"We thought we would start off indie-pop and get stranger as we went along"
Bawl's Mark Cullen on 'Year Zero' and everything after...
Definitely one of the most under-rated new bands around Bawl have been finally recognised for their wonderful debut album 'Year Zero' with a Hot Press award for Best New Band. One of the finest pop albums of 1996, 'Year Zero's healthy combination of superb tunes and thoughtful lyrics makes for valid comparisons with the Smiths at their peak. I've been a fan since their debut single 'Bathroom' emerged in 1995, so when I chatted to wordsmith and vocalist Mark Cullen recently I asked him why the band's first three singles - 'Bathroom', 'Girl's Night Out' and 'Glen Campbell Nights' weren't included on the debut album.
"For a start those songs were done with different producers, and they were written and recorded in 1995. We had every intention of including them in the running order, but the older songs just didn't fit properly. We wanted an album that you could just stick everything on from start to finish, we had even concentrated on what keys the songs were in and how they flowed. We hope to include those early singles on B-sides soon. For instance 'Bathroom' was 1000 7" only, no CD, so people haven't really heard it. People keep sending me money through the post but we've no copies left. I do send the
money back though!"
I think the album is superb, definitely the best debut album of '96. How have other people reacted?
"Overall, it's been very good. Maybe I had certain aspirations that it would be automatically huge but I think we knew deep down that it would be a gradually growing thing. We could have held on, put out a couple of singles off it but we're not really about that so we let it go as planned."
Even though you've been touring in England you're still based in Dublin. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
"It's a plus in a way because you're distanced from the music biz. I think a lot of bands in London, regardless of where they're from originally, always get caught up in scenes and Dublin is fairly devoid of that. The one thing that works against us is that a collective scene can be helpful - take Welsh bands at the moment - but there aren't any Irish bands doing a similar thing to us. We don't fit any scene."
How are you received at home - are you percieved as a big band?
"We're not really that big in Dublin, we're becoming better known. We've had a bit more press support since the album came out, but before that it was fairly thin on the ground. Supporting Pulp at the Point in July also helped, there were about 3000 people in when we played so we got a healthy response. The thing with Dublin is that it can be very slow to support new bands. The Whipping Boy and Revelino are doing well now but they've been going for years. Revelino used to be the Coletranes and I remember seeing them in 1988. The only other band to emerge with us was Sunbear and they seem to have momentarily disappeared."
One thing that I noticed about the lyrics is that there are a few nods towards the giants of Irish literature such as Joyce and Wilde. Also, the band's name is derived from a passage in Joyce's Ulysses. Is this an area which particularly interests you?
"Yeah. When you're going through school in southern Ireland Joyce and Yeats are all over the curriculum and you don't appreciate it. It's only when you leave school that it hits home. (I later learn from press blurb that Mark was expelled for asking a priest if he had sexual desires, very Stephen Dedalus indeed!) Joyce's Portrait of the Artist.. is exactly like my life at the Christian Brothers School - it's exactly the same now as it was in 1910. That really appealed to me and also the fact that Joyce was uneasy about his sexuality was a complete taboo back then - certain feelings and emotions are still taboo. I initially never knew that that was what he was writing about, but when you get older it clicks and you appreciate it."
Three of you are brothers, so is Steve the bassist is a bit of an outsider then!?
"We've known Steve for years, he lived close by and we just thought he would fit in well as our bass player. It's quite hard. We always thought that the bass player wouldn't be able to handle the fact that
we're brothers -we're do have ruthless family rows!- but it works out well."
Are there any contemporary bands that you like?
"I really like Baby Bird, really good songs. I like Geneva and I stumbled across a band called Ballroom who are really good, I think they've signed to Mother. I don't get to see many gigs unless we're playing with someone."
What about your songwriting - who are your big influences?
"I write most of the lyrics. We all fight over influences! For songwriting and stuff like that it would be the Go Betweens, American Music Club. I've just got into Bob Dylan recently - I used to think he was a moany old fart, but I love that album 'Oh Mercy'. Darren the guitarist is much more into things like Brian Eno, he really likes to treat his guitar with strange effects. I suppose the music we listen to hints what we're going to do - Roxy Music, Talking Heads - we never really saw ourselves as an indie band. We thought we'd start off indie pop and get stranger as we go along!"
interview by Jonathan Greer
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