California Irish are a new seven piece group hailing from Belfast that working their own niche within the world of folk and Americana, and everything in between. The brainchild of the group is lead singer and chief songwriter Cormac Neeson. The band were hand-picked by Neeson based on long standing friendships, as well as experiences with numerous musical projects within the thriving Belfast music scene.
Their debut album, The Mountains Are My Friends, came to fruition via analogue recording techniques over just one or two takes with the intention of it having an authentic and real human touch.
Following the release of the record, Cormac was kind enough to talk us through some of the artists and songs that inspired it.
Crosby Stills and Nash – Wooden Ships
Chose this song for a few reasons. When I put California Irish together, it was CSN that I wanted to try and emulate most I think. I felt the songs on ‘The Mountains Are My Friends’ were heavily influenced by the song writing and general analogue sonic on the first couple of CSN and CSNY records; with all the big harmonies, jangly acoustics and warm Hammond organ.
More specifically, there’s a song on the new album called ‘Sunday Morning’ that was demo’d as this delicate acoustic ballad. I asked the band to try something different on it that involved the whole band suddenly slammin’ in that was akin to the dynamic feel of ‘Wooden Ships’. I think the band thought I was mad as they quite liked the acoustic demo but it worked and we went with the heavier version.
Joni Mitchell – Conversation
The album that this song appears on; ‘Ladies Of The Canyon’ has had a big influence on me since my early teens when I found a cassette tape my Dad had made with this on one side and “Tea For The Tillerman” by Cat Stevens on the other. I played those two albums on repeat for years. I actually have memories listening to it in Donal’s family car as the Scullions and the Neesons (we’re lifelong friends) made our way up to Donegal for a holiday.
I chose this song in particular because it’s my favourite song on the record, full of beautiful lyrics that make me feel like I’m in the room with Joni and she’s singing just for me…let me dream. I also adore the flute hook that takes the song home. On our record we tried to throw in some little surprises like this along the way. Whether that be Suzy and I playing our mind bending recorder duet (a lot of fun as you can imagine) on the song ‘Something Different’ or the “psychedelic cowbell” solo on the song ‘Julie Ann’. Joni’s influence is all over this record.
Black Mountain – No Satisfaction
I just love how rough around the edges this recording is. The guitars are out of tune and everything just feels loose and fun. I really wanted this album to be beautifully imperfect, as I really think that with all the studio production options we have and now with the introduction of AI, its easy to lose that initial spark in a song that got you really excited in the first place. I’ve definitely been guilty in the past of recording too many takes, doing too many vocal drop ins to fix stuff that didn’t need fixed, getting the final mix back and thinking “ah we didn’t get it…how did we have all that studio time and not get it?”
On ‘The Mountains Are My Friends’ we stuck rigidly to an analogue recording process that would have been used on the great Laurel Canyon records of the late 60s/early 70s. This meant everyone recording live in a room together without click tracks, auto tunes, or digital soundwaves up on a big TV screen. It was so exciting and scary at the same time but the result was that we created something that doesn’t sound like anything or anyone else. It might have the odd note out of tune or you can here the odd creak of a floor board but I really that’s part of this record’s charm and identity. It might not be perfect but its close enough.
Skara Brae – Angela
I adore Skara Brae’s self titled album with all those beautiful Donegal harmonies that feel like they emanate from the peaty earth. However, I’ve picked a ground breaking instrumental to add to the list today. There’s a beautiful moment where Micheal O’ Domhnaill breaks off from his traditional polyphony with Daithi Sproule and starts jamming the blues. I always loved this moment on that record. But as well as this…on our song ‘Hard We Fall’ I asked Donal and Chris to try and weave a acoustic thing together an gave them this track as a reference as to what the hell I as talking about.
Jonathan Wilson – Can We Really Party Today?
The album that this song is on ‘Gentle Spirit’ was a Christmas present from my brother Niall a few years back. He told me that Wilson was a “Laurel Canyon” revivalist, recording straight to tape in his studio in LA and very heavily influenced by some of the bands I’ve already referenced in this article. I listened to the record; beautiful songs with lovely analogue warmth and depth, and immediately though…I want to record like that. And here we are.
Laura Marling – Rambling Man
Laura, to me, is very much carrying on the tradition of amazing heartfelt and innovative singer songwriting along the same path as Joni Mitchell. But crucially, Laura has always put her own stamp on things so that there’s a tip of the hat to what went before but also feels new and fresh. That’s what we tried to do as best we could with the California Irish stuff…letting our inspirations and influences shine through but not forgetting to express ourselves in our own unique way as only this group of seven Irish, Belfast based musicians could.
Jason Isbell – Cover Me Up
This is the song that meant our new record had to have lap steel guitar on it, at any cost. I’ve always loved the atmospheric potential of a lap steel and you can really hear this on ‘Cover Me Up’. Our very own lap guitar player Chris Kelly is a bit of a master himself of course…its one of those instruments that when its played right you kind of don’t notice its there but when you listen for it you realise it’s a big part of what you love about the song. I adore the sparce production on this beautiful song and the way that focuses the listener’s attention on the lyric and Isbell’s amazing voice.
Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
The ultimate psychedelic rock song. No chorus…doesn’t need it. Just cool chords, trippy lyrics, a vibe and Grace Slick’s vocal. I love comparing how chilled and quiet her vocal dynamic is at the beginning of the song compared to the all out belt that finishes the song and trying to work out where the arc is that took us from one extreme to the other. Its such a gradual build its hard to tell and that’s just so cool and human.
Neil Young – Heart Of Gold
Most of California Irish first played as a unit together as part of a Neil Young night at the Mac Theatre called “Re-Harvest” that was put together by Donal (guitar and vocals in Cali Irish). The energy across those shows was special and driven by a lot of what makes the Cali Irish sound so powerful. The big four part vocal blend, raw guitars and probably most importantly the joy everybody clearly feels playing this music is a unique experience.
The Byrds – Ballad Of Easy Rider
I feel like we tried to emulate the warmth and the jangle of one of a lot of the Byrds music. I picked this one in particular because the movie Easy Rider (more specifically the closing scene) was the inspiration for the first song on the record ‘Live Fast Die Free’. We’ve also just made a music video for our single ‘Something Different’ where the brief we gave consisted of making video that takes its lead from another scene in the movie where everyone drops acid in a graveyard in New Orleans. The best we could do were the Wicklow Mountains but it was still pretty out there.
