SHIBUYA CROSSINGS
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 17th March 2011.
London-based Shibuya Crossing are soon to release their second album "DOYA (Depend On Your Alter-Ego)", the follow-up to October 2010’s "Take It Out On Me". It seemed like a good time to ask the band a few questions, so we did just that...
Vocalist and guitarist Declan Harrington answers 'em.
Hi Declan, thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions. Hope you are well?
Declan: Fine thanks, considering it’s Monday. How are you doing?
What’s the history behind Shibuya Crossings? How did the band form, and what’s the background of the various members?
Declan: It started with just me in 2006, I had a load of songs I wanted to record and they ended up sounding like a band should be playing them. I started jamming first with Gareth (guitar) and then Rob (Bass) and Ian (Drums) joined after answering an ad we put up on the internet. Although we’re based in north London, Rob is the only local in the band. I moved here from Northern Ireland several years ago, Ian is from the Philippines and Gareth is from New Zealand. Unfortunately for us he had to move back just as he’d finished recording the second album, so we’re down to a 3 piece now. We’d all been playing in other bands around London before Shibuya Crossings.
Who were the early influences? Do you all have similar listening tastes?
Declan: Our tastes are similar in that we mostly like bands with guitars, bass and drums but what we listen to doesn’t really overlap that often. I can only speak for myself here but I’d say The Beatles, The Smiths, Teenage Fanclub and The Lemonheads probably influenced me the most in the early years. I listened to a lot of 90’s American indie rock too. These days if I was stuck for something to listen to I’d probably reach for a Neil Young or a Ryan Adams record. Rob is more into his punk and funk, Ian I still can’t work out – he likes stuff like the Foo Fighters, U2, Elbow and a lot of pop music. Gareth loves the late 60’s and early 70’s – Stones, Love, Stooges, Big Star etc..
Did you know what sort of sound Shibuya Crossings was destined to have at the start, or has it developed a lot since you began?
Declan: It definitely has developed since the others joined the band. At the start I just had these songs and recorded them in a really simplistic way. The songs had been around in my head for a number of years so just I did them like that. When the band formed we’d work more on arrangements as a group, everyone contributing their own parts and ideas to the songs, which in turn would change the style of writing. It’s good to have people tell you stuff like ‘this song deserves a better chorus’ or that a certain song isn’t good enough or ‘there’s potential in this one, we shouldn’t throw it away’. I think although we’d finished recording the album, after Gareth left the sound changed again as we were forced into thinking how we’d pull this off live as a 3 piece. From that more synths and loops started to appear during mixing which adds certain dynamics to the sound. We we’ve got to a point now where Gareth’s spot onstage has now been replaced by a laptop and I play a mixture of his guitar parts and my own
How would you describe your sound to somebody who hadn’t heard you before?
Declan: Tough one. How about post 2010 80’s indie revival, melodic, hook-laden, sushi rock?
How has the London music scene helped or hindered the band’s development? Are you able to play as many shows as you would like?
Declan: The London music scene is good in that it helps the band develop as a live act as there are so many gigs and so many places to play. The down side is that there are so many gigs and so many places to play!. You have to work really hard to get the punters to come and see you as you’re up against so many other events and gigs on any given night. Where the venue is, what time you’re on, what night it is all play their part.
The main downside is that London doesn’t really have a ‘scene’ like a lot of smaller cities. You end up playing a lot with other bands that you don’t really have much in common with musically. Some promoters don’t really care about the music, they just want to make money from the bands that bring 100 of their friends who then leave 2 mins before the next band even comes on. At other times it can be great, you get a good crowd who stay the whole night, watch all the bands, have a few beers and the vibe is really good.
What is one of your live shows like? What should fans expect from one of your performances?
Declan: We have a big sound for a 3 piece and we like to put across a powerful and energetic show with a bit of banter between ourselves and the audience. People always say to us after the shows that they’re impressed with the quality of our songs which is a nice thing to hear, so you’ll be getting that as well.
Your second album DOYA (Depend On Your Alter-ego) is on the way out soon. When is it actually going to be released?
Declan: It’s going to come out on the first week of June. Depend on it!
How does it compare in sound and style to your first release?
