Belfast-based indie punk act CATALAN! Release their debut album Veritas on October 2. We asked frontman Ewen Friers the BIG questions . . .
Friers is one third of Northern Ireland punk trio Axis Of, and brother of Rory Friers from And So I Watch You From Afar and he retreated to a secluded glen on Ireland's north coast to record Veritas earlier this year.
Creating a home recording set up in a massive modern house, Ewen and his live band, along with Ryan McGroarty (Beauty Sleep, Start Together Studios) at the controls, spent ten days interpreting reams of voice memos, demos, lyrics and instrumentals into a fully realised album.
Tell us three things about yourself?
I like French red wines, Spanish white wines, and stealing quotes off George Orwell.
How would you describe your music?
I’m enjoying the flavour that the tagline "World Punk" gives off. Our video maker recently described it as "Talking Heads meets Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros". I’m quite happy with that. Ideally, it’s "urgent, world music influenced, indie, post punk with plenty of thought-provoking poetry barked over the top", which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue! Perhaps it’s hard to describe? Which is hopefully a good thing.
Who are your musical inspirations?
MIA, Dirty Projectors, Why?, Sleaford Mods, Big Country, The Bronx.
How did you occupy yourself during the coronavirus lockdown?
We have a tiny backyard in Belfast, it’s hemmed in by a tall back wall that omits very little daylight. One idle afternoon I spotted that we have a sun trap on the side of our house, catching most of the day’s sun. The trouble is it’s seven feet up. So, I built a bench . . . with elongated legs - a bench on stilts! Now we perch above the wall sipping cold beer in the evening sun. Other than the cliched Zoom calls, learning how to bake sourdough and watching Tiger King, this was one of my more unique activities from lockdown.
What’s your favourite song right now?
Gedawo by Ayalew Mesfin
Favourite lyric of all time?
That’s a really tricky question, lyrics have always been very important to me and it’s a big consideration with CATALAN! Let’s go with some Strummer . . . something with plenty of imagery, poetry, with stacks of meaning but not preachy. Straight to Hell had some of the greatest lines - "Wanna join in a chorusOf the Amerasian blues?When it's Christmas out in Ho Chi Minh CityKiddie say papa papa papa papa papa-san take me home".
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life what would it be?
Just one song? Ouch. I’ll pick my bands mates in Beauty Sleep and their endlessly transportive classic Synthetic Debris.
Where can people find your music/more information?
People can get everything from www.catalancatalancatalan.com as well as on all the usual socials.
