Raucous punk with witty edge from Rural Savage
Playing punk songs that are both raucous and witty, Rural Savage come to Róisín Dubh this Saturday, August 20.
The Galway-based trio brought out their second album It’s Not Your Wadi . . . It’s Rural Savage last year, a fine collection of songs that their lead singer and guitarist Farren McDonald is rightly proud of.
“There was a lot of variety on it, it came together quite well,” he says. “It’s never been mastered or anything. I think it’s better than the first one, definitely. The first one was speedy and very little else!”
When Farren’s not writing songs, he’s writing fiction, and this informs the music he makes. These are tracks populated by misfits and reprobates, and they’re great craic to listen to. Does he write them at home, or come up with ideas when he’s in a room with Jay Burke (bass) and Mosey Byrne (drums)?
“I have a recorder at the house, where I demo them,” he says. “There’s a built-in drum machine, so I can test them out on my own, then bring them in. We never jam or anything – I’m not a great improvisational musician, I’m not great at thinking of things in the moment. I have to make them up well beforehand!”
One of the highlights from It’s Not Your Wadi is This House Is Haunted, which was inspired by Kevin Barry’s superb, anarchic novel City of Bohane.
“I was reading that, and I was trying to make a soundtrack accompaniment to it,” Farren says. “Originally, it was more acoustic and Tom Waits-y, I was trying to write a sort of soundscape, which I adapted. In that song, it’s supposed to be from the point of view of somebody in Bohane. The atmosphere [of the song] was supposed to be along those lines.”
Five years ago, Rural Savage burst on to the Galway scene with songs like no one else. He has come on as writer, but Farren’s songs are still imbued with the humour, anger and darkness that made them stand out. Five years from now, does he still see himself making music with a similar feel?
“No, I don’t think so. I can feel it changing already, I’m not as angry as I was,” he says. “I’ve definitely mellowed but I do slightly worry about the impact of that on writing that kind of music. It does feel a bit weird, sometimes, to be shouting! But I’m introducing more fictional ideas [to the songs] so I can come at from that kind of angle. So I’ll probably do that instead.”
■ Doors for Rural Savage are 9pm, admission is €10.