13 Déc INTERVIEW — Cardinals, a family business

A few hours before their firs ever gig in Paris, we chatted with Cardinals, the five guys from the new indie rock sensation from Cork, Ireland.

Can you introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to start music and how you met ?

Euan : Finn is my brother, and Dara is a cousin. So we’re all Mannings. So that’s how we know each other. I met the two lads and we all met in school in the same class, but maybe we were 16 when we started playing music together. Just the three of us. We hadn’t seen Dara in a while, so we met him at a  christening and Dara was studying drums at college. He was more into avant garde kind of drumming jazz and stuff. He played in a lot of marching bands, but he was kind of getting more into rock and roll music so he started playing with us as well two years ago.
Finn : I came in as well one day with my accordion and I stuck around there.

You didn’t start by playing in your family?

Euan: Finn and I used to play music together but we used to fight a lot as kids about music. He was more Tupac and I was more Biggie.

So how did you decide to include accordion in a rock band?

Euan: I dunno. We wrote Roseland and that sounded like it should have accordion. 
Finn: Well, they asked me to play accordion and then I did kind of like that texture, that sound, the accordion. It’s like Parisian accordion. I love the Amelie [Poulain] soundtrack. It’s a romantic instrument, traditional, but played in somewhat of a contemporary style. It kind of gives nods back to how we started playing music as well, I guess. 

If your influences were Tupac and Biggie, what led you to the Cardinals and the accordion?

Euan :  We tried rapping, we weren’t very good, so it was rock and roll instead. The Nirvana arc I think happened to us. It’s funny though because like those rap songs like Tupac and Biggie and in Nirvana kind of make you feel the same way to a degree, you know? It’s a bit angsty. The attitude is there throughout all that music. So, we flipped a coin one day and went with rock music.

What are your other influences in your music today?

Cardinals : It’s different for all of us. We always take influence from film particularly. We like The Velvet Underground and stuff like that. It’s like very like influential sort of bands, I suppose that we just like Irish music as well. Like in Cork you have like Rory Gallagher and then other Irish band, like Thin Lizzie. And writers like Shane McGowan [The Pogues] and that whole literary musical scene, that’s really important. Irish storytelling I suppose.

Why do you think there are so many Irish band coming to Europe right now ? 

Cardinals : We were talking about that, they’ve always been around. We’re naturally very artistic people ! But not so much at crossing borders. And maybe now it’s been more accessible for Irish bands to leave Ireland and get out into the world. There’s always been great music in Ireland. I think people are maybe just attracted to it now, especially in the UK. There seems to be some kind of fetishization of Irish culture to a certain extent, the post-Fontaines D.C. effect ! They owe it to us, though. I think that’s definitely why there’s the boom right now. Ireland has always been full of brilliant writers. We always have to export our art out of Ireland because Ireland’s too small. There’s no industry in Ireland either, no labels funding, not many management companies or anything. It used to be all about fishing and farming and now it’s about Facebook, Google and Apple. That’s what makes Irish music so authentic, though. Because there is no industry, so everyone who’s doing it is just doing it for themselves. At least there’s not any of that fake scene that you get in London. You don’t get that in Ireland, not really anyway. But maybe industry is coming to Ireland. Maybe you get poachers in from England who are in looking for fresh, fresh, fresh young Irish.

You released an EP and then a single, are you already working on a second EP or an album ?

Cardinals: Yeah, we’re writing at the moment, something bigger and better. An album is the first big statement as an artist. An EP is kind of dipping your toe in the water, but to actually put together an album and see it as a whole project, a piece of art. It’s another level for us entirely. It’s been a rewarding process so far! Still kind of early stages to be honest. 

You’re playing your first show in France tonight. Do you already have plans for future gigs in France ?

Cardinals: We will be back there, we love it here. Paris is beautiful. We’re so used to playing in England and in Ireland so it’s nice to get over here to the continent and such an exciting city. Fans are much more enthusiastic in Europe as well. We just arrived yesterday morning and we were able to just walk around and it’s so beautiful. Like, just the buildings and the weather. We had some escargots last night, oysters too. 

Do you have any music recommendations for our readers ? 

Cardinals: Theater, a band we’ve been playing with recently. They haven’t released anything yet ! 

also :

INTERVIEW — Fontaines D.C. : « Romance is something forgotten nowadays »

INTERVIEW — Getdown Services, the band that accidentally got into music

INTERVIEW — Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes on Dark Rainbow, old songs and inclusivity