| First impressions of GENERAL FIASCO's Owen Strathern. |
| Written by Shahlin Graves |
| Monday, 09 August 2010 09:45 |
 Twenty-two-year old OWEN STRATHERN doesn't know much about New Zealand... but he is plenty excited for his band's first visit to our shores. The frontman of GENERAL FIASCO is currently relying on the word of kiwi journalists that it's "ten times better than Australia", so we had better not disappoint him, considering that NZ is currently his "favourite thing in the future that I'm looking forward to". Strathern can't wait. And neither should we, if his description of their live show is anything to go by: "It's a little more aggressive, a little more upbeat. There's plenty of energy, and it's just three people on-stage playing guitar, drum and bass, and singing, and screaming, and shouting a bit. We try and play with energy and passion. It generally ends up being a bit of a work-out and we're usually extremely sweaty by the end of it." So maybe go easy on the post-show hugs then. Sounds like it's going to get messy. The elder Strathern brother - younger sibling Enda Strathern is the band's lead guitarist - is hopeful that fans will feel inspired to dance. "Bring your dancing shoes. We'll try our best to give as much energy as possible and it would be amazing if you guys could get rowed up and just give it loads of energy back. I'm sure we'll have an amazing night!" I point out that the day of the show is Friday the 13th of August - Black Friday - and that it could maybe be fun for attendees to dress up in Halloween costumes? Owen sounds alarmed initially as he tries to understand what I am saying, but once comprehension dawns, he is all on-board. "I'm all for people dressing up, if people want to dress up that sounds good." The Northern-Ireland native - Magherafelt, to be precise - is a devoted fan himself, of spreads on bread. "Whenever I was younger, I wouldn't eat anything, I couldn't eat so much stuff. Just the past six months I've started eating everything. So everything's kinda new to me. I kind of love everything. But one thing? Maybe toast. Cheese. And jam. Chedder cheese on jam on toast. It's pretty amazing." Yes, Owen Strathern is easily pleased. He chuckles when I tell him so. Strathern has a wondrous Irish accent, but at times it takes a while to dawn upon me full comprehension of his enunciated words. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, perhaps respond with some home-land slang. Owen tells me that his and the rest of his band-mate's favourite word is 'lethal'. "We use lethal. If something's really good, we'll go: 'lethal'. That's maybe a little bit more of an Irish thing. That generally comes out of our mouth quite a lot." We further discuss important things such as preferred magical powers - "I think I would like to be fit to do that thing where you could touch a book and absorb knowledge. Or see through walls. Read people's minds. Really, give me any of those super-powers and I'll go on 'em, I'll have a crack with 'em." - and of course, favourite super-heroes. "I'd maybe be an X-Men, something along the X-Men lines. A little bit neat, but a little bit human. I was going to pick maybe a girl X-Men, but... maybe just an X-Man. One of them because they're cool and I love X-Men." General Fiasco have played more shows this year in Germany, than they have in Ireland... that gives you an indication of what their passports must look like in the wake of substantial UK touring, visits to America and Japan, and then New Zealand! It's just a matter of time before the 'Fiasco goes supernova - so make sure not to miss them at their only NZ show on August 13th. COUP DE MAIN: Is your debut album 'Buildings' named after your song of the same name? GENERAL FIASCO - OWEN STRATHERN: It's not really as much about the song, it's just the way we sort of approached being a band and getting ourselves out there - was to build it up slowly, work through from touring and getting out and meeting people, and spreading the band that way. Building it up slowly. Then at the same time, all the songs are frustrations and problems that have just built up over a long period of time. And the things that you could have probably fixed and made better early on, if you had just approached it with the right mind-set. But people just procrastinate and live with their problems and they build up, and then they turn into something really terrible when they could have got it sorted earlier on, if they had been a little bit more assertive, or brave. That's more of the reasons, rather than just the song. But the song is sort of around that as well. CDM: You've said that the album reflects your frustration felt watching friends succumb to alcohol and doing nothing to better their lives. Why do you think youth culture encourages precocious and complacent ideals of 'cool'? OWEN: I think it's just a progression of younger people being more exposed to what we would have classed as 'more-adult' things [in the past] and having all the indulgences that an adult would have, and all the indulgences that a child would have, and no responsibility. It doesn't make for good breeding of people I think. It makes very selfish and indulgent and complacent people. I think it's just that. It's kind of like because of the times, as the Kings Of Leon said I guess. CDM: My favourite line of the album is in 'Rebel Get By' - "What it takes to relate to the things you'd like to be." - where is that thought coming from, for you personally? OWEN: [People trying] Fitting in. People trying to force their way into a group, or an image of a group that they would like to be part of. Going outside of being yourself, rather than being yourself. Trying to connect with something you're on the outside of and want to be on the inside of. Not really being true to yourself and seeing something or some-one that's cool and going: 'Right I'm going to be like that 'cuz that'll make my life better'. CDM: What inspired you to write track five 'I'm Not Made Of Eyes'? OWEN: At one point, there was a lot of interest from record companies and management in the UK, a lot of the music industry were romancing us a bit. Like telling us this, telling us that, and taking us places, and they're going - 'Oh we're going to do this, we're going to do that' - and