A very big house in the country
You mightn't expect to find Ireland’s sharpest new indie talents tucked away in a rural abode, but that’s where The Immediate have decamped, ready to lead the fight against MySpace while making the punters dance.
Louise Hodgson, 11 Aug 2006
There are two dogs buried down at the end of that field,” Barra Heavey, guitarist and keyboard player with The Immediate informs me. We're looking out from their rehearsal room onto the Malahide farmhouse that half the band, along with a few other artists, and one or two girlfriends, get to call “home”.
“They’re not buried one on top of the other or anything,” he continues, “they’re side by side. Pet symmetry.”
Boom and indeed boom! The Immediate’s rehearsal space is not rented on an hourly or daily basis. Nor is it decked out with superior-quality equipment – or heating for that matter.
It’s in a loft above some stables dating from the ‘50s. This was the setting last year for their eye-grabbing 'Never Seen' video, and currently houses two extremely unfriendly ex-racehorses (the name of one, Bob, is known; the other remains aloof to the point of rudeness). Not fans of indie rock we presume.
“We’re getting quite polarised reactions to our album, everyone either loves it or hates it,” Conor O’Brien (vocals and guitar) announces.
Fear not – Dave Hedderman (vocals, guitar, bass) is adamant that this sort of divided response is a good thing.
“I’d be really worried if they didn’t give a shit at all. Some of the reactions we’ve had show that, if nothing else, the music can really get under people’s skin.”
He’s right – those with a taste for the mediocre or the predictable won’t like The Immediate one bit. Then again, I could have told you that the first time I saw them frantically swapping instruments at one of their live shows this time last year (the instrument swapping is a trademark: Conor plays drums and guitar; Dave alternates between guitar and bass).
Listening to their debut album, In Towers & Clouds, the word 'organic' springs to mind. The current single ‘Stop And Remember’ is a good example of the energy, imagination and originality that runs through the record. Here, in fact, is the thinking man’s indie rock LP (provided you aren't averse to some iffy vocals here and there).
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