Talking To...Paul McKenna
I first discovered The Paul McKenna Band, (Paul Mckenna, Rua Macmillan, Sean Gray, Ewan Baird and David McNee) following a recommendation from Hugh Taylor, who runs the Moniaive Festival in Scotland and Paul had been and is a regular visitor to the village of the same name.
The band had not long since released their debut album "Between Two Worlds" and most of them were going to Cambridge as punters, rather than as musicians, but Brian McNeill found a slot for them as part of the session.
I was hugely impressed with both the bands music and attitude. Here was a band of young consummate musicians and not a hint of arrogance, just a knowledge that they could deliver both live and on recording.
I've seen most of the band on a number of occasions as well as a number of side projects such as Sean & Robyn Gray, The Rua MacMillan Trio and through the Paul McKenna Band been introduced to other rising stars of the Scottish Traditional music scene, Breabach and Bodega.
The band have been touring extensively in recent months and have a solid Summer on the road, but fortunately they found time to get into the studio and record their second album, "Stem The Tide" which was recently released on Greentrax. It seemed like a good time to pick up the phone and have a chat with Paul.
#PM=Paul McKenna #NK=Neil King
#NK First of all congratulations on your new album, I'm really enjoying it.
#PM Thanks very much.
#NK It seems to be harder than its predecessor, much more of an edge to it.
#PM More of an edge? I suppose it has. We spent longer and had longer to work on this one. We wanted it to be a step up from the last one.
#NK I think you've achieved that you can feel the evolution of the band through this album and the graft you've put in live.
#PM Live was very important to us. We wanted the album so that we could take it live. It's one of the things we think about before we record anything. Brian McNeill who produced the album has worked with us a lot and seen us perform a lot, which really helps the recording process.
#NK There's a wider range of songs on this album. How difficult was it to narrow down the songs you chose for the album?
#PM It was difficult enough. We had more songs than we needed for the album. We picked the best from our live set and then some that were pretty new, that most people wouldn't have heard. It was enough that we could get together and work it and have the best stuff come out.
#NK For me the two tracks that stand out and show just how you are maturing as a band are "Silent Majority" and "Dreams Of Darien" which are also two of the most political songs on the album, though from very different times.
#PM "Silent Majority" we got that one from Lionel McClelland. It took us a while to get that one worked up. It's one of those songs that speaks for its self lyrically. It's just a wonderful song.
"Dreams Of Darien" is one of our own songs. "Dreams Of Darien" is one that we haven't played at all live and which, musically was put together for the recording.
#NK It's also the one that harks the most back to Scotland's past. As an Englishman listening to the album, it opened up an event I hadn't been aware of, or at least not to any real degree. It's a song that makes you want to read more about it.
#PM It's an interesting event for a lot of Scottish people and it's history. It's still playing a part in what is happening today. Not a lot of people know the key role that it had in shaping the country. I thought it was a good subject to write a song about.
#NK I like any album that educates me and that song makes you want to find out more. There's enough there for the story and enough to provide the background to discover more. More importantly though, you can feel the passion in the song.
#PM I had the words for the song for about a year or so and different ideas about the sound. Marie's father suggested that I write a song about this and after studying more about it when I was at university, it just seemed to come. Brian McNeill gave me some more thoughts as we put the music to it.
#NK It's also an album that seems to reflect what the band has been doing in it's travelling. Greenland, Canada, following the Scottish trail west.
#PM It wasn't a conscious decision to put songs on it like that, but I suppose we are travelling more and you do get to listen to a lot more the further you go. You pick up songs, you pick up influences on the road.
#NK How did the American part of the tour go?
#PM Very, very well. We've toured there several times now, including Canada. We'll be going back again. We're getting good audiences. Everyone seems to be reacting well to us.
#NK They certainly seem to appreciate their music.
#PM They do. There's a lot of Scottish, Irish and English ex-pats and descendants out there. A lot of them like to come and talk to you after the gig and talk about their history. You get good feedback.
#NK You also tend to feel their reaction more during the gig. I forget who said it, but someone said, 'you go to a British audience if you want your set to be listened to, you go to an American one if you want a reaction.'
#PM Yes, and they reacted great. We've got a busy time playing this Summer. We've got a few British dates in June, then we're off to Italy, back for the festivals, including Cambridge. So no doubt we'll see you there.
#NK So you finally get to play Cambridge as a complete band?
#PM Yes, we've got a slot on the Thursday night.
#NK That'll be the first time I get to see you all playing live on the same stage. (I've seen the band at a number of festivals, but they've always conspired against having the whole band there.)
#PM [laughs] It'll be the first time anyone at Cambridge has. We've all been there over the last few years in dribs and drabs, this will be the first time we've all played it so we're looking forward to it. It's definitely one of the best festivals in the UK.
#NK It's David that I always manage to miss.
#PM He'll be there this time. He's a very important member of the band.
#NK I was beginning to think he was a figment of my imagination. Even when I went up to Moniaive, he was missing.
#PM No, he does exist and he will be there.
photo credit:
Neil King