Karma before the storm

Their name may refer to matters of a spiritual nature, and debuting with a song called ‘Raincloud’ probably does little to challenge that perception. Still, let’s set the record straight: The Chakras are indie-popsters, full of fire and fighting talk.
“We want to blow everyone out of the water,” begins guitarist Richie McArdle. “People might think it’s egotistical, but there’s no point in doing something half-arsed.”
Frontman Rocky Whittaker picks up the baton. “We like the Irish music scene and everything, but our sights aren’t only on it. We want to be well-known and make an impression on the musical world. Bands like The Stone Roses and The Smiths set the tone of music that’s being played today, and that’s what we want to do more than anything else.”
The Dublin quartet’s patter is not entirely without substance. Completed by keyboardist Bryan Pepper and drummer Ro O' Regan, they’ve released two singles (‘Raincloud’ and ‘Dark Days’) which reached number 21 and 18 in the charts respectively. Both were accompanied by superbly animated videos, and having won the Hot Press Castlepalooza competition, the group got to appear on the main stage at the Co Offaly festival. All this and they’re not even signed.
“We had all these songs ready and waiting, so we put the singles out ourselves and proved that you didn’t need the power of a major behind you - though obviously that helps,” concedes Richie.
Rocky, too, admits a major label deal is the best way of bringing their music to the world. “We know that to get the high quality album we want, we have to try to get backing, and we should be able to. If you’re good enough, you’ll get there eventually – the cream rises. In the meantime, you just have to do whatever you can to get your stuff out there.”
Part of their grand plan has been to create some captivating videos, courtesy of Richie’s school-friend, Scott Altman. As he explains, it was Scott’s own initiative that set the ball rolling.
“I phoned up Scott one day to make us visuals for the gigs, and instead he told me that he’d nearly finished the video for ‘Raincloud’ from an old CD I gave him. At that point we weren’t even thinking about releasing it as a single, but his animation was too good to waste.”
“His work is amazing, and it’s all going really well for him,” interjects Richie. “He’s going to be doing the CGI graphics for the MTV Movie Awards.”
If the band are gutted they’ve lost their personal video maker, they’re hiding it well.
“He deserves it because he’s really talented,” enthuses Richie. “The ‘Dark Days’ video looks really professional, but it cost next to nothing.”
Talented friends aside, the other arm of their campaign is their live shows, which they’ve spent two years perfecting. Their energetic indie shapes combine with bright pop hooks to create a multi-faceted live experience, something which didn’t come about by accident.
Richie: “I put on shows that I’d want to see. I really annoys me when you go out and see a band and they play the song exactly like on their record. So we put a lot of thought into a gig.”
“We’ve played so many stupid shows on Sundays and Mondays at tiny venues,” admits Rocky. “But from doing that so often we’ve become comfortable onstage.”
Richie laughs, explaining that, “we’ve got a rule that you can’t stand still for longer than five seconds, otherwise they’re out of the band.”
During their time together, they claim a particular highlight was a St Patrick’s Day festival in Spain (“it was Tenerife, but let’s call it Spain”).
“We went there for a week, all of us staying in one room, and the whole of it was brilliant,” Rocky grins. “We’d been there for six days before Paddy’s Day, so when it was time for the gig we were all just a big mess.”
How did the Spanish folk take to you?
“There were all different age groups there: families, young kids, old people, and none were expecting us to be playing. We were slotted between all these fiddle-de-de traditional Irish players. The poor audience!”
Perhaps it’s not your stereotypical Irish music oh-so-loved in foreign shores, but as Castlepalooza goers can confirm, they definitely could have done worse.