Band: CRUACHAN
Country of origin: Ireland
Style: folk metal
Questions by: Emilio J. Moreno Atienza ** conducted by Herr Stalhammar **
Answers supplied by: John O'Fathaigh (Irish flute, tinwhistles, low
whistle, recorder, Uilleann pipes)

Let's start with "Celtic rock", a definition Hammerheart Records came up with for "Folk-Lore". It's true that this piece is way more influenced by Celtic music than any of your previous works, however I don't really consider your music "rock"... more likely, it's "metal" - "folk metal" to be exact. Would you mind making any comments on the way CRUACHAN sounds in the year of 2002? Would you say you're a Celtic-rock band, OR a Celtic-metal band?

- We mix a lot of different styles so therefore it's harder to label what we play. We play more folk and more rock / metal than any other style so the obvious way to define our music is Folk-rock or Folk-metal or even Celtic metal or whatever. Some of our stuff touches on some neo-classical elements and if we were truly to define our music it would be something like "neo-classical pagan folk metal" which is a bit over the top.. We'd prefer to let the listener or reviewer determine for themselves what they want to label us. Our last album "The Middle Kingdom" had more rock elements than "Folk-lore", but our debut "Tuatha" had more metal but song structure-wise and lyrically all albums are similar, in my opinion. We don't go down the trodden path... there are bands out there now writing stuff similar to what we done on "Tuatha", so we try to stay that one step ahead and do original stuff but keeping it in a Cruachan context. We are constantly evolving and really don't settle down with a defined sound:we play what we feel at the time.

One can say "Folk-Lore", musically, is greatly inspired by Celtic traditional music, but I believe it's also gained a lot from classical music. This is something which undoubtedly makes "Folk-Lore" sound different in comparison to "The Middle Kingdom" and "Tuatha na Gael"...

- We've been influenced by classical music ever since CRUACHAN began in 1992, obviously we're influenced more by folk but there are some parts to our music which point betrays a like of classical music. We've used some classical influences on "The Middle Kingdom" in songs like "The Fianna", I'd agree though that we have a bit more classical influence on "Folk-lore" than previous works.  It's also due to the fact that we got session violin and cello players in to do some of the songs and these instruments brought some of the songs from a folkish feeling more towards a classical one.

You've also supplemented each lyric with a comment of yours, and that's something ANCIENT RITES have been always known for... not CRUACHAN, you see. Have you included those notes because of any misinterpretations of lyrical content of any older songs?

- Actually, we have notes to accompany the songs on our last album and it's something I've always wanted as it generates more interest to know specifically what a song is about. I wanted to do notes to accompany the songs on our debut "Tuatha na Gael", but we only had a four page booklet so I couldn't and the label we were on then wouldn't give us a bigger booklet. I planned to do notes for the re-release of "Tuatha" but when it came around to it, I hadn't time as Hammerheart wanted it out as soon as possible and I had too much to do at that time. Keith has done the notes on "Folk-lore" and I done the ones on "The Middle Kingdom". I like bands that have something more to offer than just a small booklet with a couple of lyrics: I like bands like ANCIENT RITES that have something to say and express it lyrically and also gives the thoughts behind it with notes.

"Ride On", "Spancill Hill", "The Rocky Road To Dublin" and especially "Bloody Sunday" are tracks with highest social content. What's your opinion on the turbulent past as well as somewhat blurred present of the Irish men? What're your feelings towards your Fatherland?

- I love my country! I love it's tragic history, it's music, it's culture. I've heard a great quote about Ireland before: "... Out of great sadness: a terrible beauty is born." I believe this. When people go through invasion, conflict, famine etc. they have a vigour for life. A lot of injustice was done in the past with people being forced to emigrate and the famine we also had where over a million Irish died even though we were still exporting food, but it's time to put that behind and leave it as history. I know Spain has been through some tough times with the moors invading and more recently the civil war in the 1930's and even today with terrorism on your doorstep and I see the Spanish as a lively people with that vigour that I was saying. The current situation in Ireland looks good with the peace process on going and the dedication of all involved in making it work for everybody, even with the few dissident groups intent on getting their way, I think the bomb
and the bullet are gone from Irish politics now: too many people have died to get both sides this far, it would be an insult to let it all fade away now.

What's your opinion on Ulster's conflict? Many people over here consider it just a religious dispute, but personally I think it's way more complex situation...

