Sean Corcoran of Moscow Metro talks about the band’s new EP release and upcoming gigs in Germany and Limerick
LIMERICK band Moscow Metro will launch their new EP next weekend here in the city’s newest venue. The band has already raised their profile nationally having played festivals including Electric Picnic, Body and Soul and Liss Ard in Cork. They have supported some of the best Irish and international acts such as The Futureheads, The Minutes, The Funeral Suits, Dry the River and Jape.
“This is the first of three EPs we plan to release this year, we are planning to release another one by June,” he revealed.
The band is getting a lot of interest on social media and on Soundcloud. The new recordings and the new video have been clocking up the hits over the last few weeks since the ‘Spirit of The City’ EP was made available.
“We seem to be getting a bit of interest which is great, you have to get it out there to get that feedback.”
The ‘Spirit of The City’ EP was recorded between Grove Studios, Exchequer studios and Grouse Lodge and co-produced by the band, Owen Geaney, and Rob Kirwin who has worked with Glasvegas and The Horrors.
Sean explains the rationale for making Moscow Metro’s music available as four track EPs released regularly.
“A lot of bands start out by releasing their music on EPs first on a small indie label before taking the next step and making an album. When you see extremely big bands like The Pixies doing it you tend to take notice of that. It’s a money thing too, we haven’t got a record company that goes, ‘Here is X amount, record your album with the best producers’. We are doing this ourselves, all the Moscow Metro music is self produced. You have to put in a lot of work as well as have money to make an album. And you don’t have the guidance of one of the big record companies or producers. If you look at an act like The National, there could be over 40-50 personnel involved in the making of that album.”
For a band like Moscow Metro, they have to take advantage of every opportunity to get their music out there into a very crowded and competitive marketplace. Competing with 1,000s of tracks released weekly on the Internet and so many bands with bigger budgets. Does quantity trump quality for Moscow Metro?
Sean says, “I’ve been following what Bob Lefsetz has been saying on his blog recently, he keeps pushing the idea that quality does not have to be phenomenal as long as the writing is good. And he keeps comparing it to the way TV has overtaken cinema and how good the writing is for ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘True Detective’ – where once the writing is good you don’t need a big screen budget.”
“There is great music out there at the moment, but with the Internet there is greater competition. I find it hard to keep up. As a musician I’m supposed to be listening to a lot of new stuff. Everyone now knows that they have 15 or 20 seconds to get your interest online.”
The quartet has released a video for ‘Spirit of a City’ from the forthcoming EP of the same name. “‘Spirit Of A City’ explores several dark themes, feeling trapped by your situation, death and loss, social tensions and escaping the aftermath of a failed relationship,” say the band. Moscow Metro made the video with director Steve Hall: “We were very involved in its making, it does get a bit lot attention for the band.”
Moscow Metro met through mutual friends, the quartet’s early rehearsals took place in a storage warehouse, a ten foot by ten foot metal box that shook with sound vibrations, leading to the inspiration for their name.
“We are back practising there now. It’s a warehouse on the Dock Road in Limerick. It was all we could afford to rent, because it is a storage warehouse, it is full of metal boxes. When we play there it felt like the whole place was shaking.
“It was so cold, we would leave practice with sore throats every time. But when you are rehearsing in pubs and clubs, it is on their time. You need to go and play whenever you want. Otherwise it can take the spontaneity out of rehearsing”.
On the evidence of this new EP, Moscow Metro’s music is epic in sound and universal in language. In the coming months Moscow Metro will tour Ireland and Germany playing Karrera Klub, Berlin, May 24 and joining The National and Warpaint at The Maifeld Derby Festival in Mannheim on May 30.
Moscow Metro launch their EP Spirit of the City at new club Kasbah Social Club (next to Dolan’s) on Saturday May 17.
