Let’s Get Quantum Physical

"Do you know that a lot of languages treat the word God as a verb?” asks the spry and wire-haired frontman on the other side of the table. “It makes more sense that way, don’t you think?”

Martin Corrigan, it seems, is doing “shockingly well” these days. As we speak, the Fermanagh man is – by releasing separate singles from his own, eponymous band and in collaboration with Phil Kieran – in the middle of launching a devious pincer movement to establish a presence in the nation’s psyche. Thus far, Zane Lowe, Fergie, Pete Tong and Annie Mac have all taken the bait and, while world domination may not yet be on the agenda, it’s clearly a time of big notions and expanded ambitions.
“I’ve been reading up on Quantum Physics recently,” he continues. “The idea that the particles that make up electrons can exist in eleven dimensions and there may be as many as 256 of these particles. They deliberately never tell you things like that at school. They think ideas like that are far too dangerous.”
Rewind back 18 months, though, and more prosaic concerns were topping the Corrigan agenda. The band’s debut album How To Hang Off A Rope had been released by Bright Star, and while it was warmly reviewed, sales proved disappointing. When the label subsequently passed up the option of putting out the follow up, there were fears that this would spell the end for the band. According to Martin, however, this prospect was never seriously entertained.
“We never even considered quitting,” he maintains. “I knew the new batch of tunes were great and that was that. I genuinely didn’t care what the label or anyone else thought. The gigs were getting better and the songs had improved incredibly. I think Danny (Todd) had found an awful lot more confidence between the records. We were writing more as a team and the stuff he was coming up with was just terrific.”
If How To Hang was the sound of a band finding its voice (and a peculiarly barking, demented voice at that), the lean, focused new material was clearly the result of some heavy road-work and a settled line-up of much talent.
Corrigan, despite operating under the singer’s surname, are, ironically, one of the most creatively balanced outfits around. Bassist Johnny Black is making a name for himself with Lafaro, Joe Doogan moonlights with Red Sirus, and Danny Todd’s work as Cashier No. 9 has long been admired. With all this independently minded talent on view, you have to wonder what kind of managerial approach Martin adopts.
“Well, I recognise that the musicians in the band are more talented than I am. I can bring them the germ of an idea and they run with it. But they give me far more shit than I give them. Danny is still doing the Cashier No 9 stuff, but he’s not putting it out. At this stage in his life he’s prepared to put that on the back-burner for Corrigan. I’d been in bands before and said to the guys – do what you want. If you want to do other things, go on. If you want to leave – no problem. You have to give people freedom. Johnny can go off and play with Lafaro whenever he wants, same with Joe and Red Sirus. I wouldn’t like some bastard telling me what to do, so I’m not going to run around telling them. They’re nice people, I respect their judgement.”
Collectively, they’ve come up with ‘Medicine Stick/Can Out Front’, a double a-side single on No Dancing Records which, with its tearing riffs and pervading sense of menace, provides a perfect summation of the band’s talents. A full LP is also ready go.
Of equal interest (and to be discussed at greater length, dear reader(s) at a later date), is Alloy Mental - Martin’s collaboration with Phil Kieran. The first fruit of which (a rip-roaring, eponymously-titled single) is being released by Skint and is currently thrilling dance DJs throughout the land.
“Phil was looking for a full-on collaborator rather than a guest vocalist,” he reveals. “He’d gotten hold of the first album, liked it and decided he’d like to work with me. I knew a bit about him – not that much – but was aware of the broad field he was involved with. But the thing with Phil is, yes, he’s into obscure German techno, but he also loves The Stooges and Funkadelic and Miles Davis. His music taste is incredibly broad. Half of our record collections overlap. Basically when I went round to his house and saw his CD collection, I knew we had a common ground. It’s been an amazing experience.”b

‘Medicine Stick/Can Out Front’ is out now on No Dancing.