Paper/Boy [Interview].

(l-r) Maria Canavan (bass), Caoilfhinn McFadden (lead guitar), Joshua McNutt (vocals and guitar), Lochláinn Kelly (drums)
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Paper/Boy are keen newcomers to the Derry scene and they are excited about the future. They describe themselves as a 'mediocre indie rock' band but when you see them play live it is clear that they are not mediocre. They connect backwards to The Velvet Underground and Joy Division and compare well to current acts like Car Seat Headrest. Their music has a edge, but for a relatively new band, there's a maturity also. I sat down with them before a Belfast supporting slot with Crywank to discuss musical influences, inspiration and prospects for 2018.

How would you describe you sound to  anyone who's never heard you before?

Lochláinn: I would describe our sound as 'mediocre indie rock'. *laughter* Nah, it's got emotional lyrics with anthemica sounds. Really powerful and emotional indie rock, that's what I'd say.

Josh: I use a lot of heavy dynamic between being loud and quiet a lot just to keep people engaged. A lot of the songs are written to be performed and so if you're looking for that kind of sound where it can be quiet when you need it to and even if it is a loud song, you can relate to it when you want some down time.

What's your first memory of ever wanting to play music?

Lochláinn: Having very little options in school... so I took up music class with only my voice and then I realised 'I actually have to play an instrument' so I took up drums and then with that I wanted to start a band with someone, someone to play guitar. So I met Josh through music class and that's how it all began.

Josh: No one's gonna like this answer! I was seven years old in the car with my friend and I had a huge crush on her. And I think 'Love The Way You Lie' came on the radio and I was like, 'I like music now'. But that's not the music I listen to at all. It really developed when I met Lochláinn at school and I started listening to the non-mainstream stuff that he loves, acts like Car Seat Headrest, Bell X1 and everything, and I just became huge fans of them. Just to perform what would influence me a lot would be Damien Rice just for saying things that weren't really used in lyrics, 'cause I don't like cliche lyrics purely because I feel that everyone can say something new so it just seems lazy on the writer's part. And then just watching Leonard Cohen who's got that charisma on stage that I strive to achieve.
Caoilfhinn: Music for me, has always been in my life but I only started wanting to play an instrument two or three years ago. I always had instruments in the house but I never really gravitated towards them. I heard music all my life but the first time I wanted to play was when I heard The Stone Roses and I thought, "Wow, I really want to start playing that, I wanna learn that" and wanted to form a band because it seemed enjoyable.
Maria: I started playing guitar when I was ten and then gravitated towards bass because it's fun and I was at Music Hothouse [summer music course for teens ran by the Nerve Centre in Derry] and no one else wanted to play the bass so I was just kind of stuck with it - Josh was there too - that was the first time I had picked up the bass guitar properly and learnt how to play it. The first song I learnt was 'Can't Stop' by Red Hot Chilli Peppers 'cause I had seen them in Tenants Vital beforehand and oh my god, Flea was lit! The only reason I run around wearing an Hawaiian shirt - Flea. What a legend! I just kind of learnt an instrument because I just wanted to be in a band and I didn't want to be the one playing a tambourine in the background going, 'I can play too!'

Have your songs been influenced by any bands in particular?

Lochláinn: I'd like to think going off what Josh had said, the lyrics have the same kind of delivery as Damien Rice and Paul Noonan from Bell X1 was a big inspiration that we both looked up to. His form of writing is absolutely amazing, very witty stuff. I'm only speaking for me and Josh but we both got into Car Seat Headrest so that sort of sound from their new album, that really kind of travelled into our sound as well.

Josh: It's like a genre of lyrics all on it's own for those 3 bands. I only started listening to a band called The Front Bottoms yesterday and I listened to two songs, one of which was called 'Twin Sized Mattress' and that whole thing kind of resonated with me, I don't know how to explain it - the lyrics are subversive and aren't used a lot, like 'Twin Sized Mattress' isn't a very common metaphor and either is... Bell X1, they have a song called 'One String Heart'. Damian Rice is just big into writing songs about heartbreak but every time it's something new and it's not romanticised at all, he just says it like it is and for Car Seat Headrest I like to imagine everything is just a concepts album of Will Toledo's mind and what he's thinking.

Caoilfhinn: Well Lochlainn and Josh have kind of got me into Car Seat Headrest more because I wasn't that deep into indie, I was more rough round the edges indie but I'm more in depth with it now, definitely. 

Maria: I just really like the Beatles! Like I wanna be the next John Lennon. I just like the Beatles.

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If you could join any band what would it be?

Lochláinn: That's a tough one ... I'd love to join once of the member's of Modern Baseball's side projects, like Slaughter Beach, Dog - that band is absolutely amazing, I'd love to be in that but other than that, it would be pretty cool to go with Car Seat Headrest or Los Campesinos. I think that would be a really tight experience - lovely people in that band. Also I love their music so it's only fitting.
Josh: Arcade Fire...

