Dominic McGuinness - The Bohicas (17/06/2014)
The Bohicas have slammed onto the worldwide music scene with force in just over a year of being in a band. The London rock and roll quartet has proven that.
“Oh I can’t wait!” frontman Dominic McGuinness told The 59th excitedly on coming down under.
“We’ve never been over there and we fly out on the Sunday. We got the news we were coming over about a month ago. We always knew it was a possibility but it was actually confirmed not so long ago. Ever since we got the news we’ve just been so excited.”
The two shows in Sydney and Melbourne will be a duo energetic and fun-filled nights of rock and roll for this young band and their devoted Aussie fan base. Their quick stint of popularity has also taken them by surprise, with a visit to our country not even being a realistic goal for them when they began.
“We never knew that Australia was an option when we started. The idea of the band was to dodge real work and play in a rock band for a living. The idea was to just write good music and make people feel as good as when we heard our favourite rock and roll bands. You can never expect for things to happen as quickly as it has for us. Three of us went to school together so we’ve been playing together since we were twelve.”
It’s often the case that bands are desperate to land on our shores and spread their art to anyone willing to listen, only for it to be a distant dream, far out of grasp. For these young rockers however, it’s already being fulfilled; and at such an early point in what will only be a bright career.
“It’s mad. Your Triple J station has been playing us a lot and we keep getting [responses] on our Twitter feed and we haven’t had that kind of reception over here in England. We’ve had some radio play but not the amount [in Australia] and the opportunity to come over is just mad,” McGuinness says, almost bemused and flustered.
“It usually takes a lot longer for bands to come over to Australia so we were never going to turn the opportunity down,” he assures us.
For The Bohicas tunes to be plugged rampantly into the airwaves over here is only a statement of how hungry we, Australia, are desperate for good rock music.
"There a whole wealth of great Australian rock bands that we’ve always loved like The Vines for example. Maybe you’re just more into rock and roll than over here. We’re from East London and I think people from London are more spoilt for choice when it comes to music at the level we’ve been doing it in in terms of the small venue sizes. I think we’re appreciated in a more reserved, kind of cool [headed] way. But I won’t question it ‘cause I’m happy to come to Australia!”
“We did one festival called London Calling which is ironically in Amsterdam but that was a lot of fun. There’s another one [we’re doing] in Holland called Down the Rabbit Hole and we played in a Holland about a month ago and did a gig in Belgium and it seems that we’re loved a lot more in every city but our own!”
“I can’t really say that though as we did a great show at a festival in London called Field Day and the crowd was awesome there.”
With an early explosion and spread of success, the band is not always the ones affected. Family and friends are also taken by shock as their loved ones are whisked off to distant countries to do every eight year old's dream of being a rock star.
A band’s support group and loved ones can have just as much impact as consumers and for The Bohicas, it’s been nothing but positive.
“[Our friends and family] love it all. There’s been nothing but encouragement from them. I saw a friend I used to go to school with a month ago and I hadn’t seen him for a while ‘cause I’ve been on tour. We used to see each other every week and he just wanted all the news. He wanted to know about everything. All our friends and family know that we’ve been doing this for a while with other bands but they’re over the moon that’s it’s finally happening!”
As Aussie fans gear up to take in The Bohicas energetic live performance, the band gear up to finish their anticipated debut record.
“We’re just putting the finishes touches to our album. We did that with a guy we’ve been working with since day one named Oli Bayston. It was also recorded with a guy named Mark Ranken and he’s worked with a lot of big names like Adele and Queens of the Stone Age and he’s a wizard. Those two have never worked together before and they really clicked. We’ve also got the festivals coming up too which we’re excited for!”
“When people first hear your first single that can kind of dictate of people’s impression of you and what band you are. There’s a whole wealth of songs we’ve been writing for a while and I just hope that it isn’t too sporadically different. It’ll sound like a good rock and roll album and sound like it’s coming from the same planet hopefully! There’s still the same stuff from XXX and Swarm but there’s some melodic stuff on there.”
Matt Sievers
THE BOHICAS - JUNE 2014
With special guests Unity Floors (Sydney) & Drunk Mums (Melbourne)
ON SALE NOW
Wed 18 June Sydney | Oxford Art Factory (18+)
Thu 19 June Melbourne | Ding Dong Lounge (18+)
“Oh I can’t wait!” frontman Dominic McGuinness told The 59th excitedly on coming down under.
