The Wander Years
Wistful country rockers to their boots, Ireland’s The Lost Brothers are creating waves internationally. They discuss their unique heritage, attempts to navigate the treacherous waters of the music industry and hanging with some famous chums
Roisin Dwyer, 13 Dec 2011
“Lonnie Donegan is my granny’s cousin”, laughs Mark McCausland almost sheepishly. “That’s on my dad’s side, and on my mum’s side everyone is a musician.”
“My granny used to have a dancehall in Buncrana called The Plaza,” states Oisin Leech. “We only found this out a couple of years ago but Mark’s family band actually came and played there, way before we were even born. So my granny would have been collecting the glasses and Mark’s family band, The Moore Family, were playing.”
The Lost Brothers are ensconced in a quiet corner of Dublin’s Library Bar with Hot Press, discussing their musical heritage and current opus So Long John Fante over afternoon tea.
The album, an immaculate long-player of finely-wrought country gems, could only be created by musicians who live, breathe and perhaps have an inherited predisposition towards their craft, such is its potency.
Over the last few years they have released lauded debut Trails Of The Lonely, worked with Brendan Benson and musicians from M. Ward and Richard Hawley’s band and also contributed to a Roy Orbison tribute album at the behest of his widow Barbara.
This year (amongst sundry other live duties) they played the London Feis where they were joined on stage by The Waterboys’ Steve Wickham and Mike Scott, and they have recently returned from Other Voices New York.
“It has been a good year actually!” smiles Mark as they chronicle their various adventures over the course of our chat.
Although both Brothers hail from Ireland (Leech from Navan and McCausland from Omagh) it was as ex-pat musicians in Liverpool that the seeds of the current guise were sown. Both have experienced noteworthy levels of acclaim with previous outfits, Oisin in The 747s who toured with Brendan Benson, The Strokes and The Thrills, and Mark in The Basement whose album Illicit Hugs And Playground Thugs garnered rave reviews.
“We always kind of joked that we should start a band some day. The Basement and The 747s used to tour together a lot and after a tour we would meet up and jam,” explains Mark.
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