you kinda buy into it. You believe it and take it for granted that that's what's going to happen. Then a lot of what's said never happens. You can be naive no matter what sort of situation you're getting into - things can get past you, you can't really see everything that's coming for you. You can't really tell the liars from the truth-tellers. It was just about that, being romanced a little bit by the music industry, and being let down by a lot of people. CDM: In light of those experiences, what are the most important things you have since learned about the music industry? OWEN: There are some people who are very loyal and work very hard. And then there's other people looking for a quick win and a quick buck and want to jump on the next big thing. The industry has got more cut-throat with the way record sales have gone. The way people now assess music - there's not as much money in the music industry. I think it's a very interesting sort of time that we're involved in. But I think you've got to rely on writing good music and being with good people and trusting the people who look after you and who work you. Just keep working hard. You can't rely on anything to be instant. As long as you're working hard you'll be okay. CDM: The music video for 'I'm Not Made Of Eyes' is quite different to anything you've done before - what it was like filming? OWEN: It was very different. We weren't there very long. The director set up a lot of the shots and we turned up, and he went: 'Alright I'm going to follow you. Sing and follow the camera and direct me a little bit'. We ran through it ten times and chose the one that moved the best and looked the best. We got the best result out of it. It was nice to do a video shoot where we didn't have to pretend to play or stand under boiling hot lights for twelve hours, or anything like that. It was nice that we could have it done just so quickly and have something quite interesting looking as well. CDM: What song on 'Buildings' means the most to you and why? OWEN: I think 'Sinking Ships'. I really like 'Sinking Ships', because whenever it was written, I just remember it written all of a sudden. I kind of wrote it in a few minutes, it didn't take that long to write it. I just sort of sang it and remembered all the lyrics which was really weird. It was just the most natural... lucky moment, where we caught a song, and it felt really honest to what was going on, and it's probably the most honest track on the record. CDM: What inspired the lyrics of 'Sinking Ships'? OWEN: It's about a few things. It's kind of about being attached to something that at one point was looking like it was going really well, and now it's looking like it's all going to disappear out of sight. And then we factor in a more sort of a personal relationship scenario - whenever you're with somebody and you know it's going to come to an end and you know it's coming, but they don't sort of thing. And then you're like: 'What's the point in doing this for you, when it's only going to end up in a bit of grief for some-one else?' It's kinda about a few things and that's generally how all our songs are. We don't stick to one thing, we have a few different crafts and matters on our mind at one point. I always want to write about what I'm feeling, about everything that happens. I feel in a moment and write about everything, rather than writing a song about this, or writing a song about that. It's more about capturing the mood of the moment rather than a specific thing. CDM: In 'We Are The Foolish' you sing: "Wake up there's things you need to know." What exactly are these things that we all need to know? OWEN: Don't waste your life! Remember what you want to do with your life and don't get side-lined or distracted by an easier path or just simple indulgences. Say you want to be a painter, why don't you go paint more? Or instead of sitting watching TV and drinking, why don't you go and do things that you're supposed to want, what you've dreamt about and what you'd love to do? Just get yourself involved and be a little more productive and less distracted by simple, meaningless things.  CDM: Have any fans told you yet, that 'Ever So Shy' has inspired them to be less of a Chav? OWEN: <laughs> No, not yet! I haven't had that. We've had some private messages from people saying that the music has helped them get through certain things and it keeps them upbeat and keeps them inspired. So that's all good. But no Chav curings of yet. CDM: What are your thoughts on the influence of television shows such as 'Skins' on their teenage audience? OWEN: I think it makes for interesting TV, but yeah I think it's probably a bad influence really. It's glamourising and glorifying taking class-A drugs from fifteen years on, and having casual sex from fifteen years on. I'm sure to some degree there's some truth in it, but I think for something that is so mainstream and widespread it's an exaggerated lifestyle that most sixteen and seventeen year old's won't lead. Maybe it will encourage some of them to be more reckless, but I think it's not the best influence really. It glorifies drug-taking. I know the show has got laughing and they try and capture it in, but I think even still, it's a wee bit... yeah. It's not the best. CDM: You seem to have really strong, grounded morals instilled into you. Perhaps it can be attributed to your upbringing? OWEN: I don't really know. I couldn't really tell. We were always allowed to drink alcohol from quite a young age, and my parents weren't super strict, but there was a limit. I don't know! It's hard to assess yourself, but I'd like to think my Mum and Dad did an okay job in bringing us up. CDM: What's the story behind track eight 'Talk To My Friends'? OWEN: Just sort of being about where you're at and things happening in your life, and I think a lot of people run away from their problems. I think the easiest thing to do is move away. It's kind of about a few friends who maybe had a bad run at school, or a bad run at their job, and their relationship broke down and stuff, and they decided that they're going to move away because I guess, these things reminded them of unhappy times. It seems like it was an easy way out just to leave. And leave lots of good things behind just to escape the bad things. That's what