Interviews

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FunkyMofo - Liverpool Academy

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Questions and Answers
Ahead of their Vicar St gig, Edel Meade keeps it short and sweet with Bell X1's frontman...  Read the interview

Hot Press - The X-Factors

How a house in Wexford, a major deal, an Austin Clarke poem and a Bertie Ahern pamphlet helped Bell X1 make their most rewarding music to date.

Clarke's fantastic poetic metaphor for female beauty lends itself wonderfully to the title of the second Bell X1 album. It's a record charged my magic and loss, confusion and celebration and ultimately, a potent case of music in mouth nourishing the heart and soul.

While perhaps not quite as immediate as its predecessor it is a far more realised and satisfying record than their Neither Am I debut.

"The huge difference between this record and the last is that this is far more collaborative," singer Paul Noonan believes. "We spent three weeks in a house in Wexford just down the road from the Ten Speed Racer boys who we shared a dartboard in the local with."

"When we released the first album we were very much in the hangover of Juniper and fumbling as a band to try and get some kind of cohesive sound," Dave Geraghty maintains. "On Neither Am I myself and Paul would bring bits of ideas together, but this way was very much a joint effort. When we were making this one, we'd go to bed at night still buzzing from songs that would come out from the most unusual circumstances. That house in Wexford had a huge part to play. There might be a plaque outside it someday!"

Music In Mouth developed into a far more diverse animal than the initial gameplan.

"When we started this record I wanted to make something like Television, early Talking Heads or Blondie," Paul reveals. " A really spiky, skinny white boy record. It rang hollow and we had a lot of songs in that form, but I needed to write about certain things that couldn't be expressed in such a a form which is why the record is as all over the shop as it is."

Or as a great line in 'Next To You' puts it, "I'm a little bit all over the shop / Like those souvenirs in Knock that come all the way from China." Music In Mouth is full of lovely pen pictures - a world of tomato coated spaghetti, white water noise and games full of snakes bereft of any ladders.

"I keep a Dictaphone with me all the time and I type stuff in to my phone all the time," Paul offers by the way of explaining some of the more unusual lyrics. "I tend to record these things when they come to me. A lot of the lyrics for 'Snakes & Snakes' were written on the back of a Bertie Ahern pamphlet that came through the letterbox. I write stuff on anything I can find, put them together and attempt to crowbar them into song form."

By coincidence, songs conceived on propaganda leaflets from our Beloved Leader are being rapturously received in the UK, from whence the Bellies have just returned.

The reception now afforded to Irish artists in Britain now seems to have radically changed from the days when our favourite sons and daughters were regularly left out to dry by the inkies. This summer alone, The Thrills have gone straight to number three with So Much For The City, Bell X1's former Juniper colleague Damien Rice has rocketed through the roof, while The Frames have sold out London's Union Chapel and performed a veritable corker at Glastonbury, now reaching audiences beyond the Paddy Diaspora that normally throng their away fixture list.

"We were doing an interview with BBC 6 Music with a guy who's whole programme is based on what he calls the Irish boom," Dave states. "The whole U2 hangover of the eighties has finally cleared so it's really exciting to be involved now. The Dublin sound was a bad word for a while but now it's really turned itself inside out."

"There is a great sense of camaraderie in Dublin right now," Noonan agrees. "I'd love to see someone do a Reindeer Section here. I think there is a lot of similarities between here and Glasgow in that there are so many brilliant records coming out here that people have put out themselves and built a fanbase really organically. I think Graham Hopkins would be the man to orchestrate it. He has got the blagger's tongue!"

Another development of recent times is that the those three worlds "major record deal" don't seem to be a dirty as they were even a year ago, as your local record shop right now is racked up with The Thrills (Virgin), Snow Patrol (Polydor), Hailte (Warners) and Bell X1 (Island).

