Single Review, Diamond, Elder Roche

Interview / Elder Roche

POSTED ON 04.26.09 TO FEATURES BY TRISH.

Interview by: Trish Keenan

I stumbled upon Elder Roche on MySpace one day and was decidedly impressed with his unique blend of roots. Coincidently I heard from his PR company soon after, announcing the release of his new single. So, in line with the release of “Diamond” we met up with Elder Roche for a chat. He has been compared to Tom Waits and lists him as one of his influences “You’re always going to be veined into a genre. I don’t have any choice; it’s the way I write. I do like Tom Waits and I try not to listen to him purely for that reason, because I know I’m very similar to the way he writes. Naturally similar outlooks, I try not to be inspired by him, it’s very hard though”. Although the Tom Waits sound is apparent in some of his songs Elder has a unique style of his own “I don’t really see it as an aim towards anything, I have tried to give it up on numerous occasions, but that flickering flame that continuous to burn inside just refuses to be gutted, so I have to pursue it. It’s either that or insanity” he laughs. He has a very relaxing persona, which always makes for a good interview. His new single came out on Friday April 24th and he has an ever-growing line-up of gigs coming up over the summer months. His new single has been lyrically compared to “Grounds of Divorce” and ironically enough he hasn’t even heard the album, but is a long time fan of Elbow. “My favourite song writer of all time is Fergus O’Farrell, who is the impetus behind The Hothouse Flowers, Glen Hansard and The Frames and such. He would be my favourite song writer of all time and he is very much not in the foreground but inspires a lot of people who would be in the foreground, he’s just absolutely amazing”. 

Being compared lyrically to Elbow is no mean feat, so what does Elder have to say about their new album “I try not to listen to too much music while I’m writing. I just came back from California, I spent 3 months over there basically hiding away in Northern California in a little tiny caravan in the Redwood Forests writing for my second album. So I have to get back into the swing of listening to music again”. So how did he feel the first album was received? “It’s a grower. People seem to like it on the road, it seems to be a nice road album and I’m very happy with the fact that a lot of people tend to dislike it at the start but the more they listen to it the more they like it, which to me is the best type of album, because you’re never going to get sick of it”. The style of the second album, according to Elder, will depend on the type of producer he gets in; he feels his ideas need to be grounded by somebody. “The ideas that the songs give me in my head will be generally a bit more rock, a bit more soundscapey, but I want to keep the roots going as well.” 

So with the new single and the second album, we are set to welcome some great roots music to the Irish scene. “There are some older songs that I’ve been working on that I’ve been recreating to suit me now. I’m sort of exploring the lower sounds and leaving the higher sounds to instruments or other vocals”. He has toured with Damien Dempsey in Ireland. “Damien was the first person that got me up singing live. I met him over in Peters Pub, I was just a big heap of nerves. I had my little blue book of song and my guitar and he said come on down to the international and play a song. I thought no way am I doing that, not with you! It ended up that Damien Rice was singing, Paddy Casey, Luka Bloom and luckily I didn’t know any of them, otherwise I would have been a complete mess. As it was I was so nervous that I brought my little book of lyrics up with me, because I was so afraid I was going to forget them,” he said laughing. 

So far he’s been compared to some amazing talents so where does the inspiration behind his songs come from? “I personally don’t tell stories behind the songs, there are stories within every single lyric within every single song. But I personally don’t because and I deliberately write in such a way that it allows people to experience themselves in the songs and if I tell them my story I think it takes away from other peoples’ stories and I want people to have their own tales and experiences within the songs. I would say there is a very strong undertow of hope, even when people become completely hopeless, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. There is always a push for people to be stronger within themselves to get through the shit, because everybody experiences it. I don’t know what the saying is” he tries to recall the Oscar Wilde saying “We are all in the gutters but some of us are looking at the stars”. Naturally neither of us can think of it at the time! “But I really truly believe that and sometimes you just need to feel that somebody else is listening and somebody else understands how hopeless things can be in order for you to get that strength from that and that’s what I try and do”. 

Before I could let him go, I had to ask about his unusual name “I used to be very into Wicca and old Occultism and ancient spirituality like Celtic Lore. The Celtics really believed that the elder tree signified the cycle of life and death. It has a huge amount of medicinal properties. The Hazel branch would have been what witches flew on, it would have been their basic transportation in other countries. While in Ireland for example the elder tree would have been the tree of significance for the spiritual realm. The reason why I use it is because, to me it signifies the underdog. Somebody who has something to say, somebody who has something to offer but is just cut down and deemed as an undergrowth tree. Something that is cut down and forgotten and not used in anyway”.

Have a listen to the new single and other songs by Elder Roche on his MySpace.Meath Event Guide