Declan: It still sounds like Shibuya Crossings but it’s maybe more of a modern sound. It’s a consistently better album song wise with better production and performances from the band. It’s got lots of great catchy guitar and synth hooks that weren’t there before, the vocal line hooks are bigger and even more infectious – basically it’s on another level to the first record.
How do you go about writing your songs? Talk us through the construction of a typical track...
Declan: I usually start on an acoustic guitar and try to find a chord sequence or line that sticks and then I’ll hum a melody over that or just make up random words. Sometimes a good line can come from that which will shape the rest of the lyrics and then they flow quite easily, other times it’s like a jigsaw and I’m looking for the missing pieces. I’ll always have a handheld recorder or my phone to hand in case I forget something. Generally now I’ll think about a song over a period of time, if a section isn’t coming easily I’ll leave it and come back to it and re-listen to the recordings. For the next album I’m going to try a different approach using loop based software and see what happens. During the mixing of the album I would sometimes loop sections to concentrate on a certain part and sometimes you hear some interesting things in the loop, bits in isolation or a change in the order of a section. It gets you thinking there’s more than one way to do this
Is there a story/theme running through your songs, or do you generally aim for standalone tracks? Where do you look for your lyrical and musical writing ideas?
Declan: Not so far, most songs cover their topics within the song. We haven’t been inspired by any potential concept album ideas as yet.
Are there any particular tracks you rate highly, or is it all brilliant?
Declan: Problem is when you finish recording a bunch of songs and you spend lots of time working on it, it becomes hard to be objective. The tracks you like the best change by the day, you can sometimes be a little unsure of one or two things here and there. There is at least one song on the album that we have no idea how people are going to take and it has split the band in terms of its worth to the album. In the end the people will tell you how good it is. Judging from our live shows I would say the most popular songs are ‘Take it Out on Me’, ‘I’ll Meet You at the Station’, ‘Wonder Inside’ and ‘At Eight in a Spanish Bar’ – that’s probably pretty close to our own views as well
You are releasing the second single ‘At Eight In A Spanish Bar’ soon. Tell us why you chose the song, if you are creating a video etc...
Declan: Basically it’s a really good pop song, catchy melodies with a big outro that is easy to sing along to. It was an obvious choice in the end. We’re in the middle of doing the video right now, which has a plot that matches the lyrics in the song but with a twist – It’s going to be funny. I’ll get to do a Dave Grohl and dress up and play a character in the story.
What have been the highlights and lowlights of your musical lives so far?
Declan: Highlight for myself would have to be when an Irish DJ came on Radio 1 recommending his favourite new tracks and raved about our first single. He went on and on about how much he loved it. It just so happened that he also used to be the lead singer of a band that I absolutely loved when I was younger. I had a grin on my face for about a week after that. We played a gig in Camden about a year ago and Gail Porter jumped on stage after our set and demanded that we play another song, which although I wouldn’t say was a career highlight, was nice and pretty funny nonetheless.
Low points would have to be when in my old band back in Belfast we had a bit of industry buzz about us and played a showcase with several big labels coming up from Dublin to see us. Unfortunately at the time there were tensions between certain members which pretty much resulted in an onstage brawl and the band basically being split in half. The gig itself was woeful as well, industry weren’t impressed. A couple of years later we’d moved to London, got management and another big industry showcase, that went tits up as well in a similar fashion and the band split immediately after the gig. I can laugh now but it felt like the end of the world at the time.
The others aren’t here so I’m going to try and speak for them in saying that the low point for them was probably joining Shibuya Crossings! Rob has toured around Europe and been on telly over there, Gareth claims he was in a really big band in NZ back in the day and Ian once got a standing ovation for eating a whole chicken in Nando’s.
Any question you love being asked that I’ve missed? If so, what’s the answer?
Declan: Q. Do you want another pint? A. Well, I dunno. I really should be going I’ve got to ….. ah fuck it, go on then.
What are you up to once you’ve finished answering these questions?
Declan: No glamour in rock n’roll these days – back to work unfortunately.
Anything else you would like to mention?
Declan: Had this thing called ‘Bahn Mi’ at lunch, it’s a Vietnamese Baguette. If I were you I’d go get one right now. Can’t recommend it enough. Oh, and thanks for the interview...
Thanks again to Declan for his time, and keep an eye out for the new single and album.
http://www.shibuyacrossings.com/
http://www.myspace.com/shibuyacrossings
http://www.youtube.com/shibuyacrossings
