On the cutting edge

Following the success of their chart topping EP Black Balloon, Dublin-based band Swords, whose founding members have West Clare ties, tell The Clare Champion of their hopes for the future, their upcoming debut at Electric Picnic and their return to Clare for gigs in Kilrush and Lahinch.

 

The three piece band, made up of Kilrush drummer Ian Frawley, Diane Anglim (lead vocalist, lyricist, keyboards and synthesisers), whose father hails from Kilmihil, and Jarlath Canning (bass and electric guitarist) from Carlow, launched Black Balloon in March and since then have been gaining critical acclaim.

Speaking to The Clare Champion, Ian explains how the Black Balloon tour has gone and how they’re happy to be winding it up with gigs in Clare.

“In March we had the EP, which went really well. We released it in The Grand Social in Dublin and it ended up going to number one in the itunes electronic download charts, and in the top 30 on the overall itunes downloads. Then we started the tour and that’s still going, we’ve five gigs left of 25 shows, so we’re just coming to the end of it now,” he said.

The tour saw them play at a number of festivals including The Camden Crawl, Vantastival, Strawberry Fest as well as gigs in the Róisín Dubh, Galway, McCarthy’s in Dingle and now they’re back in Clare for The White Horse sessions at Kenny’s Bar in Lahinch on Saturday and The Galleon Kilrush next Tuesday.

Ian said Swords are really looking forward to their Kilrush gig at The Galleon, as this is where things kicked off for them before they released the EP.

“We were in the Galleon before we started this tour so it’s great to go back. We will have Aileen Downes from Kilrush, who goes by Aileen play at the gig. She hasn’t been gigging for a while but she’s coming back for this gig. She toured playing support with Ocean Colour Scene. We’ll hopefully have Mark James who we supported in Moyasta before and he will support us with his new band OILS. It’s gonna be a good night. there’ll also be local musicians from Kilrush at the gig so we’ll have a session,” Ian said.

Following their Clare gigs the trio will be gearing towards their big session at Electric Picnic, where they will play a full set on the Salty Dog Stage on Friday night, August 31, and they are also hoping to play at the Oxjam tent.

Swords have also recently recorded a music video, for their track Chasm and with this they formed a new partnership with director Sebastien Escalante, who has previously shot live videos for Villagers, Mick Flannery, Wallis Bird, The Ambience Affair, The Man Whom, Halves and The Wiyos.

“We realised half-way through the tour that we needed a video. We wanted to try it and we picked Chasm which had got most of the radio play from the EP on Phantom radio and we met up with a director Sebastien Escalante after he filmed our gig in the Grand Social. He offered to work with us on a video and he came up with ideas. We wanted something dark and the freaky to reflect the atmosphere of the song,” Ian said.

Those going to the Clare gigs, as well as Electric Picnic will be treated to some of Sword’s new material as they close their tour.

“Because we are at the end of the tour we are looking towards an album so have been writing new songs and we have five new tracks already. We will more than likely play all of them at Electric Picnic and at least four will feature in Clare. The new stuff is more heavy and upbeat and it will suit Electric Picnic,” he said.

The band have been writing and honing in on the type of music they want to get out there while maintaining their own unique sound and Ian reveals their next album will be more of an evolution of their current material.

“We’re getting more comfortable with our writing style and how we want the songs to fare out. Our new stuff is a continuation of what we have on Black Balloon but it is different to what we started with originally. What we try to do is keep our music rock based, with heavy drums and heavy bass guitar and then we layer over that with the electronic atmospheres that Diane plays on the synth. We then put either Diane’s warm or caustic type vocals with it. We aim to be some bit different,” Ian said.

When this tour concludes, the band will be working towards producing an album and Ian said it could be March-April again before they are touring once more, hopefully following an album release.
Swords are also delighted that producer Karl Odlum, who produced Black Balloon and has been involved with The Frames has agreed to produce their album and they are hoping next year will be even busier for them.

For more about the band or to check out their official music video, visit www.swordsband.com.