The Academic – Interview
Were you gonna be a musicians in the first place? Or were a few of you still eyeing up that quantitative surveying course you always wanted when the phone call came?
We always wanted to be musicians! The quantitative surveying course was certainly tempting but when we had the opportunity to be musicians full time we couldn’t really say no.
What age were you guys when you started getting attention?
We were all about 19, Stephen was 17. Most of us were just out of school so we started to focus on the band more.
Making the breakthrough – how did it occur? Did they just call you, or did a man in a suit come up to you after a gig or did the lizard people abduct you?
When we were starting out we gigged so much! The breakthrough definitely wasn’t a sudden thing, we kept working hard at writing, recording and gigging and good things just started to happen gradually.
Did it take long to get into the swing of playing three four nights a week?
Not at all! We love it.We practiced so much when we were younger that it didn’t really phase us.
It must have been a whirlwind! what has been the highlight of the last few years?
I guess playing in Hyde Park with The Strokes was a big deal for us. Definitely a highlight!
Do you think you’re going to be able to sustaining this success – is it energy-sapping?
We hope to. Yeah it’s energy sapping but that’s part of the fun!
Have your expectations risen at all since you were gigging in your local, or your garage or wherever?
Our expectations of ourselves probably have. We always want to be improving as a band
This might be a dodgy question; Do you ever feel a pang of guilt, if you come across people with the height of talent, who’ve been gigging for 10+ years and getting nowhere?
It’s not something that we have really thought about to be honest. I mean we are playing since we are 13 or 14 years old and played in every shithole you can possibly think of so I think we have paid our dues.
Why do you think Mullingar has produced so many popular musicians? (eg bressie, Niall horan, Joe Dolan, you guys…)
Well it is in The Lake County, maybe there is something in the water…
The Academic have a hectic schedule right into 2016; in the next month they’ll do their first ever gig in Germany before touring in the UK.
They play a few shows in Ireland though, as follows:
Dublin, Whelans – 29th October
Cork – Cyprus Avenue – 30th October
Mullingar – The Fence – 23rd October
Sligo – 5th on Teeling – 24th October
