Breakfast time in London

Sitting in a sunny beer garden in King’s Cross, just a few hours prior to the band’s first headline gig in the UK, Patrick Freyne of the National Prayer Breakfast admits to feeling “a slight amount of pressure.”

Having just finished their sound-check at the venue, the band are somewhat reassured. ‘The Water Rats – is it a bar? Is it a café? Is it a theatre? It’s all three and more!’ goes the slogan.

“Compared to where we’ve played support slots before, it’s very nice. Some of those other places – when people say ‘toilet venues’, they’re not kidding,” Patrick says. “Seeing the venue was the turning point,” drummer Paul Clancy adds. “With other gigs we came over thinking – Okay, it could be good, could be bad. And then you see the venue and think “It could be fucking shit!”

But the Water Rats is ideal, and this time around the NPB are releasing‘Sadder Day Blues,’ their first UK single. With a glowing review in NME and airplay on the influential alternative station XFM, the response has been, ahem, very positive. Earlier in the day, the band recorded a radio session, which will be syndicated on college radio stations around the country. There will be added support at tonight’s gig from the attendant posse of NPB fans, mates, girlfriends and siblings, about fifteen of whom are holed up in a hostel across the road.

So lads, at this precise juncture, what does rock ‘n’ roll means to you? “Rock ‘ n’ roll is essentially something fun – it should be inspiring without being heavy-handed. Most bands fall into one of two camps. One is extremely turgid and takes itself too seriously, the other just panders to the lowest common denominator, which is insulting to the audience. There are a lot of exciting bands out there, but they tend to be marginalised by the music industry. I think that’s gonna change.”

Patrick begins to warm to his theme, “People are tired of boring acoustic bands and there

aren’t many bands doing fun rock n roll. We’re

the thinking man’s dumb band. I want to get

people dancing to our music, just forgetting about what’s cool and what’s dumb. Our music can be the middle ground between an… intellectual and… dumb state of mind,” he stumbles to the end of the sentence and laughs, “Sorry. Ignore all of that”.

Later in the buzzing Water Rats theatre, they succeed in their aim of provoking some dangerously enthusiastic dancing. They blast off the set with tried and tested adrenaline-boosting songs, but new ones from This Is My Happening And it Fucks Me Up, their 10-inch mini-album (a title which will be slightly curtailed for daytime radio purposes) are an instant hit with the crowd. ‘1000 Helicopters’ erupts with gleeful paranoia and the instantly catchy ‘Loaded,’ features the NPB’s patented cure for a broken heart. ”And I got drunk and I got drunk and I got very drunk,” Patrick sings with a half-smile. They have fun, but stay focussed – bassist Daragh Keogh’s fingers move tensely over the strings, his gaze fixed at some far distant point, guitarist Paul Connolly mostly keeps his eyes shut tight, sometimes whirling around to sing into his guitar pick-ups, while Paul Clancy, affably drawling his lines on songs such as ‘Like a Ball’, is surprisingly laconic, especially as drummers go. Drum-kit jumping and scissor kicks are off the agenda given the confines of the small stage and the avid press photographers crouching around their shins.

Earlier, Patrick had his first brush with the paparazzi, which disappointingly turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. “This guy came up to me, after following me around and photographing me surreptitiously, like when I was going to the shop, and having a cup of coffee. He said he worked for The Sun and the News Of The World, and thought I was the lead singer from a band called Dark Angel!” Who? And why the tabloids would be interested in the singer from an obscure rock band is beyond all of us.

The NPB have their own label, Catchy Go Go, which they run themselves, also releasing records by El Diablo and 46 Long, with some solo work from Paul Clancy (based on “early acoustic Beck” apparently) in the offing too. Recently they’ve hooked up with a good PR agency and their records are being distributed in the UK by Prime. Patrick says, “We’ve done things DIY for a long time and we’re used to that level of independence, but we would like to be massive. If we were offered a good deal, we’d take it. At this stage we’re a complete entity, and there’s not much anyone can do to water us down, which is probably a huge deterrent to major record company interest. But we’re inspired by Irish labels like Lakota with JJ72, who have gone for it over here and just ignored Ireland. We’re quite a part of the Dublin scene, which we like, but it’s quite possible for us to do the same thing in Britain. Although it does mean having more of a ‘special relationship’ with our bank manager.”

“We want to be figureheads for the label, like the Beastie Boys. We want people to look at us one minute and see these really imposing businessmen, and another minute we’ll be throwing a television out the window.” ‘Ah no. We won’t,” Paul frowns at him.

“We like television.”

The NPB launch the 10” mini-album This Is My Happening at the TBMC on 5th July and play Blast at TBMC on 7th July. They’ll make a triumphant return to the Water Rats, London on 19th July.