- Yes, the conflict in Ulster is much more than simple religious bigotry. In simple terms it's about the Protestant Unionist / Loyalist majority who for a lot of them planted or settled the north in the 17th- 18th century wanting to stay a part of Great Britain and be loyal to the crown,  and the Catholic Nationalist minority who for the most part traditionally lived in Ireland wanting to be part of the republic creating a United Ireland. But it's a lot more complex than this as the people who planted in Ireland in the 17th and 18th century came from Scotland and they see themselves as returning to the land of their ancestors. You see, the Irish colonised Scotland in the 7th century and gave Scotland most of it's culture and language and even Scotland is called after what the Romans called the Irish:.Scotti.  They came here as Protestants and soon became the majority in the north, and like our kinsmen in Scotland, the highlanders who were catholic, were religiously persecuted and driven to emigration.  After a few hundred years of Protestant / English superiority, Ireland got it's independence in the early 1920's but because there was a Protestant majority in the north, Ireland was partitioned into what we see Ulster as today. This sparked a civil war in Ireland between The IRA who wouldn't accept a divided Ireland and the Free-state, those who accepted the partition. The free-state set up a republic and it's own government but those left in Ulster were still a part of Britain and this all led on to the troubles we've seen in recent history. In no way does this even touch on the story but I hope it gives a little insight. Hope I didn't bore too many people (*laughs*).

I deeply respect Irish people and the constant fight they have to take part in, however I don't support IRA's activities by no means. What about you? What do you think about IRA?

- I agree with their motives, but I don't necessarily agree with their methods. I agree with their motives for a United Ireland, but I don't condone some of their bully-boy tactics or their punishment shootings etc. I don't condemn the IRA and I know there's a lot of propaganda in the media about them but there is two sides to every story. The original aim of the provisional organisation was to defend Nationalist communities and in their self-proclaimed war, attack military targets and to cause commercial mayhem in the province of Ulster and on the British mainland. Innocent people do die, on both sides, which I cannot condone, but at the least it's not like Islamic terrorism where suicide bombers specifically target innocent people. To be honest I don't know a lot about the Basque separatist group, ETA, and Spanish reactions to them, so I can't give any similarities or differences between the two, although they seem to target a lot of politicians. I'm not trying to make excuses for the IRA here but they are carrying on a struggle which, on and off is at least 400 years old: you also have to understand that the original IRA organisation instigated the struggle for our independence, which we eventually got. Some still fight on looking for a United Ireland:All in all, I want to see a United Ireland, but by peaceful means which most of the IRA are fully backing.

"Folk-Lore" features "To Invoke The Horned God" having been re-worked, why?

- The original "Horned God" was on our debut album "Tuatha na Gael" and this suffered from poor production and a poor sound so we decided to re-record it with better production and some changes in the instruments used and other minor changes in the structure of the song. I personally wanted to re-record the whole album ("Tuatha na Gael") and re-release it but we probably would've lost the raw vibe of the album.  So together with Hammerheart, we decided to re-release the whole album as a lot of people still wanted it and couldn't get it anymore, so with some unheard bonus tracks and slightly improved packaging, it was re-released. I personally would like to re-record the song "The Fall Of Gondolin" from our debut and have it as another bonus track on some future release.

Shane McGowan, who's, needless to say, quite famous within the bounds of Celtic scene, once again offered his helping hand... Who made this collaboration possible?

- We had a manager called Peader who was a friend of Shane McGowan. He let Shane hear our last album "The Middle Kingdom" and Shane really liked it. He thought that it was really original and had a kind of attitude as he put it. He's big into Irish culture and music (even though he lived most of his life in England) so he was instantly interested in CRUACHAN. He offered to help out with ideas etc. So he came to Dublin and booked himself into a hotel for a couple of months and helped out in the studio. We asked would he like to sing on a track or two and he was more than willing, so we chose "Ride On" and "Spancill Hill" as he knew the lyrics for these songs, so no time was wasted teaching any lyrics. We've also supported him in a couple of shows, which went down really well to a non-metal audience.

You and Keith play a lot of instruments on "Folk-Lore". That's of course possible in studio / during recording sessions, but don't you think you'll face A LOT of problems attempting to perform it all live?

- There are one or two songs that we can't play live unless we got another five people, but we do play most of them without anything really missing. We have a second guitarist who plays live with us so Keith can alternate between guitar and keyboard. Other than that we play as we play on album with nothing really lacking or with some minor differences. We don't use triggered drums or samples so everything must be played live which we'd prefer anyhow. Timing is the hard thing because if Ed (session guitar) is playing a mandolin or whatever and Keith is playing keyboard and a heavy guitar part is coming:. He has to stop the keyboard and in an instant play the guitar part and hit the right notes or chord or vice versa. Obviously he wears the guitar while he is playing keyboard, but we manage to pull it off.

Ok, that's all. The final words are yours.

- Thanks Emilio for the interview. "Folk-Lore" is out in late January, also available is "The Middle Kingdom" album and "Ride On" EP, also the re-release of the cult "Tuatha na Gael". Hopefully we'll be over to Spain at some time in the year. You can contact the band at: cruachan@ireland.com and visit our official webpage at: www.cruachan.cjb.net  or visit our label at:
www.hammerheart.com So until then, Slan Abhaile.