Hiya folks thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today, grab a brew and take a seat.
What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
Ever since we were young, we have either been listening to, playing, or creating music. Tommy – “My parents are huge music fans, especially my Mam, she has a massive tape and CD collection and was always showing me her favorite bands when I was a child, then as a teenager, I spent any free time watching Kerrang and finding my own music”
Danny – “My parents were a huge influence on me musically and they are the reason i am so interested in it”
Colin “Similar to the lads, it was a mix of watching Kerrang growing up and my family influencing me, especially my older brother who was a self-taught bassist. When he bought himself a new bass, I picked up his old one and never put it down since.”
Introduce us to all of the members and your musical history.
Colin – “Danny and Tommy have been playing music together since they were in their early teens, whether they were playing music in their home or the local pub. A few years later I heard they were on the hunt for a new member, I got word of this and caught them at Tommy’s school play and the rest is history”.
Name me your 3 favorite Albums.
This is a tough one as each band member has varying music tastes, our 3 collective favorite albums are Noonday Dream, Meteora and Blink-182 self-titled.
What was the first song you heard that steered you into a music path?
This is a very similar topic where each of us have fairly different music tastes but Tommy’s was – The best of you (foo fighters), Colins was -a little piece of heaven (avenged sevenfold) and Danny’s was – where the streets have no name (U2)
I’m seeing a lot of debate about women not feeling safe at music gigs, any thoughts on what we need to do to help?
We think there should be a lot more awareness around spiking and staying safe at different social events. We ourselves try to make the night as enjoyable as possible for everyone in the crowd and emphasise the importance of looking out for one another.
As you develop as an artist and develop using socials what ways do you get new ears on your music? Any tips?
It’s all about being consistent these days with everything you do. We are constantly posting on all of our socials, it does get tiring, but you do see the fruit of your labour after a while although be it small.
There are tonnes of “quick 5 tips to success” out there online but the truth is just to have solid content and be true to yourself and genuine.
Tell us Two truths and a lie about you.
Our song Palindrome really is a palindrome that has a secret message when played backwards.
Danny has shared the stage with Jared Leto.
We had the first crowd surf moment of Electric Picnic 2022.
What’s your thought on Spotify’s monopoly on the music industry?
Spotifys contribution to the music industry can be seen as both a blessing and a curse. It is way easier to find new music and cost-effective for the listener and gives a band an opportunity to broaden its listeners. However, it has completely oversaturated the market and destroyed the physical music industry.
It’s nice to see new companies start to emerge with the idea of tackling this monopoly, such as Dublin-based Minm, but they have a long road to go against this corporate giant.
Do you sign up for any conspiracy theories?
Hell no…
Did you buy anything you don’t need during the pandemic?
A Nintendo Switch, but I regret nothing.
What was the worst experience on stage?
One time we were playing a gig back home in Waterford where the catering was provided. Colin helped himself to a bit too much of the food before the set and midway through a song had to drop his instrument and run to the bathroom to get sick. The rest of us managed to carry on wondering what the hell had happened.
Tell us something about you / each member that you think people would be surprised about.
Danny can ride a unicycle.
Colin can solve a Rubik’s cube in under 50 seconds.
Tommy is a biomedical physicist.
What makes you stand out as a band?
We don’t think we sound like any other bands out there at the moment, a lot of people struggle to compare us to other artists. We always try to establish a strong connection with our crowds during our live shows, we envision it as the murmuration phenomenon.
I hear you have new music, what can you tell us about it.
‘Portals’ is our next EP set for release on May 5th, we’re very excited for this one to come out as we feel it’s our strongest work to date. The tracks within this embody the core sound of Under Starling, we’re quite proud of it.
Nazare, the second track on the EP, is a song that many people who have seen us live within the last few months have been begging for its release. This was originally planned to be a 5 track EP also, so there’s a song that didn’t quite make the cut. You can keep an eye out for that one later in 2023.
Talk me through the thought process of the new tune/s.
All of our songs tend to be quite serendipitous, not a lot of “right, let’s make a new song” actually happens. It’s more so the songs come to us at random moments or when we’re jamming away in the band room.
What was the recording process like?
This is the first full body of work we did with our new producer, Christian Best. He helped shape the songs into their best versions and showed us a couple of tips and tricks along the way to benefit our songwriting going forward. It was primarily recorded in his studio, Monique Recording Studios, but the final track ‘Coraline’ was actually recorded from our new home. Overall a pretty smooth recording process for this EP.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
Our songs can be written through many different methods but the most common would be Danny brings a melody or riff to the band and we work out the rest of the song or it is created through a jam at practice, but I think one of the biggest learning curves was finding a balance between allowing each members creative control over their parts while also doing what is best for the song.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
We were very happy with how all the songs turned out and wouldn’t change a thing. We just hope all of our fans enjoy them too.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
We hope you enjoy the new EP “Portals” and there will be a lot more music to come from Under Starling, so don’t forget the name as you will start to see us pop up more and more.
WEBSITE HERE