From time to time, one of our contributors will recommend an artist/band they think deserves to be brought to your attention. No record labels, PR companies, bands or band’s management will ever have made these recommendations. It is simply one music fan putting their taste on the line in the hope of sharing good music. The questions are intended to give just a basic introduction to possibly your new favourite artist/band.
So without further ado, let’s crack on with another introduction, in which Silent Radio’s editor Simon Poole recommends A Lovely War for your audible delectation.
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A Lovely War
Who are ya?
We are A Lovely War. I’m Sean Keogh and I sing and play keyboards and he’s Paddy Hughes and he plays guitar and bass.
Where are you from?
We’re from Liverpool.
How long have you been doing what you’re doing now?
We’ve been in bands together on and off since we were thirteen. Our first band played at lots of school concerts and things and we recorded a few tunes which, apart from the terrible ‘teenager trying to be John Lennon’ lyrics, I think sound quite good considering how young we were. Then we were in a ska band for a few years before we both went off to university and did other things with different people. Now that we’re both back in Liverpool, we decided to start A Lovely War and see what happens.
Is being a musician your full time job?
It’s not exactly a full time job but I play the piano in a restaurant at weekends.
Are there any obvious influences in your music?
I’d say there’s always a bit of the ska thing in our music although we certainly aren’t a ska band. Also things like Kate Bush, Talking Heads, Vampire Weekend, Neutral Milk Hotel, Beach House.
Are there any not so obvious influences in your music?
I realised recently that my singing style has sort of become, over the years, a mixture of Antony Hegarty, Paul McCartney, Devendra Banhart and Gwen Stefani.
I think some of our songs are, apart from the arrangements and production, kind of like jaunty music hall tunes.
Any musical Guilty Pleasures? Come on you can share, we’re all friends here!
So many. No Doubt were by far my favourite band when I first started getting in to music and I still find it impossible to be objective about them. A friend bought me the Girls Aloud greatest hits. It was a gift that I think was tongue in cheek and serious at the same time and I like it in a way that’s both tongue in cheek and entirely genuine. You can tell their songs were written by a dozen people who all came up with their own snippets and then just stuck them together so they’re really weird and disjointed but somehow in a good way.
Apart from yourself of course, what other band/artist would you recommend our readers check out?
There are some really good acts in Liverpool at the moment like the Ragamuffins and our friend Thomas McConnell. There’s a guy who I happened upon on Soundcloud called Ian Romer who’s based in New York. That’s pretty much all I know about him but I listen to his songs all the time.
Tell us about the defining moment when you thought ‘Fuck, yes I want to be a musician!’
I wrote a song when I was about 9 and I played it to my teacher and he loved it and got the whole class to sing it in assembly. It was called ‘In The Playground’ and is a pretty simple song, obviously. I was pretty precocious and annoying at that age to be honest and I didn’t have many friends but my classmates seemed to like the song and I got an early taste of what it’s like to connect with people by writing music.
Does what go on, on tour, stay on tour?
I can’t really answer that one yet since I’ve never been on tour.
What’s your most favourite gig (as a gig goer)?
Maybe my fondest memory of going to a gig was going to see Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2004. A huge group of us from our year all got out of school straight after lunch and got the train to Manchester which was really euphoric. Everyone liked the Red Hot Chili Peppers then and they played really well. And James Brown supported which was very cool.
Who, in your wildest dreams would you like to collaborate with/be produced by?
David Bowie. That would be good wouldn’t it?!
Best place for people to find out what you are up to?
Our Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/alovelywar / Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/alovelywar and Twitter https://twitter.com/ALovelyWar
Anything to declare?
You can get our EP, Ezra for free at our soundcloud page- https://soundcloud.com/alovelywar. It’s dead good!
