HI CORMAC, congratulations on 10 years of Rise. You've been celebrating with some full album shows which have been well received, so you must be pleased that The Answer's early material still stands up?
I think it does. We've been playing Rise in its entirety during the last couple of weeks and they're still good songs to play – there's no cringeworthy moments, really, where you're kind of going 'What were we thinking?!'
I've always felt that an album running order is completely different to the live dynamic – that it doesn't quite work if you just take an album and play it in its entirety – but Rise is actually a really good set.
The songs really do run together well and there's a nice pace to it, it kind of ebbs and flows where it needs to. It still feels fresh and exciting to play.
There's still an edge to it and the new remastering on the 10th anniversary edition really helps to freshen everything up. We also recorded some new parts for a special new mix of the single Under The Sky for the bonus disc.
What do you remember about the making of Rise, which you recorded after signing with AC/DC's label Albert Productions?
We were really lucky to get the very tail end of the era when record labels would throw money at bands and not really care how long they were in the studio as long as the album was made well.
It's just not like that any more. These days, you have your three week time slot and you have to get it done – or else it doesn't happen.
With Rise, we had a good three weeks in a residential studio in Wales to begin with, then we went on tour and came back to do another month-and-a-half at Olympic Studios in London.
We had a string section and an amazing gospel choir coming in to record a bunch of stuff. Whatever we wanted to happen, the record label allowed it to happen, so we were able to really live out our dream of making our debut record and treating the songs the way we had always imagined them.
You worked with production team Andy Bradfield and Avril MacKintosh on Rise, who have also recorded your new Celtic rock-influenced record, Solas, at your own studio in Co Down. What made you decide to reunite with them?
Andy has spent the last 10 years mixing major movie scores for people like Baz Luhrmann. Some of our new tunes are a bit different, almost kind of cinematic in mood – so whenever we were demoing them, I kind of jokingly mentioned that Andy and Avril would be perfect for this music and the rest of the guys just lit up.
I texted Avril to say that we were talking about them recording our new album, not even expecting a reply – but she immediately came back to me to say 'Let's do it'. So then we just had to work out whether we could afford them or not!
A couple of weeks later we were in the studio with them doing pre-production and it was like nothing had changed. The chemistry was still exactly the same and it just felt right.
We've come full circle in some ways, but it's also completely different.
You debuted Thief of Light and the title track Solas at the end of the recent Rise gigs in Belfast and elsewhere. Can you tell us a bit more about this record and how it's different from what you've done previously?
In days gone by, we would have let how we sound live be our guide for working in the studio, but this time around we wrote and produced the music with a freedom that we really haven't experienced possibly since we recorded Rise.
Whatever it took to do the new songs justice, we did it. Y'know, there's a Samba band on one track for goodness sake, Paul (Mahon, guitar) plays bouzouki and mandolin and we've a couple of guest musicians to fill out the tracks as well. There's a lot going on in these songs.
Even though they're a lot more produced on the record, Thief of Light and Solas were two of the songs that did lend themselves to just getting up on stage and playing them – because they're good songs that still work in 'bare bones' form.
When I sang Thief of Light at The Limelight last week I did the whole song with my eyes closed in case I was getting dirty looks – but the response to both songs was amazing, which is kind of exactly what we wanted to go for.
Although it's been really nice to pay homage to the album that launched our career, it wouldn't sit as comfortably with us if we didn't have a new record ready to go – and not just any record, it's something different and fresh and interesting enough for us as a band to keep the fires burning for another 10 years.
So when can we expect to hear the new record then?
I think it's going to be released in October, but first we've a good busy summer of festivals and headline gigs and we're also doing a few shows with Whitesnake as well.
Again, we'll be playing a load of Rise songs again before leaving the audience with some brand new material that will hopefully get them talking and looking to the future.
Rise 10th anniversary edition is released today, available via TheAnswer.ie
