In Conversation: Giveamanakick
Limerick punk rock lunatics Giveamanakick have come out swinging on their fired-up third album, Welcome To The Cusp. It’s an ear-shattering assault, a subversive wonder of a record and possibly the deranged duo’s best yet. The album distils the band’s most compelling characteristics whilst also bringing to the fore new aspects of their musical persona. Power ballads! Keyboard solos! Well kind of. A sheepish Steveamanakick explained all to AU.
How much does Welcome To The Cusp differ from your Is It OK To Be Loud, Jesus? and We Are The Way Forward?
Well we spent two and a half days longer recording it. We afforded ourselves that luxury. Some of the songs here wouldn’t have been possible on the first two records, we simply wouldn’t have known how to record them. There are songs here that are slightly different from what we were doing earlier. We’d been playing them live so had an idea what they should sound like when we went in to record. There’s even a six minute keyboard epic, our very own ‘Stairway To Heaven’, that’s certainly different from the last record where everything was about three minutes long. Then there’s a song that’s just percussion and there’s a quieter song, almost a power ballad, well a Giveamanakick power ballad at any rate.
What will surprise people most about this record?
Our pop sensibilities have come much more to the fore, though we’ve always thought that we were a pop band and that every song we write is a little pop nugget. Of course that all changes once we actually listen to what we’ve recorded and it turns out to be that little bit more aggressive than we’d imagined. There’s definitely more melody on this and the two of us have really pushed ourselves in terms of the musicianship, looking to get the most out of percussion, guitar and vocals. We’re trying to do the best on each and every song, so that might mean Keith playing the keyboard with one hand whilst playing the drums with the other, whatever it takes.
What does the title Welcome To The Cusp refer to?
Our last album was called We Are The Way Forward and that was quite tongue in cheek, so we’ve just moved that idea forward slightly. The idea is that we’re now on the brink, that we’re doing our own thing very much. We enjoy the idea that we exist somewhat on the outside of everything else that’s going on, just working away on our music. We’re living on the edge, very much in an Aerosmith kind of way!
The Giveamanakick sense of humour is very much intact on this record, you’re certainly not afraid to have a bit of fun with your music.
Well we take our music seriously in terms of the songwriting. If we write a song and think it’s not good enough or play it the first time for a live audience and get a bad reaction then we won’t play it ever again. In that sense we’re serious, but at the same time you want to enjoy the music you’re creating and playing. Plus you want it to be enjoyable to listen to. There is a danger that something that is fun for a band to play is not fun to listen to. We definitely do have a sense of humour in what we’re writing, that’s something that you can detect in some of the lyrics rather than musically. Without that sense of humour you just dry up and crack.
What about the wordplay and lyrics on this record, what inspired you?
The album has been recorded and ready since last year. The actual writing period was 2006. I was going through a bit of an angry young man phase then. I was bitter about everything and quite unreasonable. The fact that I knew I was being unreasonable made no difference. I was glad to use these emotions for the lyrics, sometimes it comes across as a little bit spiteful, and everything was annoying me at that stage. Still I was only ever annoyed for about five minutes at a time, just enough time in fact to get a lyric written.
Had you a clear idea what you wanted to achieve when you entered the studio?
Our ideas changed a little bit in the studio, particularly with reference to one or two songs. Certain tracks turned out a little differently to how we’d intended, but we were pleased with those changes. Because we had an extra few days in the studio we were able to do more takes if needs be or perhaps overdub another vocal. Basically we just had the opportunity to ensure that the songs were as good as they could possibly be. Basically it’s just guitar, drums and vocals, apart from the song with keys that is.
You recorded the album after being on tour with The Undertones. What was it like working with them?
Yeah we had the opportunity of playing a lot of the new songs on that tour. The tour was a great experience, 14 nights with some of the nicest men you could possibly meet. They really looked out for us and it was great to see them play live every night too. They had some words of advice for us too, ‘keep going and fuck the begrudgers’.
Interview by Francis Jones
WELCOME TO THE CUSP IS AVAILABLE
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