Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
A: musically the band pulls from very different origins. Jared (singer and guitarist) started in musically theatre at a young age then transitioned into cover work with an acoustic guitar. He is classically trained in the piano. Cloakroom Q was his first band and first step into rock.
Danny (Drums) and Con (Guitar) first started learning how to play in bands. Danny had only had a drum kit a few weeks before joining. They started right in the deep end.
Dan (bass) had a happy medium. Playing in blues cover bands as a teen while being classically trained in trumpet playing in different orchestras and big bands.
Together you can clearly hear the influences in each of our styles of playing.
Q: How are you planning on growing your fan base and sharing your music with the world? What message do you have for anyone who is about to discover “Cloakroom Q”?
A: A big part of our growing fan base comes from goofy promos. We love silly skits and making fake movie trailers though that’s not our only pull.
We want the music to speak for itself. We change genres quite a bit from song to song with the record having slower folk pop songs to an Irish Traditional song. This first single is noise/rock inspired. So there is a song for everybody on the record.
As for anyone about to discover us I’d say “please buy our stuff on Bandcamp, Spotify is horrible”
Q: Who is the most inspiring artist for you right now? And where do you find inspiration for making music?
A: This single “Nail in your Head” was very inspired by Tropical Fuck Storm, a popular noise band from Australia. The way they blend harsh noise, all created using guitar pedals, while being able to recreate it live blew us away. We went as a band to see them in Dublin and it definitely left an impact.
Like all artists our inspiration comes from all over. It can be a soundtrack for a movie or just a YouTube video of someone showing a unique way to use a guitar pedal. Or just a new song from another artist!
Q: Can you tell us about the story or message behind the song, “Nail In Your Head.”?
A: The song is about caring deeply for a person who consistently lets you down and it dawning on you that they have no desire to change. It came about during the pandemic when we were all living together and that feeling or everything around you changing and the negativity present in the whole world at that time really added to the creation of this song in particular.
Q: How would you describe your sound in one word for potential listeners?
A: Cheesy.
Q: Did you face any challenges while writing or recording “Nail In Your Head”?
A: Not particularly, we had a very clear vision going into recording this song compared to the rest of the album. Everything fell into place! Very rare for us! Even the writing process was about a day. Danny and Jared wrote the lyrics together and jammed it. The bridge was from a different song they wrote they wasn’t as strong and shoved it in there. Recording felt very easy as it is probably the least tempted we have been to add in any strange instruments, except for the big Hawaii Five-O drum fill in the bridge.
Q: What is the message of your music? And what are your goals as an artist?
A: We truly do not have a message. A lot of our songs say nothing and we just like how it sounds sonically. The goal is for the albums we make to pay for themselves so that we can make a boat load of them. Creating music is very very fun and the more people who get into it, the more interesting music there will be in the world.
Q: Who is your dream artist to collaborate with? (dead or alive)
A: Jared: “Jacob Collier. The amount you would learn from that man would be insane it would be class to pick his brain apart.”
Danny: “Ween, because I just think the wackiest music would come out of it.”
Con: “Daft Punk. They’re known for their collaborations with contrasting Artists. You would certainly gain an interesting perspective on songwriting.”
Dan: “Either Rory Gallagher or Bach, a ripper solo from either of them would be insane.”
Q: What is your advice for people interested in pursuing music as a career or for those trying to enter the industry?
A: Go to events, gigs, anything that’ll get you meeting people. So many opportunities come from chance encounters. Though for real? Get into cover work if you want money. If you don’t mind being broke, making your own music feels wonderful.
Q: If you could go back in time and give a younger you some words of wisdom, what would they be?
A: Invest in Zoom in 2019 and don’t smoke.
