The Dreamers Stadium Track by Track - ‘Oh Ah Yay’

‘Oh Ah Yay’ this song was written whilst I was driving, that happens to a

lot of stoned musician drivers too apparently. Even classically trained

musicians are known to write Oboe solos in their head on the way to

meet the gang for a latte and a 'creme de menthe'.

But this song came together very quick. The chorus for 'Oh Ah Yay' I

took from a Dublin girl on the radio, she had won a competition and just

kept repeating the line over and over with massive gasps in between at

what ever the DJ on that particular station was giving away for free –

perhaps a caravan? I played it at Denny's a few nights later and he

asked what the lyrics were in the chorus and I said 'Oh Ah Yay'. We

decided it was the worst possible title for a song and both agreed it had

to be on the album for that reason alone. Either way DJ's can’t

pronounce it, we've been asked to change the title by almost everyone

and we said 'Ah No Way'.

The Dreamers Stadium Track by Track - 'I Am The Miracle'

‘I Am The Miracle’ was kind of a joke, about people on Cocaine or

Speed, roaring about how great they are until the next day when

they go back to there jobs as quiet as wee mice. We used to live in

a pub in England and there were a lot of people like that coming in

and apologising for whatever they’d done the night before. Then

at the weekend they were back on the floor hugging the mirror. I

was pretty young at the time and found it fascinating. They’re just

decent and normal people who go crazy from time-to-time.

A Day in the Life

"We don’t get nervous it’s more of an adrenaline rush"

ON an average gig day... we all meet up get in the bus and head to wherever we’re playing, it’s usually quiet enough in the bus. The odd joke or the sound of Gerry eating his packed lunch. 

Dave usually says a few prayers, Paul sleeps and Derm and me argue. Then we check into the hotel, go do the soundcheck and then we’ve got a few hours before the gig.  The hour before the gig gets exciting, we don’t get nervous it’s more of an adrenaline rush. We love playing live so we’re all ready to go. We don’t hug or high-five we just go and do the gig the best we can. But it’s a great feeling when the crowd is into it.  The hardest part is after, cause your on a high, sleep is out of the question. We usually hang about and talk to some of the people who came. 

Then it’s back to the hotel to hear Dave pray some more and the next day its starts all over…it’s fucking great.

The Dreamers Stadium Track by Track - ‘Praise Be’

‘Praise Be’ there could be some finger pointing in this tune, a slap on

the wrist to the righteous. Either way I had just bought a new digital

pedal rack and the opening riff on the song is the first thing I played

using it. I wrote the song around the guitar lines, it was a good day to be

in a bad mood and I remember Tennis was on TV with the volume

turned off.

The Dreamers Stadium Track by Track - 'When The Boat Comes Home'

‘When The Boats Come Home’ is the most Irish song I’ve ever written

it’s perfect for a cold Irish night with a roaring fire at the beach, good

friends drinking. We used to do that a lot when we were growing up in

Donegal - drink and sing all night then run into the tide in the morning

and wash away our sins.

The Dreamers Stadium Track by Track ‘Too Young To Die’

‘Too Young To Die’ I’ve known a few good friends who died young, and my girlfriends great grandmother was still alive she was 102 years old and every year we’d have a party for her, she used to say she just wanted to die, that it was too long. So combining the two, I wrote the song, there’s no answer to it. I still think 102 is too young but she didn’t.

The Dreamers Stadium Track by Track ‘Out Like A Light’

‘Out Like A Light’ I was listening to a lot of Mark Bolan, T Rex stuff

and I was fascinated by the way he wrote. The simplicity of the

songs like Deborah, Telegram, Sam and Metal Guru. So I sat

down at the piano and tried to write like him ‘pistol pop ether

making you stand, come see the invisible man’. It just flowed out

really, I may have had a few glasses and curlers in my hair, but its

nice to try something new like that and I’m happy with the result.

