Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing upcoming band Modern Love at their recent gig at Camden Assembly, London, where I also had the opportunity to watch their performance. The Irish band consisting of Barry, Graham, Danny and Cian spoke about how they came to be Modern Love and their writing.
When I asked the band how they came to meet, Cian explained the backstory. He and Barry ‘had known each other since they were 4’ and as they grew up, were into the same sort of music. He then went on to explain how him and Graham met ‘when they were like 12 at secondary school’ and would ‘just jam together.’ However it wasn’t until they met Danny that they began to start recording and became a band. They explained that ‘Us’, the first out of the songs they perform now to be written , as it was ‘easier to get ideas written down.’ The fact that their song writing came to fruition when their final member came to the band, as when speaking of the potential pressure to try and come up with ideas, Cian explained how all four of them write and ‘if one person has writer’s block, three others are writing.’ The band said they ‘never force themselves to write’ however Barry (lead singer) pointed out that he does ‘get down when not writing’ and that song writing is ‘when I am at my happiest, as you stop thinking about everything else.’
| How did you come up with the name Modern Love? ‘We all like the band Bloc Party and they have a song called ‘This Modern Love’ [the way we] heard the song was in the last episode of the first season ‘How I Met Your Mother’ keep re watching it scene was about modern love and that song was playing, we needed a band name, that sounds like that feels. |
The band’s bond is clear to see as they work seamlessly together to create the work they wish to put out to the world. This was particularly true during Covid, as the band would do ‘rough demos and send emails’ to each other and someone would have created a skeleton that the others would then help to fill out, to create some of the work that has now formed some of their EPs. When creating their music, I questioned whether they had a certain genre they aimed towards. Barry referred to the fact that the majority of people stream nowadays and that ‘everyone listens to everything’ as they have the ability to and that the boys themselves listen to a wide variety. Danny then adds in that month by month the music they’re all listening to changes from ‘garage, country to metal’ to name a few. I asked the band if they had an idea of who their number one artist would be; Danny believed his will be James Blake and Barry felt that Bombay Bicycle Club would definitely be up there but clarified that despite all of their different offshoots in music they ‘all come together at indie rock, indie pop and dreamy sound.’
Are there any artists that you’d like to tour with?
Barry: Kings of Leon- we’ve all watched their tour diaries
Cian: Wolf Alice
When discussing their union in the interest for indie sounds, I questioned whether they had previous or current artists from the music industry that they look towards for inspiration. To this, Cian responds that they only look at ‘individual pieces’ of different artists and how they ‘are compared to The 1975 a lot’ though it is only certain bits of the band they look at for inspiration, adding that they don’t look at ‘whole bands aesthetics or vibes’. Barry continues this discussion as he explained how it is ‘very rarely new, upcoming artists’ that they take inspiration from as artists that he ‘really likes or thinks are class because [he gets] really intimidated’ thinking that what they have produced than something he has written himself.
Is there anywhere you would like to go to tour?
Cian: ‘Would have said America but now that we found out we’re going that’s a big tick’
Graham and Danny: Japan
This self-doubt is hard to justify as someone who had the pleasure of getting to see the band perform all of their songs live earlier this month. The band performed two sold out shows at Camden Assembly, London, which also happened to be their biggest shows to date. It makes sense then that when deliberating on what their favourite gig was to do date, that the band’s answer was in fact Camden Assembly. However despite having great and memorable gigs, there were also those that were maybe memorable for different reasons. ‘There’s a long list of our worst gigs as we started out when we were only 16’ Cian begins the story. Driving 5 hours away to Electric Picnic from their home in Ireland, they ‘thought their gear was being brought by another person.’ Only in the back of a van they ‘opened a big container with Danny’s bass just leaning there.’ Barry’s Dad then had to make the 5 hour trip back down to Electric Picnic festival with their equipment which they received 5 minutes before going onto stage ‘We were on at 11 and the gear got to the stage at 10:55’. Safe to say that their most recent gigs have been a lot smoother.
Rounding off the interview, I put the idea of the future to the band to see what they were collectively and individually looking towards achieving. Cian starts the conversation off by saying they wish to be doing what they are doing now but ‘on a bigger scale’ with Barry also saying how they wish to put out an album. I asked whether they had an idea on what this would sound like and they explained how they have ‘released so many EPs that a lot of the songs that would have been on the album are already out. Barry added that ‘these EPs and the one that is going to be released in the spring are a good teller of what the album will be on. Finishing off what they like to see of their future, Cian said that they would just like to see themselves ‘keep moving up.’
After watching them live at Camden Assembly, it was clear to see that the band are no doubt going to be ‘moving up.’ Their stage presence was that of a band that had been going strong for many years in front of huge crowds. Modern Love’s engagement with the audience would have been envied by bands in their same position within the industry because despite the band not having even released an album yet, the interaction they got from the crowd was impressive. The whole venue sang their songs back to them word-for-word and asked for specific ones to be played. To see a fresh band like Modern Love have such a reception shows they are capable of growing quite rapidly, particularly as they are still to bring out an album to entice fans even more so and increase their fanbase. Modern love showed their musical diversity and capability as they even introduced the crowd to a electronic/house piece to their set, showing how their music is able to bounce around genres and is sure to entice many music fans alike. The fact that the band met all of their fans in the audience afterwards also demonstrate their dedication and interest in their fans, which no doubt will increase the interest in Modern Love, as it shows the adoration for them is felt back by the four members of Modern Love themselves.
I can’t wait to see what Modern Love have to offer for the future and with their prospective album, I am sure that many others will agree that Danny, Cian Barry and Graham have a lot to show the world, from the band who had five minutes to get on stage with their equipment at Electric Picnic festival to a band who are now bound for America and beyond.