R/ I listen to.. and this is no joke, maybe it’s to do with the virtue of my years, but I listen to albums from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Everything from Noise to Opera. Even Black Metal! I like some dance music, as long as its underground, I hate cheap Euro-Trance, Sugar Shite! But unfortunately we were taking some influences out of that scene. Sounds in our music were from Goa Trance and stuff like that but then all these producers came along and decided to turn it into a cheesy formula, which included some of the same elements that VNV had used. So we have the problem now in that people don’t realise that our influences came from the underground music scene and not the populist chart crap that came along after!
I listen to anything new. I love the new indie music scene from America, I love bands like Interpol. OK, things like that are harking back to my early years but I love it! The band I have TOTAL respect for is ‘THE FAINT’ have you heard of them?

J/ No, sadly not..

R/ You’re missing out on one of the best bands in the last 10 years I think. They’re from Omaha, Nebraska, and they got mixed up with the Electro-clash scene in the states, no-one knows why.. But they’re the best live band I’ve ever seen! –They Kick arse, and their songs are awesome, it almost feels like you’re listening to the first Duran Duran album with like err… The Clash all mixed up together. It’s a bizarre mix, they’re not young, they’re not old, just a weird bunch of people. Their music is awesome because its not bound by anything.

J/ I’m getting a definite strong running theme here Ronan which is music with passion. Doesn’t matter what genre, as long as it has passion..

R/ Yes, yes! It doesn’t matter where it comes from. It can be Peter Gabriel, Soundtracks, Classical Music, wherever I find that passion, that raw passion that’s what turns me on and gets me off musically and emotionally.

J/ Have you heard Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3?

R/ Oh yes..! What a great piece.. That’s what I’m talking about! You know I introduced someone recently to Eric Satie.. (classical music composer famous for piano pieces)... I love classical music, but I kinda like to get away from the top 10 classics you know? I think it’s sad that now we even have a classical music top ten.. There is something very proletarian about that you know? Very bourgeois! I still think that Mozart was a genius and Wagner.. Wagner is my favourite composer, it’s just the little things he does to make characters and add expression, it’s amazing to see and hear..

J/ I studied Classical Music so I can totally see what you’re saying on this..


R/ Yeah, for me classical music captures that passion, that drive. Also, the ancient cultures. They had these rituals and they were brought alive by music. I feel we’ve lost that in Europe, and that’s a sad thing. One of the things I like about coming from Ireland is that sense of history, of that ancient culture and music that still spills out at the slightest chance in every pub. They all bring instruments and play together and remember their sacred bond, their shared heritage. These guys play phenomenally complex music, and it gets you right here in your chest.. It pulls at your heart strings, and I’m proud to be a part of that heritage and hope that in my own small way I’m keeping that tradition alive through the lyrics and music that I write..

J/ To me there is something in Classical music, in folk music, sacred music, and sometimes it leaks into other forms but for me this is where it is found in its purest form. And that is a pure expression of emotion. It’s when Art of whatever form becomes PURE ART, one that moves your very soul.. Garcia Lorca the Spanish Playwright described it as ‘Duende’… (continues on next page)