Interview with Polar Bolero

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

Cahir - Being brought up in quite a musical family, there were always guitars around and sing songs had. From a very young age I knew, from watching my family members perform both publicly and privately, that this would become my life also, so all my time from then on was spent learning and writing songs really, making all my other life skills null and void. But other than that I think I’d probably have been a rocket scientist.

Pearse - I was always into musical theatre growing up and that kind of evolved into an interest in music… I suppose if that didn’t happen I might be trying to pursue a career in musical theatre.

What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

As a band we are all avid moviegoers, during lockdown we endeavoured to watch a lot of so called ‘must see’ movies from renowned directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles. Welles says, “Ignorance, there’s no authority in the world like it.” In the making of our debut album ‘A Conversation,’ this became mantra for us.

How long has your band been around? Also, please tell me about the dynamic of the band of what brought you all together.

The two of us started the band a year ago and we’ve since added four very talented musicians into the collective. It’s been a very exciting first year and we feel we’re in a much stronger position to fully develop our sound both in studio and live scenarios in the coming year.

Where are you based and how did that influence your music?

We’re based in the North of Ireland, though are members are from various counties we think of ourselves as a Derry band, home to a brilliant seen of up and coming acts. Music flows through the veins of Derry people and we’re proud play alongside all the great artists from here.

How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?

(Pearse) My dad read me the book ‘Polar Bolero’ by Debi Gliori when I was really young… it’s one of my first musical memories because of his impressions of the illustrated instruments, when we were spitballing ideas for the band’s name I offered ‘Polar Bolero’ as a tribute to the wonderful book and it just stuck. We reached out to Debi to see if that was okay and she was gracefully obliged us.

Tell me about your most memorable shows.

We recently played Stendhal festival, our first show as a full band. With our live setup being so malleable, our instrumentation changes with every show but at Stendhal our full arsenal was on display and it was very exciting for us to showcase what we are capable of, there are many more shows planned where we hope to replicate this, as singers it’s very inspiring to have such great support musically and a great audience such as the one we played to there always adds to our performance as a band.

What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?

As a band we love playing at Sandino’s in Derry, we’ve had a recent run of shows with Rebecca Mulhern and Dander, two amazing local acts who bring an amazing atmosphere with them every time. These shows are intimate and as songs writers it’s great to play to an audience this attentive, it definitely helps that this venue is also our local watering hole and serves a great pint to boot.

Whelan’s in Dublin has been on our radar for a long time and we’re aiming to come down and showcase our music there in the New Year.

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

We love The Frames and would dive at any opportunity so support them live, Glen Hansard has heavily influenced our songwriting and it’s a dream to share the stage with him, as a band we strive to reach the musical heights that Bon Iver have achieved in the music and the daunting task of playing along with them would also excite us very much. Keep dreaming.

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

The main lesson we’ve learned from this project is the rewards of collaboration. Each artist providing their own unique musical perspective and offering an individual style definitely aids the creative process and helps to provide us with a completely unique sound, we can employ elements of Jazz, Trad, Pop and rock simultaneously due to our varied personnel.

In a few years there will be these things called ‘vapes’ … please don’t go near them.

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why? 

Our next single ‘Portrait’ released August 4th… although it really does mean a lot to us, we show our rock influence on this track which is a huge part of our sound which rarely gets to shine, a lot of talented musicians have played in a part in this song coming to fruition and we’re so excited for the world to hear it.

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

We love playing our first single ‘Passerby’ live, we close the show with it in concert and we really lean into the lively nature of the track when we play it live, various members of the band taking solos, who doesn’t love a good sax solo?

What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

We tend to circle back to the same writers when looking for inspiration, Damien Rice, Leonard Cohen and Radiohead to name a few. We strive to push our own individual boundaries with every new song we write, as we often write as a partnership we hold each other accountable in this way, no allowance for repetition if we’ve touched on a certain sound in the past, we only have interest in the new.

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

In our recordings we enjoy bombastically adding instrumentation to our quite intimate songs, in lyrics we write introspectively touching on issues that we feel are shared by others in the country and beyond, we enjoy juxtaposing this intimacy with grand recordings and quite a big live band.

Do you have any new singles, videos, or albums out that you would like to tell me and your fans about? 

Our next single ‘Portrait’ is our focus right now, releasing on the 4th of August, we’ve worked very hard on it in the studio and it’s a true representation of our collaboration, each member of the band contributes something very special to the song and we hope to follow it up in 2024 when we release our debut album ‘A Conversation,’ which we’ve been working away at since the inception of the band.

How can your fans best keep up to date with you, any socials you want people to check out?

We have profiles across all the various social media platforms but our main point of focus is Instagram where we keep our followers up to date with upcoming shows, singles and the odd live video of us playing, all very highest quality of course.