‘Fly in the ointment

The last time I saw Cyclefly’s lead singer Declan O’Shea he was climbing up the monitors in Dublin’s favourite cosy and intimate venue, Whelan’s, and dangling dangerously over the moshing crowd, as his band rattled the fixtures with their intense guitar and drum pounding and the bouncers turned ever whiter shades of pale. Declan laughs at the memory. “They were shitting themselves!” he says. recalling the staff’s reaction. “We got a bit of a talking to after that, alright. I don’t think it was quite the venue for that kind of rock gig, but it was great.”

That was two years ago, in the wake of Cyclefly’s debut album, Generation Sap. Now they’re back with the follow-up, Crave, which is, overall, a more considered and mellower take on the Cyclefly sound. His hair may still be bright pink and the band most certainly still rock, but Declan admits things have quietened down a bit, especially in respect to their new material.

“We were much younger then, and probably full of angst. We’ve grown up a little and have different things to talk about. The songwriting has changed and the recording process too,” he explains. “The production for Generation Sap was very ‘live,’ but the new one is more experimental and we took more time over it.”

It’s a big change from their first album, which was recorded in LA when the band were signed to a subsidiary of MCA.

“It was our first time there, and our first time being signed, so it was basically five guys out on the tear,” he grins. “Initially we hated the place, the artificiality of it, but you do get used to hanging out on Sunset Strip every night, and all those well-known haunts.”

Declan promises their stage show will be as full on as ever, but with breaks for the new softer sets. “The live show is half and half, new and old stuff. The shows are calming down a bit generally, but it all depends on the night – sometimes we go absolutely mad.” Expect them to be doing their wild thing at opening the main stage at Ozzfest this summer, as well as Reading and Leeds and certain other large festivals to be confirmed.

The band is of mixed nationality, the O’Shea brothers met guitarist Nono Presta, bassist Christian Montagne and drummer Jean Michel Cavallo when they arrived in Ireland with their former band. “I was playing acoustic gigs around town, and they asked me to join,” Declan remembers. “But I was heading off to work in Eurodisney Paris for six months at the time. As a carpenter, not Mickey Mouse or anything,” he hastens to add. “But when I got back we hooked up again and I’ve never really had a proper day job since.” They all now live in Cork within five miles of each other.

Cyclefly have long been friendly with the boys from Linkin Park, and their mainman Chester Bennington sings backing vocals the catchy rock number ‘Karma Killer’ from the new album. “We got to know Sam and Chester when they were recording their album in London. They came to see a few of our gigs and we kept in e-mail contact, so we asked Chester to sing on the album. They’re doing very well now, aren’t they?” he comments, putting it mildly.

As for Cyclefly’s own career path, there have been hiccups. “Our first album was out for about six months when our record company was dissolved so we didn’t get to promote it as much as we’d have liked. We want to reach a sustaining level, but a fairly lucrative sustaining level! It’s been a bit of a struggle over the last few years. But we can’t complain, we’ve been signed to majors and had plenty of good opportunities which a lot of bands haven’t.”