Interview with O Emperor

ACROSS A Limerick city centre hotel, Waterford band O Emperor are clearly discernible from the business power lunches taking place in the riverside restaurant, five scruffy looking individuals eagerly tucking into fish and chips, huddled around a table, awaiting the arrival of yours truly.
While they clearly stand out among the suits, shirts and ties, the five piece, who have just released one of the albums of the year in Hither Thither, also exude a dynamism and natural confidence in each other’s company, the type of attitude that can only come from years of gigging and touring together.
The fact that they are childhood and school-friends adds to that aura, as they complete each other’s sentences and giggle mercilessly at each other’s answers.

O Emperor are made up of Paul Savage, Richie Walsh, Alan Comerford, Philip Christie and Brendan Fennessy and despite their young age, have produced one of the most assured and anticipated albums of the year - a shoo-in for a Choice Prize nomination and possible win. Boasting a deeply layered sound, mature instrumentation - ringing guitars, shimmering, lush soundscapes and delicate pianos - and songs that namecheck influences as diverse as Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Midlake, The Band and Neil Young; simply put, this is an astonishing piece of work from such a young band.

Not many bands get two opportunities to record their debut album, but then not many bands are of the level that O Emperor have reached in just a few short years.
This band recorded their debut in Kinsale over a six-month period, had it packaged and printed, and then decided to scrap it - using the completed album as a calling card to record companies. A management deal was signed, a contract was secured with Universal Ireland, and the five piece headed back into the studio to re-record some of the original songs, and some newer ones.
There is a palpable sense of relief at finally releasing the much anticipated product.

“Yeah definitely, it has been a long time coming,” says Paul, something of a spokesman for the group.
“It is nice to have an actual body of work out that people can judge - people always ask you what you sound like and you never know what to tell them, at least if you have an album they can listen to it and find out what you are about,” he adds.
Asked if they are happy with the end result, Philip leans in: “We are pretty happy with it. We had a long time to mull it over and get everything that we wanted on it - we would want to be happy at this stage! If we weren't, I don't think we ever would be”.
“It was pretty crucial we get it right this time, because it was last chance really, we couldn't possibly do it a third time. But it was pretty easy to do, it was all done in four weeks,” adds Savage.

However, the experience of recording themselves and then going into a studio to work with an engineer ultimately helped shape this album, the band explain, meaning they almost skipped that ‘first album’ experience that many bands suffer through.
“That kind of helped in the end really, because we had such a good idea of where the songs were going from having all that time to play around with,” says Brendan.
“It definitely wouldn't have happened as easy if we hadn't gone through the process of recording the songs already and gigging them so much,” he adds.

The obvious closeness between the five friends must help as well, certainly given their eery harmonies, which often number five separate parts in a song.
“We all feel the same way about what is a good song, and seem to have the same sort of idea about what we want a song to sound like,” says Brendan.
“We never really thought of doing anything else to be honest. We didn't have an original vision, but once we had a set of songs that all worked together, then we decided to do something with it.”
Paul takes up the baton: “I think everyone needs to be equally as passionate about it; if it gets to any stage when you have a leader and a sideman, people start thinking, what's the point? If it is everyone's collective responsibility, you feel the same and put a lot more into it”.

Brendan adds with a grin: “It helps more in terms of touring. I suppose we are used to playing with each other live, but definitely touring it helps - we know each other too well, we have no qualms telling each other where to go!”

O Emperor play Upstairs in Dolan’s this Saturday night. Hither Thither is on general release.

Album review - O Emperor 'Hither Thither'

O Emperor

‘Hither Thither’

(Universal)

NOT MANY Irish bands get two cracks at the whip when recording their debut album. But then, there are not many Irish bands around as good as Waterford five piece O Emperor, fewer still who have produced a debut album as incredibly confident and assured as this.

Boasting a deeply layered sound, mature instrumentation - ringing guitars, shimmering, lush soundscapes and delicate pianos - and songs that namecheck influences as diverse as Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Midlake, The Band and Neil Young; simply put, this is an astonishing piece of work from such a young band.

Holed up in in a cottage over a period of six months, the fledgling band - all of whom are schoolfriends and went to college together in Cork - recorded their album by their own endeavour, but then wisely allowed an early EP and rapturously received live performances to allow word to spread. As a result, O Emperor were picked up by Universal and decided to go back into the studio to re-record the album over a rapidly quick period, recording new songs and allowing the older ones to develop into fully fledged adults.

The results are stunning.

The soft-core, Radiohead-bass-chug of opener Don Quixote is an immediate eye-opener, vocalist Paul Savage allowing his voice to descend into a Thom Yorke sneer, while the guitars scream in the background.

