And So I Watch You From Afar’s self-titled debut set the Belfast instrumental four-piece apart from much of the pack in terms of the sheer emotion and ferocity therein. It was a reflection of a live show that feels like the band are pouring every last drop of themselves into each note and hit, bringing a certain humanity to sometimes alienating prog-hardcore. For their second album Gangs, they’ve followed Northern Irish brethren Not Squares onto Dublin’s Richter Collective, and they’ll launch that record in the Button Factory on April 30th.
You have a reputation for being an intense live band. Would you say you’re a live band first and foremost?
Well yeah, we try to put as much effort as we can into being a really good live band and not just standing there playing the songs. We want people to be excited about seeing live music. You hear people complaining about crowds not coming to shows any more, but if a band is good enough, people will want to come and see you play. But we did put a lot of effort into making this album. It was more of a studio album than the previous one. If you do it right, the energy of the live show will come across on the recording.
You’ve signed to Richter Collective for the next album. What was the thinking behind that.
We just wanted to do something new for a new record. We’ve known the Richter guys for a long time, since we started out as a band, and it made sense to work with them. There wasn’t really any more to it than that. They’re really good guys and I know they’re going to do a really good job.
Do you think it’s a coincidence that you came through at roughly the same time as the Dublin Richter bands like Adebisi Shank and BATS?
I don’t know about coincidence. We were really happy when we found out about them. When we first saw Adebisi Shank it was such a relief that we weren’t just these strange Northerners making this weird music by ourselves. We met them early on and made friends with them. They’re one of our favourite bands in the world. BATS are a great band too, all of those bands are great.
How did you end up making such proggy music when you talk about having your background in punk?
I don’t know, actually. We’ve always thought of ourselves as a punk band. You know, we were listening to things like At The Drive-In and stuff growing up. But I suppose eventually we had to realize that we were pretty prog.
How did you feel about Two Door Cinema Club winning the Choice Music Prize?
We were really happy about that. We’re good friends with those guys. It’s good to see a northern band win it. I just wish we’d won it last year.
There was a bit of anti-northern backlash down here actually.
Was there? That’s brilliant. I’m glad they won. I just wish they’d given the money to the charity of And So I Watch You From Afar. We’re all pretty broke at the moment.
Words: Karl McDonald
