Grand Pocket Orchestra

Some bands are absolute gifts to bloggers and music writers abound. Rather than forcing terribly unoriginal writers to devise headlines like “A GRAND Auld Time” to sit pretty on top of their features they provide us with hyperbolic ammo in interviews such as “We’re Like Juninho Playing For Middlesborough Football Club” and are confident and assured enough in their own opinions that we don’t have to invent some for them. Even more of a boon is when they admit Pavement influences so we don’t have to force those on them either. Thank God for Grand Pocket Orchestra.

Singer and guitarist Paddy’s proclamation comparing his band to Brazilian midfielder Juninho isn’t quite as strange as it seems. Middlesborough represent the Irish music scene: steady, mediocre, filled to the brim with bog-standard players that will never attract attention overseas. Grand Pocket Orchestra, with a select few others (Bryan Robson and Fabrizio Ravanelli, at least) are the few exotic delights the banal roster offers to excite fans tired of seeing the same old dogged generic performances week in, week out. They feel most bands in Ireland are constantly five years behind, and take themselves far too seriously- an allegation GPO can never have held against them.

There is something wholly unique and un-Irish about the Dublin four-piece. They attribute this to their “camp energy”, manifested in their ADHD performances. Paddy explains that it’s difficult enough for him to sit still without fidgeting, nevermind control himself onstage. Keyboardist and xylophonist Bronwyn’s trademark nurse’s uniform and table of toys is another contributor, and drummer Peter’s seemingly neverending grins seal the deal. Their self-description says it all: “We are the lovechild of Pavement and Liza Minelli”, a mixture of an Oooh-Look-At-Us attitude and genuine introverted artistry, all pulled off with the aplomb of a band who’ve been playing gigs and reeling off interviews for as long as Liza’s been troubling the divorce courts.

Paddy, Bronwyn and Peter (Luckily guitarist/bassist Chester wasn’t around- the scarf isn’t nearly long enough)

Yet their lifespan has been a short, though eventful one. Formed in June of last year (when they kidnapped Peter and exiled themselves to Cork) they emerged with a definite identity, and a handful of songs. While a major release has still not seen the light of day, the band have managed to play to two capacity audiences thanks to support slots with Fight Like Apes and Les Savy Fav. From the latter the band took the lesson that it’s acceptable to be a bit mental onstage, as they’ll never be quite as off the rails as Tim Harrington. They recorded several songs that made their way on to a limited release and, more importantly, their Myspace, which has seen a massive amount of traffic for a fledgling band already. A little done, and a lot more to do then.

2008 looks likely to be even more hectic than their stage set-up. A reel of gigs has already been organized (including a return to Whelans, and their first overseas trip to England and Germany). They endeavour to have put out a second video and full scale EP too. If they hit success they plan not to replace the toys with acutal tangible instruments, but to buy bigger and shinier playthings. It appears though that Grand Pocket Orchestra’s ambitions are less temporal than this though. There’s is a quest to stand out from the Luke Youngs of the world and inject energy, colour and the “f” word (mentioning the word “fun” around Director, I imagine, is like cursing the baby Jesus in a nunnery) back in to the greying body of the Irish music scene.

www.myspace.com/grandpocketorchestra

“Odd Socks” - Grand Pocket Orchestra Official Music Video from Michael Healey on Vimeo.