"Sometimes I do feel paranoid about it because most of my friends who are making music are doing it independently," Noonan admits. "I know it's a paranoia, but there is a perceived lack of integrity in getting in bed with a corporation whose mother company does French water treatment, that company being Universal. But there has been no benefiting from their point of view. The deal that Island pitched at us was that Island wanted to re-establish itself as the label in the Universal group that allows bands to make three to four records before they start making money in the tradition of their great back catalogue artists like Bob Marley."

Having jumped through hoops of hype with Juniper, the Bell X1 boys are more than a little wiser.

"We are fearful of the bombastic marketing ploys that were used in the Juniper days," Dave says. "It was a bit full on. We'd prefer people to make their own decisions and at the end of the day the best promotion is word of mouth. Word of mouth for music in mouth!"

"I don't necessarily regret Juniper, but I do regret not making an album," Noonan adds. "I think the perception of the band would have been a lot better had we the substance to back up all the bombast. It pissed people off at the time but we learnt hugely."

Not only have they learnt to let the music breathe, but Bell X1 have evolved into a very interesting entity, blurring the traditional boundaries between major label and underground. Paul has been known to perform Justin Timberlake songs with the Warlords Of Pez while Tim O'Donovan of Neosupervital and Settler was recently recruited as sticksman. Few would have thought that early Bell X1 would ever become such an interesting and unpredictable forcefield of activity. Future developments are bound to be interesting to say the very, very least. Bon appetite.

Eamon Sweeney

UCD - The Observer Interview

Solving equations
An interview with Bell X1

"I know you!" said guitarist Dave Geraghty, rather unexpectedly, furrowing his brow. "You're Hannah Hamilton. You gave me a copy of your fanzine when we played in that pub in Kilkenny a year or two ago. I found your phone number in my little black book last week. "Yeah?" came my monosyllabic and somewhat moronic reply (I immediately kicked myself for not having said something witty and given the guy a better reason to remember me).

Clearly, this was not my first encounter with indie-electronica noiseniks Bell X 1. Crammed into their icicle-ridden seven-seater 'tour bus' in one of UCD's myriad car parks (with only a dicta-phone and flickering interior light for comfort), I set about re-aquainting myself with a band whose debut long player Neither Am I, released way back in 2000, placed them firmly in the foreground of progressive Irish indie-rock. Having toured the length of the country and back again, January 2002 proved the watershed for a push abroad with the band signing to London based Island records (where PJ Harvey is a co-signee) and commencing work on the much anticipated album number two.

Huddled away in a Tudor mansion in the English countryside, Bell X 1 are currently earning themselves a respectable studio tan; doubtlessly knee deep in a veritable Spaghetti Junction of leads and power supplies, servicing countless electronic bleeping devices and keyboards. "We like our toys" admits Paul Noonan, vocals. "We find ourselves very inspired by the alternative sounds we bring in. We've got an old battered nylon string guitar that most of the songs are written around.

This record isn't going to take itself as seriously as the last - there's going to be more stupid music I think. More fun!"
Formerly of the band Juniper (collectively Bell X 1 and previous Earwig star Damien Rice on vocals), Noonan cites his old schoolmate as the main push behind Juniper's ascent to the stage. "Actually, if the truth be told I think that Damien had a big hand in inspiring us to perform" he muses. "We went to school together and that's where Juniper started. He had played music all his life really, and he was the motivating force behind Juniper in those days, although I'm sure we would have found our way there somehow."

The electronic stance that Bell X 1 take against traditional acoustic equation sets them apart from the crowd, though they insist that it still dominates the crux of their song writing process.
"I think that there is an element of the acoustic guitar and an eight track in what we do. Essentially, most of the songs are written in that sort of bedroom style, but we were always quite determined to take an angle on it and use electronic instruments. I don't think we've ever really considered ourselves as an Irish band in that classic singer songwriter mode. We were never into that kind of music really. The important thing is that it is a band sound, and everyone has input. It colours the music from the bare sketch of just vocal and acoustic guitar. I think that's how we set ourselves apart from the 'I'm a singer songwriter and play along with me' kind of approach."

