Sam Fogarino (Interpol) Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys) Dominic
Howard (Muse) and Ralph Rolle (Chic) are drummers that I have huge respect for.
Irish drummers like Paul Kenny (Columbia Mills/ James Vincent McMorrow) and
Stephen O’Brien (Brian Deady) are also fantastic musicians to watch and learn
from.
What is your drum gear setup?
I use DW PDP M5 maple shells with Pearl hardware. I’ve a 22”
kick, 12” rack and 14” floor. I’ve always loved Zildjian cymbals and have a
Zildjian K Series 20” Ride, 18” and 16” dark thin crashes with beautiful 14”
hats. I’ve recently added the Roland SPD-SX sample pad to my rig and have been
introducing it into our live sets a bit more and experimenting with it in the rehearsal room like it’s a new toy.
Favourite albums or songs?
There are a lot of favourite albums but the stand-outs have to
be REM’s ‘Out of Time’ and ‘The Queen is Dead’ by The Smiths. Those would
definitely be listened to on repeat!
Besides them, some favourite songs, to name a few, would be:
The Smiths – Still Ill
REM – Bad Day
Arctic Monkeys – 505
Morrissey – November Spawned A Monster
Radiohead – Let Down
David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes
I was given a drum set when I was 7 years old and at that time I
spent more time looking at them in awe rather than actually playing them! But
when I turned 8 and 9 I began to drum more and more. My brother, Kevin, got a
guitar at the same time so we began to jam together and eventually formed a band.
Since then we’ve been playing together in different bands until myself, Kevin
and DD Foley formed Deep Sky Objects.
Current or upcoming projects for DSO?
We released our debut self-titled EP ‘Deep Sky Objects’ almost a
year ago and since then we’ve released a single ‘This City’s at War’ in early
2018. We’ve spent some time in the studio recording some more singles, one of
which will be released in July. In the meantime, we are gigging like crazy
around the country and playing some festivals like Indiependence in the summer.
We also have some exciting announcements coming in the winter so keep an eye
out for that!
Advice to anyone getting involved in music here in Ireland.
The Irish music industry has bloomed over the past few years.
Irish bands are among the best in the world so it’s very encouraging for Irish
musicians starting off today. What I would say is try and reach as many people
and gather as much exposure as possible, in other words gig, gig, gig!
Photo credits to Jack Deacon and Daniel Brohan