The Answer (Northern Ireland)

ARTISTS

“F*@king stupendous,” wrote Kerrang! of an explosive live show by Northern Ireland based rock quartet The Answer, about whom they’ve also said, “Uplifting and authentic, classic rock is safe in the hands of this brilliant young Irish band.” “Sounds as fresh as any debut album in living memory” and “the best British rock debut of the decade” was how they greeted their first full-length, 2006’s Rise, which was released – and met with major success – in the U.K., Australia and Japan. Joining in the chorus of praise, Classic Rock voted The Answer 2005’s Best New UK Band at their prestigious annual awards. They also ranked Rise – reissued in ’07 as a 2-CD special edition with a bonus disc of rarities – #3 out of 2006’s 50 Best Albums, calling it a, “phenomenal…world class debut that goes a long way to reclaiming Britain’s blues-rock credibility.”

The Answer follows up this heady fanfare with their official introduction to North American audiences, 2008’s Never Too Late. The limited edition, 4-song EP/DVD comprises three studio tracks – “Never Too Late” from “Rise,” “The Doctor” from “Rise: Special Edition” and “Highwater or Hell” a sneak preview from their forthcoming 2009 U.S. debut LP –plus a live version of “Come Follow Me” from a 2007 show in Japan. The EP comes packaged with an exclusive one-hour bonus DVD loaded with exclusive band interviews, documentary clips from the past two years, live performance highlights and videos.

The 2-disc set is on acclaimed, cutting-edge U.S. independent label The End Records, with distribution through Sony RED. Also in ’08, The Answer will be spotlighted on “Guitar Hero: World Tour,” the newest installment of Activision’s massively popular game franchise. Next up will be their second album – and debut North American full-length – in first quarter 2009, also on The End. Produced by John Travis (Kid Rock, Static-X, Killing Heidi, etc.), the disc was tracked at Los Angeles studio Seedy Underbelly in summer ’08. Its release will coincide with the band’s first-ever tour of the States.

Not bad for four country lads from Downpatrick, County Down, about thirty miles outside Belfast who, according to star-powered lead singer Cormac Neeson, “spent three or four years playing every shit hole we could find” before getting their start in the U.K. with Australian indie label Albert Productions, famed for the development of rock icons AC/DC. Since then, while they continue to blow the roofs off of clubs across the European continent, they’ve opened stadium and arena concerts for legendary acts including the Rolling Stones, The Who, Aerosmith, Deep Purple and Whitesnake and toured with contemporaries such as Eagles of Death Metal and Alter Bridge to name a few. The Answer has also triumphantly headlined tours in Japan, Australia and various corners of Europe, East and West.

Neeson has said, “We’re just doing what we do: playing every gig like our lives depended on it.” They plan to do just that on their upcoming inaugural American tour, when they’ll have the opportunity to connect with a huge audience hungry for a pure, original hard rock outfit that can live up to the giants of the genre. Neeson and mates Paul Mahon (guitar) – who calls America “the blues’ spiritual home” – Micky Waters (bass) and James Heatley (drums) will no doubt conquer the new world with their own bluesy, soul strutting, hip-shaking melodic thunder. Auspiciously, prominent rock journalist and Rolling Stone editor David Fricke – in his “Fricke’s Picks” column in the magazine’s “Best of 2008” issue – noted that at The Answer’s 2008 SXSW performance (one of only two U.S. Answer shows to date), “the four hard-blues boys proved they knew their business well with an assault that was heavy Seventies a la UFO and Irish slide-guitar god Rory Gallagher, delivered with smart writing and true believers swagger.”

Comparisons to iconic predecessors have also tripped off the tongues of other tastemakers familiar with the band’s music and epic stage might, most asserting it’s the new version of the gods’ musical hammer: “The Answer owe a lot to ’70s rock giants like Free and Led Zeppelin,” wrote Kerrang!, “but by endowing every riff and beat with the fulsome power of a 21st century rock band in full, speaker blowing flight…sound blissfully modern and vital.” Classic Rock concurs: “you can hear all of those influences throughout an album that never wavers from the highest standards. But this is a big album. As in taking the roots of the past and planting them firmly in ’06. This is a big album. As in having a sound that immerses you in the warm glow of a timeless style. This is a big album. As in, the performances are bloody enormous.”

