Rising sons
Photo: Fergus Carson-Williams
Fergus Carson-Williams intrepidly tracked down The Japanese Popstars and talked to the Derry boys about their new found success.
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ll it took was a drunken encounter at a well known club in Dublin – a signed mandarin orange later and I had managed to secure an interview with The Japanese Popstars. Declan McLaughlin, Gary Curran and Gareth Donoghue, who make up the electro trio, agreed to meet me in Belfast for what was to be my first ever journalistic venture. With a slot at the Trinity Ball secured, two wins at the 2009 Irish Music Awards and several major music festivals under their belts, the band are clearly destined for greater things than making up the numbers in the international electronica community. The Popstars’ impressive list of accomplishments made the build up to the encounter somewhat daunting. Armed with and brand new dictaphone and a friend for security I waited in the lobby of a hotel to meet the hottest property in Irish dance music. After reassurances that they would go easy on me, Declan and Gary from the band told me about the creation of the Derrybased Popstars. Drunk in a field at Oxegen about two years ago, the lads decided that they could blag their way into the festival the next year for free by creating a live act. After producing “Rodney Trotter,” Declan and Gary were offered a full live show, but with only one song they were in hot water.
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Gary enlisted the help of Gareth, an acquaintance he had only met twice before, who was able to produce music in a live environment, and after a lot of hard work, the Popstars were born and ready to perform. The name stemmed from Declan’s fascination with Japan. “I had always wanted to go there. I was passing a bar and the name just came to me, I called Gary on the spot and he immediately started laughing”. Gary burst in, “it was only because I was ginger, Irish and the furthest thing away from Japanese that I agreed! Now most people think we’re going to be Japanese when they meet us.” Initially, the not-so-Japanese trio mobilised a large fan base by frequently gigging in Ireland and using online blogging sites, such as MySpace, to showcase their latest music productions. Evidence of the group’s success is clear from the number of uploaded videos available on the internet of the Popstars’ performances. Declan’s captivation with Japan reached a new level in 2008 when the Popstars were signed to Beatink Japan (home of Aphex Twin, Diplo and Underworld) and offered a Japanese tour date with Justice and Basement Jaxx. When I asked Declan what it was like to tour with Justice he seemed more enthusiastic about Japan, which he claimed was “the best place in the world”, rather
than Justice, famous for their rock and roll approach to electronic music, who ironically “just sat about sleeping all day or else getting their hair done by their personal stylists.” Despite this, Declan and Gary were both star-struck whilst on a train with Basement Jaxx, Vitalic and Crookers. Gary laughed, “I kept them all back from getting home on the second night because I was late for the bus. We were always the last ones home. ‘Typical Irish,’ they’d say.” Declan revealed that the Popstars are planning another tour of Japan, in conjunction with the release of their second album Panic Stations in July, but left me in suspense as to with whom they would be touring. For numerous fans of The Japanese Popstars, including myself, the most appealing aspect of the band is their hands-in-the-air vibe and raw energy whilst performing live; “we get very sweaty” Declan confirmed. The Popstars do not use a conventional DJ set-up onstage. Instead, the group use synth keyboards, drum machines and laptops to produce music live in a way more akin to a typical instrumental band. “We‘ve got spoons, a triangle and a tambourine,” as Declan put it. Gary runs music production programs onstage continually adding to the tracks: “we‘re constantly chopping and changing our act according to the crowd, which makes each performance unique.” However, when I put it to the lads that their live sets had been compared to arena dance acts like Chemical Brothers, Prodigy and Orbital they were more than humble. It was engaging to hear how Declan and Gary could be so modest when the band have achieved
so much in such a short space of time. “It makes us scared, we grew up with these people who have influenced us but at the same time it’s unnerving to be put in that league of producers,” said Declan. Despite the modesty, the Popstars have been asked to do several collaborations which seem to highlight the high degree of their success and reputation. I asked Declan about their collaboration with Groove Armada on the track “Get Down.” “It started off that a guy from the Trinity Rooms got chatting to Groove Armada about our work. The next thing we got a call from them asking if we could do a remix, we all said ‘of course!’ They liked it that much that they decided to give us a collaboration instead, which was brilliant.” Perhaps it was this collaboration which caught the attention of Beyonce’s producers who recently asked the Popstars to do a remix of her new singles “If I Was a Boy” and “Single Ladies.” “We don‘t get a choice on what we remix. What happened was ‘If I Was a Boy’ came out through our label. We sent across a chilled out version and a dance version and she liked both of them, so they asked us to do ‘Single Ladies’ as well.” The Popstars are currently working on more collaborations, but because of an exclusive contract with EMI they couldn’t tell me who they are working with. Far from being overwhelming, spending time with two of my musical heroes reaffirmed my approbation for them. As the Japstars posed for pictures I was excited about seeing them perform alongside Digitalism later knowing I had discovered more about the Japanese hype. Roll on the Trinity Ball. 21 April – 4 May, 2009
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