Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CHARMED & DANGEROUS
Anything can happen as Hello Casanova play Our Back Yard
Hello Casanova is a mass of guitars, determination, tattoos, Nirvana tees, Vans old skool sneakers and memorable tunes. The music is roaring and universal but the band is shaped by the rigours of Co Armagh.
“I come from a very working class background,” says singer-vocalist Matt with a deal of pride. “I’ve been painting and decorating since I was 12 years old.
“I work when the hay needs made or I have to do the farming, and I’ve got a bar job as well so I’m always flat out.
“We have hard work built into us. As a band we constantly work and we’re constantly pushing and that definitely comes from our upbringing.”
When he’s done with his university studies in Belfast, Matt lives a few miles out of Armagh.
Likewise with his buddy Ethan, while Martin lives in the cathedral city and works in farm management.
The latter came from Latvia as a teenager. He was picking apples and called round to the singer’s house to pick up some spare furniture. When he noticed the drumkit, he saw another life opening up for himself.
“He said, if you ever need a drummer you give me a shout, Matt explained. “It just so happened that I gave him a shout and I’m glad I did.” Two years back, they were touring as Foreign Affairs and winged it as far as Los Angeles, where they performed at the Youbloom festival.
They got there on their own steam, without the funding that often eases such events.
Other acts might have shirked on the challenge, but this posse was fit for adventure.
“We made ourselves go broke for a while but we had the best time. There were about 80 people at the first gig there, all going mad and it was a sensational experience. We weren’t a baby band any more.” They were never keen on the old name and when the new batch of songs went up a level, the name change felt natural. Now they surge with intent and at a recent Empire Music Hall gig in Belfast, Matt looked into the audience and saw strangers singing along to the chorus of a new tune, I’ll Be Waiting. Ah, vindication.
New release, I Am A Machine is a more complex idea with snapshots of youth and old age, purpose and reflection. Matt explains how lyric same out of a family experience. “I wrote I Am A Machine at a time when my nana was terminally ill with cancer. I was in a dark place so it was hard for me to write happy songs.
“I don’t generally have a lot of close friends to empty my soul out to, so I was sitting there with my acoustic guitar and the words all came together.
“It was a way for me to get how I was feeling out. I was reflecting on how I could feel, processing my nana with her cancer, thinking about how she feels, nearing the end of her life. Nobody can understand what that process might be.”
Plenty to muse on then, and more reason to see them in their own territory this weekend. So what will we expect from Hello Casanova’s performance at the Our Back Yard festival on Saturday?
Matt said: “It’s gonna be completely energy-filled. We’re gonna get the festival runnin’. We’re playing three new songs and we’re gonna nail it...”
Anything else? Audience frenzy, marriage proposals or even a small riot?
“Maybe all of the above,” he adds. “We’ll check it out.”
Hello Casanova play Our Back Yard festival at Gilford, Armagh, tomorrow with The Bonnevilles, Emerald
Armada, Gascan Ruckus and others. See: ourbackyardfestival.co.uk