Hiya Evan, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
Cheers – just a sweet sherry for me thanks!
Thanks for joining us today… Tell us bit about where you are from and how you got into music?
My pleasure! Well I’m a professional musician from a small town in Ireland called Cavan, which is fairly obscure on the world stage but has a pretty storied history and connections when it comes to Irish and more broadly culture in general.
The legendary Pete Briquette – bass player from The Boomtown Rats – comes from Cavan, Percy French, a very influential Irish songwriting from back in the late 18/early 1900s lived in Cavan and it’s also apparently where Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels so not too shabby on the pop culture front haha!
I started out in the music business in a band called The Strypes (all from Cavan too), we were all playing music together since childhood and were about 15/16 when we were signed by Universal Records and sent on that old familiar rock ’n’ rollercoaster of releasing 3 Top 10 albums, touring the world and elsewhere and supporting a lot of legends including Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Stone Roses, Liam Gallagher and more besides!
So I’ve been in the wacky and wild world of showbiz since I was knee-high to a drumstick and The Savage Hearts is the latest chapter, which I embarked on after we decided to call it a day with the old band and I had the good fortune to meet our lead guitarist/singer Darragh Muldoon. We started jamming together on new song ideas and quickly set about putting together a new lineup that would help us get those creative impulses out into the world!
What’s the live music scene like in Cavan right now? Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
The music scene in Cavan is very healthy at the moment, particularly for a small town in Ireland (of which there are many!) it’s always hard getting any sort of music/arts etc type scene to thrive just because it’s such a small catchment area but definitely for at least 10 years now there’s been a lot of great music and musician’s about the place – one to particularly watch out for are Indigo’s Ego, a great band who have recently played some storming homecoming shows and are making great waves at the minute!
Do you think its easy to become a victim of our surrounds sometimes?
Oh yeah, I think it’s very easy depending on your mental state and how vulnerable and/or impervious you are to things that are happening around you and how they do or don’t have an effect.
In literally geographical terms if you’re from a small town it’s very hard to make the desired impact you want or get your music out there unless you move somewhere else, we were lucky in The Strypes that we were plucked from obscurity very early on and could have the best of both worlds which definitely has had a positive impact on the new band too – but on a less literal not the surrounds of a couple of years ago definitely had a big impact on some of the songs that have formed the basis for The Savage Hearts – “Radio Silence”
Our EP title track for instance, was very much influence lyrically by the isolation (both mentally and psychically) of the pandemic years and how too much time along with just you and your own mind can be your own worst enemy if you don’t watch out and keep an eye on yourself!
Whats your favourite social media platform to use and why?
I can’t say I’m particularly partial to any social media platform if I’m honest haha. They’ve definitely done at least as much harm as good to the overall state of human civilisation haha if not more, but at the same time for somebody in our business in particular it is an extraordinarily handy way to reach a broader audience of people that you’d have literally zero access to otherwise. Of all the available platforms I’d say instagram is the handiest one to use, by which I mean I can actually understand vaguely what’s going on haha which I can’t necessarily say for all of them!
We believe its essential to have a presence on Facebook, Instagram and X to introduce yourself to all the different types of audiences out there, what’s your thoughts on that?
When it coms to self-releasing music and building an audience, it is amazing that you can send your work out in the virtual universe of social media and it stands some sort of chance of reaching the ears of people who like it, rather than languishing unlistened and unloved so that one point in social media’s favour at least! It is also a fact of the modern way of promotion that having a bit of a presence on a lot of those things (barring X in my view, wouldn’t touch it with a 10ft. gigabyte!) is key as there’s always the possibility of an untapped demographic or audience that could enjoy your stuff via one platform and not the other.
What’s your view on the Music industry today?
Fairly similar to the world of social media I’d say! The mainstream music industry as a whole isn’t something I’m particularly keen on, quite the opposite but one of the good things about the current state of affairs is that it’s never been easier for aspiring or independent musicians to get music out in the world and connect with potential audiences, and there’s definitely loads of great music being made and people who really want to work to get the good stuff out there, but on the other you definitely have to search out quality more and there’s a hell of a lot of bullshit that we definitely try our hardest to avoid, and make sure passion and authenticity is at the forefront of everything we do!
Whats the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
That if it ever comes to a stage where what you’re doing with music isn’t for your own enjoyment and satisfaction, then you’re doing something wrong!
What’s currently in your ears and on rotation at the moment?
The Move, The Coral, The Lemon Twigs, Brinsley Schwarz, Twin Peaks, The Redwalls and many many more!!
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
With pleasure! Our first full-length EP “Radio Silence” is out now and features all our various myriad influences distilled into the purest hit of Savage Hearts-ness yet witnessed by mankind! Garage rock, R&B, soul, rockabilly, psychedelia, it’s all in there you just gotta look in the right place, i.e. the EP itself, and give it a listen!
What was the recording process like?
We recorded the EP in an amazing studio in Dublin called Darklands Audio, run/founded/engineered by a great friend of ours called Dan Doherty, who’s done lot of great work from the early Fontaines DC to the soundtrack of the Elvis movie from a few years ago! He’s a top engineer and producer and we just gelled perfectly in the studio trying to get the lively, raw vibe of the band laid down, starting with live takes and embellishing from there with brass arrangements, harmonies etc without losing the energy and feel that we began the session with!
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
Nothing and everything – which is how every musician feels I think haha!
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
We’ll be bringing more new music to your ears and possibility even visiting a town near you as soon as possible! So follow savageheartsband on Instagram, Facebook etc for more and remember…EDDIE CRUIZER RULES O. K.!
FOLLOW THE BAND HERE
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