A few days before the release of The Swedish Railway Orchestra\u2019s latest LP, Chaoszine spoke to the Irish musician:<\/p>\n
Tell me about The Swedish Railway Orchestra\u2019s new single, \u201cDead Man\u2019s Ghost\u201c, which features the legendary Mancunian poet Mike Garry. What\u2019s the song about?<\/p>\n
For years, I\u2019ve done The Swedish Railway Orchestra as kind of electronic music, similar to LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip or whatever. There are various other influences, but I\u2019m doing one more album, the last album, because I think it\u2019s from its core. So I decided to change things a little bit. \u201cDead Man\u2019s Ghost\u201d is the first single, and it\u2019s just a simple piano, violins and a little synthesizer. The legendary Mike Garry wrote a beautiful poem; he\u2019d done the vocal over, and it\u2019s an incredible collaboration because I\u2019ve never collaborated with anyone with The Swedish Railway Orchestra before. It was a real honour for me to have one of my heroes.<\/p>\n
The video depicts a nostalgic, empty, and cloudy Dublin. It reminded me of the paintings by the American artist Edward Hopper. He always seemed to convey a sense of loneliness in his paintings. Was that sort of the idea behind the clip?<\/p>\n
Well, it was just to complement the words that Mike was saying to get a real sense of isolation and desolation around North Inner City Dublin, around Smithfield, and the Heuston train station, and so on. I just thought the imagery really suited the track.<\/p>\n
This is your latest album as The Railway Swedish Orchestra. Do you plan to continue your career as a musician?<\/p>\n
What path is that going to go down? I don\u2019t know. But just as far as the Swedish Railway Orchestra, I started ten years ago. I said I\u2019d give it ten years. I had a little like a manifesto where I do no live concerts, no covers, no collaborations. OK, I\u2019ve done one or 2 covers; I\u2019ve only started doing collaborations. But one promise has yet to remain unbroken, and that\u2019s no live shows. That still remains even though over the years I\u2019ve been offered some incredible opportunities for big festivals and supporting huge acts. I always said \u201cno\u201c, just because you have to stick to some of your principles.
Tell me about your job as a DJ at The Workman\u2019s. What sort of music do you play and how long have you been there? What can you say about this legendary venue?<\/p>\n
I was previously DJing in places like Whelan\u2019s, which you might know as well, and a few other little bars around Dublin. But the promoter in the Workman\u2019s Club, a guy called Trevor Dietz, who would later become the manager of Fontaines D.C., saw that the type of bands that I was playing: the likes of The Stone Roses, The Cure, The Strokes, and Arctic Monkeys. He thought, \u201d No, no, no, you\u2019re not doing that there. You\u2019re doing that with us\u201c. So he gave me a trial one Friday night in the main room of The Workman\u2019s, like the main stage. And then he just said: \u201cOK, you\u2019re in\u201c. I\u2019ve been there for just nearly 14 years. So that\u2019s the kind of club nights we\u2019ve had. We do different kinds of styles on some nights. Some of the other DJs might do house and disco. But the club is known for being indie and alternative, because so many bands in Dublin started there; Fontaines D.C. started there. We saw them long before they even got a manager or before anything. And it was great. We\u2019re trying to stick to Trev\u2019s vision of making it that kind of venue.<\/p>\n
I know you were friends with Trevor Dietz. What can you say about him and his importance to the scene in Dublin and Ireland in general?<\/p>\n
Trev was an incredible guy; he was very firm in his ways. He had a specific vision of how he wanted things to go, and he ensured they went that way. He was hugely important for Dublin nightlife and for club nights and so on. When he went on to manage Fontaines D.C., it did not surprise me that Fontaines D.C. would become one of the biggest bands. We knew they were a great group, but it just wasn\u2019t a shock that, when Trev got involved, they\u2019d go really high. I mean, because that\u2019s the guy all over. Unfortunately, 3 months ago, we lost Trev. So that was a big blow for all of us. We\u2019re still going to carry on his legacy musically in The Workman\u2019s, and I hope others take note, do the same, and carry on Dublin nightlife for what it should be, and not take these things for granted.<\/p>\n
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If you had to recommend a band from Dublin or Ireland in general \u2013 whether rock or heavy metal \u2013 which group would you choose?<\/p>\n
A band I always recommend to people is Gilla Band.<\/p>\n
Yeah, I know them.<\/p>\n
