Ahead of the Big Condo Weekender, Mersey Music caught up with Connor from the band, Black Smoke.
Lineup:
Connor – lead vocals and rhythm guitar
Rob – lead guitar
Paddy – bass guitar and backing vocals
Liam – drums
When did you start playing/singing music?
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We all started playing at different ages, but I would say we all have over 15 years of playing experience.
What/who got you into music?
It’s funny.
We were all influenced to play by our role models, fathers, brothers, that sort of thing.
For me, it was watching my older brother jam to Pink Floyd as a kid. For the other members, it was sitting in the car listening to old albums by the likes of The Beatles or Guns N’ Roses.
Who do you think are your biggest music influences?
This is a great question as we all have so many influences that come from so many genres.
It varies depending on what I am influenced by – Jim Morrison for his stage presence; Brain Fallon/The Gaslight Anthem on lyrics and melody; and Black Stone Cherry for vocal aggression.
Paddy, on the other hand, brings a lot of blues to the group with his love for Delta Blues, The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty.
Rob has been influenced by bands such as Black Label Society and Rory Gallagher. Finally, Liam’s biggest influences are Black Stone Cherry, Tyler Bryant and even some new-coming bands such as Dirty Honey.
How would you describe the style of music you write?
Our style is very strange in my opinion. It lives somewhere between rock ‘n’ roll, Americana and blues, with strong hints of country and southern rock.
What’s your songwriting process like?
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Songwriting is a difficult one, we all do it so differently depending on so many things.
I mainly start writing on an acoustic guitar, get a basic chord structure and melody, then bring it to the band to sculpt.
Paddy tries hard to start his writing process with something catchy, something people will remember, mainly with an awesome blues feel to it.
Rob writes the really heavy-hitting riffs, meaning he mainly needs a drummer there to help structure and understand where the riff sits.
Finally, Liam, it’s always a running joke that the drummer doesn’t really write the music.
However, Liam adds so much to the writing process with lyrics, melodies and sometimes even guitar, he normally sings a guitar line into the group chat then follows with a vocal melody.
I think us all having a different writing styles benefits us and helps ensure the songs are different and all have a new vibe.
Are you looking forward to playing the weekender?
Big Condo have given us some great gigs in the past and we always look forward to them, along with any gig we play!
We are really looking forward to hearing the other bands!
You can follow Black Smoke here and get tickets from them.
The Big Condo Weekender takes place on the beginning starting June 2.
Mersey Music 