Hey folks, Perry here (that's right I hacked Louis' account and am taking over the blog. Be afraid).
Don't know if you saw our interview in the Evening Echo today. It's the reason I've been running about the place screaming ECHO at the top of my lungs (MRS Milligan if you're reading this I'm very sorry, I didn't realize your hearing aid was turned up.) The interview had to be edited down somewhat before it could fit in the paper (I tend to twitter one like a raving buffoon.) However, here in Blog land there are no such space limitations. So here, for your viewing pleasure, is the full unedited interview.


How long have you been making music?
Since I was ten when I wrote my first song, it was called Bird Turd. The band have been together in some form or another since 2006. You can hear the original lineup on the recording of Jackhammer.

What does the Song Century Project entail?
We've set up a website containing demo recordings of 100 songs written by myself and my two band-mates. Using this website we're trying to raise €15,000 with which to record our debut album. The way it works is that anyone who makes a donation (of any amount) gets to vote on which of the 100 songs we record for the album. Once we've raise the money we'll record the 10 songs with the most votes.

How did this idea come to you?
I realized that I'd written all these songs and nobody was ever going to get a chance to hear them. Imagine how much it would cost, and how much time it would take, to get together professional recordings of all those songs. I didn't want them to just sit there on my hardrive, unheard and unloved. So I decided to release everything. All the demos, warts intact.

How broad is the scope of the songs up for the vote?
They're very diverse in terms of style and mood. Some of them are very comic and theatrical (First Failed Escape for example) and others are more introspective, in the singer songwriter vain (Enduring Summer Showers). Then there's progressive stuff (It's Just Begun) straight up blues rock (Jackhammer) jazzy piano songs (Runaway Park)... Every song is different!

How old/new is the material, what is the oldest song there for instance?
The songs were written over a period of 8 or 9 years. The oldest song on the site is called Backup Soldier, I wrote it when I was 13!

What has the feedback been so far?
It's been great! Some people have been amazed, many have been baffled ... I guess what we're doing is pretty 'out there'.

Do you think that whatever 10 songs are selected will have an influence on how the record sounds/is recorded?
Absolutely! Every song need to be treated differently in the studio. Some are recorded one instrument at a time over a metronome, others are recorded live in the studio. I'll be very interested to hear how the finished record sounds, it could be a bit of a challenge trying to tie all the different styles together.

Are they all arranged/preproduced already, or are they "living" songs still open to change?
That very much depends on the song. Some of the songs have been played at countless gigs so we're pretty sure we know how we want them to sound, but most of them haven't been arranged at all! Those ones are gonna need a lot of work. There's a song called Universal Supernova which we've recorded five times, each with a different arrangement, and we're still not happy with it.

Have you personally got a song that you really hope makes the cut?
Hmmm. I'm torn between choosing one that I really like and one that would be easy to record! I think I Wont Say A Word would be nice form both points of view. Plus, a lot of people seem to like that song.

Have you any gigs in Cork city in near future?
Yup! We're playing in the Roundy on the 29th of August. We're in the process of organizing a Song Century launch tour, checkout breakingtunes.com/wld for updates to our tour schedule.

How can people hear the music thus far?
Easy, just head to songcenturyproject.com and you can listen to all 100 songs for free!

Thanks for reading kids! I better get out of here before Louis realizes I soiled his nice clean blog.
Perry.