Interview with the Hovercraft Pirates: 21st March 2009
Interviewer: Siân Jennifer Smith (SJS)
Interviewees: Hovercraft Pirates - Paul Blue (PB), Dan Sharkey (DS) & Conall OhArtghaile (CO)
SJS: Let’s start at the beginning: how did the Hovercraft Pirates start?
PB: It started off a few years ago with me, you [to Dan] & Andy
DS: We were just making up songs in my bedroom
PB: That’ll sound so bad drunk!
DS: We used to just make them up on the spot... and make fun of my mum!
PB: We did that quite a bit as well! No but seriously, uh, fuck was it 3 years back!? This is the 3 years fucking anniversary! Basically it started 3 years to this month!
SJS: What made you want to get into music?
CO: We come from really small crap towns; we had nothing else to do!
DS: Yeah exactly, music was the only interesting thing
PB: I grew up with classic rock, like Zeppelin, Rush, everything like that... I was taken to see Page and Plant.
CO: Name dropping! I had an hour’s bus journey every day so just listened to music... it went from there I think. I dunno, it started years and years ago. I had a band called the Bloodshots and we needed another guitarist
PB: & a singer!
CO: They didn’t tell him he was going to sing.
PB: I was never meant to be a singer; I could not sing for shit! I was an awful singer. Then it was just about when the Hovercraft Pirates’ first EP came out Neal our producer pushed me to sing and he kind of found me a voice. I couldn’t copy anybody because my voice isn’t suited to copying.
CO: We’ve always had a problem with the bassist, no offence Dan!
PB: Dan’s been here the longest... apart from Adam
CO: And Molly...!
DS: I’ve been here for nearly a year
PB: Dan hasn’t actually recorded anything yet!
DS: I have actually! I recorded on the new track!
PB: Which is unreleased! Shh! Hush hush! Secret exclusive!!
SJS: So how did you all meet?
All: School!
PB: I didn’t really speak to Conall at school though and I didn’t like Dan!
CO: I used to beat Paul up
PB: I never remember you beating me up! You told me once when we were drunk that you used to beat me up!
CO: I used to beat everyone up!
PB: Me & Dan had a band together, that’s how I met Dan properly. I saw him playing Smoke on the Water in a bar & was like ‘wow that guy can play Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple! I want him in my band!’ I saw you [Dan] in Burger King – that’s when we talked about the whole band thing. Also Conall was playing a gig; I was speaking to you [Conall] and your bassist afterwards and I was really drunk.
SJS: So you pretty much stole members from everybody else’s bands?
PB: Pretty much! That’s how bands start, isn’t it? Process of selection!
CO: It’s not selection when you take anyone who’s willing to play!
SJS: Where did the band name come from?
PB: I called an insurance company to see if I could get insurance for a hovercraft... normal people can’t get insurance on a hovercraft, so we’d have to be pirates to have one!
DS: We wrote a song about it! Hovercrafts... and jet skis....
PB: What’s that got to do with our name?
DS: It went *sings* “Jet skis are crap, pirates are real, we sail across the seven seas”. That was a long time ago!
SJS: That’s really impressive! (laughs)
PB: We use a different story each time, but that’s the true one!
SJS: Do you think there’s been any particular event that has launched you from another “unknown” to a band whose songs are played all over the world?
CO: The thing that set us above the rest of the bands...
PB: Oh! The reason why we’re the best band in the world...!
CO: The recording, definitely. Before we recorded, we didn’t have direction, we just played music. Thank God for our producer!
PB: He found our own sound that was already there but we didn’t know which direction we should’ve been heading. He was fucking great.
CO: A lot of people expect us to say the Warped tour. You listen to it as you’re growing up then you play it and you’re like, sweet! It doesn’t make a big difference to your career but it gets a lot of people asking about it. It was a personal achievement.
SJS: What kind of music influences your sound?
CO: We have a very odd taste in music as a group!
PB: Refused is probably my favourite band. I really like hardcore punk... it’s kinda weird because our stuff isn’t that hardcore, but I’m really into the old hardcore punk.
CO: Paul likes Nelly and Akon and Sean Kingston!
PB: Sean Kingston is fucking awesome!
*Paul and Dan simultaneously burst into a rendition of Beautiful Girls*
CO: I really like old Genesis...
DS: I think that maybe influenced the new track a wee bit. We’ve put a lot more layers into it. It helped us to think outside the box.
CO: But in answer to your question, our main influences are Refused, Rancid, Bad Religion – that kind of style music
DS: I listened to Meatloaf from a very young age.
CO: That’s why you look so much like him (laughs)!
