We Cut Corners Q and A

BY ALEX ZINOVIEFF
THURSDAY, 20TH MARCH 2014

We Cut Corners are an Irish alt/indie duo, who have been rampaging through Dublin’s Indie Rock scene and building a strong UK fan-base. Their music is sometimes quite heavy, often humorous, occasionally dark, but always honest.

We recommend a listen to their new single ‘Best Friend’. It has received a hell of a lot of appreciation from some very big dogs, and we think it’s a corker.

You’re about to go on tour around Ireland. What will people see on stage that they won’t get on record. 

Our live shows tend to be quite frantic, frenetic, sweat-drenched affairs which focus largely on the interplay between the drums, guitar and both our voices. On the record this focus was slightly different. We looked to incorporating a variety a timbres and textures to create the appropriate ebbs and flows in the songs. Live =  less textures but more sweat.  

You’ve toured with some amazing people. Villagers, Frightened Rabbit and The Maccabees to name a few. Tell us about a couple of epic times on the road…

We’ve been lucky enough to play with a number of our favourite bands.  We played a show in Belfast with the Maccabees. The atmosphere was incendiary and it felt as if the crowd were going to take the roof off the venue. It was terrifying and exhilarating and lots of fun.  

You have a new album out called ‘Think Nothing’ - how would you describe the vibe of the record, and how does it fit in with what you have produced before? 

On our first record we restricted ourselves to quite a sparse sonic template - we used drums, electric guitars and our voices and hid them behind a variety of delays and distortions.  On this record we lifted that restriction and, to an extent, reacted against it. We brought in strings, synthesisers, and organs. We ensured that room ambience, and not synthetic effects, were brought to the fore. This gave the album a richer, brighter, more live feel.  

What do you think people think Irish people are like, and what are they really like? 

I guess the general perception is that Irish people are a gregarious, craic seeking, heavy-drinking bunch. In reality, Irish people are pretty similar to everyone else - just looking for someone to put their arms around them and tell them that everything is going to be ok.  

If I were to turn on your iPod now, what would be playing?

Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness

Dustin O Halloran - Lumiere 

What would you like to keep inside your boat shed? 

My bike

You’ve talked about taking inspiration from Ryan Adams. What exactly about him inspires you so much, and do you think that you’d have a fun time having a drink together? Be honest! 

Its hard to pinpoint what exactly it is about any artist that draws you into their world but his melodies sound so effortless and there is an honesty in his delivery that hits incredibly hard every time we listen to his records. We would definitely not have a fun time having a drink together. We’d be terrified of him. 

You’ve worked with Kijek & Adamski on a couple of videos now. What do they bring to the video table that makes you go back there? 

They have a very clear, singular vision for what they want to convey through their art and this strikes you every time you watch one of their videos. When you look at their visual accompaniment for ‘A Pirate’s Life’, there’s a hypnotic, soothing quality to the piece. For ‘Best Friend’ they created a visceral, angry, gritty video that reflected perfectly the sentiment of the song. This variety in their creations is something that we find very inspiring. 

What is around the next corner for you? What are you spending your days doing?

We’re just trying to ensure that all the elements are being put in place for the release of our album - vinyl and cd production, album artwork, videos to accompany the singles, editing some concert footage that will accompany the iTunes release etc etc.  All this involves hours sitting in front of a computer so that’s where we’ll be over the next few days!