The lead singer of The Cast of Cheers (Conor Adams), working with the guitarist of Adebisi Shank/drummer of No Spill Blood and instead of producing angular indie/math rock, its 80s-tinged Electronic synth-pop? Adams and Kaye’s new musical direction definitely comes from left field. As TVVINS they’ve already supported Heathers, ASIWYFA, and Editors; now they’ll be headlining their own gig Upstairs at Whelan’s Thursday 27 February. Totally Dublin talks to TVVINS’ guitarist/synths, Lar Kaye.
An 80s influence is detectable in your and Conor’s music even before TVVINS. Look at your band names: ‘No Spill Blood’ is an Oingo Boingo song, while The Cast of Cheers is more obvious.
For me personally, the Oingo Boingo reference: I know all of Adebisi were really influenced by them. They’re one of those bands who not really anybody knows about, but I’ve been listening to their stuff for years. Oingo Boingo, Devo . . . I’ll definitely admit to Phil Collins. He gets such a bad rep but we all dig him.
Do you think there are other, more recent influences to TVVINS, like Battles or Postal Service?
We would be inspired by Battles, and Postal Service was an album we were really into. The thing with TVVINS was that when we started, it was quite obvious that we didn’t want to start another band that was just a mixture of our other two bands. What’s the sense in starting a new project unless you do something different? That’s why we went down that road I guess [with TVVINS].
Both of you are already members of successful Irish bands. Is it daunting starting again from scratch?
I don’t think it’s daunting. As long as it’s fun while you’re actually creating and enjoying what you do, then it doesn’t really matter if it’s not a success on paper, or financially, any of that stuff. We’re both quite comfortable that as long as we’re happy with what we’re doing, [it doesn’t matter] if the fans of our other bands aren’t into it as much. Plus those bands still exist, and still do stuff. It’s the best of both worlds.
You mentioned how fun it is working together. Have you known Conor Adams for a long time?
I’ve known Conor since I’ve been about 15. We both grew up playing the same shows and hanging out in the same places. We were always good friends and we both shared the same influences quite closely. When we decided last summer to actually meet up and work together, it was quite exciting. We both trust each other. For me personally it was quite different working with someone who’s mainly a vocalist; it changed the whole process. We’ve both been doing music and touring long enough so that we had a good idea of what works and what doesn’t. It all came together quite quickly.
You do sing sometimes in Adebisi, but you use a vocoder.
Adebisi was more vocoder stuff. We wanted to add as much vocals as we could, but none of us could really sing, so we made use of what we had. It was interesting working with someone like Conor, whose main instrument is his voice. It definitely changes things.
Your first British show was on February 3. How did that go?
It was kind of nice to play outside of Ireland because all our shows so far have been here. It was nice to have that experience of actually getting into a van and travelling. We’re pretty happy with how it went for our first UK show. We’re definitely planning to go back as soon as we can.
What would your touring arrangement be now? I know there’s just the two of you.
We have a live drummer, a chap called Lewis Hedigan. We realised when we were making the tracks that it was important [to have] a band instead of two people playing to a backing track. Now we’ve our own engineer, Fran Gatti, as well. He helps us with how all that [computer] stuff works in a live setting. It’s not too complicated. We just have someone extra to make it feel more live.
What is the collaborative process like? Do you play guitar and synths, while Conor sings?
We meet up in one of our houses and work on computers initially. Usually Conor plays bass when he writes, and then I’ll be recording. It’s 50/50: we’re both able to run programmes on computers so it’s quite easy. We share ideas with each other, then during the week we can send on tracks and edit them down separately, until we’re both happy with it.
TVVINS have only two singles released, but you’ve mentioned in interviews that you’ve an album’s worth of material.
We’ve got a load of tracks. I think one of them is like 55 minutes. We just continued to keep writing more because everything happened so quick with this, we’re still trying to figure out what we like and don’t like about it. I think over the next while we’re going to keep on writing stuff, and pick what we think is best out of the lot.
Both your other bands are taking a break or on hiatus, while you’re still making music. Would you call that restlessness, or good work ethic?
Both our other bands are still doing stuff, they haven’t stopped. I know the other guys in Adebisi are super busy. We were quite eager to keep working even though we had a bit of a break. Just because we have a break from our main projects, to then stop working on stuff, doesn’t really seem like the right thing to do. It shouldn’t be difficult to continue to make music if that’s what you actually like doing.
How tightly-knit is the Irish music scene? How friendly and helpful are they?
Yeah I think it’s super friendly. I guess the reason for that is Ireland is quite small. Anyone that’s interested in certain things, it’s a small group of people that you’re going to come across, more and more, the further you get into it. There’s a lot of support, and people appreciate the work and effort it takes to be in a band.
What should fans expect in Whelan’s on February 27?
The main thing about the live show to me is that it’s definitely different to the recorded tracks. That’s the feedback we’ve been getting: it’s different to what people expected. It’s hard to talk about yourself and what exactly people can expect, [but] hopefully people will just enjoy it and dig all the songs.
For fans of The Cast of Cheers, Adebisi Shank, and No Spill Blood, how long will they have to wait for new material?
I can’t speak for Conor but I’d say the Adebisi album is finished up; that should be out this year. And No Spill Blood are going in to record at the start of summer, so we’ll be aiming for a release by the end of the year as well. Conor is just demoing the new Cast of Cheers album now.
TVVINS perform on Thursday 27 February Upstairs at Whelan’s at 8pm, €11.
Words: Eoin Tierney
