottle. They ruined it when they started putting it in plastic bottles!
Meat. All the meat. Our bassist/singer Duffy just turned into a fully-fledged carnivore recently and frankly, we’ve never been prouder!
▶ Who has been your biggest inspiration as a musician?
We’re all the biggest Villagers fan each other knows so it’d probably be Conor O’Brien when it comes down to it. We’re fully aware we dont sound anything like Villagers but really admire how he can translate songs from acoustic to full band and vice versa. A phenomenal wee fella! Great for the town.
▶ Who has been your biggest inspiration as a musician?
Our next goal is to make enough money from the next show to pay for our chippy orders after the show. We go through alot of taco sauce like. Maybe another EP then and some gigs further afield. Wee steps at a time!
◀ LISTEN ▶
Facebook ▶ /Freak’s
Twitter ▶ @FreaksMusic