| "Absolutely Fabulous" | In Dublin |
| Michael Heaney | 1994 |
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Michael Heaney talks with SOMETHlNG HAPPENS about their new album, the future and of course, the footie. Something Happens are back in business with a new album "Planet Fabulous" and while they're fiercely resistant to any blucky little Happens' attitude, surely it must feel good to finally have something concrete out again? 'After 'Bedlam-A-Go-Go" (Something Happens' last album) and everything that went after it, it was a kick in the teeth and there was the possibility that we wouldn't make another album," says Tom. 'There's the doubt in your mind that you wouldn't have the will or the talent to make another album. So just to do it and have it in your hand and realise that it's a really good album was something. And indeed it is really good. "Planet Fabulous" is a fresh, vibrant affair, spiced up with variety and melodic highlights aplenty. Knowing pop songs like last year's overlooked and underrated 'C.C. Incidentally' rub shoulders with psychedelic floaters like 'Xuxa' and such potential winners as 'Flag'. There seems to have been a relaxed feel to the proceedings that transferred itself to the master tapes. "It was very easy, with Chris O'Brien who's a familiar producer for us, in a familiar place, Ringsend, with songs that we'd played live. It was relaxed really, worryingly relaxed," says Tom, before making some cryptic remark about the catering being the only quibble. Hmm. Another aspect about this, their fourth album, is that there must be less expectancy about its chance of going supernova, particularly after the fallout with Virgin Records around the time of "Bedlam." Tom doesn't agree. "At the time we were recording the first one (Been There, Seen That, Done That") we just wanted to release an album that was really good. In all honesty I don't think anything has changed, we still just want to release albums that are great, and we're still idealistic enough to believe that if we realise a great album it should sell in the millions. The only difference now is that when we actually have the album out we have the experience to know what to do with it, what you have to do with singles, a clearer view of how quickly it can go sour if it doesn't work out right." Tom and Eamonn are, of course, determined that it will work out right, but aren't 100% sure how to go about tackling Britain and the States. The latter seems the more amenable to them, as Tom confirms 'America seems to be a more natural home for our music, I don't know whether it's just us having a chip on our shoulder about England." Their Stateside bias is natural as American music seems to be a big influence of the Happens. "I think there is," says Eamonn, "But against that I think that if we'd put work in over the years in England we'd have chart albums and singles just purely through having a live following, and it's probably a fault of the band's that we didn't ever persevere in that. Particularly since the small tour we did around the time of "Bedlam" was the most successful ever. 'It was the type of tour we'd been saying to Virgin that we wanted to do all along," elaborates Tom. "I think REM said it's better to play to fifty of your own fans than 4,000 of someone else's. We spent years doing those support tours that did nothing for us. Eamonn: "Support, or rather opening slots are different in the States, if the doors open at seven, people will be there and give you a chance. The attitude here as we know well is go to the pub until five minutes before the headliners come on, that's the same in England." The dominance of radio as the main medium for exposure in America also gives Tom hope: "I still think that 'Flag' would sound like a breath of fresh air on the radio over there. I think the charts and the radio are starved of really good songs. If something comes along that's a breath of fresh air and has a bit of attitude, it works. I really do believe it's achievable, the Counting Crows is a classic case - one song, six million albums. If I was a betting man, I'd take 'Flag', though I'm not sure if the recording we have is the right one. If we got Ed Stasium or some other Mr. Big producer to nail that riff and the vocals to the wall - six million albums, no problem. The band still looks great, still play, can still do the business... Eamonn: '...Still have three sets of teeth between them..." Tom: "...lt's all utterly achievable. The charts are full of dross. The difference between now and the 60s was that in the 60s the brightest and the best were attracted to music and now it's the stupidest and dullest. Crap bands dominate things with just one or two singles which often is all what the Record Company wants. I think the charts should be abolished. The indie charts have become so specialist, you might as well be number ten in the car mechanics monthly as be the indie charts. There's the same number of people reading it." It has to be said that Tom is remarkably good humoured when delivering this tirade, so is it safe to assume that he isn't embittered, I hate myself and I want to die and all that? "Oh no, no. I love myself and I want to fly! That was the working title for the album." Ah yes, the famous Happens wit, which has seen them through both the good and the bad times; with a top new album to boot them along, it looks as though they won't have to use it in the face of adversity for some time to come. After the "hanging around" that characterised much of the past year, it looks as if Something Happens have a busy, and hopefully fabulous year to come. © In Dublin magazine. All rights reserved. |
