For the follow-up to their Meteor-winning debut, The Blizzards hit the US with a big producer and a heap of major-label money. A continent-wide trek around half-a-dozen studios ensued, but instead of catching difficult second album syndrome, they hit on the perfect sound, singer Niall Breslin tells Brian Boyd
IT'S LIKE a deleted scene from This Is Spinal Tap:when Co Westmeath's The Blizzards convened to record their second album, their bigwig American producer, Michael Beinhorn (who's more used to recording the Red Hot Chili Peppers in obscenely expensive LA recording studios), just couldn't get the right bass drum sound.
The band and Beinhorn toured the country in search of a sonic holy grail, in the process running into a whole catalogue of problems minor and major.
"Michael has very exacting standards," says Blizzards singer Niall Breslin. "In some studios, we would have everything just right, but then he'd announce that he couldn't get a bass guitar sound at all, so we'd have to pack up all the gear and take to the road again. We found one place which seemed perfect but, after one kick of the bass drum, Michael told us it was a no-go sonic situation.
"We packed up again and found a place that was suitable in all respects, but when we were playing the songs back, we picked up this clicking sound every 10 seconds - which was coming from the electric fence outside the studio. It got so bad that we were even going to bring the live PA into the studio and record through that, but then on studio number four or five or six or seven, everything just fell into place. Then when we finished the album, all we could think of was how much cheaper and how much less hassle it would have been for us to go to Michael in Los Angeles."
Before he was in The Blizzards, Bresie (as he is universally known) believed, like most sane people, that when a band complained about the bass drum sound, it was a cover excuse for a more serious problem.
"It does sound very Spinal Tap, I'll admit that. But this is the so-called 'difficult second album' for us, and whenever we left a studio, we did so very reluctantly and genuinely because the sound, for whatever reason, on one of the instruments just wasn't working."
If Domino Effectis a difficult second album for the band, it's because the first one, A Public Display of Affection(2006) exceeded all expectations and saw The Blizzards find major success in Ireland. The album went double-platinum, produced three of the biggest-selling Irish singles of that year and earned them a Meteor award. But now the stakes are higher. "We played two sell-out shows at Dublin's Ambassador and got a great response, so a certain level was established," Bresie says. "The difficulty now for us is replicating that success and bringing it on to a different level."
Their task isn't helped by the fact that The Blizzards are not a "scene" band. They play a gleeful form of pop/punk/ska and don't allow themselves to be weighed down by the dictates of indie fashionability or designer musical angst.
"Publications like the NMEprobably hate us," he admits. "We don't play NME-friendly music. We don't have the haircuts or the skinny jeans and skinny tie look. We don't write songs about Iraq. Just look at the title of our debut, A Public Display Of Affection. That summed up how we felt about those songs. We don't really do 'issues'. We don't fit in."
The first single from Domino Effectis the best exemplar of their approach. Punchy and tightly paced, Trust Me I'm a Doctorcomes complete with falsetto harmonies and a sugar-rush propulsion. It's the sort of sound that can be traced back to Madness and The Housemartins. Lyrically, it wouldn't have been influenced by Thom Yorke.
"The song is all about the lies you tell when you are at one of those resort holidays and you're chatting someone up and trying to make an impression. People might actually be working in a mundane type of job, but in these particular circumstances, they prefer to describe themselves as a doctor or a lawyer or something. It's a pop song, and I've never had any difficulty with that description used about our music.
"I describe us as being 'left-of-centre pop', and the pop thing is useful because it distinguishes us from all the 'scene' bands."
Before The Blizzards, Breslin was a rugby player of some small fame, having been capped by Leinster at senior level. It was because of his finesse on the field that The Blizzards got their big break. "My rugby agent used to share an office with Marcus Russell, Oasis's manager," he says. "I got some demos to Marcus and within a few days°, he came over to see us play in Dublin. He couldn't manage us because of his Oasis commitments, but he remains a great ally to have, particularly when it comes to advice and suggestions."
Russell was impressed by The Blizzards' live appearances. "That's the big difference with this record," Bresie says. "On the first one, we went for that clean-cut sound, and it worked. But a number of people felt that it didn't reflect the energy of the live shows.
"We recorded these new songs much quicker and we really pushed the tempo of the bass and the drums. It's now a much sharper sound. It may not be pitch-perfect everywhere, but that's what we want. We could have used Pro Tools to even everything out, but we didn't. Or we could have used that old trick of jumping on the distortion pedals to get that live sound. But we resisted that also and kept firm to the fact that we were making another pop/punk record - just a whole lot better than we had done before."
• Domino Effect is released today. For more, see www.myspace.com/theblizzards
Bresie and Bruni
The "hidden track" on The Blizzards' new album is called The Obsession of Carla Bruniand was written before her marriage to French President, Nicolas Sarkozy.
"We put it on as a hidden track because it just didn't fit in with the other songs," says Breslin. "It's got a real punch to it and a different musical feel, and it's about the perceptions of this beautiful princess who, despite appearing so beautiful and calm, has actually caused quite a bit of chaos in the rock 'n' roll world.
"Not only does she release her own albums, but she's also had affairs with Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton. The song is about me wanting to hate her, but not being able to because she is just so beautiful. I found myself a bit obsessed with her past history and found out a lot about her, and I came across this front cover of a magazine where she was totally naked except for a guitar.
"One of the lyrics is 'You broke my heart by giving him your heart', and we decided, with the aid of a French dictionary, to sing that line in French - so you have a bunch of guys from Mullingar trying to sing in a French accent.
"We had to run the lyrics past all the record company lawyers. She has a history of suing people from Mullingar - she sued Ryanair over an ad they put in the papers. So if she does decide to sue us, we'll have to consult Michael O'Leary over our best line of defence."