However cushy a position Bell X 1 may be in, they certainly have their feet on the ground when it comes to the business, having been up and down the industry hype roller coaster more times than Bugs Bunny on E.

"We really admire people like Radiohead and PJ Harvey, how they've stuck to their guns and directed their work. It's a difficult thing to do when you're a product. It scares the shit out of some people but you just have to play ball and handle it."

The Lobby, Cork Interview

Venue: The Lobby

Mark McAvoy talks to Bell X1 (named after the first aircraft to break the sound barrier) lead singer and front man Paul Noonan.

Q1. You used to be known as Juniper and now you have become Bell X1. Why the name change?
Ans. The original lead singer (Dodi) left the band and we wanted to make very different music. We all wanted to get away from the way Juniper was presented.

Q2. Did Juniper’s lead singer (Dodi) leave of his own free will or was he pushed?
Ans. He just left, as he didn’t want to be in a band any more, it was as simple as that. He was a very single-minded individual. I was friends with him since I was twelve and he has always had this self-destruct, as I see it, streak in him. He still makes wonderful music but he was just not geared towards compromising and getting on with other people.

Q3. What is the main difference as you see it between Bell X1 and Juniper?
Ans. I think the singles that were released as Juniper were not particularly representative of the band. At the time we were just kind of star-struck at the notion of signing a record deal. We signed a record deal with Polygram Ireland and they were not willing to make an album. They wanted to release a couple of singles first, [ incidentally Juniper only ever released two singles during their short career] with the result that the singles were hyped out of the water and we never had an album to back up any of the bullshit that was being spun about us. It all happened too fast. We learned a lot from that.

Q4 Did you feel under pressure from the record company?
Ans. Not pressure, I just think we didn’t really know where we were or what we wanted to do at the time. Now we just want a departure from that kind of attitude and we want to go away and make an album and start touring and building up things really slowly. We don’t want a huge campaign about the band.

Q5 What genre of music would you consider Bell X1 belongs to?
Ans. I have no idea. Rock 'n' Roll music but not as we knew it.

Q6 What would you say your ( Bell X1's) influences are?
Ans. Essentially I suppose what was known as folk music a long time ago, like Bruce Springsteen. Also Thin Lizzy.

Q7 What is your favourite record of all time?
Ans. Well the first record I ever bought was 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' by Tight Fit, so that kind of wore off after a time. I would say PJ Harvey 'To Bring You My Love.'

Q8 What is the biggest gig to date that Bell X1 have played?
Ans. Supporting Bon Jovi in the RDS last summer. A close second would be the Witness festival last summer.

Q9 How do you feel about the current state of Irish music?
Ans. I’m very excited at the moment, as there are a lot of really good things happening. I’ve heard David Kitt has a really good record coming out soon. Also the Frames have a really good record coming out. There is a nice vibe in a couple of studios in Dublin at the moment.

Q10 What, at the end of the day, would you be happy achieving musically?
Ans. I would just want to continue the cycle of making records, touring them and then writing new ones. We have only made one record and it has been hard to maintain the kind of momentum required to make records.

Q11 Finally your debut album 'Neither Am I': how would you describe it?
Ans. Camp-fire disco.

Date of Event: March 23rd 2001

cluas.com - August 2003

Interview with Paul Noonan after the HMV Instore gig, Dublin on August 1 by Shane Mc Dermott.

Paul Noonan: To me the album is a celebration of beauty, and I’ve always loved how beauty is described in that poem… “And they say that her beauty was music in mouth”. Hmm…we haven’t actually contacted the estate of Austin Clarke about the use of the line, maybe we should. I would hope that he’d like it.

Shane: How would you define the sound of the album?

