Chattering Classes #6 - Adebisi Shank
are a bit 'math rock', a tad 'art noise', a little 'electro-punk' but mostly just 'epic live'. If you've ever witnessed the Wexford lads in the flesh, chances are the ferocious, twisted, unhinged experience has been left etched into your gray matter for good. 
Adebisi don't hang around and rip hell for leather into their tracks. So much so that their 2008 album, , clocked in at a mere 21 minutes. They've released a split single with , they're label mates with and apparently have a love of the Belfast music scene. So with that in mind, it was only right that ATL caught up with them before their return visit to Belfast this Sunday.
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2:34 - rigsy says: michael?
2:34 - Michael says: hey man!
2:34 - rigsy says: or is it mick?
2:34 - Michael says: Mick usually but whatever :)
2:34 - rigsy says: you know the person who suggested we do this for the blog, she said to me 'you should speak to mick, i think he's the sensible one'
2:34 - Michael says: hahah, that may be true
2:35 - rigsy says: two questions then....are you sensible?
2:35 - Michael says: Vinny is crazy and Lar doesn't talk
2:35 - rigsy says: aha! that answers the second question about the rest of the band
2:35 - Michael says: I guess I'm the most sensible in the band :)
2:35 - rigsy says: so basically, there's a sensible one, a quiet one and a crazy one...strange dynamic, no?
2:36 - Michael says: It makes for interesting touring anyway...
2:36 - rigsy says: well there you go. straight away, the big thing people say about your band
is your reputation for performing live. I know every band takes that very serious, but in your case is performance almost more important than...you know, what you do in the studio?
2:37 - Michael says: I guess it is, yeh. We enjoy touring and playing live, not to say we don't enjoy recording but its just different. we need to really change that though. I think we just like doing all the fun things and don't push the things we see as not as fun
2:39 - rigsy says: so when you're recording a song, are you constantly thinking about how it will work live? you know, cause some bands get caught up in production and maybe do things to a song in the studio they can't recreate live
2:40 - Michael says: Not really to be honest, I think we're one of those bands maybe :) Its funny because we see them both as very separate. some of the things we do are kind of improv bits. They're never going to sound the same even if we tried. thats just the way they were written. the bass and drums though are going to be almost exact as recording to keep a driving force behind some of the madder bits.
2:44 - rigsy says: before we continue then, because people can hear what you sound like on record by checking out the track on this blog (thanks btw)
but, if you could try and describe the AS live experience! in a nutshell, like....what do people see and experience?
2:45 - Michael says: we try to give it everything we have..all our energy. People have paid in so we want to give them a show.
We got pretty bored of seeing some of our favourite bands just put nothing into their live show so we decided we'd put in as much energy as possible. its always positive energy though. we're just having fun
2:46 - rigsy says: for people who haven't see you then, what form does this energy take? You've already mentioned the improv side of things...
2:47 - Michael says: We'll I guess we'll move around a good bit, dance, walk into the crowd, give out sweets, give out drinks. just interact with the crowd
2:47 - rigsy says: ah the free drink. i've done that when DJing. but only cause i need everything i can to make people maybe like me ;-)
2:48 - Michael says: its a good one :)
2:48- rigsy says: ha ha
2:48 - Michael says: generally anything goes except shirtless moshing or beating each other up
2:49 - rigsy says: last question then, as our 15 minutes is up, would you prefer to talk about your label, , about ASIWYFA who you've played with loads or about belfast in general? pick one and tell me why it's great ;-)
2:49 - Michael says: lets go with belfast :)
2:49 - rigsy says: right!
2:50 - Michael says: ok so belfast has become one of our favourite places to be, I really do feel at home in Belfast. It's become such a hub of great music and positivity in the music scene.
2:50 - rigsy says: you don't have to tell me ;-)
2:50 - Michael says: I think its rare and it seems (for us) to be a new thing, its surpassed everywhere else as far as great venues, great music and great vibe.
so keep it up belfast, we love you! :)
2:51- rigsy says: you know just what to say ;-) thanks for this michael, see you on sunday!
2:51 - Michael says: see you then! thanks a lot.
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FREE ADEBISI SHANK TRACK:
To download the free track above, right click on the link and choose 'Save Target As'
(if you're using a Mac it's Ctrl+click)
play Auntie Annies in Belfast this Sunday the 24th of January. Support comes from Axis Of and (DJ Set).
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