Daily Archives : June 12th, 2013

Interview: Million Dollar Reload and Trucker Diablo

Having grown in stature, fanbase acclaim over the last year, there can be no question whatsoever that Million Dollar Reload and Trucker Diablo are two of the exciting and accomplished hard rock acts in the country right now. Joining fellow rockers, headliners The Answer at this year’s festival, we catch up with their respect frontmen, Phil Conalane and Tom Harte, to get their thoughts on all things Glasgowbury.
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This is the first year that both bands have played Glasgowbury. How are you feeling ahead of the show?

Phil: Yeah, Million Dollar Reload are very exciting about playing Glasgowbury, but to be honest I’d say we are all a tiny bit nervous. I’ll explain why. This is our first “mainstream” festival and we are used to playing at full on rock festivals such as Download Festival and Bloodstock festival in the UK. The audiences are full blown metal/rock audiences at those festivals and they know exactly what they are going to get in an Million Dollar Reload set.

 

Tom: Yeah thanks for having us – really looking forward to it. It’s a festival we always wanted to play and we can’t wait to get in front of a home festival crowd and really cook it up…

 

Phil: The Glasgowbury audience will be a lot more diverse – maybe 30-40% full blown “rockheads” – so we will have our work cut out to win them over but we are up for the challenge. We are not gonna “tailor” our set or “lighten” it up in anyway just to fit-in; we are just goin to do our thing and play our brand of rock n roll and make sure the Glasgowbury audience has a good time while we are on stage.

 

What has been the band’s experience with Glasgowbury as festival-goers?

Phil: It’s kind of unfortunate really. Every year Glasgowbury has been on we have been playing at other festivals or on tour. Although Finn (drums) has only been in Million Dollar Reload for less than a year I know for sure he has been at Glasgowbury loads of times. In fact, he has played at Glasgowbury with his previous band (Swanee River) and he tells us its a fantastic festival so that bodes well!

Tom: I have never been myself, but loads of friends have been and said it’s like a big party in your backyard with loads of mates around. So can’t wait to get involved in that!

What do you think make Glasgowbury unique? Why does it stand out?

Phil: It’s unique from the point of few that it has got bigger and bigger every year. The tag “Small but Massive” doesn’t really apply anymore I’d say – it has grown so much. It is without doubt the most important festival in Northern Ireland and probably the whole of Ireland. They seem to book the established bands and the upcoming bands too. I know for sure through our management and label in the UK that it is definitely an internationally recognised festival now and that can only be a good thing for all concerned. Paddy Glasgow and his team have done a fantastic job building the festivals reputation and prestige over the years.

Tom: Apart from being the only festival I know called Glasgowbury, it’s an awesome platform to celebrate all the great talent we have in our wee country. It’s becoming a bit of an institution. Years ago people would have been talking about looking forward to Feile or Sunstroke. But these days it’s all about Glasgowbury baby.

In your view, how important are the likes of homegrown festivals like Glasgowbury to Northern Irish music generally?

Phil: It is definitely very important, bringing all the best and biggest bands across all genres onto one festival can only be a good thing. It gives all the Glasgowbury festival goers the opportunity to see a lot of acts they probably wouldn’t normally get a chance to see. The Irish press, north and south, will all be there too, giving bands that normally would be overlooked a few column inches in reviews. That is also a good positive thing.

Tom: In my opinion, very important. For us, we almost had to go away to come back. We have been working hard on building our profile outside of the country to broaden the appeal. Our fans here have been amazing and to get a chance to showcase at N.I’s premier festival is a great opportunity. Also a great opportunity for other local bands, it’s a statement that says this is the cream of the crop of Northern Irish talent. It can open doors to better things and get their music out to people who may not have heard of them. People always say to me there are so many great bands from N.I. I couldn’t agree more.

With the Answer headlining and there being other rock acts on the bill, what do you think about the genre’s representation at this year’s festival

Phil: Yeah, that’s what pleases me the most this year. I definitely don’t think its just a token gesture by putting a few rock bands on the festival. Over the past few years the hard rock bands in Northern Ireland have been building international audiences and reputations and selling a lot of albums worldwide, so I think it would be just weird to ignore the rock bands in this country, on the biggest Northern Ireland festival. I mean, The Answer have sold tens of thousands albums all over the world, toured the world with the biggest band in the world, AC/DC. We have have played the biggest rock Festival on the planet Download Festival – three times in five years! We signed to the biggest indepentent rock label in Europe, Frontiers Records, last year and put out our second album A Sinners Saint with them and its selling really, really well all over the world. We’ve toured consistently over the past few years including the USA and mainland Europe and not too sound in any way arrogant, we deserve a spot at Glasgowbury this year. And with our buddies Trucker Diablo, who are also doing fantastically well, there is sure to be a slab of rock served up at Glasgowbury this year.

Tom: It’s awesome. Northern Ireland always had enough rock bands for its own festival and for Glasgowbury to sit up and take notice its shows that we are all doing something right and bringing focus on the country through our music and that is a great thing.

What other acts at this year’s festival are you looking forward see?

Phil: And So I Watch You From Afar is the one band I definitely want to see at the festival. I’ve heard so many good things about them that it would be a sin not to see their set. I’ve heard a few Japanese Popstars records so I think I want to see them too. I’d say we will try an get to see as many bands as possible over the weekend but those two are on the priority list.

Tom: Apart from Million Dollar Reload and The Answer, I am really looking forward to checking out newer bands I haven’t heard before. Also looking forward to seeing Furlo, my old mate Robyn G Sheils and ASIWYFA.

Aside from playing Glasgowbury what are the plans for the band over the summer?

Phil: We have a lot going on right now. We have a live album coming out at some point later in the summer, so a new release always brings a lot of press/promo stuff, interviews, radio sessions etc. We have a few European festivals to do, one in particular that we are really looking forward too is the GP Motorbike festival in Holland – that should be great! We have shows in France again and Germany also. Throw in a few home gigs with all that and we are pretty busy over the coming months.

Tom: Yeah we are pretty busy over the summer. We will are taking our second trip back to Europe at the end of June, then at the end of July we will be in the UK for a few festivals. After that we will be back home to play some local shows and festivals. In October we will be doing our first headline UK tour to promote the album and after that back to Europe again. See ya soon – trucker hugs.

Tickets for Glasgowbury 2013 are available to buy here.

Small But MASSIVE.