MacD on Music: It’s Time to Play The Game

Australia: the go-to location for all the Irish ones that don’t go to Liverpool. I would say most of us know at least one or two people who’ve moved to Australia in the past few years. Some settle down and make a good life for themselves, while others move back home after a few months.

This week, I’m talking to Rob Mulhern, formally of Lunch Machine and Tuath, and now of Hhh (pronounced by breathing in and saying ‘Aye’ all at once. Not to be confused with wrestling icon Triple H) about his new single ‘Australia’, which tells the story of “a Donegal man emigrating to Australia too make something of himself post-2008 crash, only to come back, buy property and f*** the place up for a new generation”.

The song, created using samples of Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s ‘Cyrus Theme’ and features a guest appearance from Arn., features on the album ‘Flexx the Mexx’. I caught up with Rob recently to talk about the project: “I had a song taking the piss out of my friends that moved to Australia. I didn’t really pay much attention to what was being written, just what rhymes and what’s funny and it actually became a story about a lot of stuff, people going to Australia and coming back. Some of them came back and, ironically, made the place worse for everyone else by buying property and putting the rent up and f***ing off again. I know three examples of this.”

Next, we spoke a bit about Hhh: “My last project, Tuath, was too serious. We were doing fairly well for a while. Aengus [Friel Lawrence] was in the band but he died so I dissolved the group. I started it and it had too much attention to the language which was a lot of responsibility. I felt like it was interrupting my ability to thing musically or creatively, so I moved over to this idea.

"I named it that because my friend Ciaran McCool actually said you should call your band [breathes in and says ‘aye’ at the same time] and then I thought about it and thought it was perfect. The point of it is to be expressive and not to care how something is created. I was caring too much about guitars, tones, bulls*** that doesn’t matter. You’re supposed to express yourself. I was thinking more about the end result.

"That’s why I ended up working with Arn. Three years ago, I would’ve hated Arn. I would’ve been irrationally angry and then I started to realise there’s a space for everything. That’s kind of the whole point of the project.”

“The first track features an Unknown Mortal Orchestra sample which I got clearance for from Unknown Mortal Orchestra themselves, which was cool. It’s all about collaboration and having fun. I’m collaborating with literally anyone who’s up for it and if I don’t think they’re musically aligned with me I’ll try and work with them otherwise. It’s great craic.

"I’m working with an up-and-coming artist called Roís, this guy called Muckno who plays with Jinx Lennon and DJ Dano from Letterkenny and Brian Coney, Stevie Lennox and Rory D from Junk Drawer on separate tracks. Jude from Lunch Machine is on one of the tracks, and I’m working with Peadar Coll who’s a fiddler who plays guitar for Daniel O’Donnell sometimes.”

“The album I’m going to put out is called ‘Flexx the Mexxx’, which is just a Letterkenny word for cash. My friend said that there was a dip in the mex one day because his dole was cut, and I was like ‘I like this’. I thought I’d just come up with something stupid.

"Coney from Junk Drawer was quite supportive of that particular title also. I’m promoting one song because I want to build a world around it. I’m trying to make a point about jobs, immigration, the futility of all that and, more importantly, why are we expats and why the f*** are they immigrants? It’s white supremacy.”

And on that cheery note, we leave Rob for this week. Hhh’s single ‘Australia’ (featuring Arn.) is out now on all good streaming platforms.

Now, onto other business. Last Friday saw the release of Lord Jane’s brilliant debut EP ‘Tulips’. Fronted by Clodagh May (no stranger to regular readers), the EP, which tackles themes such as mental health and self-realisation, is also available now on all good streaming platforms.

Finally, time for the socials. Lord Jane can be found on Instagram @lordjanemusic and Hhh @hhh_music__.