When one thinks of Ireland and music there are a few things that instantly some to mind – U2, The Pogues and those cheesy Ryanair commercials with the images of pretty red headed girls clapping their hands in (presumably) a traditional Irish pub with a bunch of old ‘farts’ playing (presumably) traditional Irish music. It’s not all men who’ve converted their pop status into goodwill ambassador of the universe or Ryanair redheads…there’s places where the sun shines differently… and currently the vibe-y synth, sun's out, let's head to the beach and don’t forget yer bass amp rays are shining down in rainy old Cork. To be more precise, directly on the four men that comprise Stanley Super 800: Stan O’Sullivan – Guitar/vocals, Flor Rahilly – Bass/vocals, Tosh Sullivan – Synth/guitar/banjo and Dave Hacket – Drums. Dubbed as Ireland’s favorite hard working class indie band, they’ve derived their sun soaked sound from tradition and some sound early punk roots. With plans to release a second full length album this April you can be sure to be hearing more of the band in the days to come, but, alas! We wanted to hear from the boy, the man – Stan, what the band’s all about ourselves! No, we’re not quite that jet-setting (yeah right! We have no $!) but keeping within our own ‘tradition’ of bringing you the best, we do know a thing or two about the internet, so, via email…

(Cord speaks in blue!)

Cord: Hello Stan! How are you doing?

Stan O’Sullivan: Hi Amy. We’re fine and delighted to be writing this interview for Cord.

C: (awe…isn’t that nice?!)
Your music is very uplifting. When I’ve listened to some of your tracks I’ve thought of Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers crossed with some Air and possibly the Beach Boys…and naturally, because your Irish and The Beach Boys come into it, I think of The Thrills. Musically speaking you sound nothing alike, but there’s that summery California feeling to both of your styles and most would think that’s sort of bizarre coming from Irish bands seeing as it’s so ,err, rainy there. Can you tell us if there is some sort of musical scene that’s sort-of exclusively supportive of this sound in Ireland, if it’s just a coincidence, or part of a lifestyle? (That’s a long winded question, but I hope it makes sense.)

S: I could never say that the Thrills and ourselves are part of the same musical scene. Ireland can be very wet, but it’s a beautiful place when the sun shines. The sun you might feel in our music isn’t shining down on California. It’s a rarer sun squinting at the green and gold patchwork trimmed with hazy blue mountains. Maybe it’s a west coast of Europe thing ;)

C: Who are your influences anyway?!

S: I think you nailed it in your previous question when you said: “Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers crossed with some Air”. I only noticed JR & the ML influence recently. I also like Air and similar bands like Bent, Zero7, and all those. There is also an album called “Jehovahkill” by Julian Cope that has some bearing on our sound. The Stranglers, Hawkwind, and anything that isn’t just straight guitar rock. Also “Trad” but I’ll get to that later…

C: What artists are you currently listening to?

S: I sent a text around to all the lads when I was writing this and these are the answers I got.
Dave (Drummer): Neil Young, Hank Williams and Stereolab.
Flor (Bass, Vocals): Pink Floyd, Supergrass, Artic Monkeys and Bell X1.
Tosh (Synth, Guitar, Banjo): Mix Master Mike, Karen Casey, Bonnie Prince Billy & Matt Sweeney.
Stan (Vocals, Guitar, Synth): Underworld, J.S Bach, a Soul Compilation and Crows in my backyard.

C: I have a friend who is originally from Ireland and she was very into Irish traditional music with her concertina. She was always competing in competitions and I would have had no idea this was such a big thing in Ireland had I not known her. Canada doesn’t really have a long history of traditions since it’s considered a fairly ‘new’ country (oh wonderful – a history lesson, just wait for it though!) and reading about Stan’s involvement in the traditional Irish music scene is something of interest. Is it still very prevalent? And is it something you're conscientious of incorporating (as a band) in to your music?

S: I hope I’m right in saying that it’s getting stronger all the time. You might find it hard to picture but its not a load of farts sitting around singing, “tour a lour ah”, its mostly dance tunes like reels, jig and slides. These can be quite heady, lifting and full of swing. It was through Trad (traditional music) that we came together as a band. Myself, Flor and Tosh are involved in a group called the Ceili Allstars. It’s a band of varied part and full time members and its also an international drinking and cavorting team. When writing songs I often use snippets and tunes from traditional. It’s a great resource.

C: How’s the Irish indie scene anyway?

S: The Irish indie scene is great now. There is a great sense of “DIY” here and for the last few years there has been a constant stream of great new bands and albums. The only problem I see is that the local media hasn’t got behind the scene.

C: Do all your interviews tend to have this underlining “Wow, an Irish band” theme? It is sort-of like when a band is from Sweden (or any country that’s not America or England) – it’s different, and it’s definitely a good thing, but I would hate to think of it as tiresome for you.

S: I wish that was true. Apart from a minor trip to the continent and a few gigs in the UK we spend the majority of our time banging our head off the walls here at home. We hope to change this after we release our next record – maybe a trip to Canada might be on the cards.

C:…and, what are some reasons why you love music and why everyone else should?

S: I think music touches us deeper that no other thing in our everyday lives can. Without music we could never understand ourselves.

Elsewhere

By Amy Hanson
Photos : Stanley Super 800
Published : March, 2006.