Paul: This record, to me, is one of love songs in drag. They’re songs of love and loss presented in a celebratory, joyous way. It sounds a bit contradictory but I think we knew when we were making it that it’s a bit all over the shop. Some time in the future I’d love to make a very definite record with a definite sound, like a hip-hop record does, or a folk record. But I think we’d need to go off separately and do side projects for that sort of purity to appear.

Shane: How do you think it’s different from your first album, Neither Am I, and how do you think the band has matured since then?

Paul: I think we’re a lot less self conscious about things and we’re just being more soulful and honest about it. We lived for three weeks as a band in a house in Wexford and wrote this album then. For me, that was the most enjoyable part of the whole process, because we were communicating to each other without actually having to say anything. We fell upon some sort of chemistry. We didn’t have a lot of self-confidence when we were making Neither Am I.

Shane: One review said that had Music in Mouth been a debut it would have been one of this year’s best. Do you wish it was your debut?

Paul: No, not at all. You go through a process when you make a record, like a sort of purging. You make it and put yourself into it and it leaves its mark. In England it is our debut, but I hope that Neither Am I will come out there at some stage. We’re still very proud of it.

Shane: There have been a lot of comparisons to bands like Coldplay and even Radiohead. What do you think of this?

Paul: I think it’s lazy. There’s a quote from one review that says we’re Radiohead as Radiohead should sound now, and that’s just wank. I mean, who’s to say what Radiohead should or should not sound like?

Shane: It’s ironic that critics are saying things like Bell X1 have finally found their sound, when three of the songs on the album are years old. Why do Eve, the Apple of my Eye, fan-favourite Alphabet Soup and current single Tongue appear now and not on Neither Am I?

Paul: Well, we’d never recorded Alphabet Soup, and I don’t think we had done the other two justice in previous versions.

Shane: What about some of the newer material that fans thought would be on Music in Mouth, such as Real Palm Trees, 10 Paces and Rockridge? Will they make it onto a future record?

Paul: Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. The chorus of Rockridge has always bothered me. I think I’ve learned to be more honest when something is weak. If parts of it are beautiful or great and do something for you but there’s just something…weak, then it’s no longer good enough.

Shane: And do you know what the next single will be?

Paul: Yeah, it’ll probably be Snakes and Snakes. I don’t really know what works or what doesn’t as a single, I don’t know what its purpose is. Those classic three minute pop singles – I don’t really write those sorts of songs; I can’t think in that way. Trying to break the mould of what will get played on radio is very difficult. I think there should be an agreement between artists that nobody should try to play ball and please the powers that be or the advertisers or whatever, and instead try to make songs that are just a bit more interesting.

Shane: So does that mean you were annoyed with having to edit Tongue for radio play?

Paul: No, because that’s not a song that I’m particularly precious about, to be honest. I think I’d be a lot more precious about other songs. I much prefer the live version and the album version, but I didn’t mind so much as long as the edit didn’t castrate the song, which I don’t think it did.

Shane: What are your plans after the tour? Is a third album already on the horizon?

Paul: Well there’s a lot of songs, but we’re going to be touring for a year. I don’t want to make another record yet, I don’t think we’re ready to do that. We’re just hungry to get out and play, and sort of soak up the places that it brings us to. It’s really exciting having the record out in places that we’ve never really been before. It’s coming out in France, Belgium, Holland and Denmark, so we’re going to be over there.

Shane: Are you conscious of trying to avoid ‘The Frames syndrome’, where they seem to have reached a certain level and stayed there, more or less, for the past 10 years?

Paul: I don’t think that they have. It’s really hard being self-sufficient, you know, making a record, going touring, and putting the record out in the States yourself – it costs a shit load of money. I find the whole Frames story very inspiring. It’s truly a case of their fans…they’re like crusaders in a way, you know? They’re true patrons, they’ve funded the Frames’ explorations and helped bring their music elsewhere, and that’s just brilliant. I think Ireland is a place where people are acutely aware of that, and know how much of a part they play in the music. And Damien (Rice, former band-mate), who’s done very well for himself, has experienced the same kind of thing.

