Oisín Kealy meets Broken Family Band’s Steve Adams
A lot is made about the fact that you all have jobs outside of the band, do you think that adds to the longevity of the band, that it’s kept as recreational?
It’s a difficult question to answer really. We’ve been doing the group for a long time because we’ve wanted to, but for me the band is one thing I do and I have lots of other things that I do.
Well you have got pretty successful for just having this as a part time job…
Yeah, people focus on that a lot with us but I know loads of people in the same situation as us and it never gets mentioned– probably our fault.
John Peel was an early supporter and you did a few sessions for him, how was your experience with him?
We never met him, he phoned me up at home and I felt really privileged for that to happen. We did a session for him that (laughing) I don’t think he liked very much. The second one was really good though, but it was just nice to be involved. Me and Jay were in a band before and did a session for him, and he was always just a lovely man to deal with.
The sound has evolved a lot since the Americana influence heard then, was that a conscious or unconscious move?
Conscious and unconscious. We say “evolved” but you start off doing one thing and it turns into something else. It’s like you set out to spend the day doing the shopping but you end up going to a museum. We get bored easily, we change our minds and start looking in different directions. It was never a set agenda– I started writing other stuff, Mickey started hitting the drums harder, and it came naturally.
It’s funny you mention hitting the drums harder, I’ve found the band is a lot louder live than on record. Which of the two would you most consider to be your sound?
You know what? Years of being in a band and I’ve never thought about that. I suppose the Cds are fairly important for when I’m seventy years old and trying to convince my grandchildren that I was in a band. I’d prefer to listen to listen to our records than go see us live. (laughing)
That’s probably more practicable as well. Tell me about the new album, was the process any different to your previous releases?
We’ve been making records in the same way for a long time, we decided to give it to someone else who we could trust to mix it. In that sense it was a different process, but in fact he just made it sound like what we’ve always wanted to sound like
I saw the ‘Salivating’ video, I was wondering how did you dispose of the 20 or so sex dolls?
I don’t know what they’ve done with them, I’d like to think they were given to a good home. There’s a good chance our bass player has a few.
I read your Guardian article about band names, is there anyone of late that you could pass judgement on? There is a Glasgow band at the minute called Dananananaykroyd….
Oh yeah, that is a fantastic band name, and they are a shit hot band as well, I love them. I wouldn’t profess to be any kind of an expert but I trust my opinion over most peoples. My least favourite at the moment is that indie supergroup called Mongrel, It sounds like something that Lemmy would have come up with in the eighties. And maybe twisted Wheel, because that’s just rubbish.