They are probably the most original, experimental, and insanely talented bands to ever come out of Ireland. They actually stood as one of the great inspirations for the new wave of acts that are going around Dublin right now and around Ireland. I just love them; I think they\u2019re incredible. When they go see them live, it\u2019s like watching open heart surgery, just so much going on on the stage, real precision. And then when you listen to the records, you go like: \u201cThat\u2019s insane\u201d.<\/p>\n
Last year, you played after Oasis at Croke Park in Dublin. I know you\u2019ve known Noel and Liam Gallagher for a long time. What do you think of them now?<\/p>\n
The comeback was a big surprise for everybody. Noel Gallagher is the most talented musician or songwriter of his generation. Liam\u2019s probably the greatest frontman to come out of Britain in the last 30 or 40 years. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m alone in that opinion. The shows last year were just mind-blowing. And I think there\u2019s a feeling we might get to see them again next summer.<\/p>\n
As well as being a musician and DJ, you\u2019re a fan of one of Argentina\u2019s biggest football clubs, Boca Juniors, and you\u2019ve written several books. The latest is called \u201cEchoes From a God: Diego Maradona, The Manager and His Post-Playing Life\u201d with the prologue written by Jonathan Mascaro. Tell me more about it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to stop you there. I\u2019m a fan of the biggest club in the world (laughs). This is the third book I\u2019ve written. The first book was a history about the camp now and the political and sporting history there. The second book, as you probably know, was the Boca Juniors one.<\/p>\n
Go on, please.<\/p>\n
This was like a natural progression, because I always thought about it in a book about Maradona. There are so many books about Maradona\u2019s playing career when he was playing for Boca, for Napoli, and so on. But there\u2019s very little about Maradona in the latter stage of his life. I still find that very interesting, because his personal life was chaotic a lot of the time. And a lot of Maradona fans around the world were just enamored by his every move. The outpouring of love and grief when he died as well just goes to show the measure of the man. I find that part of his life, from when he stopped playing onwards, incredibly fascinating. So it felt natural to write about that side of it because it hasn\u2019t really been done before, certainly not in English anyway.<\/p>\n
You saw a video of Maradona when he returned to play for Boca Juniors in 1995, didn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n
Yeah, that\u2019s how I got into pocket because there was a TV show on British TV on Saturday mornings. And one of the things that showed\u2026 it would show different sports from different countries. And I said, \u201cWow, that\u2019s incredible\u201c. And then, of course, Maradona turns up, and I was like, \u201cMaradona plays for these? Oh my God, I need to see more\u201d. But back in those days, you couldn\u2019t see; there was no way of watching matches for me. And then, thanks to the greatness of the internet, watching things in La Bombonera (Boca Juniors stadium) became a little bit more frequent.<\/p>\n
What is your current perception of Dublin in terms of quality of life, nightlife and the music scene? I know that there\u2019s a housing crisis going on and a lot of venues have closed\u2026<\/p>\n
I think the city needs great improvement in a lot of sectors. The housing crisis you spoke of\u2026 I mean, I own my house now, but when I used to rent my old house, you know, I was paying a reasonable amount of money. These days, people are renting a room for what I would have paid for 3 houses per month. It\u2019s incredible. The nightlife scene has changed. There are only so many late-night spots left. In 1999, there were a thousand nightclubs around Ireland, but now there are only 35 or so. We need great improvement in Dublin. As you said, a lot of venues have closed. I think people are saying, and it hasn\u2019t been said in the media, that the drinking culture in Dublin is declining because the use of taking drugs is increasing. That\u2019s a fact.<\/p>\n
To finish up, name three or four of your favourite albums.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe White Album\u201d (1968) by The Beatles is the best album you can buy. It has everything. \u201cThe Stone Roses\u201d (1989) by The Stone Roses is just magic from top to bottom. It\u2019s actually unbelievable how good it is. I will go with the Beastie Boys\u2019 \u201cIll Communication\u201d (1994). They\u2019re one of my favorite hip hop bands. I\u2019m not a big hip hop guy, but they have always been incredible for me, and \u201cIll Communication\u201d was something in my younger formative years that I\u2019ve enjoyed. And going a little bit more recently, I will go with \u201cSound of Silver\u201d (2008) by LCD Soundsystem because it kind of influenced me to make The Swedish Railway Orchestra. It\u2019s just good to put on and have a little dance.<\/p>\n