THREE members from 1980s Limerick group Toucandance reunited adding musician John Steel to complete the lineup. The Flag Listeners played a residency in The Kasbah Club, Dolan’s in Limerick throughout 2016, honing their dynamic, all original set with gigs sometimes stretching for up to two and a half hours.
Eamonn Hehir previously fronted Toucandance in the late eighties/ early nineties, released one single, ‘Green Eyes’, and ‘The Telephone’ on ‘The Reindeer Age’ compilation album.
John Steele has released two singles, ‘Chink In My Armour’ and ‘Waving At Magpies’ under the names Tumbledown and Fall Dogs. Ex-Toucandance rhythm section Sean Fox and Tony Brennan complete the lineup.
Their first single ‘Birds Fly’/’Well Played Mr. Lemmon’ in late 2016 was an introduction to the group’s thoughtful lyrics and developing sound.
Their debut album “and other short stories” gets its launch this weekend. Eamonn Hehir helped Limerick Post with their enquiries.
‘And Other Short Stories’ What is the reason behind the name?
I was going to call my previous album “The Flag Listeners and other short stories” but It looked a bit too long! I settled on just ‘The Flag Listeners’ which gave the band its name. So, “and other short stories” completes the title. I suppose the title and cover stress that these are real songs, words and music, telling their individual stories, not riffs with lyrics tacked on. But mainly, we just liked the sound of it!
Is Flag Listeners very different from what you envisioned when you formed initially?
Yes. I formed the band in order to play the songs from my solo albums, ‘Blood Mill Road’ and “The Flag Listeners”. Quickly, the other members of the band expanded that brief. So, while the album follows on from what I’ve done before, it’s very much a band album and sounds like the band does live.
Is there a theme emerging from the lyrics of the finished album?
Not really, it’s certainly not a concept album! John has three songs on it and we co-wrote another, so the perspectives vary quite a bit. There are wholesome themes like love and friendship interspersed liberally with less heartwarming themes like danger, madness and even golf (courtesy of John’s homage to Jack Lemmon.)
