The Ryan O’Reilly band are a joyously fantastic band to see live - if you’ve read my previous ‘People We Like’, you’ll know that I’m a big fan. They have supported Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling, Sweet Thing and Vagabond amongst other names. The band have some exciting projects coming up, including being featured on Tom Robinson’s BBC Radio 6 show and supporting I Blame CoCo at Primrose Chill and playing Camden Crawl in May.
The band consists of Ryan (on vocals and guitar), Tali (bass and vocals), Spencer (with ‘his massive hands' on the pedal steel) and Dave (drums). I sat down with Ryan and Tali to discuss the past, future and present for the Ryan O’Reilly band.
How did you meet and start it all?
Ryan: Well Tali and I were both playing solo and then we met at an open mic night. I played as Blue Fox, with Tyler Kyte and Nick Rose from Toronto. Tyler came over last year and we did a little tour of the UK and we supported Tali’s other band, The Wellbeing. We played Beach Break Festival in 2008 for the first time together as the Ryan O’Reilly band
Tali: Yeah and we did Camden Crawl with Tyler Kite.
Are you planning on going back over to Toronto?
Ryan: I certainly am planning on going over to Toronto, for as long as I’m able to.
How did you find all your various members featured on your upcoming EP?
Tali: I used to teach Tom [who plays trombone], Pat [who plays keys] plays with Spencer in his other band, The Dead Stream Brothers. Our friends Vaz and Natalie play violin for us.
I saw you at the Half Moon, Putney last year on St Patrick’s Day, I really like it as a venue, it also helps that I used to live down the road from it.
Ryan: It was our second home for a while. It was our first gig with Spencer and we played there after it was saved from closure in January.
Can you tell me some of your musical influences?
Ryan: When I was playing solo, Ryan Adams was a big influence. But that seems a long time ago now. Spencer’s very into his 1970s influences and I’m really into my Irish music; The Pogues. I wouldn’t be able to get a couple bottles of whiskey in me without listening to The Body of an American.
Tali: Ethan John is one of Dave’s influences as was the last Ray LaMontagne album.
Do you have musical backgrounds?
Ryan: My mum was a music journalist and my dad was a trombonist.
Tali: I used to be a classically trained singer, and then when I was about 17, I got a guitar and I started playing with bands in London, doing session work. Then about four years ago, I wasn’t really doing anything with my degree and so decided to do music full time. I play music, write and teach as well.
Top played tracks on your iPods at the moment?
Ryan: Bon Iver, Skinny Love. Whispertown 2000, they’re a cool band.
Tali: Sky Blue Sky by Wilco.
Do you have any guilty musical pleasures, secret SClub7 fans?
Ryan: The Dixie Chicks!
Not even going to lie, the Dixie Chicks are not a guilty pleasure.
Pat stepped in here and mentioned the song, ‘Taking the Long Way Round’ as being a good Dixie Chicks song.
Do you think the music scene in London is getting better for emerging artists?
Ryan: Sometimes you get stifled by the string of mediocrity. Sometimes people get their stuff out there and it can clog the way out for everyone else.
Tali: There are more opportunities, but venue wise, there are certain levels of venues, it’s in rungs. It takes a fucking long time to break out of the smaller venues to the next stage venue. Unless you have a brother or a girlfriend with connections, it’s hard to get out of the smaller venues sometimes.
It’s all about who you know not what you know.
Ryan: Yeah it’s like that in every industry.
Weren’t Mumford & Sons playing smaller venues? They’ve had a large breakthrough recently.
Tali: They had a bit of a leg up with their connections to Laura Marling.
I’ve noticed how you, Tali have guested with other musicians. I really enjoyed seeing you play with Olli Wennink at Ronnie Scott's recently.
Tali: Yeah, we’d only had one rehearsal before that night.
Ryan: I played with him once, but I got sacked on stage.
Tali: You were hammered though, mate.
Ryan: I was indeed hammered.
Right, if you could play any venue anywhere, realistically and dream world what would it be?
Tali: Dream world, Red Rocks in The States. Realistically, I’d like to play Shakespeare’s Globe. Actually, Union Chapel would be pretty amazing.
Ryan: Realistically, St James’ Chapel at the bottom of Piccadilly is really eerie; I’d love to play there. I’d love to just play churches. Dream world, my mate Tom saw Ray LaMontagne play in a vineyard in California; I’d love to play there.
Any plans to tour again?
Tali: We’re looking to tour at the end of the festival season, in September.
Do you enjoy touring, or is it a bit of a pain?
Ryan: We like touring to Durham; we do three gigs up there, and then come home. I did a show with J J Pistolet up there.
Ryan, how did you maintain achieving your degree and touring?
Ryan: Doing an English Literature degree whilst touring was fine, I could just read books on the road. My University was a big party place, everyone was constantly pissed, doing drugs and shagging each other.
What’s next for the Ryan O’Reilly band?
Ryan: Early May, ‘Emily’ is going to be released and we release the EP a month later.
Tali: We’ve spent about four months on our EP.
If you could be asked any question in an interview what would it be?
Ryan: ‘Are you happy with your penis size?’. And my answer would be, ‘Why yes, yes I am’.
I think this was a fairly epic question to end on. I might consider using Ryan’s suggested question in further interviews, but I think I might have to choose my audience wisely. Make sure you check out Ryan O’Reilly band over at their MySpace and if you are in London in May, check them out at the Camden Crawl. I promise you, you will not be disappointed.
