Fred's Mercury Rising

By Joe Kavanagh

Given the increasingly frantic nature of the world we live in, it is hardly surprising that an increasing percentage of humanity has become obsessed with the immediate "hit" associated with instant gratification.

Over the past two decades, we have seen the socially confused, yet empathetic Generation X give way to the more tolerant, materialistic and competitive Generation Y, until finally arriving at what social commentators now inevitably refer to as Generation Z, a group defined by their connection to technology and belief that most things in life are only a click away.

For this group, patience is a virtue that they simply don't have the patience for, and like some actor in a plot of their own construct, life is often defined by being in the moment, where the here and now dictates the why and how.

This generational quirk is certainly evident in the current music world, where acts come and go with ever more frequency, as consumers obsess over the next trend even as the existing one is still running its course.

Unlike years ago, when the artists that broke through often measured their career in decades, acts today are often judged by singles and the one-hit-wonder has become so commonplace as to almost be the rule more than the exception.

It is comforting to know, however, that there remain happy anomalies in this frenetic state of affairs because, like good wines, certain bands take time to mature as they follow differing arcs towards their apotheosis.

If the Beatles had been dropped after their first couple of albums, it would have been quite easy to dismiss them as a mere pop footnote, while under the same scenario the Rolling Stones would have been remembered as little more than a glorified cover band.

Artists need time to develop, some more than others, and one Irish band has recently proven this thesis beyond any debate, with the release of an album that provides evidence of an act coming into full bloom, over a decade into their career.

Although now firmly associated with Cork, the band known as Fred had their official beginning in Tralee, Co. Kerry, when teenagers, guitarist, Jamie Hanrahan and bassist, Emmett Christie came together with several other friends to form the loftily named, Fred The Purple Haired Ninja, which was essentially an exercise in learning their instruments.

It was not until the pair moved to Cork City to begin university three years later, that the band truly began to form into something cohesive, largely because of the addition of fellow students and Cork natives, singer/guitarist, Joseph O'Leary, keyboard player, Eibhilin O'Gorman and drummer, Justin O'Mahoney.

Invigorated by the new lineup, the band took their musical influences from names like Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers and the Beach Boys, as well as contemporary artists like The Flaming Lips.

With this new direction, they also decided to play under the more manageable name Fred, and quickly developed a reputation as one of the finest live acts on the local scene.

By 2000, they had released their eponymous debut EP, which served as a useful, if somewhat disjointed opening shot, which was followed two years later by a slightly more focused album titled, Can't Stop I'm Being Timed.

By now the band had begun to exhibit some of the traits that would eventually set them apart from much of the Irish music scene, as they produced songs that were often quirky in nature, typified by rich four-part harmonies, odd time signatures and a propensity to wander in a manner not unlike such US acts such as Phish.

It was also around this time that the band came to national prominence, on the underground at least, with a series of appearances on national television and radio, where their affable personalities and sense of humor became a trademark of the band's identity.

Irish magazine, Hot Press, put it best, stating: "If Fred was an individual, he'd be the life and soul of the party, the kind of guy who'd put fun in a funeral."

Nowhere was this exuberance more evident than their live shows, which gained a reputation as an exercise in uplifting merriment, where anything could - and often did - happen.

From quirky displays, such as holding faux fashion shows, to the employment of a range of varied and often bizarre props, Fred built a comprehensive following throughout the country on the strength of their live act and like some Irish version of the Grateful Dead, soon had fans that followed them on the road to the four corners of the nation.

In 2003, they underwent another change in personnel, when Christie decided to move to New Zealand, to be replaced by Limerick bassist, Jamin O'Donovan, and after a short assimilation, the band was soon back out on the road and keeping themselves in the spotlight with a pair of singles in the form of Summer's Coming and Four Chords And The Truth.

In 2005 they returned with another splendidly named and far more mature album, Making Music So That You Don't Have To, which was launched to a sell-out crowd in Cork's famed Opera House.

By the following year, the band was beginning to make an impression overseas, with NME memorably describing their live show in gushing terms, stating: "There's no resisting this stuff unless you're a tone-deaf, stone-hearted, know nothing... Judging on tonight's showing, here are the most underrated band on these shores, and the real hope for 2007. Blissed out, loved-up and goddamn down and out funky, Fred we love you."

Their star continued to rise last year, as they were the only Irish act chosen to partake in Boston's Verge Music Conference, which served to connect them with a multitude of North American contacts that would eventually prove invaluable to their cause.

Despite these successes however, there have always been those pundits who maintained that Fred's live show remained their best feature, while others openly posited that the theatrics served as compensation for the deficiency of truly standout tracks.

While everything else stood apart from the crowd (a slick, defined image, an utterly original, wacky website and personality to burn) the knock was always that they had never delivered an album that truly stood apart.

That all changed this past May, with the release of the compelling, Go God Go, which is in the running for Irish album of the year and represents a major step up for a band that many of us have been rooting for these past years.

From O'Leary's far-superior vocal turns, to tightly structured quality pop songs with melodies that stay in your head long after one listen, Fred have finally and incontrovertibly delivered on the flashes of potential that they have shown down the years with an album that curries favorable comparisons to acts like Arcade Fire, Flaming Lips and Kings Of Leon.

Although the band produced it themselves, they decided to draft in UK producer, Mark Wallis, for mixing duties, in a decision that has undoubtedly reaped rewards given the quality of the final product, hardly surprising considering Wallis' résumé includes such names as Talking Heads, Travis, U2 and Razorlight.

The album is packed with singles and its strength has not gone unnoticed in overseas markets, as evidenced by the band's acclaimed turn at last summer's CMJ Festival in New York, which had the New York Post gushing: "That band Fred came over to New York from Ireland last week at showed the other hundreds of bands how to really write and perform cranking songs... our festival favorites by far".

They have also cracked open the Canadian market, having been picked up by Sparks Music who intend to release the album there in February of next year, while their current single, Skyscrapers was just named Canadian iTunes Single of the Week.

Asked recently to describe the upshot of their decade-long odyssey, O'Leary claimed: "Everywhere you go and everyone you meet has some effect on you. Traveling broadens the perspective and spurs you on to reach higher plateaus."

Given the strength of their current album, that perspective is doubtlessly going to be broadened even more as the next year will almost certainly involve a lot of travel for Fred, but now it's their time to influence those around them and it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of talented people.