O Emperor: Waterford’s melodic kings in waiting

JOE meets accomplished tunesmiths O Emperor, Waterford's finest musical exports since Gilbert O'Sullivan.

By Nick Bradshaw

Think of major Irish music scenes and there's a good chance that the scene around Waterford won’t instantly spring to mind. Ditto there aren’t too many famous musicians from the city. The city gave us octogenarian, cardigan-wearing crooner Val Doonican, it produced singer/songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan who was huge in the early 70s… and, er, that’s about it.

That's until now. O Emperor hail from our oldest city, and they’re definitely knocking on the door of fame and getting ready to add their name to the all-too-short list that made up of Waterford's well-known musical alumni.

The band released their debut album Hither, Thither on 1 October after honing their art playing gigs and festivals across the country (including providing support for Mumford & Sons) and becoming well-regarded by those in the know. Just like Val Doonican and Gilbert O’Sullivan before them, they even bagged a recent slot on The Late Late Show.

“We’re quite big fans of Gilbert O’Sullivan, actually,” says O Emperor frontman Paul Savage. “Great melodies, great lyrics. He was the Irish Elton John – back when Elton was writing the really good early stuff. Basically we’re fans of classic songwriting.”

Importantly they caught the eye of the talent scouts of Universal Records Ireland, part of the world’s biggest record label. By that stage they’d rented a cottage in Co Cork and had a long list of songs recorded from which to chose the best.

“We moved into the Cork place together, we did paid gigs doing cover versions in pubs and got a range of other jobs to keep up us going. It meant we could go from sounding a lot like other bands to developing as a group and developing our own sound,” says drummer and vocalist Brendan Fennessy.

“The cottage was dirt cheap and in the middle of nowhere. The landlord was a bit dubious about renting out to a group of young lads, so we had to tell him we were into meditation rather than that we were in a band.

“I don’t think it hurt us at all that we weren’t based in Dublin. In Dublin you can keep going out, playing gig after gig, but we couldn’t do that. And I think because of that, the gigs we did play were always important events for us and we’d work really hard rehearsing and getting things right before them.

“We’d introduce new songs and get rid of songs that weren't that good before many people had heard us, rather than have to do our growing up in front of everyone up in Dublin.”

School friends

They did their growing up together in more ways than just musically, having all met while at school. They've now played together for the best part of a decade. “We had differing musical tastes, but we all loved music,” says Paul.

“We weren’t the cool kids. We were in the school choir for a start.” Joining the school choir may well have been a good career move, given that their vocal harmonies are a key part of O Emperor's rich, layered sound.

With Universal’s major label clout behind them, they stand a good chance of making it onto the map. Pleasingly, they’re not just ‘the next big thing’, they’re accomplished musicians with an impressive knack for writing and arranging songs. They’re the sort of act who deserve to do well but don’t always get the chance in a world full of Jedwards and bubblegum pop.

“We seem to be getting a following from a slightly older audience, including music critics, who seem to appreciate where our influences come from,” Paul says. “We’re the sort of people who like to listen carefully to tracks in order to work out how a band got a particular sound, or to work out how a particular chord sequence fits together. We seem to attract people to our music who do the same.”

O Emperor’s music has got the feel of laid-back West Coast California in the late 60s and early 70s, with more than a touch of the hippyish vibe of Crosbie, Stills, Nash & Young (with a touch of Wings, The Beach Boys, Bread, The Band and the more contemporary Flaming Lips or Radiohead thrown in for good measure). It benefits from taking time out to appreciate the precisely crafted harmonies and to tune in to chord changes that’ll cause the hairs to rise up on the back of your neck.

In fact, to properly enjoy Hither Thither, you need to turn your phone to silent, lock the door and settle into your favourite chair. “Actually, at Electric Picnic this year, a good portion of the crowd sat down to listen to us,” Brendan says.

Hither Thither is out now and O Emperor are touring Ireland until Saturday 6 November when they play the Sugar Club, Dublin.