The Aftermath
It was a wet May night a few years ago in the 100 club Oxford Street, London town. The brothers Cronin had just performed with their band to another crowd of the usual London A & R bunch. Their verdict was all very complimentary- but a record deal never materialised.
Things were not looking good for guitar based groups in the northern UK town of Leeds. Johnny and Michael were brought here in the early 90’s away from the recession hit Co Longford, where they grew up as children.
Friends Parva (who went on to become Kaiser Chiefs) had just been dropped from their label. A few support gigs with The Frames and Damien Rice ensued over the following months; however the brothers were growing disillusioned and homesick. It was time for a fresh start and a piece of the Celtic Tiger!
Upon returning to Ireland in Oct 2004, they had a plan. So, new start, new name, and so “The Aftermath” (after their favourite Rolling Stones record) were born. They desperately wanted to record and release their material and after no news on the record label front, it was decided they would go it alone- without the backing of a record company- they would release their songs independently!
The following January the brothers set off to Black Box studios, France with David and Karl Odlum to start initial sessions of what would become The Aftermath’s debut album. Recording continued at a slow pace for the rest of 2005 with money fairly tight. It was around this time they met guitarist Justin McNabb and former Anathema bass player Duncan Patterson and the gigging machine that is “The Aftermath” started out on what would become a nearly never ending tour of the Irish musical landscape. They decided not to release anything just yet and try and build a fan base around the country as well as turn the live act into something special.
In March of 2006 the band received an offer to support The Mission for 5 dates around Greece. Wayne Hussey had come across the bands myspace during their European tour and loved what he heard.
The gigs went down a storm, playing to over 20 thousand people on the short tour. The Aftermath continue to visit Greece once a year for short tours and plans to release their debut there in late September.
It was around this time that Duncan became busier with his solo projects and they had to find a new bass player. Rather than audition someone new they reinstated Martin ‘Sleepy’ Gray who had been playing with them in the UK.
Martin was not the only player they kept in touch with from their time in England. Helen Turner, who was a member of The Style Council and played with Paul Weller until the Stanley Road album, had also been a part of the brothers live band in the UK. Helen appeared at a few recording sessions and a few live gigs including the whole of The Aftermath’s UK tour Nov 07.
Another person they kept in touch with was Gallon Drunk man Terry Edwards. Terry famous for his arrangements for PJ Harvey, The Tindersticks, Nick cave and David Holmes to name a few was asked for a few string and brass arrangements. You can hear his work on Hollywood Remake and Joyful Mystery.
In July 2006 the band released their debut single in Ireland “One Is Fun” (named after a Delia Smith cook book for singletons!). It debuted at no 11 in its first week and kept in the top 40 for a further 3, ending up as one of the highest selling Irish singles of 2006. With One Is Fun, The Aftermath received their first national airplay from Larry Gogan on 2fm and Ann Marie Kelly at Today fm as well as getting on the play list for Phantom fm.
The tour continued throughout July/ August with their first sold out shows in Crawdaddy Dublin, Roisin Dubh Galway and The Stables Mullingar and finished when the band were asked to open the HIFI festival that year sharing a stage with Razorlight, The Streets & Ian Brown amongst others.
The band continued to build momentum with the release of Hollywood remake in mid October 2006.
The single went in at no 19 in the Irish charts beating both Madonna and My Chemical Romance to the highest new entry! It was during the tour for this single that the brothers had a chance meeting with Waterboy, Steve Wickham who agreed to lay down some violin parts on the recordings which were developing.
Another thing that happened around this time was for the band to be name checked in BBC drama series Spooks. The plot involved a terror threat namely The Aftermath, which the characters googled but all they could find was an Irish based indie group!!
2007 started well with The Aftermath named as a hope for 2007 in the Hot Press reader’s poll and One Is Fun number reached 38 in the 105 best singles of Phantom fm’s end of year list.
Touring continued with visits to the UK and Greece and dates around Ireland.
Things seemed to be moving in the right direction and the hard work was slowly starting to pay off until disaster struck…
On the way to the Phoenix Festival in Tullamore on Friday the 13th of July 2007 for the start of a tour to promote single “All I Want is for you to be happy” their van hit a patch of oil on the road, skidded and flipped several times until finishing upside down in a ditch. Luckily the band were all wearing seatbelts and still can’t believe how no one was injured, bar a few cuts and bruises. A lucky escape!
After a weeks rest the band continued with promotional duties. The single debuted at no 10 that week and received extensive play on 2fm and Phantom in Dublin.
There were full houses all round on the tour which finished off with the brothers Cronin playing a home town show with Declan Nerney at The Marquee in Drumlish Festival in front of nearly 3000 people.
The focus for the start of 2008 was to get the album finished. The Sessions that had continued with Karl were sounding great and included such musicians as Vyv Long of the Damien Rice band, Steve Wickham of The Waterboys as well as Helen Turner.
The band then employed the services of Ger McDonnell to mix the majority of the album. Ger, who had previously worked with U2, The Manics & Travis worked on 8 of the finished tracks and Marc Carolan (Turn, The Thrills, Muse) mixed 2 whilst David Odlum took care of the rest.
The Aftermath also employed the services of legendary masterer Greg Calbi who has been responsible for so many classic albums working with the likes of John Lennon, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, The Strokes, The Frames & Interpol.
It was a long and arduous road to get here, but the album is finished and is a testament to the bands hard work and dedication to their music.
The Aftermath’s debut album ‘Friendlier Up Here’ is released on Live Transmission Records on April 25th 2008.
With endorsements from the likes of:
Jackie Hayden from Hot Press who said ”touches of Talking Heads and Roxy Music with spacey drum sounds, strident string’s, fuzzed up guitars and impassioned vocal’s. When a band avoid the obvious they can be truly inventive and stimulating.”
Totally Dublin said, “…think Arcade Fire carousing with Franz Ferdinand and you’re nearly there.”
The Leeds Guide ‘they sound like Roxy Music having a fight with the Pixies down a Northern backstreet.”
And The Sunday Tribune called them “the perfect pop machine”.
“May all their songs be No 1’s.” Mike Scott of The Waterboys
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History In The Backroom
9th May 2008 - Headline
14th Nov 2008 - Headline