Up-and-coming Tallaght rock tro, Bipolar Empire, talk success and organic breakfast in LA
Tell us how Bipolar Emire got together. Calum (drums):We're all from the same place in Tallaght. Shane was originally in a band called The Unknowns. Joe and I started out in a band called Newborn. When those bands split up, Shane and Joe started busking together. It was in the campsite at Oxegen in 2007 that I bumped into Joe again. We started practising together and things snowballed from there.
Go ahead and order, there Joe:Can I get an organic omega three berry boost oatmeal with organic soymilk in flaxseed oil?
What was busking like, did you enjoy it? Shane:It was brilliant. I'd been doing it for about five years, mainly on Grafton Street and in Temple Bar. We'd make €80 to €100 on a good day. It was all covers at first, but later I began writing my own songs. It's brilliant for learning your trade. You'd play for four hours some days, no bother.
At what point did the band seriously begin to take off? Joe:Probably when Captain America's opened a new outlet in Tallaght. We started playing there on Monday and Friday nights. That was when we started to built up a regular following. Shane:A lot of people play music as a hobby, but I suppose we decided that we should go for it full time. There was just a belief there that we could be the exception, that we could actually make it.
How did your friends react when you told them you were coming to Los Angeles to record with REM producer Pat McCarthy? Shane:They were shocked, I suppose. Just stunned. Joe: It was hard to tell them. We'd prefer to have kept it as low key as we could. They were like, "Wha'?"
Is it exciting being away from home at such a young age? Joe:Well, we all live with our parents. So this is my first time away on my own. Well, I was in Spain once, but this is the first proper amount of time I've spent away.
Have you been misbehaving at all? No television sets thrown out windows or anything like that? Joe:Ah no – me Ma will be reading this, sure! (laughs). Shane: We played the Whiskey a Go-Go. That was pretty good, although the American audiences are much more reserved than Irish ones.
What was the first thing you did when you got out here? Shane:We drove around Beverly Hills and Hollywood the first day. Joe: We went to a record store where Brian Wilson was playing. He's very frail, but it was still an amazing experience. He's one of my favourite singers ever. The first time we were on Venice Beach I remember we were singing California Girls! Shane: We also hired bikes. Motorcycles? No, they were more like pushbikes really. Why, have I just blown our cool or what?
You've been here several weeks. What do you miss about home?
Joe:The rain, I suppose, and our families.
In that order? Joe:(laughs) That's right, yeah! Shane: We can't think about that stuff now though. Our focus has to be on getting the album done the best we can. We have to come up with something worthy of the work we've put in over the last year and a half.
You're playing the South-by- Southwest Festival this month, then you're heading back home. No more organic soymilk for breakfast then? Shane:(laughs) Probably not. But sure it's good to broaden your horizons, isn't it!
Hear Bipolar Empire at www.myspace.com/bipolarempire
