WHEN The Pale split up over a year ago, the death of one of the most interesting and eclectic of Irish bands of the past five years was soberly mourned. Yet for vocalist/songwriter Matthew Devereaux, The Pale's quicksilver rise and relatively depressing fall amounted to little more than a (hard earned) learning experience. The Pale loved the mandolin, they were big in Israel, and they were probably the only Irish rock band whose idea of a good promotional trick was to give away free figure hugging boxer shorts.
In conversation Devereaux is a quick witted and engaging talker, eager to purge himself of the problems he encountered during The Pale's demise (management, he says, inevitably enough) yet keen as mustard to enter into the next creative phase namely Produkt.
"A portion of my time is spent listening to people saying they told me so," he says ruefully. "And they did. I was warned but it wasn't fully realised by me at the time."
The idea of Produkt arose less than two days after The Pale finished. The result is a group that Devereaux and Co are happy with, playing with people who "were equally as scalded from The Pale experience as I was". A six piece group, Produkt is "as big as we want it, limited as it is by technology. We had to leave a lot of things behind that were ghosting us, one of which was the drum machine. I noticed towards the end of The Pale that things written about us were concentrating on the distracting elements of the band more so than the songs."
Produkt will not be playing any Pale material, a very wise move considering Devereaux's earnest attempts to move on. So what's changed? Apart from the irritating stylistic transposition of the letter "c" to "k" in the band's name and (where appropriate) songs - Krying Boy, Big Unkle Bill, Madame Elektrik - there are two things Produkt just can't get rid of.
Matthew: "The first is my voice - it just won't go away! The second is [fellow band member] Shane Wearen's musical stylings. The mandolin is gone, mind, but a viola has taken its place, although it's used mainly as a rhythmic instrument."
Produkt will be gigging in Dublin over the next few weeks. Make a date as soon as you can.
IRISH singles releases are 10 a penny these days. Some aren't worth the time of day, whereas others merit your attention. Two releases of varying quality have landed on my desk, so here goes.
The Picture House: "Heavenly Day" (Wacca Wacca). This is a lightweight and radio friendly pop song, but The Picture House (fresh from their silly fracas with The Saw Doctors) certainly know to place one chord beside another. The result is a pop song with a small "p", but it's bright'n'breezy, nonetheless. The band have a sense of humour, too - they supported Bon Jovi at the RDS some time ago! The Picture House release their debut album, Shine Box, on September 16th.
Veneer: "Popular One" (Tilted Records). From Limerick, via spells of getting it together in Claregalway (don't ask) and America, Veneer sound as if they wouldn't know a decent tune if it came up and hit them on the collective head. Popular One is droll rock at its weakest, performed with minimal feeling and distinct lack of style. It's released next week. You have been warned.
DON'T miss dept: New band ahoy, and a damned fine one at that. Ex leader of the defunct Puppy Love Bomb, Marc Carroll, is now fronting The Hormones. Signed to Geoff Travis Rough Trade label, The Hormones release their debut single on September 16th. The band are also one of the more credible hotly tipped Irish bands (along with Shiver) playing at the Guinness Live Unsigned series of gigs during the forthcoming In The City event (see lead story on this page). The Hormones also play Slatterys, Capel Street, Dublin, on Saturday, September 7th. Don't say you weren't told.
