"Before we get into this," says Christy Dignam, "let me tell you a little story". He recounts how a fan once told him the meaning of one of Dignam's songs; only it was not the meaning Dignam had intended; the lead singer with Dublin band Aslan had a moment of clarity when he realized, "If this is what he believes, then that's what it's about". It may be six years since the release of their last studio album but 'Waiting for this Madness to End' has gone straight into the Irish charts at number one. Dignam and keyboard player Billy McGuinness are in ebullient mood as they talk through the album track by track.
"Friend is kind of about the break-up of a relationship," says Dignam. "You know the way you're with somebody and you think it's gonna last forever, then it doesn't? It's about trying not to let the kids blame themselves, if you have kids. Someone you thought would be your friend for life and all of a sudden it's over and trying to deal with that. The style of singing is soft; it's meant to drag you in."
"Different Man is a track about the way you do something in your life in a year and if it's dramatic – like if you have a drug addiction or go to jail – then it changes you, makes you into a different person. But people don't always except that new person, they always judge you on the act. It's about not being judgmental. All people change and turn into different things. Never judge one person on one particular thing they've done."
"You know the way there's billions of people in the world and loads of different beauty," says Dignam. "She's So Beautiful is about when you see somebody and there's just something about that person that just connects you, and you want to connect with that person. They mightn't be the most beautiful person, or the most logical person for you, but none of that matters when you see them. It's a love-ish song."
"Love Is All You Need is about a couple of things. Years ago, John Lennon would write a song, say 'Imagine' or something like that. If you were 10 or 50 years old, you could listen to that and that was the way songs were put out. Now what's happening is record companies are getting bands to release songs geared at 6-10 year olds, or 10-20 year olds etcetera, all this b*llix. It's taken the art out of the music, the spontaneity out, it's destroying it," says Dignam. "The kids today, listening to Steps, or this Boyzone sh*te, where does that leave them? If that's what's influencing them, how dreadful is the next music gonna be?"
"Sinead O'Connor does a duet on Up In Arms. I'd met her and wrote that with her in mind," says Dignam. "It's really about dreams. The way you dream about stuff like a relationship. When you dream about love it's ideal, no love is really like that. But you always pursue that dream, it's non-existent but you pursue it. To me Sinead's a singer, not a politician, not a philosopher, a singer and a f***ing good one at that. When she started singing this, the hairs on my neck stood up."
"Six Days To Zero is about pessimists. It's about people who are waiting around for disaster and get nothing done because of that. There's a lot of that around at the moment. It's like three days or six days to disaster."
"All The World's Against You is about school bullying. It's also about a girl who wants to be a beauty queen, but isn't that beautiful," says Dignam. "It's about this world we live in, every young one wants to look like Kylie, fellas have to look like six-pack f***ers in boy bands. All this image sh*t…people are killing themselves over this. It's saying 99% aren't ideal - the ideals are actually the freaks."
"Comfort Me is a very personal one from Tony, our bass player's perspective. Him and his wife were trying for a kid for years and they did IVF, they couldn't have a baby. They had trouble with adoption and they were destroyed. But while they were trying for adoption, his wife got pregnant naturally and they had a kid. Having a kid for Tony was extra special because of all that. He wanted to write a song about that," says Dignam. "It's a rock and roll lullaby," adds McGuinness.
"The second verse of I'm On Your Side is about the comfort in misery," says Dignam. "If you're depressed, it's sometimes more comfortable to stay in that, than have to work out of it. What we are saying is we're on your side; I'll be there for you if you try and get out of it."
"Hangman is the last song; it's kind of a drug vibe. The apple in the song is drugs. It's an anti-drugs song, about the illusion of drugs. Drugs are like a beautiful woman in the distance. As you get nearer to her she gets uglier and uglier and by the time you've established that this is a f***ing hag, it's too late. That's when she has you; it's about the pointlessness of it all."
So are Aslan pleased with this album? You better believe they are. "We're chuffed," says McGuinness. "We paid for this album ourselves, that allowed us to make the album we want, but it takes longer. We feel we got it all right." "This could be put up against a Travis or early-Manics record," adds Dignam. "I know this is the best album since the first one; it's been worth the wait. There's a lot riding on this for us."
Christy Dignam and Billy McGuinness were in conversation with John Raftery. 'Waiting For This Madness To End' is out now.
Aslan play Dolans Warehouse, Limerick on Sat 6 October; Trinity Freshers Ball on Wed 10 October; The Savoy, Cork on Thurs 11 October; Corcorans Pub, Paris, France on Sat 13 October; Athlone Freshers Ball on Tues 16 October; Maynooth Freshers Ball on Wed 17 October; The Coalminers, Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny on Thurs 18 October and The Fiddler, Tramore, Co Waterford on Sat 3 November.
