It’s out with the old and in with the new... Dave, that is
DAVE Geraghty admits he’s in a state of low-level anxiety but he’s not exactly sure why.
The BellX1 member is recharging his Join Me In The Pines solo work with a new album Monomania, released today and probably one of the reasons for the nervous energy is the fact that it’s unlike anything he’s done before.
The record had its origins in change and will no doubt be a bit of a surprise to those expecting the melodic and introspective sounds of Geraghty’s previous albums.
‘It’s kind of a timing thing really,’ Dave says of his new sound. ‘I think what started this whole move away from doing the dark folk introspective stuff was writing a song called I Go Where You Go for the last BellX1 album.
‘And that was the beginning of a period where I was thinking, “Do you know what? I want to sing out and I want to play guitar and move and create more inclusive vibes in the room rather than that sort of cinematic dark folk.” And I got a real taste for it.”
Monomania is the title simply because once Geraghty was on that track, he became obsessed with not falling back into his old — and it has to be said successful — ways of songwriting.
And it was his old friend and fellow musician Mick Major who helped him get there.
‘I am excited about it.’ Dave says. ‘I managed to retain the excitement about it because it is unlike other solo albums where it is literally just me losing the will to live. I had friends involved, one particular pal of mine – we go way back. We started playing music together when we were 14 or 15 and then our musical paths took us a few different directions.
‘Mick Major is his name and he is actually a third level teacher but he is a great musician with a great ear, great sensibility and taste and a really honest buddy. So he swooped in and saved me from myself.
‘He was working on an album of his while I was working on this album so we became this symbiotic thing where he would be my sounding board and I would be his.
‘It was really nice and it allowed me to retain the love of the music and the songs.
‘Very often when you are creating something when you get to the point where you are doing what you are doing for a long time and you think, “Do you know what I
need to break the mould and reorganise the brain and the wood and I need to turn it around.
‘That’s where Mick was hepling because I knew what I wanted to do but sometimes you couldn’t help slipping back into the comfort zone without you realising.
‘And his whole thing was telling me ‘No! That’s the old Dave.’
So the new Dave has actually created an album that invokes the spirit of 80s disco and soul, like a burst of colour that bleeds into the nights that are getting darker.
It’s fun and funky and in essence sounds like a club night fairytale which, although full of twists and turns, culminates in a happy ending.
It’s certainly and unashamedly a record you will want to shake your booty to.
‘It wasn’t meant to be, “Let’s try a few different things” it was, “Let’s just go 100 per cent completely different.” If you are going to jump in the lake, then jump in the lake,’ Dave says.
‘It was the need to be turned on again creatively.’
He’d write alone initially then he and Major would get together to have a few drinks, compare notes and see where they were at.
‘All the time I would be sending stuff to him then we would get together, have a late one and then wake up the next morning with a hangover and you think, “Was any of that any good?” he recalls.
But it absolutely was, of course. In the album Dave is hitting the high notes, taking inspiration from the likes of Prince, Grace Jones, Womack and Womack and sounding like he is enjoying it immensely.
The likes of the track Two To Fall In Love, for example, was written about the Yes vote in the Same Sex Marriage Referendum.
‘I was brimming with pride – excuse the pun – when Ireland voted in same sex marriage and the song was just filled with that.
‘You know, let love rule, fall in love with whoever you want to fall in love with. As much as you might want to comment or rejoice in something it’s the type of thing that if you don’t do it right it can become a bit cheesy so that’s why I kept it a bit vague too.
‘They Must Never Know is, I suppose, a bit of a commentary about where I fit into my smaller but happier world of being a father.
‘The whole idea is that these little miniature overlords who are running around the house will never know that I am not in charge and it’s actually them. My kids are ten and six – I am in that nice zone where they are no longer babies but still young enough so not challenging you too much.’
Obviously as a member of BellX1, Dave has been in the music business for a long time and has watched it change.
He says he recently had a conversation with someone who compared streaming to spray cheese while records are more artisan. People will still want to buy them but most go for the easier option. ‘Convenience is part of modern life and for some it is more important than quality,’ Dave says. ‘Some people prefer investing in vinyl that has been thought about and designed.
‘But unfortunately most people go for streaming music which doesn’t create much revenue for people who are trying to make sense of making another album.
‘But that’s the model. The double-edged sword is people can easily check you out and might buy your stuff or come to a gig then. Musicians have to be entrepreneurs more now that ever.’
BellX1 fans need not fret – he recently met up with Paul Noonan with a view to working on some new material although Noonan is also enjoying delving into his own solo stuff at the moment too.
And the main thing for Dave is to keep going.
‘This is my definition of success – to be able to stay creatively challenged and be able to do stuff,’ he says. ‘I don’t want all the cars, the women and the bull**t that goes with fame. I just want to be able to remain creative and be inspired and to inspire.
‘I put my face on the cover because I really want to own this. I have stood on my own two feet and learned a lot.’
This weekend Dave will be taking to the stage at Electric Picnic to give fans a blast of that new sound with a live band made up of BellX1 collaborators Tim O’Donovan of Neosupervital and Marc Aubelle of Nanu Nanu and Mick Major, whose own outfit is called Bon Ton Rouler.
‘The live thing is different – it’s four lads on stage and a little bit more spiky,’ he says. ‘It’s a different animal and I didn’t want to get too hung up on trying to recreate the album live.’
Dave adds confidently, with all trace of nerves gone: ‘ Let there be a live version, and let there be a studio version.’
And let them dance because they surely will.