TALK TIME:Ex-Immediate man Connor J. O'Brien returns with a new band, Villagers, and a new EP.
Your first band, The Immediate, did something that few bands ever do: you walked away from success.(Silence) I suppose, but it depends on how you define success.
You were in an enviable position, let's say. Many other bands would have been happy to swap places with you.Sure, but that's still a very subjective judgment. Given that we broke up, we obviously didn't feel we were in an enviable position. Besides, things are always more complicated than they appear. It didn't feel right anymore. It started to feel forced.
When the band split, did you ever question whether you'd continue with music?No, no, I definitely didn't. When you're a musician, that's it. That's what you are.
You woke up the next morning and wrote a song. Did you feel liberated?Well, even in the band, I'd sometimes write a song on my own and bring it to the band when it was nearly finished. But immediately after the split, the things I wrote didn't sound the way they do now. I had to work very hard to find something to sing about that made me happy. The song I wrote the day after the band broke up, for example, sounds very different now . . .
What's that song called?Well, you're going to read all sorts of things into the lyrics now, but it's called Transitional Confessional.
Is Villagers a band or a solo vehicle?The writing and recording is all solo. But if you come and see us live, it's a real band show. The songs are arranged in such a way that, in a live setting, each player gets to make their own mark. The guys I've got all have their own projects going. Tonight I've got Richie Egan [aka Jape] playing bass, for example. I've only done seven gigs so far, and it's been with a different line-up each time.
You could have just called yourself Conor O'Brien then. Was there an element there of wanting to avoid the "singer-songwriter" tag?No, I wanted to give it a name because . . . I dunno, when you hear the name Villagers, you have no idea what the music sounds like. I can play whatever way I like. Whereas if they just hear a person's name, that does have certain connotations. I hadn't thought of it like that, but yeah, that's probably true.
Away from music, what do you do in your spare time?To be honest, I've been working on this [music] almost non-stop for the last few months. I also did the artwork for the sleeve and I made a video for The Meaning of the Ritual– that took weeks on its own. I haven't done much else, so no cinema or hill walks or anything.
What's the best book you've read this year?The best book I've read in the last few months is Narcissus and Goldmundby Hermann Hesse. I would recommend it to anyone; it's one of the best books I've ever read.
If you could have written any song in the world, what song would it be? Love Comes To Meby Bonnie "Prince" Billy.
Villagers is the second crack of the whip for you. What did you learn the first time around that you plan to do differently this time?I took things quite seriously the first time around. Back then, I'd have been really nervous doing an interview like this. I'm more relaxed this time, I think.
Hollow Kindis out now on Any Other City Records