the song is about really. We've got a few friends who are escaping the bad times. CDM: What would you like fans to take away as the main message from the 'Buildings' album? OWEN: I would like people to listen to the songs and at least understand where we're coming from - and if they've got the same things going on with them that we have going on with us, [that] they could find a little bit of resolve or more comfort in knowing that everybody gets frustrated sometimes. It's not a massively important thing that people can... with that, we don't want to be preachy, or we don't want it to be all about the message and stuff. We write the music that we want to write because it's a way of expressing ourselves - and if people can pick it up and take something from it, that's all the better. But take it as you want. Get your own take on it really. CDM: Tall-poppy syndrome can sometimes be quite a pain in competitive markets... is it much of a problem in Northern Ireland? OWEN: I hadn't really noticed it. I think as far as music went, years ago people used to always complain about that sort of stuff. But, I think we came along at a time in Britain, when in Northern-Irish music when everybody was rooting for everyone else. Everybody in years past had been so competitive in years gone past and wanted to be 'the' big band, but then all of a sudden it'd been like ten years since there was a 'band' come out of Northern Ireland. So it was like: 'Let's try get another couple bands out of Northern Ireland instead of talking each other down and being negative'. It's helped. So if a band out of Northern Ireland goes to tour the UK, they'll bring another band from Northern Ireland with them to support. Just support your own. There seems to be quite a good vibe about Northern Ireland at the minute, or at least there was a year ago. CDM: Obviously you and Enda are brothers, but how did you find your drummer Stephen [Leacock]? OWEN: We had just played in other bands round the local area that we played in, and then me and Enda moved schools after a little while, and moved to Stephen's school. Just got to know him a little better and yeah - we had the same ideas and we wanted the same things. So it was easy for us to get on, and everybody could play, and everybody wanted the same things. We were all equally committed so it made that easier. CDM: Tell me about the band you played bass in when you were eighteen... OWEN: It was just a band playing in Magherafelt, heavily influenced by Oasis and stuff. It wasn't the music really that I was massively into. I thought it tread a little too close to being Oasis, that people couldn't fully access it or take it serious, it was too close to what Oasis did. And I don't think there was any life in it 'cuz people are just going to go: 'Oh they just sound like Oasis' - you know. I just thought I'd be better off doing something else and finding another way. CDM: You chose to pursue General Fiasco, instead of going to University in 2006. Was that a scary decision to make? OWEN: Mmm no. I wasn't really that big into school. I didn't really pay attention. Music was something that I was okay at, and I thought I would give it a little go, and see if there was any chance of making it work and making it happen. It never really scared me putting off school because I always sort of knew that I could go back at some point. For some reason, music just felt like there was something I could do with music, so it was okay. CDM: Who came up with the album cover for 'Buildings'? OWEN: It was somebody else's idea - but it was just one of those things - we'd find an album cover that we'd really like and then it wasn't agreed within the band and the label that everyone liked it. This was just an image that somebody had found and suggested and worked on and said: 'Well what about this?' And it was the first thing that everybody went: 'Yeah that's really cool, I really like that.' More so, I feel like it captures the mood of the record. It's a little bit sinister looking, it's a little bit dark looking. But then it's got bunny ears on it, which softens it and lightens it, which is similar to what our music is. It's got some darker undertones, but the music is quite upbeat and pop-y, and guitar-y and rock-y and fast. It's a good reflection of what is actually in the album. CDM: What have been your favourite bands to tour with? OWEN: We played with a band Kids In Glass Houses, and it was the perfect tour for us. Our music suited each other's really really well, and we fitted in really well with their audience and crowd. We got a lot of fans off the back of it. I think that was the best tour. But at the same time, we've got to play with Snow Patrol, and Placebo, which you can't really compare many things to do that. They are things that are once in a lifetime opportunities really. CDM: I think you've played with One Night Only? I'm really liking their new songs at the moment... OWEN: We're under the same management as them, so we know the guys quite well. They're a good band and a good bunch of guys. CDM: I noticed that you are very diligent in replying to your fans online, especially on Twitter and Facebook. Is this something that you feel very strongly about? OWEN: It's something that we always knew and appreciated, especially on Myspace and Facebook in the beginning. Twitter is sort of a newer thing for us. But yeah - whenever some-one sends you a message and it only takes twenty seconds to reply to their message, that twenty seconds couldn't be better spent 'cuz they really appreciate it. And it really brings them into the band. And it brings them closer and makes them a more hardcore fan. All it takes is just being nice and answering their questions and telling them what they want to know. It gets them excited about the band and it gets them closer, that makes them tell more people about you. It gives more life to the band and to other people - they can take it away and get other people into the band. I think it's essential for a band of our size, and our style of music especially, to connect well with our fans and relate to our fans. Be good and don't dismiss them because they're the reason why you're everywhere. They're the reason why you get to do this because they want to come to your shows. Don't forget it. |
