MacD on Music: Not So Long Ago, In a Galaxy Very, Very Close…

In songwriting, inspiration can come from anywhere. A lot of people find their inspiration here on earth. Others go slightly outside our atmosphere, exploring the vastness of space for ideas.

David Bowie sang about ‘Life on Mars’ (and of Starmen, Space Boys and Oddities), Train wrote about ‘Drops of Jupiter’ and Gustav Holst took a broader approach, composing music about all the planets.

This week, I’m talking to a band that have gone even further still, Rowdy, who’s debut single ‘Tatooine’ takes it’s name from a planet in a galaxy far, far away.

Rowdy are Reece Thompson (vocals/rhythm guitar), Joshua Peoples (drums), Malachy O’Neill (bass) and Shaun Carlin (lead guitar).

The song has been out around a month now and was recorded at Blast Furnace studios, mixed by Gerry Craig and mastered by Peter Montgomery.

I caught up with Reece and Joshua recently to talk a bit about the band and the single.

Joshua: “I was out and I remember chatting to Reece and he was talking about getting something going.”

Reece: “We’d played together a few times, in jams and stuff, but for us it was more like little drunken engagements being all ‘we’re gonna do this, now we’re gonna do this…’ and eventually we decided ‘let’s do something’. We went through so many band members and now we’ve established our four.”

Joshua: “I remember how Shaun came into the band. We agreed with someone that it was best for them to leave, then that same day Shaun came into town. He’s normally in Belfast.”

Reece: “Just by chance he was there. We texted him and he said ‘I’m in Derry, with a guitar’.

Joshua: “And Malachy’s been there since the start.”

Reece: “No matter what we do we bring him.”

Talking about how the group’s doing so far, Joshua: “Getting everyone together is always the most difficult thing, but when we’re in motion it feels good.”

Reece: “Our last gig, I think we sold out [their single launch in Bennigan’s a few weeks ago] and it’s at, like, 4,000 streams of the single, so I think that’s pretty good progress so far.”

Describing their sound, Reece said: “It started jazzy…”

Joshua: “I think you could generalise it as indie rock, but we definitely have different sounds coming through different songs. I still think we’re finding our sound to an extent.”

Reece: “Indie post-rock, maybe.”

READ MORE: MacD on Music

Talking about ‘Tatooine’, Reece tells me: “Tatooine is a Star Wars planet, and during COVID it was sort of a collaboration song. It took about five minutes to write, but then over the space of two or three years it developed with different takes on it, then I brought it to the band and we deconstructed it and made it into what it is now.”

Joshua: “We’re happy with the track. I see the song as an escape song. I feel like writing it during COVID, you’re stuck in the house…”

Reece: “Being about space, and different planets, like your own fantasy.”

Joshua: “That was the writing process, then when we actually went into Blast Furnace in January, we didn’t think that was going to be the song we put out. We were planning on releasing this other song that we’d recorded, and that one [‘Tatooine’] ended up being the best of the day.”

I asked about feedback they’ve got so far. Joshua: “Around the town, everyone that I’ve spoken to has liked it.”

Reece: “We’re doing pretty well in terms of online engagement, especially in America, it’s doing pretty well. At that last gig we played, the song was out a week and we had the whole crowd singing along with it. I think that’s a good example of good engagement.”

Joshua: “People of all ages seem to like it too. We both work in bars and I’ve been showing people that I get friendly with, and people like it. You’d think it’s something that only our generation gets, but a lot of people are seeming to like it, so that gives us some positive re-enforcement.”

And that’s it from Rowdy. Their debut single ‘Tatooine’ is out now on all good streaming platforms.

Now, onto other business. This Thursday will see Sandino’s play host to what is sure to be one of the gigs of the year with Rock Against Racism. The gig features the incredible line-up of Bam Bam and the Calling, Hypnic Jerk, Gerard C, former Mary Walloper Sean McKenna, tessio. and TRAMP. There is a £10 donation at the door (£5 for the unwaged) and it will be hosted by Abby Oliveira.

Now, time for the socials. United Against Racism can be found on Instagram at @unitedagainstracismderry and Rowdy @r0wdy_band.