A chit-chat with...
Music
THE CANDIDATES
www.myspace.com/funkthecandidates
What are your nicknames for each other? Deane: Mark is ‘Dirty Rigs’ or ‘Dr D Fine’. Ciaran D. is ‘Dusty’ and Ciaran K. is ‘The Hurricane’ or just ‘Keogh’. Graham occasionally goes by his alter-ego ‘Dr Beef’. Tim, after complaining that he has no nickname, has been gifted with the moniker of ‘Chicken Ball Higgins’.
How did you come together to make this style of music? Mark: About three years ago, a few of us worked together in a video-shop and started gathering musicians for a funk band. About a year later, we had our first gig and from there it has just grown and grown. What are your party-tricks? Dusty: Origami and petty larceny. What’s your most fun group activity (apart from playing music together)? What’s the strangest thing that has happened at one Ciaran D: Just hangin' out, listening to a few tunes, having of your gigs? the craic together. After that, we crochet. Deane: Nothing particularly strange during a gig, but we did manage to capture a ghostly voice on tape while How do you keep each other entertained? practising one evening. It seemed to say ‘I killed a child, I Ciaran D: A wealth of inside jokes and stupid phrases put it in the wall’. But it was fairly garbled and probably usually keep us laughing. could have been saying anything. To be on the safe side, Deane: With nine people in the band, usually a few of us we burnt all our clothes and instruments, and spent a are in a good mood and that tends to keep us all going week in a sweat-lodge in Cavan. through the 12 or so hours we see of each other, each week. Who’s the best dancer out of the collective? Ruth: Tim Who gets the most attention out of all of you at a gig? Mark: Tim Ciaran K: Graham, it's that 5th string! Dusty: Tim Graham: Offstage, it is Ciaran K. though, drunk people Keogh:Tim always want a go of his bongos. Deane: Tim