Adolescence is a time of leisure; a time to mill about with friends and make grand plans for the future. Regardless of era or location, one constant of youth is the desire to dream and imagine great feats. Sometimes though, there are young people with the kind of careful imagination that reads more like a forecast for the future than of childish fancies. There exists that rare breed that knew early in life what they loved to do, and had no other option but to pursue their purpose with reckless abandon.
Welcome to The Basement, the brainchild of three teenage friends living in Northern Ireland. John Mullin, Mark McCausland, and Declan McManus spent their days in Omagh contemplating the life and times of American musicians like Bob Dylan and Neil Young a great deal more than the political atmosphere of their native land. It may be hard to imagine the region’s deep-rooted political divide not getting in the way of personal productivity and growth, but these guys managed just fine. As singer/songwriter Mullin mentioned, “The people I hung around with were far more concerned with which album was better than what religion we were.” It’s the decision to forgo discord for harmony that contributes to the gracefulness of their melodies.
In the summer of 2000, the trio made a haphazard landing in the infamous city of Liverpool. After a few months of toiling about the city, they were fortunate enough to stumble upon bassist Graeme Hassall making The Basement an unstoppable foursome. Together they produced the inspired and unique Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs. The indie-rock music they craft is fairly uncommon in their part of the world. Even today, very few musicians from the UK are taking the kind of bold strokes that bands like The Basement have been taking for years. The combination of rock-n-roll mixed with a dash of folk and a pinch of pop gives their songs a relaxed, authentic feel.
The laid back feeling of the album draws a lot from Mullin’s approach to his songwriting. As a kid, he made a commitment to himself to compose one song a day. His daily writings didn’t, and still don’t, follow a rigid form. Mullin made that pact as a way to become more disciplined as a musician. Although the songwriting on Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs seems like it was written with underlying themes of darkness, farewells, and abandonment, Mullin didn’t sit down with a pen and paper in hand and hash them out with deliberate thought. “I just got ideas from everyday stuff. Like a cheesy soap opera could spark something that would lead to writing a song. You can see someone walking out of a subway and project an image or idea on to them - to be something different than they appear and that becomes your basis for a song.”
That seems to be the overall method the band uses; they don’t use much method at all. There is an unpretentious, contemplative calculation to their style. The have a collective talent, a shared vision, and an unrelenting need to find their comfort zone. If the band isn’t comfortable with what they are producing, then their listeners aren’t getting an earful until these guys are good and ready. Case in point, The Basement came on strong in 2003 with the release of the gritty single “Medicine Days.” Although media and fans alike were genuinely impressed with their sound, the band members needed more time to ease into their vision.
Back in the studio, Mullin and his mates produced anthologies worth of tunes before settling on the dozen that make Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs a profound success. It took them a solid couple of years before it all just clicked. “There wasn’t necessarily a point, like an aha! moment for us. We went with what felt right and this was just what felt right.”
Brigitte B. Zabak
###
THE BASEMENT's ILLICIT HUGS AND PLAYFROUND THUGS is released May 8, 2007 on Zealous Records.
http://www.thebasement.co.uk
http://www.zealousrecords.com
Buy Album from CD Universe
