Driving Us Ape

By Joe Kavanagh

Music scenes, often by their very nature, tend to be bitchy kinds of places. Sure, most bands are happy to get along with the job at hand, muttering platitudes about the sense of camaraderie, - and some of them even mean it - but such sentiments sometimes mask the cutthroat competitiveness that characterizes an industry where bitching about other is almost like a second language.

Given the Irish industry's small size, the national love affair with begrudgery, and the fact that almost everyone knows everyone at a certain level, it is hardly surprising then that the national music scene can be bitchier than a hungover hair salon in Chelsea, and there is no better agent provocateur to induce chattering masses, than success.

While U2's behavior in recent times has made them a worthy target for criticism, few would argue with the fact that the band came in for more than their fair share from the natives in their early days, almost entirely due to their achievements. Instead of celebrating, or taking pride in the fact that our little rock in the Atlantic had produced one of the biggest bands on the planet, some people seemed to take this as a starting point to have a go at them.

Similarly, when The Thrills exploded onto the scene a few years back, enjoying the kind global success that most young bands can only dream of, the same phenomenon could be seen within weeks.

Instead of exulting in the detail that one of their number had made it to the promised land, many on the Irish music scene lamented the band's decision to forgo the Irish market, passing it off as some treasonous act, while others whispered that their parents' wealth was a determining factor in their achievement.

We Irish support success alright, but only up to a point that we're comfortable with and the gap between critical analysis and full tilt mudslinging is often difficult to discern.

Fight Like Apes are the latest Irish band to find themselves in the middle of this dichotomous Irish psyche, with seemingly half of the country's media positively fawning over the Dublin four-piece, while the others label them as an over-hyped media creation, whose substance lags far behind their style.

Formed in 2006, the band comprises of Jamie Fox (a.k.a. Pockets), Tom Ryan, Adrian Mullan and charismatic frontwoman, Mary Kate Geraghty, who has now shaved her name down into the imminently rock-edged, MayKay.

By their own admission, the band began their journey trying to make obnoxious pop songs designed to drive listeners from the room.

With a name inspired by a line from the movie, Planet of the Apes, they took their influences from a multitude of sources both musical and otherwise.

Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Siouxsie, Talking Heads and Mclusky were just a few of the acts that stimulated them in a musical sense, but the band also crammed in influences from B-movies, kung-fu, the animal world, and a range of other unorthodox places, until they came up with a formula that they now describe as "riot pop".

As Fox recently recalled: "To this day we don't know what we want to sound like, but one of our guidelines to start with was, never in a million years did we want to sound anything like The Frames!"

The band succeeded in their aim, with people streaming out the door of their first few gigs, but as the sound became more cohesive and MayKay honed her frontwoman skills, punters began to stay until the end of their gigs and within a short space of time, crowds began showing up and staying until the last note.

The victory propelled them into a record deal with a local Irish label, which released the band's first EP: How Am I Supposed To Kill You If You Have All The Guns?

The EP spawned two superb singles in the shape of Lend Me Your Face and Jake Summers (named after a character on cheesy 90s show, California Dreams - as opposed to the porn star).

The singles proved so strong, in fact, that the band immediately made waves in the UK and picked up label interest that would eventually see the tracks released as singles in the UK.

Before the year was out, they put in their first US appearance at New York's CMJ Festival, and released an even more loquacious follow-up EP: David Carradine Is A Bounty Hunter Who's Robotic Arm Hates Your Crotch.

As this year opened, Fight Like Apes began to fix their gaze on the UK market, securing a place on the esteemed Artrocker Tour and following it up as opening act for Detroit's Von Bondies, for the UK leg of their tour, while even finding time to squeeze in an appearance at Texas' South By Southwest.

They also began working on their debut album, under the careful tutelage of John Goodmanson, whose résumé includes names such as Pavement, Wu Tang Clan and Nada Surf.

Hiding out in Seattle, they renovated the older singles and chose the rest of the tracks from a group of over 20 songs they recorded.

With the album essentially nailed down, the band returned to Ireland and the UK, putting in acclaimed appearances at Oxegen, Glastonbury, Reading and a clutch of other summer music festivals on either side of the Irish Sea.

Given such success, many on the Irish music scene wondered aloud how this band achieved so much in such a short space of time.

It boiled down to one simple question: Is their music that good?

For a significant percentage of the Irish music media, the answer is a resounding yes, with columns dedicated to MayKay's charisma, the band's anarchic live show, exuberant quirkiness and their punchy, provocative pop, which combines to produce an Irish band that is a truly legitimate contender on the international scene.

Detractors are equally quick to point out that MayKay is the daughter of celebrated Irish Times journalist Kathy Sheridan, whose newspaper has been effusive in its support of the band, while others speak of a mysterious meeting between Irish bloggers, who agreed to collaborate in order to "break" the band.

For the naysayer, the success achieved does not match up to the talent displayed and those who extol MayKay's originality have never listened to a record by The Raincoats or Siouxsie and the Banshees.

The band's tendency towards what is popularly known in sports as a "figjam" mentality, also tends to rub some up the wrong way, who feel that greatness is earned, bestowed by peers and not simply self-announced.

Given the wealth of talent and diversity currently on display in Irish original music, it does seem difficult to fathom how one band is so far ahead of the pack in the hype stakes, when there are at the very least a handful of others that could more than hold their own in a discussion regarding the most exciting new Irish act.

Given all this hoopla, it is hardly surprising that this week's release of their debut album, Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion, is one of the most eagerly anticipated Irish album launches of the year, when the world will truly get to see if they are as good as it says on the tin.

The importance of the release was only intensified last week when they were announced as the tour support for the red-hot, Ting Tings, on their upcoming, sold-out UK tour.

Whatever the case, it's a fairly safe bet that Kathy Sheridan will probably have to get used to being known as MayKay's mother in the very near future.