The unexpectedly delicate piano-based rhythm of the subtle Sedalia is equally as impressive, the band mixing a dash of Syd Barret with more quaint English 1970s folk-rock.

Intertwining three part - at times five-part - vocal harmonies on certain songs, most notably the excellent single Don’t Mind Me, O Emperor effortlessly achieve heights no other Irish band has hit in recent times.

The weirdly spine-tingling and ghostly reverb of the Echo and the Bunnymen influenced Heisenberg is another highlight, as is the simple yet effective Catch-22.

There might not be enough upbeat moments on this album for many listeners, but it is a stunning piece of work, and one which loudly hints at further riches to come from this band.

RATING 4/5

Interview with Paul Savage of O Emperor, who play Dolan's this Friday

ONE OF the most memorable highlights from the recent RTE Other Voices series was an appearance by a little known band hailing from Waterford, who have been quietly going about their business, assembling some cracking tunes and preparing to unleash them on an unsuspecting public.
Of course - we note smugly - we knew all about O Emperor long before they appeared on RTE, with word coming from Waterford and Cork music circles - where the five piece outfit went to college and are based - that this was a band to watch.
A very early gig in January of this year saw the Waterford outfit come to Dolan’s with fellow hotly tipped UK counterparts Sons of Noel and Adrian and Alessi’s Ark, and those that braved the cold were not disappointed by this trio of bands.
O Emperor carry a weight of obvious, if often very simplistic comparisons; vaguely Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear and Radiohead, channelled through the 70s slow burning, soft-core rock of The Band or Neil Young - but blew this reporter away with their performance that cold January night.
Intertwining three part - at times five-part - vocal harmonies on certain songs, most notably forthcoming single Don’t Mind Me, the band displayed off signature rhythms and brooding beats, and a deep multi-layered sound that was so apparent on the debut Persephone EP, and first single Po.
The band are set to release another EP this month, and are gearing up to a full album release in September. Paul Savage, singer with the band, joined City Life for a genial chat recently, with the band fresh from supporting Mumford and Sons in the UK and Ireland.
“They were really great gigs to do, and they were really nice bunch of lads - it was nice for us to play for that crowd,” says Paul, who fronts the band along with school chums Alan Comerford (guitar), Philip Christie (piano), Brendan Fennessy (drums) and Richie Walsh (bass).
“It is just crazy to see a band, of our own age, getting so phenomenally big; it was almost like Beatle-mania when they came on stage. It is crazy to see that, behind the scenes, to see how big someone can get just from one album. It is always nice to see as well - so it gives you some hope that it could be a viable thing to happen,” he laughs.
Paul met the other four members in secondary school, who had all been pals since primary school, and they all decamped to Cork to attend college. Four out of five men studied Music Management and Sound Production courses. Handy then for recording an album, it seems.
“O Emperor first properly began when we left college, about three years ago now,” explains Paul. “Before that we were called different things, but what we were playing before didn't really interest us. We completely scrapped the whole thing, went back to the drawing board, came up with ten songs and renamed the band and pursued that style. That was it.”
He adds: “It is a long story but really it is only happening in the last two years that it is taking off”.
The band recorded the album Hither Thither, but, as they began to send it out and get feedback from music industry people, decide to wait to release it. In the intervening period, new songs were written, which cried out for inclusion. With management sourced and a link-up with Universal secured, O Emperor decided to re-record their debut album, adding new material.
A recent trial trip to a Welsh record studio was scrapped, as the band failed “to gel” with one producer, but have found a happier set-up at a studio in Dublin, and are progressing nicely. However, it is an arduous process at times, Savage admits.
“Obviously re-recording a song is very tedious in itself, it is quite laborious, but it is working quite well this time around,” he says.
“We are working with a good engineer and are working in a nice space in Dublin, and it hasn't been a chore to re-record the old stuff, and it is quite refreshing when you have a bigger studio to work with. We are a lot tighter after a year of playing as well.
“It can work against you sometimes - you can end up imitating what you did originally and it can seem a little forced. It is a tricky thing to do, to get right - but in the end I think it will stand to us.”
O Emperor play Upstairs in Dolan’s this Friday night.

FACTFILE Band: O Emperor
From: Waterford
Members: Paul Savage, Alan Comerford, Philip Christie, Brendan Fennessy and Richie Walsh.
Famous For: Debut single ‘Po’, which was well received, and a recent appearance on RTE’s Other Voices
Releases so far: Persephone EP, Reverie EP (due on April 18)
Website