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Alan Hennesy
Gorbachov
29th April 2007DW: So – tell us a bit of background about the band, how long you've been together and how you all got to know each other.
Heno: I’d love to give you some elaborate story about us being marooned on a desert island together for 10 years becoming cannibals and cave men banging out primal beats to then become a band after our rescue... but nah it was a little less exciting than that! The band itself came together in 2004 but we had all known each other before that. Bobby and I went to school together and Brian and Bob lived on the same street. Brendan and I worked in a supermarket when we were younger and I introduced him to Brian and Bob. Ian was friends with Brian's older brother and Brendan so we were all pretty much in the same group of friends.
Myself Bobby and Brian were in a covers band for a while and Brendan and Ian played at sessions a lot together. We had a lot of friends who played instruments so we all wanted to start a mega band with epic originals and 15 members most of whom did fuck all. However this never materialised. So we ended up with just the 5! Which in the end I think is a good thing.
DW: How would you describe your music?
Heno: We all like rock so that's pretty much what our influences are and would be what we generally go for when writing songs. We all listen to loads of different things though so it can sometimes come through in songs as well. Someone once said if Queens of the Stone Age and Franz Ferdinand had a baby it would be called Gorbachov!
DW: You recently signed to Pirate Industries and made the move over from Waterford to Liverpool, was that an easy transition for you all?
Heno: No! It was a bit of a nightmare really. We had loads of problems getting a house and loads of problems getting our stuff over here. The whole move began back in the mists of time (early January), when I packed my bags and bid farewell to the Deise. After a month of red tape, hassle, and sleeping in the studio, I finally found a house and affectionately named it the cock pit! Thus began the most drawn out relocation of any band in living memory, after much stalling around Waterford (and the longest good bye ever) we all arrived just before Valentines Day. How romantic! But in the end it’s all worth it cause this is going to be our home for a while and it's like starting again over here. New surroundings and all that can affect you but so far so good for us.
DW: You were kind of big fish in a small pond in Waterford, insofar as everyone seems to love the band there – has it been difficult moving from that sort of atmosphere to having to build up a following elsewhere?
Heno: We enjoy the challenge. It’s like starting again! The good thing we find is when no one knows anything about you they generally don't know what to expect and we usually surprise people. We've had 2 years of gigging experience in Ireland so that helps! We are putting a lot of effort into making ourselves a more professional sounding band rather than just the band that play good tunes but don't have that professional sound.
It’s a much bigger challenge here though and it’s going to take us a good while to get our street cred up! Gigs are a must and that's what we will concentrate on once we have recording well and truly sorted.
DW: You have about 40 demo songs amassed so far; have you started work on recording yet? (If so, how is that going!)?Heno: We've done a lot of work on three tracks that we are trying to finish for and it's as good as it can possibly get. We're taking it one track at a time at the moment rather than doing all the drums and then going back to do all the guitars. This way we have songs finished and we can create a better picture of what the album is going to sound like. It’s a long process but we are blessed with having a studio to use when we need it.
I don't want to give too much away but I'll say this much it's going to be three songs people have never heard before and is quite a good bit heavier than what we usually do! I can’t wait for people to hear it!
DW: Now that Gorbachov has been signed by a label, does this mean that you are all full time musicians or do you still have regular jobs?
Heno: Yeah the jobs thing is a must to pay the bills I'm afraid. I'm the only one with a job at the moment though, the rest of them are still bums! It's an independent label so they can't afford to pay us just yet but hopefully the days of getting up at eight and going to work will end after we release the album...wishful thinking!
DW: Song writing – is it a team effort or is does one person tend to take the lead on that?
Heno: It’s a combined effort in the end. But it always starts with someone’s idea for a song. One person will come up with a general song idea and we will just jam it out see what everyone else wants to add to it and go from there.
It's different in the studio cause you tend to just rip songs apart and then deal with the remains and put it all back together in a different way to see what it's like, if it doesn't work then it's back to the drawing board. When you’re just making the song up in the first place though it’s just an idea that needs to be built on and that's the general formula.
DW: How was your first gig in Liverpool? Are there any more in the pipeline?
Heno: It went really well and we got a great reaction from the crowd as well as the staff and promoter so we should have another few gigs coming up with better slots. (See below for current dates - DW). We really want to get gigging so we are going to put a lot more effort to get more gigs. The problem is getting heard in this sea of bands but it has to be done! There are some great venues in Liverpool and I’ve been to a few great nights with local live bands already. It’s frustrating at the same time 'cause I'd like to be playing every weekend!
DW: I was hearing something about haircuts and Comic Relief last month, what was all that about then?
Heno: A friend of one of the guys from the record company has a Barbers up the road from our house and he asked us if we wanted our heads shaved for Comic Relief so we said why not, we needed a trim anyway! It was in a lot of the press over here and the Barbers raised a good few quid for Comic Relief so it benefited both of us and was all for charity!
DW: What do you miss most about Ireland and what do you miss least?
Heno: I miss Taytos! Bobby misses the Deise in general, Brian misses the beer garden in Geoff's, Ian misses being the face of the Book Centre (not), and Brendan misses being able to surf in Tramore everyday! But in general I don't miss much about Waterford, Liverpool is a nice change of scenery and is small enough to be a nice place to live! Don't get me wrong Waterford is cool but it was time for a change, I'll go back to Waterford for Spraoi maybe and Christmas.
DW: What is the current plan for UK domination and what do the band hope to have achieved in a years time?
Heno: Bob's going to enter the X Factor and I'm going into Celebrity Big Brother as the token guy from a new upcoming band that no one knows that they have every year! Brendan Ian and Brian are starting a side project to write next years Irish entry for the Eurovision under a new name "Fifi and the Whiskey Foxtrots". So that's just what we are doing in our spare time...
Chov wise... well the main objective is to get a Publishing Company interested in taking up our album for distribution in Europe and beyond if possible. We have already had interest from one or two so fingers crossed! The gigging as I said is a must and we really want to get on the scene as fast as possible so that we can build some sort of a fan base before the album is released and maybe get on some summer festival slots.
We have a few other things up our sleeves as well which we will keep to ourselves for now but all will be revealed shortly!
To be honest the plan is kind of vague we just want to spread the word as much as we can and see where it gets us and if by the end of 2007 we've released an album and no-one likes it then at least we released an album... when was the last time you released one?? eh...eh... eh?? But seriously we just want to do as much as we can to spread our infection across the world. Hopefully by 2008 most humans will have Chovitis and we can finally become rulers of the galaxy like we've always planned!
Upcoming Shows:
Sunday 13th May - The Cava Tequila Bar, Wood Street, Liverpool - 9.00 pm Free Entry.
Tuesday 15th May - The Cavern, Liverpool - 8.00 pm -£3