12 Questions with modernlove.
12 Questions with modernlove.
modernlove. consist of vocalist and guitarist Barry Lally, Graham Fagan (guitar) Daniel Rooney (bass) and Cian McCluskey (drums) was formed in Drogheda near Dublin in 2016 by the four childhood friends. With no real music scene in their hometown, the band inadvertently formed their own, as friends and then countless newcomers started to form a community around their tiny pub gigs.
Despite their local popularity, gaining attention from the wider industry seemed like a world away. But once lockdown hit, the band retreated to their bedrooms and spent their time writing a catalogue of new songs. And that’s the moment when one of their self-released demos was discovered by the London indie label Akira Records, who subsequently released their debut EP monochrome blue in 2021 before modernlove. upscaled their ambition with the ‘Oh My Mind’ EP in 2022.
The diversity of the band’s influences stands tall throughout both collections, moving between the game-changing future-pop of The 1975 and The Japanese House, the new wave sounds of The Cure and New Order, the danceable indie of Bloc Party and Bombay Bicycle Club, the experimental ambience of Jon Hopkins and Aphex Twin, and a wealth of melodic pop punk. Their stories are snapshots of young people’s lives: partying, drinking too much, falling in love and the consequences that follow.
NSG caught up with the band’s drummer
Cian McCluskey for a chat
NSG: Morning guys, how are you? What have you been doing today and how’s that going?
CIAN: All good, we’ve just been getting ready to head out on our UK tour so we’ve been flat-out rehearsing. We’ve also just shot the video for our next single so we’ve been keeping very busy.
NSG: You recently released your 7-track EP ‘Oh My Mind’. 7 tracks is almost an album! Was there a reason you released it as an EP and not an album?
CIAN: Our debut album has always been something we’ve romanticised and built up in our heads. It didn’t feel like the right time to put out an album this year. I think that’s why we plan to keep releasing EPs until the time comes.
NSG: Does the EP have a general theme, and what was your recording process like?
CIAN: I think our general themes centre on mental health struggles and how they tend to impact our relationships, whether that be romantic ones or personal friendships. Our recording process is pretty streamlined because we do most of the pre-production ourselves in our bedrooms on laptops, so when we get into the studio it’s a pretty quick process.
NSG: Your songs have a great up-tempo speed, who or what influences your style of music?
CIAN: We’ve always considered ourselves a live band first and foremost, because we’ve been together so long we kind of developed our songwriting through live performance, and when you perform live obviously high tempo, high energy songs play better to crowds. I think that’s why most of what we do is so high tempo.
NSG: Do you have a specific writing process?
CIAN: Usually one person will start a song in their bedroom and get the basic skeleton of the song written, then it gets brought to the band and we finish it as best we can before we take it to a studio with a producer. All four of us are songwriters so the songs can come from any member at any time.
(modernlove._Credit: Holly Whitaker)
NSG: How and when was the band formed?
CIAN: We were all friends before we were in a band, me {Cian) and Barry have been friends since we were 4 years old in primary school. The two of us met Graham and Danny in secondary school when we were about 12 or 13 and we just started jamming from there.
NSG: Was it hard staying together as a band during the almost two years of the pandemic?
CIAN: If anything, the band kind of saved us during the pandemic. We’ve literally never thought about the possibility of doing anything else so when the pandemic hit we just took the time to write as much as possible, it was kind of our only connection to reality for a while. Once the pandemic came to an end we had found ourselves in this amazing position to go out and tour and actually see the growth we’ve made.
NSG: What’s the best thing about being in a band for you?
CIAN: It’s just fun. That’s always been the main thing for us. It’s fun to write music with your best friends and then go and show that music to other people. We’ve never wanted to be millionaires or celebrities or anything like that, we’ve just always wanted to do this full-time, and play as many shows as possible. That’s the best part of being in a band for sure.
NSG: Does anyone in the band have any weird hobbies?
CIAN: I think we’re just weird people. If you sat in a room with the four of us while we were rehearsing you’d probably think we’re all really stupid, strange and not funny at all. I don’t think any of us have any particularly strange hobbies, or they just haven’t shared them with the band yet.
NSG: What’s been your best and worst gig and why?
CIAN: Our best gig was the last one we played, our first headline show in Amsterdam at Paradiso which was pretty much completely sold out. It was very surreal to see how far we had come. We all got a little bit emotional afterwards. We’ve had so many awful gigs it’s very hard to just pick one. We played a gig outside a church in Drogheda when we were like 15 and none of the gear worked, so we just told them we were taking a break and we just didn’t come back. We also played a gig at a festival on a main stage in front of a completely empty field that was meant to hold 10,000 people. We actually played really well but we were basically just by ourselves in a field.
NSG: We are a Liverpool-based music magazine. Will we see you in Liverpool any time soon?
CIAN: Absolutely. We’re playing Shipping Forecast on the 8 April next year. Three out of the four members of the band are Liverpool fans so that’s going to be an amazing experience for us.
(modernlove._Tour Poster)
NSG: If you could sit down to dinner with any three people from history, past or present, who would they be and why?
CIAN: Maybe Jesus, because that would answer a lot of questions, wouldn’t it? Hard to pick two other people when you pick Jesus, but maybe Kurt Cobain and Prince? What a trio.
NSG: How is the remainder of 2022 looking for you?
CIAN: Pretty packed, we’re on tour for the whole month of November and we’re going to be recording for most of December.
NSG: Thank you so much for your time, we wish you all the luck in the world. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
CIAN: Thanks very much for having us, make sure you check out our socials to stay updated on everything.
modernlove. will be touring all through November, catch them on the dates below
NOVEMBER
Wed 02 BIRMINGHAM Hare & Hounds (SOLD OUT)
Thu 03 MANCHESTER Yes (UPGRADED SHOW / SOLD OUT)
Fri 04 GLASGOW Garage Attic Bar (SOLD OUT)
Tue 08 LONDON Camden Assembly (ADDED SHOW / SOLD OUT)
Wed 09 BRISTOL Louisiana (SOLD OUT)
Thu 10 LONDON Camden Assembly (SOLD OUT)
Fri 11 LEEDS Hyde Park Book Club (SOLD OUT)
Sat 12 BELFAST Deer’s Head
Sun 13 DERRY Sandino’s
Thu 17 LISTOWEL Mike The Pies
Fri 18 LIMERICK Kasbah Social Club
Sat 19 CORK Winthrop Avenue
Thu 24 GALWAY Roisin Dubh
Fri 25 DUBLIN Button Factory
To follow the band on social media click on the links below
