ROCK'N'ROLL:Cork's fun-loving five-piece promise to "take the anguish, angst and pain out of rock'n'roll", and their flair for catchy hooks, sweet harmonies and entertaining live shows means their fan base is growing fast, writes Roisin Ingle
THE RATHER EXCELLENT third album from Cork band Fred is called Go God Go, but over tea and cake two members of the five-piece outfit swear it was not conceived as a kind of musical riposte to those wildly successful faith-debunking books such as The God Delusion.
"We liked it because you can interpret it whatever way you want to. I think it was the name of an episode of South Park," says bass player Jamin O'Donovan. "It's just a good title," says guitarist Jamie Hanrahan. "Also, there is wonderful alliteration, which we really like, and it looks very good in a certain kind of roundy font."
It does give God a bit of encouragement, though, in these days of Richard Dawkins? "Yes, because He really needs our help being omnipotent and all powerful and everything," says Hanrahan.
Fair enough - it's just a title, no big deal. Then a bit of gentle probing reveals the two lads to be followers of the Bahá'í religion, which has 600 members in Ireland and six million worldwide, so you can't help suspecting there might be more to it than that.
The central tenet of the Bahá'í faith is that all religions come from God and that we should all live together in "peace and unity". Hanrahan and O'Donovan grew up in Bahá'í families but, as is traditional in their faith, made a decision when they reached the age of 18 to continue to practice.
They don't drink or take drugs because it's against their religion. "We are spiritual beings that just happen to inhabit this body. The reason we are here is to grow spiritually - in order for that to happen you have to work at it. Drinking removes you from yourself and the same with drugs, and if you go overboard with those things they can cripple or stunt your spirit," says Hanrahan.
They are fascinating, in an understated way, on matters spiritual, but it would be wrong to give the impression of them as a pair of God bores.
"Make sure you mention the album, won't you," says O'Donovan, laughing, when it looks as though God is taking over the interview - which it has to be said is entirely this interviewer's fault for asking too many Bahá'í-related questions.
Anyway, whatever the provenance of the album's title - the current single Skyscrapersand another one called Good Oneare standout tracks - Go God Gois well worth buying. The album is refreshingly catchy and original, with just the rights amount of perfectly harmonised ooohs and aaahhhs.
"We are on a bit of a mission to bring back ooohs and aaahhhs, there's not enough of them in music anymore we find, people seem to be afraid of decent melodies and harmonies," says O'Donovan.
With Fred, the talk can quickly go from God to harmonies to Sarah Jessica Parker (O'Donovan: "She looks like a banana". Hanrahan: "I think she is more like a foot"). The true story of how they got together in Cork via Tralee is deemed a bit dull, so instead Hanrahan gets inventive and says "We met when we were all training to be astronauts."
You can't help noticing that they have a little problem with bands and musicians who take themselves too seriously - not mentioning any names, but I think they might mean you, Chris Martin.
"I think loads of bands these days have this depressing or meaningful message to get across, and have this certain air of cool about them, but we are useless at that," says Jamie.
Perhaps to make up for this, they possess possibly the most entertaining website of any band in the universe. Jamie's completely made-up "old news" section on www.fredtheband.com is almost as addictive as the Tetris game they have kindly made available to fans on their site.
"It's just about expressing our sense of humour," says Hanrahan. "It's not that we want to be wacky, it's a case of 'Jesus, websites are boring'. We started getting hundreds of people on the website every day playing Tetris, which was brilliant."
They've been earning a great live reputation for themselves abroad over the past couple of years - the New York Postsaid Fred were their favourite act at the CMJ music festival last year. They are also the only Irish band to be invited to North by North East in Canada this June.
They namecheck Sufjan Stevens, the Beach Boys and the Flaming Lips as their musical inspirations and their live concerts are designed to have you skipping out of the venue with a smile on your face.
"Some of the most enjoyable concerts I have ever been to are ones where you just feel this positive energy," says Hanrahan. "Sorry to sound like some stupid American book, but it's true, and that's where we are coming from. We want people to enjoy it, they paid to be there and if they are enjoying it you are enjoying it."
Their typically upbeat press release says it best: "Fred are a five-piece from Cork who take the anguish, angst and pain out of rock'n'roll, opting instead to just be really good."
Go, Fred, Go!
Fred play Crawdaddy in Dublin tonight, www.fredtheband.com