For some bands making a record is a simple process.
All they have to do is turn up at the studio, bash through a three minute verse-chorus-verse-chorus tune and – hey presto – they’re finished.
For a band such as Ten Past Seven, however, you sense the process is not quite so straightforward. The three piece make music that is grand in design and complex in delivery. Yet for debut LP, Shut Up Your Face, they decided to deliver a record that captured the frenzy of their live show. Oh, and they’ve left out the vocals.
“From day one,” says guitarist Rory O’Brien, “the idea was to see how far we could bring it with just the three of us, without vocals. When we started we just thought it would be easy to play instrumentals. We didn’t have the intention to take it this far. Everything was always just the three of us, we‘ve tried to fill it in with as much as possible so that it doesn’t need anybody or anything else”.
Why take the instrumental route? “I suppose we wanted it to be easy for ourselves rather than anyone else”.
Bassist Matt Shallow agrees. “There aren’t enough good singers in Ireland,” he laughs. “To be honest, we like playing music and I suppose we might progress into something that includes some sort of vocal stylings, whether singing or just the human voice. I do think that a lot of people appreciate a band playing instrumentals as much as a band with a singer. It’s maybe easier to diss a band with a singer as it is to diss one without someone whining about their girlfriend or whatever”.
Not having to worry about lyrics can be remarkably liberating, says O’Brien.
“We can just play whatever we want and not have to worry about the song”, he explains. “I’ve listened to a lot of CDs and it would normally be the voice that would kill it for me”.
Before Ten Past Seven the band were known as Rift, and gigged in their native Kerry. “It was a lot heavier”, explains Ger Mangan (drums). “We were trying to find our sound but we were always trying to do something original. I don’t think we ever really managed that with Rift. We progressed individually with our instruments and became a lot more confident”.
Rift lasted three years. Ten Past Seven has been going for the same amount of time. Six years is a long wait to record your debut album, but Rory feels that the time was right: “With Rift we never got to the point where we could have made a record like this.”
A major part of the trio’s progression was their move to Cork to study a music course. “When we first moved up to Cork we came across loads of band during our first year of college. It gave us a bit of drive to what we wanted to do.” Shallow says.
With its unorthodox approach to song structure and timing, Shut Up Your Face sounds in parts like the bastard son of a jazz record.
“I’d say more trad myself,” Shallow contends. “We listen to a bit of jazz, we went to see the Bad Plus and they were incredible. Most jazz is wank. It just bores you out of your tree. We’re trying to make things interesting, even from a selfish point of view. We don’t want to play the same riff over and over again like Metallica. You’ve got to keep it interesting and keep people on their toes. You’ve got to get rid of this instant gratification business. Someone came up to us after a gig and asked why we didn’t play riffs for longer. We told him to fuck off.”
All the music the band listens to goes into their head and comes out warped, says O’Brien. “We all have a different opinion about what we’re playing as to the other two in the band,” he admits. “I’ll come up with something and the lads will completely change it”.
So if your lives depended on it could you write a three minute pop song?
“Jesus yeah,” Shallow laughs. “We’re all capable of doing stuff below a certain standard”.