Scroobious Pip and his new band are set to play in Limerick this week and Limerick Post caught up with him while on tour in Germany.
ON a brief hiatus from regular musical collaborator Dan Le Sac, Scroobius Pip released his solo album ‘Distraction Pieces’ in September 2011. Collaborating with Renholder (aka Danny Lohner NIN / A Perfect Circle), Richard Russell (XL), Zane Lowe and B Dolan among others he created a hard edged album that hit the bulls eye in a collision of punk, rock and hip hop influences. Compared to the previous two albums with Dan Le Sac, ‘Distraction Pieces’ is closer in spirit to the punk sound he played originally before swapping his bass guitar for a “more stable” career in poetry.
“We played Limerick a couple of years ago, I loved it. It was one of the rowdiest crowds on our tour that year, yeah, looking forward to going back.” says Pip, referring to the last time he and Dan Le Sac rocked Dolan’s in 2010 in what was on of the best gigs in Limerick that year.
This time Pip is back with a live band, drums, guitars and a laptop running some synth stuff. Reliable reports from this band’s show in Cork before Christmas and very positive about the sheer energy and delivery of the new album ‘Distraction Pieces’.
The new album saw Pip collaborate with many producers, musicians and hip hop artists and it was an experience that sharpened his musical instincts, he says, “hopefully that will be one of the great things about working on ‘Distraction Pieces’ because Dan le sac and I will be working on our third album in the coming months and I hope that I will be coming to that new project having learned something and bring something fresh from working with so many different people.”
The current tour sees Scroobious Pip play shows across Germany before coming to Ireland for four gigs. Our conversation turns to the current state of the music business, While playing live is a huge part of being in music, Pip is adamant that live touring must go hand in hand with recorded output. He says, “You wouldn’t enjoy live as much if you hadn’t been listening to the record. I think some have a misconception that live touring makes up for the deficit that artists and labels see through illegal downloads, I think its two completely separate things.
Particularly with independent labels where an artist might go out on tour and make money on merchandise but their label that put the record out could still go bankrupt cause nobody has paid for it. There is a lot of risk in the music industry at the moment, in a way that can be a good thing, it will get rid of a lot of the people that are just there to make a quick buck.”
When Limerick Post suggested that the future of alternative music may lie in artists getting grant aided by the state or patrons supporting new acts to get recording studio time, Pip was vehemently dismissive of such an idea, saying, “that’s never a good thing, I hate the idea of a music industry that’s full of sh*ts with rich uncles or arts council funding. It shouldn’t be like that. There’s a great unpredictably about music and that is what is exciting about it where a small band can come from nowhere and really blow up.”
See Scroobius Pip and his new live band blow up this week when the band play Dolan’s on Monday March 12 with support from B. Dolan. Pip’s solo album ‘Distraction Pieces’ is out now.