Shane: Speaking of Damien, what do you think of his album, O?

Paul: I really like it. It was weird in a way, very emotional listening to it. He went through a lot and he felt like shit when he left the band, and left the country for a while. To come back and do what he’s done is fantastic.

Shane: There are a few songs from your days together that you’ve both now done different versions of. Have there ever been any problems, legal or otherwise, concerning those songs and the rights to them?

Paul: No, it’s a bit weird with all the different versions out there, listening to all the debates – which version people prefer and why, who wrote this, who has the rights to that. But there have never been any problems. We’ve always tried to keep it human. We’ve all been friends since we were thirteen, so while there were times when we never thought we’d go through the things that we did, like Damien leaving the band, we’ve kept it friendly and I would hope that we’ve never hardened towards each other. It is like any relationship break-up, and hurt and anger can manifest themselves in lashing out, and yeah I’m sure we’ve gone through a bit of that. We’re in a position now though where everything is fine…but I’ll be glad when the day comes when he isn’t brought up in an interview. (Paul laughs suggestively)

Shane: Right. Moving along then…in Neither Am I there were, arguably, a lot of lyrics which are possessed of a certain sexual innuendo (example – from the track Slowset, “What do you say/ when she’s in your arms and you’re going around in those circles/ yeah what do you say/ when both of you know you’ve risen to the occasion”) while in Music in Mouth half of the songs have biblical references. Have Bell X1 found religion?

Paul: No, I don’t think we’ve found religion. But I don’t think we’ve lost it either. My next-door neighbour was a Methodist minister, and when I was really young he bought me a big Bible Stories for Children book, and I’ve always loved them. I’ve always loved the whole idea of the Garden of Eden and that beautifully simplistic world view it had. And the fact that people actually take it literally I find hilarious.

Shane: Have you ever felt the album was going somewhere you didn’t want because of pressure from the record label?

Paul: Not at all. We recorded and mixed a lot of it in their studios. All the suits were upstairs but they never actually showed their faces. They wanted to reinvent Island Records as the label within the Universal group that would let bands make the record they wanted. That’s great because at the time of Neither Am I, I don’t think we had the strength of character to do that. My flatmate Scott (Burnett) has done all the artwork for Music in Mouth and its singles, and they were great about that. There was never this idea of forcing some London design agency onto us.

Shane: And Scott Burnett was responsible for the major overhaul of your website recently. What sort of feeling are you trying to convey with the new look?

Paul: Somewhere that’s homely and inviting, where you can take off your shoes and sit back and relax with a really nice cup of tea. I think the other website was very cold. I want to bring more interactive elements to it as well, like the Kazoosical Bull competition (winner decided at the end of the Irish tour). I’d love to put in a games room or something, where people can go and play pong against each other.

Shane: With two albums under your belts and the band’s fan base growing rapidly across Europe, do you think the success and fame has gone to anyone’s head or are you all still fairly grounded?

Paul: One of the things that worry us sometimes is that we’re not in the classic rock ’n roll mode as people; we don’t seem to conform to whatever that is. That’s worrying because in this fickle world it seems the more outrageous you are the more records you sell. When we tour in England we live in a proper working farmhouse just outside Oxford, and people find that really strange. They say things like, “Why aren’t you in London throwing TVs out hotel windows?” We may give a TV a gentle nudge some day.

Shane: You have a degree from Trinity College. Do you have any back-up plans in the event that everything goes pear-shaped?

Paul: I have a degree in computer engineering and I still can’t keep the fucking website ticking over, so no, I don’t think there’s a future for me in that!

Shane: Finally, what’s your favourite biscuit? (You’d be amazed at what gets discussed on Bell X1’s website message board)

Paul: Hmm…I think I’d have to say chocolate hobnobs.

Where's The Craic Interview

"We talk to Paul about the debut release from BellX1 "Neither am I". The band also chat about their departure from the ties of Juniper."

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