MacD on Music<\/a><\/p>\nOn occasion when writing a song, I will use experiences that I relate to one physical space and condense them down into one song. <\/p>\n
I did this with the song \u2018King Bartholomew\u2019 when writing about Ireland, combining the experience of my flight being re-directed from Dublin to Belfast, and a vicarious experience I had through my father, who used to receive strange letters from a man who declared himself King Bartholomew. He seemed to believe he was the High King of Ireland.<\/p>\n
With Sangria Furlo\u2019s song \u2018Sedition Day\u2019 I was presented with three chords and lyrics which were just the days of the week. <\/p>\n
So, I started considering what the days of the week signified to me and where I was on these days of the week, while screaming down a microphone in Spain. Eyes shut; I was somehow transported back to Boston. I was re-living elements of my life there. In that song I intertwine the unique atmosphere of Boston\u2019s underground music and club scene with its inhabitant\u2019s penchant for revolution. <\/p>\n
Again with 18th Floor which is about one specific incident I highlight the incompetence and general bad attitude of the Boston Police; \u201cElevator full of blue coated haters, blinded out by your sight\u201d. I also have the lyric in that same song \u201cSee you in your glass booth Malcolm X Kufi protecting your roof\u201d. <\/p>\n
This was a lyric about the actor; Thomas Grimes, who I had befriended because he was moonlighting as the security guard on the door of the building where I lived. He used to play the role of Malcolm X in the play The Meeting by Jeff Stetson. We became even closer friends a little bit later, after Jim Spruill and Linda Patton Spruill took me under their wing. They knew Thomas because they ran The New African (Theatre) Company in Boston and would sometimes collaborate with Thomas. Linda had been a leader in the Black Panther Party in Boston and gave me my first Theatre job as a stage manager at The New African Company. She had a reputation for being a dead shot, but I never got to see her shoot a rifle.<\/p>\n
When you played Presque Nul, how was it playing with someone like Sean Lennon?<\/p>\n
Sean had been in Presque Nul before me, as had Yari Carrisi Power, grandson of the Irish American Hollywood Actor Tyrone Power. As a younger kid I would really admire watching them perform and so wanted to create the kind of sounds they were emanating. The group originally got funding because Yoko Ono put up the money for equipment and the school allowed the band a rehearsal space in the form of one of its nuclear fallout shelters. <\/p>\n
When I was in P.N., we had an array of talent including Mahalia Barnes, daughter of legendary Australian singer Jimmy Barnes. Presque Nul was like a teenage supergroup in a way. One person who was never in Presque Nul was Julian Casablancas. I always thought he would go on to be very successful actor, having shared the stage with him in our school production of Brecht\u2019s The Caucasian Chalk Circle. But instead, he ended up creating some of the best indie music of the 21st Century with The Strokes and The Voidz.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s it for now from Mark Waters. All being well, part two of this interview is coming on Thursday, featuring stories from his collaboration with Pete Brown, co-writer for Jack Bruce on some of Cream\u2019s most iconic tracks.<\/p>\n
Now, onto other business. First up, The High End Dead will be making their much-anticipated return to the Millennium Forum this Saturday (9th May). Tickets for the gig are \u00a311.50 and available at the box office or millenniumforum.co.uk. They\u2019re selling fast so grab them while you still can.<\/p>\n
Next, we have the new album from The Tex Oliver Quintet, aka singer\/songwriter Donal Convery. The album, \u2018Nugs Hugs\u2019 was produced by Paul Casey and is coming out on Bandcamp this Friday (8th May). It\u2019s also available on CD in Cool Discs.<\/p>\n
Last up, we have SCHTICK, a brand-new indie band from Belfast who are releasing their debut single \u2018Useless\u2019 this Thursday (7th May). Drawing influence from Jamiroquai, The Police (Sting\u2019s band, not the PSNI) and Tom Misch, the track features \u201cintricate guitar lines…catchy melodies\u201d and \u201cbalances tight musicianship with an infectious, hook-driven sound\u201d.<\/p>\n
There\u2019ll be more from SCHTICK in these fine pages in the coming weeks so make sure to keep an eye out.<\/p>\n
Finally, time for the socials. SCHTICK can be found on Instagram @schtickmusic, The Tex Oliver Quintet @thetexoliverquinted, The High End Dead @thehighenddead and Mark Waters\u2019 band Sangria Furlo @sangriafurlo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The life of a musician is one that usually involves quite a bit of travelling. Usually, this is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7726,17201,61,60,36110,43],"class_list":["post-433486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-derry","tag-derry-news","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-macd-on-music","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}