Newry Band Hears London Calling

Their achievement is made all the more impressive by the fact that the band did not even intend to enter the competition.
"As a general rule, we do not do competitions, we are a band, we do gigs," explains Colly Cranney, bassist and vocalist with Shoot The Freak.

"We got involved in this whole thing by accident really. We sent a copy of or new album, to HMV in the hope that they could stock it on their shelves, and we got this e mail back inviting us to take part in the No Sleep Til Hammersmith competition.
"Like I said we generally do not do competitions or the like, but we figured since we had been invited we wouldd give it a go.

"It is also a great opportunity to get our name out there and play in front of some of the top dogs from HMV and various record labels.

"The competition has also done a lot for other bands, even those that have not won, some of them have gone on to support the likes of AC/DC, plus, who would not want to play in the Hammersmith."

After wowing the judges with their recorded material, the band will now play live, today, at The Garage in London, in one of the final rounds of the competition.

Far from feeling the pressure however, Colly says the band is all revved up for the gig.

"Live is where we are at our best, it is where we really shine," he said.

"We are a rock and roll band, people come to our gigs and they get an hour and 20 minutes of pure music, so we are really looking forward to getting on stage.

He also admits that taking part in the competition has brought other perks.

"They are flying us over there, all expenses paid and setting us up in a hotel," he said.

"We have got a 30 minute gig to do and then we are let loose in London for 72 hours with our own hotel room and a pocket full of change."

His tone seems to suggest that the hotel would do well to bolt their TV to the wall and bar the windows.

Despite the obvious opportunities the competition throws up, Colly insists it will be neither the making nor breaking of Shoot The Freak.

"It is a great opportunity, but win or lose, we are still going to be out there doing our thing," he said.
"You do not make a successful band by winning competitions, you gig, tour, release albums, build a support base, put in the work.

"We are looking at this whole thing as a bit of craic and a chance to get playing for some bigwigs in London, that is it."
It would appear that the band can afford such an attitude; their live shows have built them a loyal fan base here in Ireland, while their new album has been receiving plenty of airplay in Europe.
"The album has been selling really well on iTunes, it is getting more and more downloads every day, strangely, the majority of them coming from Europe," he said.

"Irish radio is s***e, it is obsessed with this brit-pop crap, there is no room for anything different, radio here is dead in the water frankly.

"You find a greater scope of music on European radio and we have been getting some serious play on stations out there.
"We are also getting a lot of respect from critics and the press, we have been called "Irelands new rockers", "the new punk," we have even been described as the "the rock and roll swindle all over again," I like that one."

Shoot The Freak play The Garage in London today, (July 26) with a chance to perform in the final at the world famous Hammersmith Apollo.

Their new album, Trigger Happy Breakdown, is available on iTunes now.