An Interview with Pebbledash
Cork's Music Scene Series: Final Installment
This week, I chatted to Pebbledash about gigging, Irish music, and carving their own niche.
In January of this year, on the banks of the River Lee, Fionnbharr Hickey, Cormac Donovon O’Neill, Eoin Schuch, Micheál O’Dwyer, Asha Egan McCutcheon and Jack Cashman formed Pebbledash.
I caught up with Fionnbharr, Cormac and Schuch on a wintery November evening, in the week between an intimate gig in Prim’s Bookshop in Kinsale, and an upcoming show in the heart of Cork City, headlining the Kino.
Based in Cork, this six-piece don’t want to be boxed into one genre, heavily compared to other Irish music acts, or confined to an Irish sean-nós tradition. What do they want? Silence.
“At a gig, we gauge how well we’re being received by the silence,” Fionbharr explains. “If people aren’t really chatting, then it’s like ‘okay, we’re doing a good job.’
“People are paying attention.”
Full of melting vocals, pulsating drums, potent basslines and an indescribable synth edge, this is a band you can’t help but pay attention to. Pebbledash’s music has a porous quality, pulling from a range of sound, creating a wash of noise that leaves an addictive aftertaste.
With no fear of their sound ever becoming static or stationary, the sextet have scattered influences, but it’s the process of mashing them together that creates a distinctly Pebbledash sound.
“I would’ve thought there’d be more butting of heads, because of the variety of stuff we listen to,” Fionbharr laughs. “But I think everyone’s in it to make the best song possible.”
Songwriting as a six-piece is intensely collaborative, with each member pulling from their own instincts in order to create a cohesive sound.
“It’s kind of trial and error,” Fionnbharr explains.
“I just keep making up parts until Fionbharr goes ‘yeah do that one’,” Shuch laughs.
Curating a sound identity is a difficult process for most artists, especially for groups with such varied members. However, Pebbledash aren’t concerned with being too specific or ascribing themselves to a singular genre.
“I think it’s probably better to not find an answer,” Fionbharr says. “I’ve found from the EP that we’re releasing, the newer songs that we’ve written are already different to what we have out already.”
Schuch agrees: “It’s better for other people to decide.”
“Because there is still something cohesive about it all. It all sounds like Pebbledash, but it’s hard to say what it is that makes it sound like us.”
Creating a distinct niche in a country saturated with some of the world’s greatest musicians is no easy feat, however, for Pebbledash, there’s a hunger to carve their own path.
Fionnbharr explains, recalling that “when Carraig Aonair came out, someone said ‘thank you Lankum for inspiring younger bands to explore Irish music’, but we weren’t trying to be like Lankum.
“So I think there is that pressure of doing something that’s been done before, but nothing has never been done before.”
Finding comparisons to already established acts is a quick way to conceptualise a new band’s sound, but the members of Pebbledash shy away from any prescription to other bands, such as Lankum or Fontaines DC.
“I think I hear their [Fontaines DC’s] stuff in Pebbledash before we became a six-piece,” Cormac explains, “but I think we’ve moved away from that now.”
“It’s not a cool thing to say,” he laughs, “but I think it’s a funny thing that a lot of bands, especially in Ireland, that when they achieve a measure of success, they’re both overadored and over-hated at the same time.”
“They’re without a doubt very influential,” he continues, “but I think there’s a balance to be struck.”
Schuh agrees, referring to Pebbledash’s distinct style: “I don’t think we have to try too hard to be different, it just comes naturally.”
Though Pebbledash has technically had a few variations over three years, this particular six-piece came together early this year, releasing several singles, including the double single of Carraig Aonair/Killer Lover.
Carraig Aonair is a cover of the traditional Irish song. The band’s interpretation of the grief-stricken tale is enhanced by the ethereal quality of Asha’s vocals, who brings a sean-nós influence into the mix.
“It sometimes can be,” Fionnbharr reflects, on whether it’s a daunting task to find that balance between Asha’s dreamlike voice and the harder rock sound. “It’s still fresh-ish with the six of us.”
“Carraig Aonair was probably one of the ones that hasn’t changed the most from the first time we played it,” Cormac explains.
“It’s noisy and improvisational, especially in the guitars, and I think from the beginning there was that element of it. In a way, it’s a bit different every time we do it, but in the fact that it’s so different every time, it’s the same as the first time we played it.”
Ireland is a country of storytellers and the landscape, language and culture influences many Irish musicians. However, Fionnbharr admits that: “There’s a tendency for us to not lean into that too much either. There’s only so many sean-nós things you can do.”
“I think it’s that fact that there’s so many great bands who are doing that so well,” Cormac agrees, “not exactly the same way that we’re doing it, but I think we’re conscious about the fact that that’s not the only thing we’re interested in.”
“It informs everything else,” Fionnbharr reflects, “but it’s not necessarily a direction that we want to tie ourselves to.”
Though not constrained to a typical Irish trad influence, the band do agree that a sense of place has influenced some of their songwriting; particularly living in Cork, the landmarks of which are represented in the cover art of their music.
“I think place is definitely really important,” Fionnbharr reflects. “Using buildings for cover art just captures the essence of this experience, whatever that is, and that’s maybe something we want to put through the music as well.”
Though painted with the label of Leeside artists, they reflect that Cork hasn’t always been the most approachable place for gigging.
“I think the issue is trying to go from the small venues to the big venues,” Fionnbharr explains.
“There’s no midsize venues,” Schuch agrees.
“When we started in Fred’s [Fred Zeppelins], it was so busy for every gig, anyone’s gig,” Fionnbharr explains. “And then there was nowhere to move onto, the scene couldn’t grow.”
“But I think that desire is there.”
With the emerging music scene in Cork, and a limited number of venues, there’s a strong stream of healthy competition flowing around the city.
“Secretly maybe,” Fionnbharr admits, laughing, when asked if there’s a competitive edge in Cork.
“Everyone wants the music to do well,” Fionnbharr explains. “I think that’s the one thing Cork could really do with, if there was someone to consolidate the bands into a label or something, that would really lift the city up.”
‘Soak’ is the band’s most recent single, a spoken word track emboldened by a clanging guitar, crackling drums and an airy distortion that lends a nostalgic softness to the wistful lyrics.
“It started as a poem about the venues around Cork and my friends,” Fionnbharr reflects. “I think I’ve always liked poetry and stuff, before I ever thought about being a singer. So it kind of felt like a full circle that we made that into a song.”
“I find that when I listen to music, I don’t really ever hear the lyrics, I just pay attention to the music. So it’s almost like a little exercise as well in paying attention to the lyrics, because they are really important to me.”
All of the tracks Pebbledash have released this year already showcase the depth of their sound and style, and with an EP set to release sometime in January, marking a year since this six-piece formed, the skies ahead are bright for this enigmatic band.
With plans to gig across Ireland and the UK in the new year, Fionnbharr explains that "December will be a big thought month”, as they reflect and wind down ahead of their upcoming EP.
As for what’s in store for the imminent future, Schuch has a clear answer: “more gigs, more songs.”
