2013 kam bei Luke Reilly (vocals, guitar), Conor Wynne (lead guitar) und David Anthony (bass guitar) die Idee zur Gründung einer Band auf. Ein paar Monate später fanden sie dann noch über eine Kontaktanzeige aber gleichermaßen auch Musikszene in Dublin ihren Drummer Rob Summons. Mit The 201 und The New Vice veröffentlichte das Quartett auf dem Indie-Label Rubyworks zwei EPs, die für Furore sorgten. Unter anderen gab es Radio-Support von  BBC Radio 1. Nun stehen die Iren vor der Veröffentlichung ihres ersten Albums OK und haben im Rahmen ihrer Tour auch ein Konzert in Wien in ihrem Tourplan. Alle wichtigen Details dazu verriet die ambitionierte und  vielversprechende Band in einem E-Mail Interview.

fm5:You've released two EPs instead of releasing a debut record straight away? Would you say this experience helped your band? When did you know that it was the right time to record an album? I've read you wrote 35-40 songs...
Conor Wynne: Definitely! Our first two EPs allowed us to find our sound and establish our fanbase. They've also allowed us to travel all around the world, and we can't wait to do the same with our new songs. It is true though, we did write around 40 songs for this album, we didn't stop writing until we had the perfect 12 songs.

Your debut album is OK is coming out on 09/29/2017. Who came up with the album title? What can fans expect? 
The album title came really naturally, OK has always been the symbol of our band. We felt it was the perfect fit for our debut album, short and to the point. Fans can expect 12 fast, energetic, loud and catchy garage rock songs. We wanted to make sure there was no point in the album where our fans would get bored, all killer no filler.

Could you tell us a bit about the recording process? I've read you recorded in Ireland... Who produced OK? What was difficult? In retrospect, is there anything you would like to change about it? 
The recording took place over 20 days in December in a studio in Kildare, Ireland. Jason Boland (Kodaline) and David Prendergast (Overhead, The Albatross) co-produced the album with us, they've worked on all of our recordings with us, so it was an obvious choice for us that these guys were the right team for the album. It was such an enjoyable recording process, there was no stress at all and we were able to record a lot of the record live to replicate the energy we have live. No regrets at all to be honest, maybe we should've started Album 2 while we were in there! haha

Can you tell us the story behind one of your new songs that people don't know yet? 
The three singles we've released so far "Bad Advice", "REACT", and "Come On, Hello" were all written a few weeks before the album release. We went to the country side of Ireland to do some writing, we had no internet and would just drink and start fires every night. I think these songs reflect the really good time we were having as friends. People haven't heard songs like '89 - this song is a pretty groovy song and one of my favourites on the album. I think people will also be surprised with songs like "Razorhead" and "So So" that showcase a more aggressive side to the band.

The internet is full with people comparing your sound to bands like The Hives, The Strokes, etc. And some editors even labeled you as Brit-Pop, which is kind of weird, because you are from Ireland... So how would you describe your sound? How do you differ from these bands and do these comparisons bother you? 
Haha, well spotted! We love bands like The Clash, QOTSA, Blur and The Ramones and we wanted to make music that people weren't making currently. I think 'Feel Good Garage Rock Anthems' would be a good description of our music! We also like heavy and groovy riffs, I think that's what makes us quite different to bands like The Hives and The Strokes.

You guys met at school/university and formed the band after a working holiday in Canada... I've also read in an other interview that two of you are actually doctors. Was it important for you to have the security of a „normal day job"? When did you decide, you would give the music career a full go? 
David and myself (Conor) met in school when we were around 13, we played music throughout our teen years together. Then David met Luke in university, and the three of us met when were 19/20, a few years later went on to start a band that became OTHERKIN. We were all just doing our own thing in university, but said we would try do the band full time once we had our degrees, it all worked out in the end. So, being in a band properly is actually a relatively new thing to us!

Furthermore I've read you guys got many messages from the Otherkin Community because of your band name, which must be pretty annoying. Is this problem still a thing? 
Yeah, we always get messages from people in the Otherkin community they're mostly pretty nice! Sometimes they ask if one of us actually Otherkin and we say our drummer thinks he's a dragon to make them happy haha.

Do you have any expectations for your first headline show in Vienna/Austria? What can fans expect from your gig? Have you got anything special in mind? 
We can't wait to play in Vienna, we're gonna put on a wild show that you guys won't be forgetting any time soon. We're all gonna have a good time and throw a proper party, let's see how rowdy this can get.

Besides from touring, what is next for OTHERKIN? 
Well our debut album is out on September 29th, then its life on the road until December 16th. We've already start writing for album 2, so I think we're eager to write more songs for that whenever we can!

Anything you would like to add for the readers of fm5? 
Our first ever show in Austria is on Saturday Novemeber 11th at Chelsea. Let's have a proper party and grab some beers after the show! 

Thank you for your time and the interview!
Thank you so much for the interview!