The Median Man spoke to Ifreann recently about the band and their plans
The Median Man spoke to Ifreann recently about the band and their plans
GAELIC FOR HELL
What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences and are they the same as when you started out?
‘Ifreann’ is Gaelic for ‘Hell’. We chose this name for a few reasons: 1, it respects our culture; 2, It’s unique and makes us easy to find; 3, it means we can use classic names that have already been taken without plagiarising.
Generally speaking we’re mostly influenced by old school Thrash, but there’s a lot of NWOBHM, Groove, OSDM, harcore punk and even American style Power Metal thrown in there too.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
Our writing process usually consists of one member approaching the band with a rough demo, sometimes just a collection of riffs, and as a group we work on said riffs, create a structure, alter parts slightly, come up with lyrics and where to put them, and vuala!
Generally each demo brough will have a certain energy or idea that we try and stick to. I.e. “I really want a punky vibe to this one” or “this song has to be above 200bpm at all times”.
CERTAIN ENERGY
CERTAIN ENERGY
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
Our writing process usually consists of one member approaching the band with a rough demo, sometimes just a collection of riffs, and as a group we work on said riffs, create a structure, alter parts slightly, come up with lyrics and where to put them, and vuala!
Generally each demo brough will have a certain energy or idea that we try and stick to. I.e. “I really want a punky vibe to this one” or “this song has to be above 200bpm at all times”.
THRASH BAND
Why do you write the sort of music that you do?
We started as a thrash band because it was our favourite music to listen to. It still is, and we just like it so much that we feel it’s what our band belongs to. This isn’t to say we’re afraid of adding new flavours in, but I feel we’ll always be a thrash band at heart.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
At the moment, we have enough recorded and released material to fill a 50 minute setlist. We’ve often been playing 45 minute setlists so we just play everything except one song we practice anyway in the case of an encore. This song is usually ‘Hell’s Sentries’ as it’s very fast, quite short and fitting since it’s the first song we wrote. However when we need to play shorter sets, we try and keep the fresher songs as well as the fan favourites such as ‘No Pasaran’ & ‘Mirror Of Sanity’ in there.
We also usually play ‘Unearthing The Unearthly’ last, and so we’ve recently added an extended outro to that song that makes for an impactful and engaging ending to our setlist.
PLAY EVERYTHING
PLAY EVERYTHING
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
At the moment, we have enough recorded and released material to fill a 50 minute setlist. We’ve often been playing 45 minute setlists so we just play everything except one song we practice anyway in the case of an encore. This song is usually ‘Hell’s Sentries’ as it’s very fast, quite short and fitting since it’s the first song we wrote. However when we need to play shorter sets, we try and keep the fresher songs as well as the fan favourites such as ‘No Pasaran’ & ‘Mirror Of Sanity’ in there.
We also usually play ‘Unearthing The Unearthly’ last, and so we’ve recently added an extended outro to that song that makes for an impactful and engaging ending to our setlist.
WHAT WORKS
DESECRATION
What plans do you have for the future?
With ‘Desecration’ having just been released, we’re going to be playing A LOT of shows. We have tours planned across the UK and even in mainland Europe for 2020. Of course in between these shows, we will be writing and working on new material for our next release, which will probably be a full length album. Although this won’t be recorded, let alone release till 2021 probably.