Innovative Stomptown Brass for city show

Get ready to put some pep in your step this St Patrick’s Day when the ten-piece Stomptown Brass come to Galway City’s Monroe’s Live.

Led by composer James O’Leary, the Dublin-based band will soon launch the single I Got A Plan.

“We recorded it in Hellfire Studios up in the Dublin Mountains; we did our EP there as well,” says James. “You can see the whole of Dublin Bay from just outside the door of the studio, it was great for chilling out as well.”

Why did James feel this tune would work as a single?

“The fact that it’s got such a focus on vocals is nice, it makes people think about the band in a different way,” he says. “It’s easy to get sucked into the whole circus side of brass bands We wanted to show we’re about a little bit more than that, I suppose.  It’s a strong song as well, I think it would work pretty well on the radio.”

Are Stomptown Brass trying to make some inroads commercially, then?

“That’s what we’re interested in doing with this track, but we’ve got another one that we recorded at the same time that’s much more instrumental,” he says. “It’s kind of a strange one, and we’ve got a weird video on the way for that one too.”

Does James write the music alone, or does he jam it out with the band when they’re all in the same room?

“It’s closer to the first one, but we develop it a bit while we’re playing as well, so there’s a bit of back and forth,” he says of their approach. “I wrote I Got A Plan at the summit of a hike, so it’s kind of mountain-y as well.”

How did he remember the music while he was up a mountain – did he record it on his phone?

“I was kind of preoccupied with trying not to fall down the mountain side!” he says. “I had these terrible boots with no soles, basically, and it was really wet so I was sliding down the whole way – while trying to focus and keep the tune in my head.

“But it actually helps me if I don’t go near any technology or even an instrument while I’m getting a sense of a structure,” adds James. “I might take some written notes.”

Aside from staying upright up a hill, it must be quite challenge to record a ten-piece band properly.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.