| Tremors and more: Humanzi |
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| "The politicians have taken the word ‘politics’ from us – so if people say you are ‘political’ band that can be a turn off" |
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Many bands split up because of infighting between bandmates, infighting which can, at particularly tense moments, turn physical. But I think Humanzi are the first band I’ve come across who got together through a fight.
“We all used to drink at the same pub”, frontman Shaun Mulrooney explains, “but we never really spoke to each other. Then one night me and Colm [Rutledge] had a bit of a scrap. You know what it’s like, we were a bit younger, and for no reason at all really we started to wind each other up one night, and it quickly came to a head and a few fists were thrown”.
Luckily for us, once the scrapping was done, Shaun and Colm started talking properly, and soon discovered they actually had a lot in common – in particular, a desire to play music. It was a desire shared by fellow drinkers Gary Lonergan and Brian Gallagher who knew each other through more traditional routes – childhood friendship – and so the four of them started to occasionally play music together.
“We never really set out to form a band”, Shaun explains. “But we all had similar backgrounds, all coming from places just outside of Dublin, and when we did play together it always seemed to work out well. But we still didn’t really intend to create a band. I’d written a few songs and wanted to hear what they sounded like live, so I asked the guys to play them with me. Then we found other people were starting to take us seriously as a band, and I suppose that persuaded us that we should too”.
And so the band was born. Colm, Gary and Brian started to add their own input into Shaun’s original songs, and slowly a Humanzi sound started to come together as they started to gig around their home city. “Dublin is a good place to be when you’re in a new band,” Shaun admits, “it’s a small city, but there’s lots going on here gig wise, and real good mix of bands too. And there’s quite a few decent venues given the city’s size – there’s a couple of shit holes of course, but there are some really good ones too”.
The buzz around Humanzi grew within and beyond Dublin, and before long Polydor imprint Fiction Records were releasing a debut single – ‘Fix the Cracks’ – while getting the band into the studio with Nine Inch Nails producer Chris Vrenna to work on a debut long player. “The album was essentially done by the time we got the record deal,” Shaun continues, “and the great thing was the label knew that – we didn’t have anyone coming in and telling us what to do. And Chris was perfect – he totally let us go with it, but at the same time brought his considerable experience to the whole thing – we learned a lot from him. But much of the work had been done naturally beforehand – we weren’t in the studio for two months agonising over the songs, it all happened really fast”.
Two more singles followed, and then Fiction released that debut album, ‘Tremors’, back in July. It enjoyed quite a bit of critical acclaim, especially among those, like myself, increasingly excited about guitar bands incorporating dance beats into the mix. Does Shaun like the label “guitars with dance beats” to describe his band’s music? “I don’t know. I tend to think we’re a punk band more than anything else, or a rock n roll band. But there is a darker repetitive dance edge in our music, that is true. So I suppose it makes sense as a description”.
“To be honest, it often feels like we’re kind of outsiders,” he continues, “we don’t really fit into any particular genre. Which is good for us, because it means we can play with rock bands, but also with more dance focused artists.”
The other thing often noted about Humanzi is the band’s political edge, which often comes through in their lyrics. Is there a political agenda in Humanzi? “Not really, I don’t think about it too much, though if something aggravates me in life then it’s going to come out in the songs. We’re not here to save the whales, but I do have strong views, and the lyrics of the songs let me air some of them. But I’d be wary of saying we were some kind of ‘political band’. The word ‘politics’ isn’t a good word, because people automatically think of politicians. The politicians have taken the word ‘politics’ from us – so if people say you are ‘political’ band that can be a turn off”.
But there does seem to be an increasing number of bands expressing their political views of late, doesn’t there? “I don’t know. Obviously some bands are very vocal on certain issues. With others, it can be hard to tell. You see interviews with bands and they talk about stupid things, irrelevant things – they're not talking about their music, or their beliefs. But I think that’s probably more the media’s fault than anything. I think a lot of bands who do have strong political opinions are sometimes a bit sly about them. They don’t want to piss people off – they’ve got record sales to think of”.
Which makes me think of Humanzi’s record sales – 2006 has been a big year for the band, what’s it been like from the inside? “It has been a really good year, a really hectic year. There’s been a lot of gigging which has been great – and it’s always good to see your records out there. But we’re only just starting you know, the album’s not been out all that long. We’re concentrating on the future – there are lots more live shows coming up, but we’ve already started writing new stuff, and we are eager to get back into the studio in 2007”.
There certainly are a lot more live shows in the offing. The band are on support with Peaches this week, before taking to the stage at the all new look Kill All Hippies on Friday night. If you’re yet to experience the Humanzi sound, then get yourself a copy of the aforementioned ‘Tremors’, and get yourself down to Kill All Hippies. Just don’t get into any fights. Even if you are on the looking out for possible bandmates.
Some Humanzi plugging:
'Tremors' was released by Fiction.
chris@unlimitedmedia.co.uk - published oct 2006