The Dreamers Stadium: Track by Track (Feel It Ticking)

This week's instalment of The Dreamers Stadium Track by Track: Feel It Ticking...

‘Feel It Ticking’ was a song that started with just the riff on an out of tune piano and it all came together very quickly, it's basically a cry of boredom, wanting something to happen, wanting something more, realising how much is really out there. How little time there is and what a waste it will all be if in a few years you look back at nothing, its like sitting staring out the window at a mountain and not even considering climbing the fucking thing.

The Plea Playlist: Part 2

What I've been listening to the past few weeks...

1. Foals (Holy Fire).  Loving this album at the minute the production on the Foals albums are always amazing.
2. Haim.  I just discovered this band a few weeks ago and again the mixing and production blew me away.
3. Bruce Springsteen (Darkness on the Edge of Town). This Album is the opposite to Born to run what happens after born to run when you return so to speak. I am always gonna have the boss on my playlist the best live performer I have ever seen.
4. Stanton Moore with the Galactic group New Orleans Drummer who I have been listening too.  I have been getting into his playing and trying to learn a few things from his style for the past year.
5. Tom Waits  (Closing Time).  An Album never suited a title as much as this one does the songs on this are amazing. 
6. The Doors (Waiting for the Sun). I always loved the interaction between the musicians in the doors every member adds to the songs with the unique style of playing.
7. Pearl Jam (Backspacer). I could put any pearl jam album on enough said.
8. Levon Helm (Dirt Farmer). Lead singer of The Band and one of my favourite drummers of all time he played like no one else what a feel player.
9. The Gaslight Anthem (Handwritten) A modern rocked up Springsteen sound with the New Jersey thing going on
10. The Best of The Beatles as Alan Partridge would say.

Tracks taken from albums listed above, The Beatles currently unavailable on Spotify.

Blog post written by Gerry.

Tour Diary Part 2: Talking Catch that Pigeon Paranoid Blues

The Barfly in London was another story, it's in Camden in London for anybody that don't know that place. It's the place in London to go to if you have any fetish that needs a fixin’ you can get it fixed in Camden. It’s also got some cool venues and the Barfly is a venue most bands play in at some stage. 

Was a great vibe at the gig and the bands on the night sounded good. They may have over done it with the smoke machine, pumping that crap out, but then again Dave's hotel room looked a bit like that.

There's that pigeon again

Pigeon feathers all over the place with Sting on full blast, as Dave repeatedly asks the Pigeon why it's involved with a Coup d' etat! Good times. Good times! Ireland is next on the list. Hopefully see you there!

Tour Diary Part 1: Talking Catch that Pigeon Paranoid Blues

Ok, so here's a brief out line of the ins n’ outs of the tour so far, aptly titled Talking Catch that Pigeon Paranoid Blues...

Pigeon Paranoid Blues

The Highlights can be summed up with: a pigeon in the wipers on the M6, a shopping spree in Huddersfield on Little Essex Street, a white smoking jacket, the Catcher in the Rye, 6 burritos, 7Up for Dave, cardboard breakfasts in Little Chef, and Manchester on fire - although we take no responsibility for that one...

The Pigeon carried no note but as we are all packed into the van on the road anything unusual becomes the topic of the day. In this case it was the Pigeon and if it was carrying a note then who would have written it and why? We all agreed it would probably be Sting and the note would read ''I'm still Brilliant'. No offence to Sting but that's the way the conversation went...anyway Gerry's a massive Sting fan. Massive...

New music we listened to in the van was by Lord Huron Americana type of band but good tunes, mostly everything else we listened to was on a personal level but Gerry was flat out on the Sting. Flat out...

With an hour or 2 to kill before the gig in Huddersfield we did what all bands do and went shopping by accident, some of us went for noodles and some of us went for a massage, but one of us went shopping.

