Subterfuge For Thought

With an average age of 19, Spies may well be the youngest rockers on the Irish circuit, but don’t feel too sorry for them. The Dublin fivesome have already released their own 7”, played the über trendy Forbidden Fruit festival and had Morrissey turn up to the launch of their debut single (more on the great quiffed one later).

On the off-chance that your self-esteem is still intact, get this; the youngest member, gravel-voiced crooner Michael Broderick, has just received his Leaving Certificate results. The band celebrated with a headline show in Dublin’s Workman’s Club, and, for the record, Michael aced his exams.
You’d think a group so young would be getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop, but according to guitarist Neil Dexter, there are plenty of advantages to being the babies of the bunch. For example, there are plenty of older and wiser Irish bands around to look up to.
“That’s definitely a big thing for us,” Dexter says. “Irish music is booming. There’s so much good stuff out there. We played an unbelievable gig just last week with Overhead, the Albatross and Alarmist. I actually can’t get over how good they are.”
Tonight, they play an ‘Independent artists for Africa’ charity gig, with homegrown heavy-hitters And So I Watch You From Afar, Patrick Kelleher and Toby Kaar.
“When we saw And So I Watch You From Afar were on the line-up, I was like, ‘No way!’ When we first started the band one of the first things I said was, ‘If we ever get to support them, that’s it!’, so it’s deadly that we’re going to be able to play with them.”
Spies emerged from the cosmos just two years ago, when Dexter and guitarist Conor Cusack started jamming together.
“When our mate’s band started playing music, we just thought, ‘Shit, we’ve got to do something’,” Dexter recalls. “At first I didn’t even think we sounded that good, I thought, ‘I’m just glad to be doing this.’ We were only 15 at the time. Then we got more people on board, Andy, the bassist and Jeff, the drummer. We just started piecing it together and it worked for us.”
Spies soon landed their first gig, supporting fellow alt. rockers Harrows in Eamonn Doran’s.
“It was the fourth of August two years ago,” Dexter tells me. “I remember because I turned 18 two days after. Michael was about 16. We got ID-ed and everything. I had my brother’s passport on me, and your man was like, ‘Don’t even think about it!’ But it worked out okay in the end. That was a sweet gig, especially because Eamonn Doran’s isn’t around any more.”
Dexter is no stranger to the stage; the classically-trained double-bassist also currently performs with internet sensations The Trinity Orchestra.
“Doran’s was the first time I’d ever played guitar in front of people, so I was so nervous. I was used to the double-bass and singing, but with the guitar I was like, ‘Oh crap.’”
Luckily, the band soon worked out the kinks in their live show. These days, a Spies performance is stirring, dynamic and chock full of melodic doom-rock.
“The live thing is really what has kept us going.” Dexter says. “Some bands get together and write one or two songs and if the live show isn’t fun they just go, ‘Oh, we’ll leave it’, but we enjoy playing live so much, that we had to keep doing it. It was a bit sloppy at the start but we eventually got our shit sorted.”
Smiths legend Morrissey certainly seemed impressed when he stopped by their single launch in April. Not to suggest that Moz isn’t an expert on the Irish underground, but did they ever find out why he turned up in the Workman’s Club that night?
“No idea,” Dexter laughs. “We were up the front for Squarehead, and we look around and there’s Morrissey with his big quiff! I was like, ‘What the fuck?’ I had no idea what to do with myself. Some people went up and said, ‘Hi’, but I was like, ‘Okay, I have to get shit sorted for the gig’. I remember being so nervous. After a while it was fine, but there was that initial, ‘Shit! Of all the people to be watching us, it’s Morrissey’! I think he bought some of our 7”s though! It might be in a bin somewhere now, or possibly under his bed… probably under his bed.”
Rather than wait around for Moz to offer a support slot, the plan in camp Spies now is to keep releasing as much material as possible.
“I don’t want to get too complacent while things are falling into place,” Dexter says, “in terms of people being really nice and writing things about us and giving us good gigs. We want to play our part as well and write some good songs. We’ve got a new song that we’re gonna play tonight that I’m really excited about!”
Before I let him depart for his Whelan’s show, there’s just enough time to administer a quick maturity test. It consists of but one question; who is Dexter’s favourite spy? If he answers cartoon character Sterling Archer, the blonde chick from Totally Spies! or anyone who was created in the 21st century, he fails.
“Eh, Timothy Dalton?”
As you were, lads. Knock ‘em dead.

Spies’ three-tracker is available as a 7” in Trout Records in George’s Street Arcade or as a free download from spies.bandcamp.com. Spies play the Button Factory, Dublin on October 6 as part of the Hard Working Class Heroes festival.