Talking To Joe

16th May 2011

Corkband FRED have just released their fourth album and continue to elbow their way to the front of the Irish pack as they line up another summer full of big time festivals and sell out gigs around the country.

On the week of their giant Opera House gig (click here for more info) front man Joe reveals the truth about Saipan 2002, writing the Cork national anthem and why FRED love doing underage gigs….

In terms of the overall sound and feel what’s the biggest difference between this album and the previous three?

This is the most honest album we've done and the most collaborative so the overall sound ended up being much more layered than the previous three. Still managed to record it onto a 24 track tape machine though.I think you have to listen to it a few times to get hooked which i like.

FRED frontman Joe

Your own favourite track on the new album and why.

My fave track on the album keeps changing but today  it's "We are the city now"...simply cos it's simple, upbeat and straight to the pop point. Also it closes off  the album.
 

What was Fred’s most rockin’ roll “moment”

I wish I could remember half the stuff that has happened but some maybe not rock n roll but definitely funny stuff has happened to FRED along the road.

Loved watching a few foolish Canadian hippies getting mildly electrocuted during a festival.(don't worry no Canadians have ever been killed on FRED's time). They were taken away for massages after the medics had checked them over. The funny thing was one guy had actually been calling on the Gods to try and strike him down. Ask and you shall receive.......

 Also remember at Bundoran sea session in 2010 being backstage with the affable Huey fun lovin Morgan and a couple of the Fun Lovin Criminal gang. We had an engineer with us who was sporting a fine beard. By the end of the evening Huey had a free trip sorted for himself and myself on a rendition flight to Guantanmo bay.

All we had to do was get on at Shannon with Huey, wear a bag over our heads on the plane for a few hours and once we landed in Cuba Huey was gonna explain everything and we'd head on to a friends place in Miami and have a good time. It remains a dream to this day thank God. But what made it even more stupid funny was the fact that due to a level of, let's say over indulgence, every time Huey would come back from the loo he would forget the previous conversation and begin recruiting us as his unwilling accomplices all over again. Wow. But good times. Nice guy.

Cork will eventually be a separate country to the rest of Ireland and free from the shackles of our oppressors in Dublin. Would Fred be free to write the new national anthem and if so what are your suggestions for same?

Well if we were feeling lazy obviously we'd just throw a few beats behind the Banks and hey presto. But yeah we need a few new tunes anyways and anything would be better than that Ireland's call key changing crap. Ok I'm on it. This separate country thing better happen now right.

You can download 'Leaving My Empire' from iTunes

Underage gigs seem to be important to Fred and smallies feature heavily in the video for ‘Eleven’ too. Kids rarely get to go to gigs until they are pub-going age. Is this part of you motivation? Discuss.

 Being in a band basically is a legitimate way to remain quite childish and adolescent. This is probably the main reason why we do underage gigs. The non drink influenced energy from an all age gig is amazing. Kids straight out kick grown ups asses when it comes to energy. They just wanna rock. I think  there's more and more under age gigs happening now in Cork which is great. And more and more groups of under-agers actually putting on the gigs. Why not I say. They're doing a great job and if we can help out by playing a few tunes well it's an honour.

If you could take your pick of other Cork bands which current and/or past one would you love to be in?

I had the honour of doing this last year in the cricket grounds when Murphys put on a great event. I ended up singing Indian ocean with the Franks and also doing a song with Slow Motion Heroes.

The Slow Moes are actually supporting us at the Opera house show so who knows there's so many of them they wouldn't probably even notice if i joined in. I think they're really rockin at the moment.

 One band I'd have loved to be in for a while was Rory Gallaghers band. He quite simply was something else as a musician  and that would have been some honour.

It’s 2045. Sage old Grandfather Fred, veteran of the Cork music scene, gets a call from his grandson Fredín Jnr. who has been plugging away with his own band for a few months seeks some elderly wisdom from an old hand…

 “Grandpa Fred, I’ve played a few gigs around town, we’ve got a decent setup, a good  bunch of musicians and I think we’re pretty good. How do we make the jump from relative unknowns relying on a handful of friends to keep bar managers happy, to filling the Opera House and being followed into public toilets by flahs”.

I'm not too sure how to achieve the flahs following you into public toilets thing mainly cos there's not one public toilet in Cork that would be up to scratch. Bar maybe that newish one on Grand Parade but then again the word is that it's door opens automatically after 2 minutes. But in relation to a young band getting from relative unknown level to filling the opera house i think the trick is be very nice to as many folk as you meet. Also be talented, cool and good looking. That should do it.

Best piece of advice you’ve ever got from another musician.

Best piece of advice I ever got from a musician was this grizzled cool guy called Baxter who toured with us once... "always bring your wallet  on stage with you"!!!

Spreading the notion of non-violent entertainment to Limerick: Fred played Thomond park in April 2009

Was Roy Keane sent home from Saipan or did he leave of his own accord? Note that your answer to this question may influence whether we publish this interview or not.

The truth about Roy Keane is that the training facilities in Saipan were so bad that when he tripped into a hole in the training pitch he actually entered a parallel universe and in that world went on to win the World Cup for Ireland as a one man Ireland without those headless chickens that were hanging out with him in the other world.

But he missed Triggs too much in the parallel universe and was never quite happy there so he went back in time to just before he fell in the hole(sorry tripped on the divot of grass!). He then proceeded to tell Niall business man Quinn and some Mick fella to f-off so he could get home to hang out with his beloved Triggs.

So the real question I believe is was Roy Keane ever actually really in Saipan and if yes was he pushed or did he throw himself into the vortex? 

FRED also play the Little Big Stage at the Cork xSW festival in Skibberreen on Sunday June 5th 2011. Click here for more info