This article was first published on CLUAS in April 2006

Interview with Ten Past Seven

Anna Murray catches up with Matt from Ten Past Seven...

Kerry-born Matt, Ger and Rory became Ten Past Seven when they began attending the Music, Management and Sound course in Colaiste Stiofan Naofa. Perhaps now they can provide us with an answer to the question of whether a third-level music education helps not only the contemporary composer but also the practicing popular musician, it being an age where intuition and feeling are rarely accompanied by technical proficiency. Every performance - whether in studio or on stage - should scream an intricate, even intimate musical knowledge and understanding. But often never screams at all.

No Bother

"[In Colaiste Stiofan Naofa] they didn't make us play - it wasn't a performance-based course. But we were exposed to new stuff, and we began experimenting with new ideas. The best thing about college really was that it allowed us to play every evening. We were also doing a lot of music theory. I suppose we began to be able to make sense of what we were playing instead of just feeling our way. We were always progressing."

Progressing how? Just over three years is still very young for a band, yet they have obviously harvested a considerable yield of followers, a fact to which the sales figures of and press-attention received by their debut album testifies. Has their sound or attitude changed much between being a local college band and being one of Ireland's favourite catharses?

"We began very much on a jam-basis. We would get together every evening and just play. There's now a lot more structure to what we play; there's constant change, especially because there isn't just one writer doing all the songs. Lately we've also been experimenting with a lot more sounds and effects."

Waft On

Aside from the self-recorded, self-mastered and self- produced demo onehundredandeightydegrees, Shut Up Your Face is the band's first venture into recording and the world of CD-store charts. Its success defied expectation, more copies having to be pressed within two weeks, not to mention of course reaching the (much-coveted) 77th slot in the Irish album chart. Ten Past Seven are equally as far removed from Damien Rice as Editors, with the effect that they occupy their own hitherto unforeseen niche.

"The reaction has been surprising really. More usually, you would expect audiences to diss a band like us rather than praise, but many people seem to understand. Actually it's probably best summed up in what one guy said to us. He came up to us after a gig in Belfast about 2 years ago and said 'it's like you're telling stories with the music, man!' I don't know, maybe it's cos we're so energetic on stage."

Back In Business

Still there are quite a number of other bands around pushing a similar brand of roughed up instrumental rock, especially in the Dublin area. What sets Ten Past Seven apart? Why should we listen to them instead of, say, the much-loved Redneck Manifesto?

"Firstly I guess we're much more technical. Our songs change from one second to the next - perfect to match the attention span of people today! The main difference though is that while we were in Kerry listening to Korn and Pantera, people in Dublin had a huge local scene to influence them. It's something we've noticed when we're touring: there are different mind-frames wherever you go in the country."

"Getting into Dublin was the big thing. We've played in Cork, in Castlebar a few times, in Belfast, but the Irish music scene is so concentrated in Dublin." But it didn't take them long to get support slots for bands like the Rednecks and other staple bands??

"That's a funny story really. We were having a party around the corner from where the Rednecks were playing, so we invited them along. A few weeks later, we got a phone call from them asking us to support them. That exposed us to their fans, so in that way we kind of took some of their crowd." Popular by association perhaps? "Sort of. It got us out there playing to an audience who soon became our fans too."

Out On a Limb

For the release of the album, Ten Past Seven have been working with Out on a Limb records, providing the final bridge between onehundredandeightydegrees and the audible studio-confidence of Shut up Your Face. Has this had much impact on a group so obviously independent?

"Working with Out On a Limb has been great. They don't try to influence what you're playing, which is good because we like to be in control of ourselves. They offer help and get gigs. It's more like a community of bands rather than a label as such. Through them we've made a lot of contacts, but we still have the freedom to organise our own tours and everything."

Even while conducting this interview, Matt and the rest of the band were looking for support acts for their upcoming UK tour. "We want to get out of Ireland, play somewhere different. After going to England, we're planning to go to Europe during the summer." So where do Ten Past Seven see themselves in the future? "We're not making any plans as such. As it is, we never even expected to get here. We just take it as it comes"