Set to play Indiependence festival was Cork native Kieran Ring, better known on the musical horizon as Neon Atlas.
We caught up with Kieran just before he took to the stage…
You’re set to play Indiependence in a bit – how are you feeling about that?
It’s our first festival so excited but nervous at the same time. You never know what’s gonna happen but yeah, it should be good.
Are you expecting a reasonable turnout seeing as it’s so close to home?
You would I suppose but there’s a lot of Cork acts, it’s very Cork orientated. Yeah, I’m hopeful but I don’t know to be honest with you. I’ve never played one and you can have visions of it just being empty!
I’m sure it’ll be fine! A lot of people head down specifically to catch new acts and find new music so you’d never know.
Yeah, and if it’s raining they’re gonna need a tent!
Your new single ‘Never Felt So Good’, how has the reaction been to that?
It’s been good. It’s not out that long. It’s very Summery, and I suppose we had the sun at the time! The reaction has been good but getting it airplay is the big thing now and that’s easier said than done but the video is getting a lot of hits. You see, we put an album out and we jumped the gun and didn’t release a lot from the album. I started a new album then in January and just had a single that we thought was working so we just released it. So yeah, the reaction is good but I’m not gonna lie to you, it’s not getting a lot of airplay and stuff so until then we won’t know.
How have you decided what to include in your set, or in general how do you choose what makes the cut?
That’s a good question. I’ve often thought that if you’re a festival band such as The Coronas and stuff, then you’ve got all these hits and it must be great fun. So for us we just went with the ones that worked well live in general, ’cause some songs just don’t ’cause there’s more production on the album and you’ve only got two guitarists and a bass on stage, it’s not always gonna work. So we went with the ones we felt would work best live.
Are there any acts that you’re looking forward to seeing?
I suppose White Lies, I’d like to see them. Tomorrow then, Toy Soldier, Slow Motion Heroes, a couple of the Cork lads, it would be good to see them.
I hear there’s quite a close knit, tight music scene in Cork?
It’s a massive city so it’s gonna be like that. A lot of bands you’d see this weekend would be in bands together and stuff or have been. We’re a bit outside that, not from that network really but a lot around here would be yeah. It’s a very Cork orientated festival which is great really.
What have you guys got planned for the rest of Summer or the near future in terms of your music?
For the Summer we’ll be plugging the single, and there’s talks of a few dates up north and get out of Cork. Few dates in Dublin and hopefully London, I think we’ll have to make it happen. [It’s the place to be isn’t it!?] Yeah London is the place to be alright, it’s the holy grail.
Thanks very much for that interview and best of luck with everything!
No bother at all, thank you for having me.