The Electric Moccasins Rock On

Alex said, “We have been working on trying to build up more of a following with our recent material. Of course it would be fantastic to make it big on the scene but we are just plugging away practising and gigging regularly. Our last big gig was at the Pigstock Festival on the main stage in Killinchy which is an excellent, growing festival. It was a brilliant two days with upwards of 40 bands going at it. We really enjoyed the festival and would love to be invited back” [caption id="attachment_25033" align="alignright" width="400" caption="The Electric Moccasins... Alex and Eoghan Johnston with Ryan McGreevy, centre."][/caption] “Over the next few weeks or so we will be recording new singles and at some stage we’ll hopefully be joining BBC Radio Ulster presenter Gerry Anderson live in the studio to perform a more stripped down acoustic set. We will be changing the format of the band and I’ll likely be taking over as lead singer. As a result we’re on the lookout for a drummer who is passionate about a wide variety of styles and more importantly someone who can jam… somebody easy to work with. He’ll have to share our mad passion!” “In January this year we changed our whole direction by forming The Electric Moccasins. We still play bluesy rock as well bringing 80’s Indie and 70’s Punk sounds into the mix. We’ve always intended to write and perform our own original music and we enjoy nothing more than hearing that people enjoy our material.” The Electric Mocassins are definitely live wires when it comes to influences naming a few such as 80’s Indie, Britpop, 70s punk, classic rock, blues, NWOBHM, Stoner rock, reggae, ska and even traditional Irish music. Phew! “We do original music most of the time.,” said Alex, “As far as fame and riches are concerned we would not say no to all that but we have our feet firmly planted on the ground. Our music is evolving. It is a growing experience. We believe and we have been told that we sound different from other groups, which is a good thing I guess! [caption id="attachment_25035" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Rockers on the way up... The Electric Moccasins. "][/caption] “Most of the time we get invites from promoters to play in gigs and venues and over the summer holidays we hope to be playing at least every other weekend. At the moment Ryan and I have just finished our A-level exams at Down High School and hope to go to Queen’s University next year. My brother Eoghan has just finished his exams at Blackwater College and hopes to study Music at Belfast Met next year. Moving to Belfast next year we hope to gain more contacts in bands and promoters and that’ll hopefully help us a lot!” The hungry musicians have already released a few EP’s under their old name and have release two singles under The Electric Moccasins guise. They are planning to release a few more singles this summer if all goes well. Alex added, “We’ve been lucky in getting good coverage on BBC Radio and ATL and a few other slots on air. Gerry Anderson has been a great fan of ours playing us quite a few times on the air which we are delighted about. We will be doing a live slot with him coming up sometime soon. “Over the summer we will be recording our latest songs. We hope to record at our own studio at home, and perhaps get the material mastered at a professional studio elsewhere. We had our last EP mastered by Declan Legge at Big Space Studios in Newry. He did a fantastic job! Alex had to stop and think about whether or not they had a pick of the bunch from the many tunes they have written. He said, “I’d say one of our favourites to play would be one of our blues-rock tunes called ‘Where I Want To Be’…that could maybe be seen as a bit of an anthem! “And in terms of the fan-favourites it would probably be one of our recent singles ‘A Place Apart’ or ‘Hide The Stars’, both our own.” “I suppose an important part of getting our music message across is social networking, as it is will all bands nowadays. We use Facebook a lot to build up our fan base and we can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/TheElectricMoccasins “Hopefully will all being well in the future we’ll continue to release material and play as much as possible, as well as perhaps planning a tour across the water. That is all in front of us. The Electric Moccasins sound is what we want to grow over the next year or two and we will be giving it our best shot.” But I could see the guys wanted to get on with their practice session in their studio near Crossgar. As I left I could hear their bluesy-rock vibrating all the way down the Killyeagh Road, up the Belfast Road and back to my office at the Down Business Centre. It was firmly planted in my skull and sometimes when I think of The Electric Moccasins, it rears up again in volume. Definitely a sound that you don’t forget in a hurry.]]>