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Current mood:  blessed Category: Music
Sue from Series 8 has caught up with Liam McKahey on email and secured this exclusive interview.
Firstly Liam shares the ideas behind his new solo album 'Lonely Road' with a track by track insight..........
Lonely Road.... My favourite song on the album hence the album title.....I was out drinking one night with a mate who had a mate of his along who happened to be a music publisher. It was in my best interests to get along with this fella but as we were walking down some street in the west end a young homeless guy who was sitting on the pavement asked us for some spare change. This publisher guy told him rather aggressively to get a job - well, a massive argument ensued between myself and this sanctimonious arsehole and the song was born. It staggers me how quickly we make judgements about people without considering their story.....Needless to say I didn’t get a publishing deal.Unheeded Tidings... I wrote the words for that song when we were on holidays in Australia many years ago, there was drought happening at the time and I was struck with how harsh and beautiful the landscape was. That coupled with a penchant for western melodrama and the music came a week or two before we recorded the album.Inscription... Heroin, addiction, the indelible mark it leaves physically and mentally.
Clyde... My Dad died five years ago and I wrote a couple of songs when it happened. The first was called Sadness, which was on the last Cousteau album and the other was Clyde. My old fella was a Glaswegian,hence Clyde.
Lovers and Fools... Just a song influenced by Lee Hazlewood and the like, not that I would for one minute compare it to anything the great man had written.
Blackwater Pass... A bit creepy this, I overheard a conversation on a building site, and let's just say it is based on a story of a paedophile who was killed and buried by one of his victims, cheery stuff.
Serafina...Again like Lovers and fools.
Fire... I realised when we finished this album it is mostly about Heroin and death, this song is about Heroin.
Listen... About those people who have so much talent and so much to offer but spiral out of control and up their own ass because they don't listen to the people who love them or can help them.
John Henry's Eve...A song about and for my kids, Cormac John Henry and Scarlett Eve, simple as that.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sue - You describe your musicians -'The Bodies' on the album as a group of friends - tell us more about them, how did they become involved in the album?
Liam - My wife and I decided to move to Australia a couple of years ago. I realised that if I was going to record all these songs I had in my head that then was the time to do it. I asked my friend Blair Jollands, who is an amazing Singer, musician, producer, song writer etc to produce and play/sing on my solo album, which he did. I then asked Robin Brown to play lead guitar, a no brainer really, On acoustic/rhythm and sometimes electric guitar I asked the wonderful Tom Clues, on Bass I got my old friend Denny Pooley, we played together in a band called Blackwood many years ago. I asked the then Drummer of the Thin Men, Cymon Reid, to come on board and that was the line up.....Guest musicians include Joe Peet on violin and Djembe, Eamon Flynn on Mandolin,Renee Louise Carafice dueted on Blackwater pass, she is a New Zealand singer living in Chicago,I had not met her before; she came into the studio to see Nick Abbott who was engineering the session. We were playing BP at the time and she liked it; I asked her to duet and she got it in one take, very impressive. Neil Henderson and Kirsa Wilkenschildt who were in Copenhagen played percussion, and Hutch, who also played in Copenhagen played trumpet.
Sue- 4 days to record an album is very quick but the results are really stunning, you must have been pleased?
Liam - 12 tracks I think it was, yes, I was very pleased. The guys and girls playing on this album are really very good and did a sterling job,there was so much good will around the session that it was hard to miss. I can’t remember having a better time playing music.
Sue- How did the artwork come about, I see there is more artistic talent in the McKahey family?Liam - Yeah, my older brother painted it and I love that particular piece, it fits the album so well I think.
Sue -For obvious reasons you have comparisons vocally with Scott Walker and it is well documented that you take that as a compliment, some tracks on your solo album have a Nick Cave feel too. Do you like descriptions like'crooner' or would you describe your sound differently?
Liam -I am a huge Nick Cave fan and always have been, the same goes for Scott walker so I guess it is going to leave its mark on what I do. If I really try I can do a really good impersonation of SW so I might just do that some day, I never tried to imitate his voice, we are both baritones and have a similar timbre I guess, but I am no Scott Walker,the man is a god.....
I love being called a crooner, I take it as a huge compliment, I think it was more deserved with the kind of music Cousteau played though.....
Sue-Please explain for the readers how you ended up releasing your solo record on the Series 8 label?....Liam-I recorded Lonely Road on a whim really, without giving much thought to how I was going to release it and with who, living in a new country didn't help, I didn't have a band or have any connections in Australia. I found Series 8 on myspace. I had known Trevor from his Global warming label years ago, he released the first Cousteau album. We had a lot of record company interest at the time but nobody would take the plunge. Anyway Trevor stepped in and said yeah let's do it. I remember at the time we were all impressed with how laid back he was and just how easy he made the whole process. The album started selling, a major label Palm Pictures stepped in and we had ourselves a career. When I found series8 on myspace I talked with Trevor and just like before he said yeah let's do it, the same laid back easy process began. I consider myself very lucky, if it hadn't been for series8 I think I would have had a hard time getting the album released, being managerless in a new country without a band isn't exactly a good starting point.....
Sue-Did you expect that first Cousteau album to go on and achieve the critical acclaim that it did? It must have been an exciting time?....
Liam -Musically it was the most exciting time in my life. I knew immediately that it was a special album, the songs, the musicians, all of it was completely different and on another level to what I had done before. I recently said in a radio interview that the other bands I had been in prior to Cousteau had not been as good or the musicians were not as good, I think that is a bit unfair and a bit disrespectful: I have played with some amazing people prior to Cousteau, but I guess what I was trying to say was that with Cousteau so many elements and factors were in exactly the right place, everything was ready from the lyrics to the suits.....
Sue -You have some loyal fans from the Cousteau days, from varying parts of the Globe, what has been the feedback so far from them regarding your solo work?
Liam -It has been great; I expected it to be mixed, as it is a different animal from what Cousteau was, but it has been very positiv
Sue -What do you think about the likes of myspace for finding new music and reaching a new audience with your own? and what would you say to people who use the ripping software to steal tracks or who get illegal downloads? Liam-I love Myspace; I have found so much cool music and met some great people. I have a couple of musical projects on the go at the moment all done and conceived through myspace. To make music with people without ever having met them is mind blowing to me, I love it. As for the illegal download thing, I don't know how you solve the problem really? I think it is human nature to take something for free if it is available, yes ethically it is wrong but if I am being honest I have done it myself in the past and I am sure most people do...
Sue-What music are you listening to at the moment, is there a particular band or artist you always go back to and why?....
Liam-Hank Williams and Marty Robbins at the moment, I just love country music and seem to be more drawn to it the older I get. The Good the Bad and the Queen album has left a huge impression on me, I still listen to it all the time, genius. Damon Albarn is such a clever so and so. I found an Italian band on Myspace called Dead cat in a bag, brilliant stuff. I am also really digging Lucky Jim as well.....
Sue-Lastly, do you have more of your own music in the pipeline, are you still writing and do you have musicians around you in Australia, what can we expect from Liam McKahey in the future?....
Liam-I have found three fantastic musicians and just need two more to start gigging again, it has been a long haul but worth the wait. I am still writing and loving it.....
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One reviewer writes, "'Lonely Road' is absolutely lovely. It is a joy to have Liam McKahey back".
I quite agree and would like to thank Liam for kindly sharing with us.
:o)
Liam McKahey and The Bodies 'Lonely Road' out on Series 8 Records 20th April 2009
Catalogue number SER007CD
www.series8records.co.uk
![]() | Currently listening:
Lonely Road
By Liam Mckahey
Release date: 2009-04-20 |
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3:09 PM
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