Sounding off - Afro Celt Sound System

Their story continues on 'Volume 3: Further in Time', the third stage of the Afro-Celt Sound System's cross-cultural journey and arguably their most complete album to date. It contains some of their most streamlined, radio friendly songs (the Peter Gabriel fronted 'When You're Falling' and 'North 2)' and sits them alongside the epics which drew many to the band in the first place ('The Silken Whip' and 'Go On Through'). With a gig this Saturday at the Ambassador in Dublin, Harry Guerin caught up with O'Lionaird to discuss the new album and the Afro Celts' history to date.

Harry Guerin: The press release accompanying Volume 3 says that the first Afro Celt's record was a project and the second was by a band. How do you feel about those two albums in retrospect?Iarla O'Lionaird: More or less happy. Album one I think is an interesting dream, a dreamy album. I think with album two, I would say that some of the tracks are very weak - not confident enough. The first album was hands-off for me in that it was a project. I just went over, wrote some songs with Simon [Emerson, Afro Celt guitarist and programmer] and just came home. Whereas with album two it was very much a case of working together - and on this album even more. This album is more upbeat and we had a lot more time - about a year of solid working. There was plenty of time to say, "I don't like that, I like that". I think we had about 45 tracks on the go.

HG: The Afro Celts did things in reverse: released an album first and then became a band. Is there a feeling that you're all just learning as you go along?IO'L: Very much so. We know the unit we have and we knew what the core people can do. We still set up challenges for each other and on top of that we try to bring new colours in - more strings, different instrumentation. On this album we all had to challenge each other. I had never written in English before and it was a challenge to have to face up to things you weren't familiar with and make them work within the context of a band. It wasn't that comfortable but it can't be that comfortable. If it's comfortable it's soggy.

HG: Having written in English you then had to give up the lyrics you wrote for other people like Peter Gabriel and Robert Plant to sing. Did you feel comfortable about that?IO'L: Not completely. I had to create a kind of logic which was that we are very much like a Massive Attack: we write stuff but we don't necessarily perform it all ourselves. I feel I carried out the challenge pretty well.

HG: Looking back again to when the Afro Celts were recording the first album did you feel that you were part of something special that would have a life in the future?IO'L: I didn't have a clue whether we'd get another record out of it, but I remember telling my friends that I was very impressed with the sound and I'd never heard that direction before. It was better than what was coming out of this country. I thought that this country's production ethos needed a good kick up the arse - and I still think it needs it sometimes.

HG: In what sense?IO'L: Lifeless folk rock, folk pop. There was nobody really attempting to do something vastly different and majestic with an ancient culture like traditional music. They were all moving into safe territory, Americanising it with a country twang. In the Eighties and Nineties, how many Irish folk singers went to Nashville? There was no other route it seemed so I took a big left turn and ended up working with beatmasters from Hackney and people with a multicultural reggae/punk background. But that's not the answer to everybody's questions either - it was just something that I did.

HG: You're signed to Peter Gabriel's Real World label, one of the most renowned for releasing world music. Is that both a blessing and a curse in that some people will buy everything on Real World while others might avoid your records because they have a preconception about the label?IO'L: Sure, there's a downside to everything. One of the great things about being with Real World is that we have immense creative freedom. We even had to ask their A&R department to get involved this time because we wanted some direction, we wanted to create radio tracks for this album because we hadn't done it before.

HG: You could certainly hear the likes of 'North 2' and the Peter Gabriel track 'When You're Fall0ing' on the radio.IO'L: That's what we're hoping. Last album we had a Masters At Work remix of the Sinead O'Connor track and that did very well for us in America. There is a perceptual difficulty being signed to Real World in that some people will imagine a record to be a certain kind of record before they listen. And I think the British press certainly haven't given us fair treatment, they don't know why we exist.

HG: And the Irish press?IO'L: The Irish press doesn't make that much a deal of us either. We were nominated for a Grammy for the last album and no paper even reported on it. Not many Irish artists are nominated for a Grammy. Nobody rang us except R na G [Raidió na Gaeltachta]. I don't think the big DJ's in Ireland care about us really. I wish they did, I think this album certainly has a lot for their listeners if you want to be that banal about it. I'm sure there are supporters out there too but it's a bit thin on the ground. It would be nice if I turned on the radio in Ireland and some of our stuff was being played.

HG: Looking back on the last six years, they've been a great springboard for you as both a member of a group and as a solo artist.IO'L: It's enjoyable - but not always. Being in a band and touring is like any job and it has its downside. I have a wife and child and that's hard but when I have time off I have more time off than most people. I don't what people think about me or what the perception is. All I know is that this is the job I have and as far as I'm concerned I'm only starting out - I feel inexperienced in this world. I love what I do.

Afro-Celt Sound System play the Ambassador, Dublin on Saturday 29 September. 'Volume 3: Further in Time' is out now on Real World Records.