RHA’s Hennessy Lost Friday returns for its final installment of the year on Friday. We spoke to guitarist Daithí O’Connor from Come On Live Long who will perform on the night with a host of other talents.
You released your sophomore album In The Still earlier in the summer. What’s been the most pleasant surprise since the release?
The fact that we had enough money to treat ourselves to a night of pints after we paid for the whole recording of the album.
In The Still was recorded whilst the band members were in different locations. How difficult was this process and are there any benefits from it being created from remote locations?
I think one of the benefits for me was that you had to make sure you were 100 percent happy with your own contribution to a song or songs you had written before sending it to the other guys. Therefore everyone’s contribution became more refined I suppose which meant the songs progressed a lot faster.
One of the difficulties in this process was not having someone in the same room to bounce off and tell you that an idea is shite straight away.
Louise, your lead singer, is quite hands on in the 360 amplification of the band from artwork and through her experience as a video director. How does this inform the creation of a visual, as well a sonic, identity for Come On Live Long?
To be honest most of our creative ideas for the visual aspect of the band start with me doing an interpretive type dance and Louise just has to interpret what I am doing into the visual format, so I kind of do all the heavy lifting in that respect and I’d like to thank you for giving me the platform to set the record straight on that one…. No obviously it’s amazing having someone like Louise who is so talented and passionate about the visual aspect of music. It means that there is always progression and continuity in the visual side of things as well as music which is so important in this day and age.
What are the greatest challenges in making the so-called ‘breakthrough’ as a band?
That is a difficult one. Probably the constant hustle of emailing and trying to sell yourself and talk about yourself in the third person. Trying to keep our heads above water financially to ensure we have enough dollaz for our next release can also be difficult.
What excites you most about the forthcoming RHA Hennessy Lost Friday event?
I have never seen Colombia Mills live so looking forward to seeing them. Our close friend Paul Kenny drums for them so will be great to catch up with him.
Come on Live Long will be joined by Columbia Mills and DJ Alex Donald. There will be guided walking tours of exhibitions by artists Vera Klute and Ronnie Hughes with RHA Director Patrick T. Murphy.
This event is strictly over 21s.
Times: 7.45pm-11.45pm. Tickets €20 + booking fee (include two complimentary Hennessy cocktails).
For up to date info on the event, please see the Facebook event page.
For more information and to purchase tickets visit the Eventbrite page.