Maria: Wait I wanna join Arcade Fire! 

Well they have a lot of people...

Josh: That's why I wanna join them! Counting Crows have like 10 people in their band and I'd love to join Counting Crows 'cause I don't think at the moment I'm a talented enough song-writer to pull it off, but I'd love to have just a bunch of instruments in songs and Counting Crows and Arcade Fire pull that off flawlessly.

Caoilfhinn: For me, either The Stone Roses or Chic who are heavy influences on my guitar playing. Also Johnny Mar and The Smiths would be big influences on me so probably one of those three.

Maria: Arcade Fire, Paramore or The Beatles - believe it or not. Paramore was probably one of the first songs I learnt how to play on guitar and then Arcade Fire - I learnt all of the first album 'Funeral' for the guitar and I just kind of learnt how to play guitar after learning Arcade Fire. I just love Arcade Fire.

What is your favourite part about playing music?

Lochláinn:: I think my favourite part about playing music is the sense of bonding we get from playing music in local places. We play a lot of shows in Derry and since 2016 we've been very involved in the scene there. There's the Nerve Centre - a tonne of amazing local bands coming out of there that we're had the pleasure of supporting and playing with and talking to personally. So I guess it's just the camaraderie of playing music - knowing theres always people there who will support you. Like that's absolutely amazing to me and it makes me excited to play more gigs. 

Josh: Lochláinn hit it on the nail with the camaraderie thing. The other thing I'd say to add on to that - that would either be my number one or number two reason - but I feel like I can do something and managing this band and having these steady gigs the last three months, having to keep it going - all the gigs have been decent to like really really good and playing with bands like Crywank tonight, Foreign Owl in the Nerve Centre - actual role models in music. And our first gig was with Brand New Friend in Masons and now they have a record deal. But yeah, the idea that you can prove yourself with it.

Caoilfhinn: Music for me is getting how you feel out there, expressing yourself and you don't need to translate it - it's there. You just need to listen to it and you get the feelings that the writer has.

Maria: My favourite thing about music is the feeling you get after a gig but also the fact you get to be yourself which today is really hard to do. Music really helped me in terms of coming out and dealing with shit I didn't really want to go through. I've met so many new people, decent people and I just learnt a sense of fearlessness - like I can go out in the middle of town wearing an Hawaiian shirt in the middle of winter not giving a single fuck! And it's great, that's what I love about music. 

Where do you get the inspiration for your songs?

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Josh: Usually the songs are about a character and that character can be an amalgamation of people I know. So 'Juno' is about my best friend and two other girls I know and one girl I was going out with, and that kind of made that character in that song about her. Paper/Boy, the name, started off as just me doing a couple of acoustic songs I was just gonna do on my own and then it became a band later which I much prefer... but 'Paper/Boy' in itself was meant to be a character - sounds really pretentious I know and I hate when musicians take themselves seriously! We have a song called 'It's All Flirting and Fun' and that song is just a joke - it's based on a conversation I had with my best friend Gráinne and she was like, "Josh the reason you're not getting girls at the moment is because you're an 8/10 looks wise but you need to learn to shut the hell up!" So I just wrote a song about that. It helps just being aware of yourself, not like 'ooh I write music so I'm better than everybody else' but it's writing music to relate to everybody else.

What can we expect from Paper/Boy in 2018?

Lochláinn:In 2018 we are hopefully not going to end as a band...

Not like everybody else?

Nah nah, that's what you'd expect. We're currently gonna go to a studio at the end of the month and record a song and hopefully that means we won't stop going to the studio... I'd like to think we'd have an EP out by the end of the year, but other than that we've been looking to get more gigs. Whether it be in Derry or maybe abroad, I don't know. But 2018 looks really exciting for the band and I'm happy to be a part of it. 

Josh: More t-shirts! We're gonna make more t-shirts so shoutout to anyone who wants a t-shirt. And hats and beanies, tank tops, socks, shoes....oh and CDs as well! But other than that, just music pretty much. 

What is the dream outcome for the band?

Lochláinn: I'd like to thing that one of the main goals is to just have things recorded and to have some sort of success and recognition in the local scene and just play more gigs and get more well-known to be honest, I would look forward to that. As much as I love playing gigs, you just wanna make it more worth while.

Josh: The sky is the limit!

Maria: I thought you were staying away from clichés? 

Josh: It's not a lyric, it's okay. Thats my excuse. Nah, seriously though. When we're doing an interview with Ryan Tubridy on The Late Late Show - I'll be happy. But until then, it's get there or die trying. 

Caoilfhinn: Just kind of get our ideas across to our fanbase and just hopefully grow a fanbase and carry on from there and see where the ride takes us.

Maria: I wanna meet some icons! Morrissey possibly, Hayley Williams - I wanna meet icons with this band. I wanna do support for these people. Or they could support us!

Morrissey supporting Paper/Boy...

Fine then, David Byrne supporting us. That would be a show!

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