“We’ve never been over there and we fly out on the Sunday. We got the news we were coming over about a month ago. We always knew it was a possibility but it was actually confirmed not so long ago. Ever since we got the news we’ve just been so excited.”
The two shows in Sydney and Melbourne will be a duo energetic and fun-filled nights of rock and roll for this young band and their devoted Aussie fan base. Their quick stint of popularity has also taken them by surprise, with a visit to our country not even being a realistic goal for them when they began.
“We never knew that Australia was an option when we started. The idea of the band was to dodge real work and play in a rock band for a living. The idea was to just write good music and make people feel as good as when we heard our favourite rock and roll bands. You can never expect for things to happen as quickly as it has for us. Three of us went to school together so we’ve been playing together since we were twelve.”
It’s often the case that bands are desperate to land on our shores and spread their art to anyone willing to listen, only for it to be a distant dream, far out of grasp. For these young rockers however, it’s already being fulfilled; and at such an early point in what will only be a bright career.
“It’s mad. Your Triple J station has been playing us a lot and we keep getting [responses] on our Twitter feed and we haven’t had that kind of reception over here in England. We’ve had some radio play but not the amount [in Australia] and the opportunity to come over is just mad,” McGuinness says, almost bemused and flustered.
“It usually takes a lot longer for bands to come over to Australia so we were never going to turn the opportunity down,” he assures us.
For The Bohicas tunes to be plugged rampantly into the airwaves over here is only a statement of how hungry we, Australia, are desperate for good rock music.
"There a whole wealth of great Australian rock bands that we’ve always loved like The Vines for example. Maybe you’re just more into rock and roll than over here. We’re from East London and I think people from London are more spoilt for choice when it comes to music at the level we’ve been doing it in in terms of the small venue sizes. I think we’re appreciated in a more reserved, kind of cool [headed] way. But I won’t question it ‘cause I’m happy to come to Australia!”
“We did one festival called London Calling which is ironically in Amsterdam but that was a lot of fun. There’s another one [we’re doing] in Holland called Down the Rabbit Hole and we played in a Holland about a month ago and did a gig in Belgium and it seems that we’re loved a lot more in every city but our own!”
“I can’t really say that though as we did a great show at a festival in London called Field Day and the crowd was awesome there.”
With an early explosion and spread of success, the band is not always the ones affected. Family and friends are also taken by shock as their loved ones are whisked off to distant countries to do every eight year old's dream of being a rock star.
A band’s support group and loved ones can have just as much impact as consumers and for The Bohicas, it’s been nothing but positive.
“[Our friends and family] love it all. There’s been nothing but encouragement from them. I saw a friend I used to go to school with a month ago and I hadn’t seen him for a while ‘cause I’ve been on tour. We used to see each other every week and he just wanted all the news. He wanted to know about everything. All our friends and family know that we’ve been doing this for a while with other bands but they’re over the moon that’s it’s finally happening!”
As Aussie fans gear up to take in The Bohicas energetic live performance, the band gear up to finish their anticipated debut record.
“We’re just putting the finishes touches to our album. We did that with a guy we’ve been working with since day one named Oli Bayston. It was also recorded with a guy named Mark Ranken and he’s worked with a lot of big names like Adele and Queens of the Stone Age and he’s a wizard. Those two have never worked together before and they really clicked. We’ve also got the festivals coming up too which we’re excited for!”
“When people first hear your first single that can kind of dictate of people’s impression of you and what band you are. There’s a whole wealth of songs we’ve been writing for a while and I just hope that it isn’t too sporadically different. It’ll sound like a good rock and roll album and sound like it’s coming from the same planet hopefully! There’s still the same stuff from XXX and Swarm but there’s some melodic stuff on there.”
Matt Sievers
THE BOHICAS - JUNE 2014
With special guests Unity Floors (Sydney) & Drunk Mums (Melbourne)
ON SALE NOW
Wed 18 June Sydney | Oxford Art Factory (18+)
Thu 19 June Melbourne | Ding Dong Lounge (18+)