In the end, we had a white smoking jacket, 3 books and one Sting t-shirt (Gerry). Met up with Echo Tape (good band). Was some good bands playing on the night and the venue had a good atmosphere, well worth calling in there if your in Huddersfield; great menu, home to Indiana Jone's favourite burger, that's a fact. Says it on the menu, so it must be true! 

Next morning…after we found Dave, headed for Manchester, this was exciting for us as we've not played there before and it's home to a good few legends and Erasure. A lot of Mancunian music got played in the van on the way to and from the gig. A massive fire broke out on Oldham Street and this was the second omen. All pigeons and fires what next? Piano’s falling off skyscrapers? Pigeons on fire playing pianos as they fall of skyscrapers; well that's what happened in Dave's head. But the reality was the band did a sound check. 

The Roadhouse is a cool venue, down stairs and cavernous, Manchester was full of music. We headed out for a stroll after the sound check, went to Night and Day there was a good band playing and seemed like bands were playing every bar we passed, musicians running around the streets in the rain pushing amps - had a great music vibe to it and the people were great.

All n’ all had a great night and Tim (keys player) only managed to get himself into 1 fight; we have that on film, good times...good times. 

Mad For it indeed.

Win Gig Tickets!

We've got 2 pairs of tickets up for grabs to our gig at the Camden Barfly this Friday (12th April) supporting Echotape...

For your chance to win all you have to do is follow us on Twitter here and tweet the following:

RT & follow @thepleaofficial for chance to #win 1 of 2 pairs of tickets to our gig @Barfly_Mama Camden this Friday http://bit.ly/Z3wUjh 

Please note: the competition closes on Thursday 11th April at 9am. The winners will be notified on Twitter.

The Dreamers Stadium: Track by Track

Introducing the Track by Track to ‘The Dreamers Stadium' Denny shares a few words about the story behind each track... 

‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Windchime’ both came about after arguments with my girlfriend. They’re sort of half apologies with a few digs thrown in, in a weird way sometimes you can start a song writing about someone else and end up just listing your own faults. But the sentiment was true and I still get women quoting the lyrics.

Grab the album here and play the tracks below.

Record of the Week

Out and about on tour we’ve had some spare moments to listen to some terrific albums. We’ve each jotted down what we appreciate about each record. Over the coming weeks we’re going to be sharing playlists and blog posts about our favourite albums and tracks at the moment. Today Denny chats about the great Thin Lizzy’s ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’...

Years ago when I was in school we had a religion class and the topic of the day was suicide, they were talking about different forms of suicide and there was a picture of Phil Lynott.  The topic was slow suicide, drinking and taking drugs for years as a form of escapism.  I just looked at the picture and had no idea who he was but thought; this is one cool looking fucker. After I listened to ‘Whisky in the Jar’, and it was like alien music. To me I’d never heard anything like it - I was hooked.

Then I heard ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ and realised music could be poetry. This tune was and will always be perfection for me…’three o’ clock in the morning, I’m on the streets again’. Fuckin’ love it.

Denny on Songwriting Part II

Who inspired you to become the musicians/writers that you now are?

When we were growing up there was always Irish music in the house like The Dubliners or the The Clancy Brothers my father’s choices along with some terrible country music sung by men from Mayo with American accents. My mother was more into 60s pop Herman's Hermits, The Beatles, The Troggs.

   The Clancy Brothers

So when I became old enough to decide for myself I headed into The Doors, Nirvana, Oasis territory, but the pop and folk seems to be lodged in there and it won’t go away. Luke Kelly is still the greatest singer I’ve ever heard.

Denny chats about the inspiration behind his songwriting process…

It’s still The Beatles for me, I can’t stop going back to them. The sounds are just as fresh as they were when they were recorded. It’s like The Godfather; just when I thought I was out they pull me back in. 

No matter what kind of mood you’re in, the songs fit around it and that’s something I would like to create. Something that will outlive me, something to leave behind, weather changing music and fine-wine music.