When Chordblossom came into existence, it was always our aim to shine a spotlight on the artists and bands that make up the music scene in Northern Ireland. We’ve been doing it for over ten years now and one of our favourite methods is our Introducing feature.
Put the kettle on, curl up on your sofa and and join us for a quickfire Q&A with some of our favourite new musicians. Who knows, maybe you’ll even discover your new favourite artists.
This iteration of Introducing features the musical talents of Carousel who just released their latest single ‘Better (On Your Own)’.
What was the inspiration behind your artist name?
We formerly went by the name ‘3’s a Crowd’ when we first formed, as a 3 piece band in 2013. After covid, we decided it was time for a rebrand and make the first steps towards releasing our original music. We brought on our fourth member and at our first band practice, the instruments were passed around like a carousel! We looked to bands like ‘Oasis’ and ‘Nirvana’ for inspiration as we wanted a one word band name – and so we settled on ‘Carousel’
You’ve just released a new single. How did it come about and what does it mean to you?
This is our 3rd single, our first being released in January 2024. Our debut single was met with critical acclaim, played on national radio and has 15,000 streams on Spotify. Our aim was to build on our initial success and work towards an EP in 2025! We are extremely proud to now have 3 songs out for people to enjoy and have a platform to kick on in the future.
Have you any more releases or studio time lined up for later in the year?
Like most artists I’m sure, we have a catalogue of songs that we want to record and release for everyone to hear. We are very particular in our work and so nothing will be rushed, but there will definitely be more releases from Carousel in 2025! We are tirelessly writing music and developing our songs and we can’t wait for people to hear what we have got lined up.
Tell us about your song writing process.
It is extremely collaborative. Perhaps unconventionally, our drummer Fionn McCormack is our regular song writer. He brings great lyrics with basic chords and melodies to our band practices and we build from there. Eamon McGarrity, our lead guitarist, is usually in charge of guitar riffs, Conor Hughes on bass largely commands the bottom lines of the track and Harry takes Fionn’s melodies and develops them further, to suit his own voice.
That is ‘usually’ what happens but in true ‘Carousel’ fashion, the load is often shared. Eamon and Conor are both multi-instrumentalists and all four of us can hold a tune, so there is regular input in every aspect of our music from all. A special mention to our music producer Ross Lavery, who regularly pops up with unbelievable ideas, both vocally and musically.
Who were your favourite artists/bands growing up? Have your influences changed over time?
As can be heard in our music, there are influences from just about every genre of music that’s out there – from rock to pop, punk to the extremes of musical theatre and everything that’s in between. There are some common threads between us however, mainly our love for Oasis, Sam Fender and U2. Specific to ‘Better (On Your Own)’, there are clear homages to The War on Drugs and The 1975 as well. Our vast taste in music throughout the band leads to a long recording process, but ultimately we always get there in the end.
What’s been your favourite local release from the last twelve months?
There are some unbelievable artists in NI, and specifically Mid Ulster (where we all grew up). Narrowing it down to one is a challenge but McVeigh’s work has always stood out to us, from his debut single ‘Is That What You Wanted’ in 2019 to his recent releases. His sound is similar to that of our influences and what we aspire towards so we are always excited to see what he has coming up! He is also a fantastic live performer. We’ve had the pleasure of playing before him as Carousel and McVeigh both opened for Ryan McMullan in 2022.
If you weren’t musicians, what line of work would we find you in?
Though we aspire to become full time musicians in the near future, we are all currently working full time in other disciplines. Harry is currently a secondary school teacher but has also worked as a professional actor in the past. Eamon works in schools across the UK and Ireland teaching them music, music production and video editing. Conor currently works in recruitment and Fionn is a Business Analyst. We are all still an active part of the local pub-gigging scene as we continue to spread our bands name.
If you could collaborate with one artist or band from NI, who would it be and why?
The obvious answer is Snow Patrol. Arguably the biggest band from our country and there are clear similarities in our music styles and tastes. They’ve released some of the biggest songs in the world post 2000 and to sit and write music with somebody like Gary Lightbody would just be a completely surreal experience.
It is intensely difficult to be successful in the music industry. What does NI need to do to invest in/develop to boost your chances?
‘Intensely difficult’ is an understatement! It is tough but you have to keep creating music and knocking on the door. We always say ‘all it takes is one record’. People like Cushla Rice at Q Radio do great work to help expose new acts and their music on national radio. We believe there needs to be more people like her in radio who are willing to take risks on new musicians and give them a platform for success.
What does success look like for you?
Ultimately we just want as many people to hear our music as possible. The dream for all is the sold out shows at Wembley and Slane Castle but that is a long way away..for now! Short term, we have a goal of releasing an EP and supporting an artist at a high profile gig. We are very driven and determined to get our music out there and perform in front of big crowds who are singing our music with us.
You’re going out on tour and can have anything you want on your rider, what would we find on yours?
A referee!! Our different views and opinions make for interesting, sometimes heated debates, so a cool head in the middle to ensure we don’t have any incidents like our influences named above! Joking aside, plenty of instruments, plenty of beer and a speaker – we would be happy enough!
Where and when can we next catch you live?
As we said, our next goal is an EP with thoughts towards a headline gig in Belfast in 2026. We gig in bars all across NI, which is regularly advertised on our social media!
If you enjoyed this feature and fancy discovering some more new artists, we suggest you jump on over to our archive of Introducing pieces.
If you are a band or musician based in Northern Ireland interested in taking part in our Introducing feature, we recommend submitting new music to us via our Contact page and if we enjoy it, you’ll no doubt hear from us.
