Noise Control Interview
 

What is the name of your forth coming debut album? Is there any particular story or reason for that name?
Our album out in March 2009 is still untitled. We have a few options but undecided while we argue it out at rehearsals, we're pretty sure it wont be self titled and we were thinking of "We are Olympians" but hey who knows.

What are you most looking forward to in the coming year?
We're playing a lot in London over the next couple of month's, off the back of our first UK single release, and Its the first time the band has played there so really looking forward to it. We always enjoy touring so were looking forward to 2009- and the release of our album.

What are your favourite bars / places to go to in Dublin? New bars seem to open every week in Dublin. Recently a venue 'The Button Factory' in Temple Bar has sprung up and is really setting the standard, absolutely first class sound system for music, plush, decadent - all the things that ain't some old bar in the middle of nowhere, but who says which is better, at this moment the best street to go and hang out is on South William st, it has good clubs, food and bars!

Do you have a favourite venue or city that you are particularly interested in visiting again?
We are playing the Hope and Anchor in London next month. The pub has hosted many heroic bands from the 70's and 80's like the Sex pistols and Joy Division. When we were on tour with The Prodigy the Odyssey arena in Belfast was incredible, the people were just so into being there, it could have been anyone supporting, for the sheer enthusiasm we would like to play the Odyssey arena in Belfast again.

How did the band start?
Really by complete chance, our bass player and drummer had just returned to Dublin from 5 yrs in NYC, while on the other side of the world in Sydney our guitarist Kevin was also making his way home, Bobby and I were here in Dublin working on various music projects. On their return our bass player (eager to start something) started Noise Control. When he managed to get a gig, with a phantom band, the rest had to really fall together quickly, we were all soon drafted in and six weeks later with a support to Basement Jaxx and Underworld the fun started.....

What was your first song? Also, who is the main songwriter in the band?
Our first song is a track called 'Our Life'. We all contribute to song writing. Songs normally come together over a few rehearsals. Someone will come in with a riff, then we'll go home and program some electronic sounds and form a framework for the song. Then the next time we play it we push it out further and gradually it begins to take shape. 'Our Life' was three years in the making from start to finish so it will give you a fair idea of how concept to finished track can be a real struggle- but worth every minute!

What kind of pranks/antics have you pulled on other bands you have toured with?
To be quite honest nothing has really been done at this point but watch out if you are on tour with NC we have a few pranks up our sleeve's i.e:

• unscrew the shower head and put a lifesaver candy (the sweet fruit flavored kind not the mint) inside. then screw it back on. when someone tries to take a shower they wont notice anything until they dry off then they'll be all sticky. then watch them go back in the shower to rinse and come out again sticky. it's funny! If you're really short on time just rub lotion on someones door/closet/dresser etc. it can stay there for months and it'll still be slippery.

Do you guys have rituals before or after shows?
Me and Bobby like to go off into a quite corner somewhere and shout our heads off in a sort of chant that both chills us out and is a good voice exercise, its some kind of African fighting chant that we made up and we find it goes through the octaves. You try it- ...zum buy aye, zum bye ay ya ya ya yo, zum bye aye zum by ay ya ya ya yo.

For all our tech geeks out there can you let us all know a little more about your current stage setup?
We've got Drums, Bass, 2 Guitars, Keyboards, Lead Vox and 2 BV's. We can use around 24 channels depending on the venue and as many monitor mixes as possible. We put a lot of effort and time into our live sound and often check out the venue before hand and if needs be, ship in a more beefy P.A. If there's enough room on the desk we'll beef up the sound even more by double micing guitar amps etc.

What genre would you consider yourselves?
Our Myspace says, Rock / Electro / Experimental. I think that's pretty close to our genre.. we could be pigeon holed but to be honest people have a right hard time trying to do so. We all have such varied taste's- from Apex Twin to Led Zeppelin. We just try to take rock music and give it our own twist..

How did it feel to supporting Prodigy?
It was really a humbling experience for all of us, we were always saying to each other at the beginning, that The Prodigy would be amazing to play with. Then to be given the Irish tour, it was out of this world! We sent our 4 track demo to Liam Howlett through a friend and bypassed the MCD lot over here which we have never been forgiven for!! Ah well we think it was worth it. The first night was a nightmare in Dublin- no sound check and a hostile "who are you crowd" but we won them over! The next 2 night's the crew looked after us so well, and we finished with two memorable shows in Belfast and Cork.

Check out Noise Control here:
MySpace.com - Noise Control - Dublin, IE - Rock / Electronica / Experimental - www.myspace.com/noisecontrol4real