THE ESKIES

Bodega, Nottingham, November 1

GYPSY folk rock trailblazers The Eskies, renowned for their raucous live shows, will be heading over from Dublin soon for an 11-date tour, including Nottingham’s The Bodega. Ian Bermingham does the talking

HOW would you describe your sound?

Very eclectic and always evolving but I think the classic ‘Eskies’ sound is full of melodrama and bombast, tongue-in-cheek and generally quite theatrical. When we’re writing music, we like to push each other until something either makes us laugh or makes the hairs stand up on our necks. Expect lots of energetic klezmar, Yiddish, Balkan, Gypsy, rag-time, swing and folk.

How do you approach songwriting?

To us, writing about a guy getting shipwrecked in a horrible storm and ending up stranded on a desert island and withering, with his lips cracking in the sun, is a much more interesting way to write about a break-up than just the usual ‘We had a fight, I text you, you didn’t text back, I wish you would...’

Tell us about your second album, And Don’t Spare The Horses

The first album was very much written for a live setting but this time we didn’t feel pressure to do that. We explored different dynamics and feels and tempos, even if they wouldn’t necessarily work to a couple of thousand people at a festival. In the end, the loud got louder, the fast got faster and the soft got softer.

What do you like most about touring?

When we first started it was all about going to new places, meeting new people and seeing new things. As we’ve gotten around a bit more it’s more about returning to places to see a particular thing or eat in a particular restaurant. It’s a weird kind of nomadic domesticity.

What can people expect from your upcoming Nottingham gig?

Five men coming together to make a sound and an energy that is greater than the sum of its parts which will - all things going to plan - encourage 150 or so people in the room to lose themselves in dancing or singing or rocking side to side or putting their arms around eachother. That will, in turn create a buzz in the room that is also greater than the sum of its parts.

■■ The Eskies play The Bodega, Pelham Street, Nottingham with Noble Jacks on November 1. Doors 7pm. Tickets are £13.20 (fee included in price) from alttickets.com