SJS: If you could collaborate with anybody, dead or alive, who would it be?
CO: Mr. Bradley Nowell God rest his soul; lead singer of Sublime. I could just sit back and watch him. He’s pretty much everything that music should be. He’s all about the fun side and having a good time.
DS: Jimmy Hendrix!
PB: I’d like to sing with him.
DS: Ray Charles would be cool to play with! Ray Charles, Jimmy, Refused
SJS: Moving on to your songs, a lot of them are about freedom and self-belief. Is that something that’s particularly important to you?
PB: When you’re stuck in Northern Ireland it is (laughs)!
DS: It is or you just get depressed!
PB: The main reason for that was I want to create music that changes people’s mindset. So many bands these days are about hate or peace; it’s kind of like a growing issue. If everyone looked out for themselves and for each other then these issues wouldn’t matter. Music has an influence; that’s why I want to make songs that make people feel maybe a little bit more confident and as if they could take on the world.
SJS: Which of your songs is most personal to you?
PB: Probably Happy/Free. Most people don’t get the lyrics; they mean a lot to me.
DS: Dreams... it’s poetic; it gets me in the heart.
PB: A lot of people think Happy/Free is such a happy song but in reality it’s quite a sad song. It’s all about too much freedom, having too much of something and kinda getting used to it. It’s not a good thing to have too much of it, if that makes sense.
DS: This amp goes to 11!
CO: Sounded like you were having a wee Spinal Tap moment to yourself there!
PB: *in a dodgy English accent* It’s a lot deeper than people realise. It’s a complex situation from my past where really a lot of things are incorporated into the musicianship. If you think about it, it’s not just about life itself but as eternity as a whole. Where do we go from here and where have we been, as are the words of the song. I forgot where I came from, I forget where I’ve been. That basically sums it up...
DS: We get it, we get it!
CO: Rica’s a good song! Happy/Free means a lot but Rica’s about our music really, isn’t it. It’s an anthem.
SJS: What has been the band’s biggest achievement to date?
CO: The Warped tour. It’s something we grew up with and had the compilation CD’s and then actually playing it... sweet!
PB: The biggest achievement for me is getting over my fear of people and the world. I don’t like people, it’s hard for me. If I could play and then walk away that’d be amazing. I’ve always had a problem with everything else in-between.
SJS: On the flipside, what’s the most embarrassing experience?
PB: There was a time in Edinburgh we were on tour with 2 other bands. They didn’t even mention us on their advertising so nobody knew we were there. I broke a string on my guitar, he [Conall] panicked and played too fast, I had to rap... fucking memorable!
SJS: What’s on the horizon for the Hovercrafts?
PB: We’ve got quite a lot on: we’re shooting a music video at the end of the tour, we’ve recorded new material. We’ve got a new single, Addictions. We’ve got some press lined up and stuff like that. Hopefully get a new album or maybe EP out soon. Depends which way it goes. Pretty much taking over the world!
SJS: To finish up, tell me 1 random thing about yourself
PB: *pointing to the tattoo on his forearm* I’m a chickenfucker! It says it on my arm!
DS: I do feel that I was sent here by a higher divine force to fuck with you all....
PB: I also feel that Dan has been sent, not by a divine force, but by a fucking drunken one, to confuse the hell out of everyone because nobody ever understands what he’s talking about! (laughs)
CO: I still use the same drum kit that I first bought. That’s it... better than Dan’s divine person from above thing
PB: I hate sharks... I fucking hate sharks!
DS: You did face your fear! We went to an aquarium and there was a big tunnel, where there was a big shark. He really bricked himself!
PB: ...& Dan has really fucking smelly feet! The last few times we’ve been in hotels he’s taken his shoes off and we’ve had to put his feet out the window
CO: Your feet do stink... they are awful, man!
PB: That’s Dan’s random fact! You know when they fucking torture people and cut their arms off and shit.... they put screwdrivers up their nails and they won’t talk... they need to use Dan’s feet!
SJS: Thanks very much guys... do you have anything else to say to finish up?
CO: Thanks!
DS: This isn’t goodbye... it’s just... hello!
PB: Hopefully we’ll make some money out of this and we’ll go and live in a forest in Japan... we can watch little monkeys in the forest while eating breakfast!
SJS: Little monkey fetish going on there?
CO: Oh yeah he does! (laughs)
PB: What else would you like to watch walk around? Like, lions and tigers and bears....
CO: You don’t get Japanese lions, tigers and bears.
All: Lions tigers and bears, oh my!
SJS: (laughs) I never thought I’d hear a rock band quoting the Wizard of Oz! Thanks guys!