The Forecast For The Blizzards Is Looking Good

By Joe Kavanagh

Two years ago, The Blizzards were riding high on the Irish music scene, with what appeared to be an overnight success story of significant proportion.

Although their debut album initially dropped out of the Irish Top 50 after only three week in the charts, it would go on to be one of the most successful Irish releases of the past decade, heralding the arrival of an important new band on the national scene.

Not only did The Blizzards give the public an album of note, they also generated the kind of fevered press coverage that the reticent Irish music press (with a few noble exceptions) usually reserves for overseas acts that the UK and US media have already endorsed.

In short, The Blizzards sent a vital message out to Irish bands that sustainable success on a national level is possible, as they created the kind of excitement that only occurs when an album crosses over from the underground to the ears of John and Mary Q. Public. They became the "people's band", supported by the masses and seared into the national psyche in a remarkably short period of time.

Last week saw the release of their eagerly anticipated sophomore effort, and with it they will soon find out if their talent, momentum and considerable achievements will be sufficient to propel them from Irish icons to international players.

Like all rock 'n' roll stories, the truth behind The Blizzards differs slightly from the perceived reality, with the most significant misconception being the one that assumes that things somehow came easily to the band.

Quite the contrary. In point of fact, The Blizzards would definitely have to be in the reckoning when it comes to listing the hardest working bands in Ireland, and it is an ethos that emanates directly from their front man and main songwriter, Niall Breslin.

Growing up in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Breslin starred as a local athlete, whose excellence on the sports field was matched by his dedication off it.

Although he was raised in a music mad house, with a music teacher mother and an older brother who works as a professional musician (playing trombone for Belle & Sebastian, among others), the initial object of his attention was rugby, which he played at a level sufficiently high enough to win a place on Brian O'Driscoll's Leinster rugby team.

Despite the obvious commitment and arduous training that had led him to succeed as a professional athlete, Breslin always considered music to be his true love and spent what spare time he had practicing on his guitar and scribbling down his own song ideas.

In 2003, he formed a band with school friends, Dec Murphy, Anthony Doran, and Aidan Lynch and, applying the work ethic that had served him so well in rugby, Breslin and the band agreed to employ stringent rules in an effort to achieve their full potential.

Band members were expected to arrive on time for rehearsals and were often given work to do on their own time, which was expected to be completed by the next session.

Outworking the competition is all very well but a little magic is also vital in the world of music and Breslin and company found theirs in guitarist, Justin Ryan, the son of Irish parents who had just moved to Mullingar after spending his childhood in London.

Assured in what they were doing and excited by the sounds they were producing, the increased commitment to the band led Breslin towards the increasing realization that he would have to choose between a life in rugby or music.

Despite initial reservations from some, who questioned the wisdom of giving up the bird in hand for the proverbial pair in the bush, he wound up his rugby career in order to pursue the dream that most appealed to him.

By 2005 the decision to quit rugby was looking ever more prudent, as the band built a solid, grassroots following in Ireland through hard graft, gigging relentlessly and never turning their nose up at media interviews, no matter how small or large the newspaper or radio station.

Their effort paid dividends upon the release of their debut single, First Girl To Leave Town, which peaked at number 11 in the charts and went on to become the biggest selling independent release of the year in Ireland.

Such an achievement did not go unnoticed by the recording industry and it came as little surprise when Universal snatched them up, signing them to a multi-album deal.

Months later, they entered the studio with acclaimed US producer, Michael Beinhorn (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Korn, Soundgarden), to begin work on their debut album.

Beinhorn immediately set about identifying the band's strong points, accentuating them and then building the album around these pillars.

In the case of The Blizzards, this meant playing to their strong pop sensibilities, utilizing their epic harmonies and channeling the sense of exuberance oozing from their music.

So it was that A Public Display Of Affection hit stores in November 2006 and although it initially only remained in the Top 50 album chart for three weeks before dropping out, it eventually reentered the Top 50 in January, peaked at #4 and went on to remain in the chart for 18 unbroken weeks, making it one of the most successful debut albums ever made by an Irish band.

It also spawned a host of singles, such as Trouble, Miss Fantasia Preaches and Fantasy.

It even contained Superdrug, the first utterly infectious ode to Viagra, capturing the time Breslin's friends spiked his drink, which he recalled, saying: "[My friends] crushed up five tabs (of Viagra) and lobbed it in without me knowing. It was enough to give a dead man a horn. So about an hour later, I was with this girl, who I didn't fancy, but I started getting this abnormal erection. My heart was going 90. I had an erection for 16 hours! It got to the point where I was on Google to try and get rid of it, and my Mam was like, 'Niall, why is there "how to get rid of an erection" typed into Google?' Eventually it went down while watching the Antiques Roadshow."

Such exuberance is infectious and 2007 saw the band go from strength to strength, as they scooped up a Meteor Music Award (Ireland's Grammy) for Best Live Performance, played to one of the biggest crowds of the weekend on the prestigious main stage at Ireland's Oxegen Festival and rounded out the year by making their first serious foray into the UK market on a nationwide tour.

As the old adage in music goes, "you have all your life to write your first album and a couple of years to write your second, if you're lucky", but the band appears to have overcome many of the traditional difficulties associated with 'that tricky second album'.

They appear to have expanded their sound, experimenting a little more sonically while still managing to retain the essence of what made them so good in the first place, a trick that many acts have profound difficulty with.

With Beinhorn again at the controls, the band has created a polished work that accentuates their strengths further still, with a hatful of pop singles scattered through a balanced album that manages to capture the energy the band display live.

It is certainly one of the strongest Irish albums of the year, but, in truth, this record was always going to be focused on places further afield than its predecessor.

In Ireland, the band is essentially preaching to the converted, but their sound is in possession of enough crossover appeal to ensure that their message loses none of it's potency in markets like the UK and, particularly, the US.

As Breslin recently noted: "Some songs are inspired by local things, but the songs are universal. There is nothing in the songs that people will not understand."

Although the date and venue have yet to be announced, if you're in the New York area, then keep an eye out for The Blizzards when they put in an appearance at New York's CMJ Festival this coming October.