Touring with the likes of Biffy Clyro, InMe and The Cooper Temple Clause puts Lisburn's Mojo Fury in good company and it would seem the years of hard slog are finally starting to pay off.
We spoke to singer and guitarist Michael Mormecha about making the breakthrough and finally getting that first album under their belts.
R13:For those that haven't heard the band yet how would you describe your sound?
MM:Haha, ok, start with an easy question why don't you! Well im gonna say, very dynamic in heaviness and genre, also very melodic, its probably the most important thing to me for there to be an underlying hook in either a vocal or a drum groove or synth. We're not afraid to fuse styles together.
R13:Despite being together 8 years you've had limited releases, does it now feel like it's finally coming together?
MM:Yeah, once our debut came out something changed, I guess moral within the band too, it started to feel like we were a real outfit. Also now when we write we are thinking in terms of the next album which puts a different but positive slant on things.
R13:What was the live music scene like in Northern Ireland when you were coming through and how hard is it for an emerging band to get noticed there?
MM:When we started, myspace hadn't even really taken off yet, everyone was saying the cliched 'you gotta go to London to make it' but gradually the internet opened many doors, exposing the scene and all it had to offer which turned out to be alot, even locally more shows, festivals and fan sites started happening, next you know alot of bands started actually doing tours and getting contracts, The Answer, Fighting With Wire, In Case Of Fire, ...And So I Watch You From Afar, Two Door Cinema Club, General Fiasco the list goes on. Now this has made the scene thrive, more people are taking notice of bands because the ground work and proof is there that you can do it from Northern Ireland.
R13:You had a switch around and added an extra band member back in 2009, what was the thinking behind that and did it turn out as you'd planned?
MM:I had always played and written on guitar but I'm a drummer at heart. We wanted to expand our sound. We started layering up tracks in the studio too so it seemed like the most logical thing to do. Onstage now I feel like I've just got out of a cage, its nice to be able to move to our music, I've ruined alot of right feet boots from stomping my foot!
R13:The first album ('Visiting Hours of Travelling Circus') was released back in May last year; were you pleased with the reaction it got? MM:Yeah we were for sure, we knew we had a good album in our paws, we were proud of it but also knew that it wasn't an easy listen, maybe like marmite, maybe a hard listen but when it clicks its very special, whatever it was we where not expecting it to get album of the month in artrocker or nominated best Northern Irish album alongside And So I Watch You and Cashier No 9.
R13:Did it turn out how you planned or was it a more fluid and spontaneous creation?
MM:It was always gonna be strange laying those tracks down in stone after playing them for 5 years, the parts were there but we didn't really know what the overall sound would be like, I guess once the bones of them were down we started to get a clearer idea of what we where doing and how the production should carry on.
R13:How do you share the song writing, is there a main songwriter or do you prefer to write together?
MM:I would sometimes finish a song and be very protective over it, other times its good to bring an idea to the practice room and we rip it up, try it back to front or whatever it takes. We wrote 'what a secret' in 30 minutes and in my opinion is one of our most original songs, it just landed in the room and everyone knew what to do, quite an amazing experience to go through.
R13:The singles from the album have all had pretty slick videos (directed by Darren Lee), do you think they represent the songs well and how much fun was it making them?
MM:It was fun, its kinda strange having to act a bit, no-one tells you that you'll have to do that when your starting your garage band lol. Darren is cool to work with, also Tristan who did 'the mann' video, it helps being comfortable around a director, I think its something that you get better at too though.
R13:Are you finding that certain parts of the UK 'get' your music more than others? You've also supported a fair few bands on major tours, have you bombed at all?
MM:Yeah, I'd say certain cities seem to be 'music cities', Nottingham, Leeds, Colchester, Glasgow, Bristol, We have had particularly good shows in some towns. We have been lucky with regards to getting good support tours so have always seemed to go down pretty good. Have we bombed at all...? lol I'm not telling you!!
R13:We're hearing from a lot of bands that it's becoming really hard to get decent size audiences at gigs at the moment, not because there is a lack of good music but because there is either too much or money is too tight; are you seeing that?
MM:True, there are a lot of bands touring at the minute I guess cause that's where the money is but as a result people aren't gonna go out every night of the week or financially be able to. We have experienced numbers being thin on the ground for certain shows that maybe more were predicted from the previous year but that's happening to everyone I think.
R13:Why should punters make the effort to come out and see Mojo Fury? What can they expect from your live show?
MM:We put a lot of work into playing our live show, we don't have the flying pigs yet but that will come with time. There is good energy when we play!
R13:Any major festival appearances in the pipeline this summer? MM:We are just on our way to play Eurosonic so hopefully we will be out in Europe a lot more this summer. Also we played a few great ones last summer which I would love to play again, Beautiful days and 2000Trees.
R13:What does the next 12 months hold for the band? Is there a clear plan or are you just taking it as it comes?
MM:The next two weeks we will spend in Holland and Germany then home to get stuck into album 2 which I'm very excited about. In February we are off on a 5 week tour with InMe and Lost Alone which is gonna be great too as we are sharing a tour bus!
R13:Thanks for your time!
MM:Thank you.