The Answer started out in 1999, when Paul Mahon (whose father had blown trumpet & trombone for famed ’60s-era Irish show band The Freshmen) and Micky Waters were looking to form a rock band with a blues bent. A school chum had recently seen another group rehearse and roundly recommended the fellow who’d been singing lead as their man for vocals. They tracked Cormac down in America, where he was itinerantly spending the summer flipping pizza in Wildwood, NJ, playing bars in New York, and traveling around, and mailed him a letter asking if he’d like to join them.

The boys’ post found its way to Neeson, and while it roused mutual enthusiasm, the trans-Atlantic connection faltered and both sides gave up. Back at Queens University in Belfast, Paul was taking an ethnomusicology class, and saw Cormac’s name on the attendance board. The Answer’s pre-history pivoted on another crucial question: “After a few weeks, I still hadn’t met him, so I asked the guy sitting next to me in lecture hall, did he know who Cormac Neeson was,” recalls Paul. “I thought he was kidding,” says Neeson. “I said, ‘it’s me,’ and I learned he was one of the guys looking for me to join a band.”

Quite rightfully for a singer who cites Paul Rodgers, Otis Redding, Chris Robinson, Robert Plant and Howlin’ Wolf as inspirations, the first song they played at practice was Free’s “All Right Now.” “From the opening chords,” says Cormac, “the band kicked in and we looked at each other with big grins, as if we’d known each other for years.” Mahon had the same breakthrough moment: “I’d played in lots of cover bands, and that was always a great song to check out a singer with, test his range. Cormac was the first guy who could nail it.”

The addition of Heatley on drums rounded out the line-up and the chemistry, and The Answer began building buzz. Partly due to geography, and partly because of “the Troubles” of North Ireland (though in the past), the music circuit in Belfast was off the beaten path, far removed from the pop limelight of London. It allowed The Answer to develop outside the peer pressure of passing trends. Beyond that, all four members lived in County Down’s outlying countryside, free to make as much noise as possible when practicing and recording. “We just played what we loved,” says Paul, “and evolved stylistically on our own, not getting stuck in any scene and ending up sounding like every other band.”

One of their demos journeyed to London in advance of them, though, and serendipity struck again when it crossed paths with famed BBC DJ Steve Lamacq while noted music manager Dave Bedford was crashing at his place. One late night as they listened to band submissions, The Answer cued up. “I thought it sounded great right away,” says Bedford, “like the new Free, and it turns out I wasn’t far off.”

Acclaim snowballed as The Answer built a fan base and racked up nominations and awards which, in addition to their Classic Rock newcomer trophy, include Best Rock Band and Best Live Event honors at 2007’s Big Buzz Awards in Belfast. As their fame has grown, The Answer has never strayed from their passion for the music they make, and from hitting it as hard as they can every time. Arena shows notwithstanding, they still fancy life-size gigs with true believers. Neeson’s recounting of two memorable dates vividly place into context the reality of life for The Answer and the soul of this authentic band:

“We played a homecoming gig in Belfast, just after Rise had first been released,” he recalls. “We hadn’t played Northern Ireland since it came out. It was a 900-capacity venue, and our first-ever sell-out. We taxied to the show, and there was a queue around the block. That had never happened before. In the big room inside, we saw everybody, all the people who’d been coming since our first gig. It was a great feeling to see the pride in their faces. The evening really belonged to our fans, the ones who’d been there for the 20 person shows. It was a beautiful night, up there with any large show we’ve done.”

Of their biggest show to date, opening for the Stones in Belgrade in ’07 in front of some 80,000 people, Cormac says, “There was a jam at the end of our set, one that lent itself to audience participation. I was faced away from the crowd, and I wondered if they were into it. I brought my head up to look out, and every set of hands was clapping to our music. We’d won them over. The sun was glowing behind the trees, and I could have dropped my mic and just stayed with it. It was a real lift for the band, the confidence we needed to believe that someday these 80,000 people could be there to see The Answer.”

It’s all right now, America. The Answer is coming.

Last Updated on Thursday, 11 December 2008 15:33

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