Dublin alternative-rock act Acrobat are set to release their sophomore E.P. Flux this Friday (October 31st). With the addition of two new members the group have undergone a change since their first release Follow You Down earlier this year. The band met with T.L.M.T in Dublin’s No Name Bar to speak about the record.

“The sound of this E.P. is the sound of a different band” says vocalist Mark Healy about Acrobat’s new E.P. “The first record was done in August of last year and came out in April, in the time between that Jacob (Koopman) and Conal (McIntyre) joined and they brought something completely different to the band. Both of these E.P’s are Acrobat but just very different shades of it”.

Indeed the recording of Flux saw the band take a more organic, stripped down approach to writing, with producer Rob Kirwan facilitating the band’s growth together as songwriters. “One of Rob’s big contributions to the E.P. was to get everyone in the room, get a vibe going, have the band play the song until it fits with everybody then hit record” recalls Healy.

“Also it was about finding something that could be recreated live” comments bass player Naoise Morzadec. “There’s no point in having sixteen guitar parts if they don’t fit or can’t be performed as a band”.

With Acrobat taking an organic recording process for the E.P. the group were searching for songs that would feel and sound good in any live context. “Although the stages have gotten bigger, especially at the Meeting House square during Hard Working Class Heroes, and we wanted to have tracks that fit that sort of setting, we also wanted to be able to strip the songs back acoustically too” Healy comments.

“Actually during pre-production Rob would sometimes sit us down after playing a track and ask us to try it acoustically” Healy continues. “Often when you take a song down to just acoustic guitar and vocals that’s when you find out what works and what doesn’t”.

Although the origins of Flux is steeped in this straight-up live approach, the end result has big broad sound. “That comes down to picking the right parts I think” insists Morzadec. “That’s one of the things about working with Rob, everyone is playing what they would be live, it’s just finding the part that makes it sound fuller”.

With addition of new members and a new style of working together Flux could be considered to be a new beginning for the Dublin act. “I think the difference with the last E.P. is that we put it out with really thinking about how we would do it live” Healy comments. “We didn’t have the band we have now and there was too much in it, with this record we wanted something more natural. Are we starting again? Yes. But I think whenever you release a new E.P. or album you’re kind of starting all over again anyway”.

Click below to hear ‘Not Back Down’ taken from Acrobat’s new E.P. Flux. The record itself is due for release this Friday (October 31st). - The Last Mixed Tape

Acrobat are an exciting Dublin based band. With their new EP ‘Flux’ climbing the iTunes chart and garnering serious attention GoldenPlec caught up with three out of the four members recently for a chat.
Plenty of bands have that one stand out moment in their lives that makes them want to be involved with music. The guys of Acrobat are no different. With Jakob and Naoise both waxing lyrical about the Red Hot Chili Peppers’s famous Slane concert and the Nirvana classic ‘From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah’ respectfully. “I remember getting a real insight into what a band should sound like. Listening to a studio album is a totally different beast. It is more polished but live is so raw,” Naoise tells us.

Mark, on the other hand, found a band a little bit closer to home to draw inspiration from. “I remember taping a U2 show from their Zooropa tour that RTE were playing on the radio. I can vividly remember sitting down and listening to it over and over again. As far I as I was concerned I was at that gig. At that stage U2 were still doing some really new and interesting stuff in music and it impacted on me.”
The talk of U2 leads the interview in the direction of the media backlash they received on the release of their latest album via iTunes. Acrobat are unflinching in their opinion of the entire situation. “Nobody was forced to download it or keep it. People weren’t strapped down to a chair.” In an era where musicians regularly release music via Bandcamp, Soundcloud or their own personal websites the Acrobat collective think the media hype was unwarranted. “They are no different to any band. They have a collection of songs that they want people to hear. That’s what it boils down to. Some people will just hate anything that is associated to U2.”

With another exciting EP under their belts the topic of the writing process inevitably creeps into the interview. Within the band all ideas seem to be accepted and dissected to see what works. “It is all very democratic,” Mark says. “This EP was a bit different to the previous one because everyone had an input on it. With the previous one it was just myself and Naoise because we hadn’t really written the songs with a plan of playing them live.” Bringing their songs through a “development process of five or six stages” gives a very polished sound to the entire EP. “We wanted to make sure we got to a point where we all felt happy and proud of what we had created.”

The recording process for the band followed a similar flow but at times passion got the better of the band. “In order for anything to be exciting and interesting there needs to be arguments and screaming at some point. The entire process can’t be a success without some gnashing of teeth but it always ends up being a fairly reasoned process,” Mark tells us with a grin.

With the quality of music in Ireland reaching a new level in recent years and the ease of access to new audiences thanks to social media the band are well aware of how important change and growth is. “With the boom in Facebook and Twitter in the last few years it doesn’t make sense for a band not to be online. If the quality is in the music then social platforms can really boost a band.”

Over the last few years Acrobat have played on stages ranging in size from local bars to festival fields. The intimacy of small shows is something the band enjoy. As with any band the allure of “massive sound systems” is a huge thrill. “The big stage is probably what we enjoy most. But as with everything a balance of the two is really important,” Naoise tells us.

After taking part in the new Guinness Amplify initiative the band are happy to see more options for new music to be seen. “There are so many nights around Ireland where if you have an EP you can get stage time. In terms of getting paid you need to have a strong following. A pub or venue needs to know that they can cover their costs with the amount of people you bring to their door. Taking the step to the next level in venue is impossible without these types of events.”

As a band the idea of pressure is not something they relate to. “we want to get our name out to more people and play bigger venues. If anything we put ‘pressure’ on ourselves to work harder and progress more. If you want to succeed there is no other way,” Mark tells us.
With a new video in the pipeline the band are not prepared to sit back and wait for success. “We always intended to follow up quickly once we released our first video for the EP. We don’t want people to forget us. That’s why we are releasing the second single in the middle of November.”

With concerts being planned for venues all around Ireland Acrobat are not a band that are going away anytime soon. A desire to “play as many gigs as possible” will see this four-piece gain a foothold in the Irish music scene before long. - Goldenplec

Acrobat is a four-piece indie rock band based in Dublin, and they’re on the up. Since forming last year they’ve already supported Bastille, Mumford and Sons and Miles Kane. The Acrobat lads are quickly getting to know the Irish music scene. We chatted to Mark, Naoise and Jacob from the band about stadium ambitions, unexplainable logos and cool snakes.
You’ve just played Hard Working Class Heroes. How was it?
MARK: Great! We playedMeeting House Square on Saturday, it was a great crowd and a great stage. I know there were some complaints about the sound, but it sounded great to us!
NAOISE: The onstage lighting was brilliant, and the architecture of Meeting House Square was cool. Out of all the venues, that and the Button Factory were probably the best to play, so we were really happy to be there.
MARK: They should consider putting on gigs there all the time, it’s in a great location in the middle of Temple Bar.
JACOB: Yeah, and they should scrap the curfew!
Una Mullally from the Irish Times recommended you as the ones to watch at the festival. Did that put any pressure on you?
MARK: Not at all, it was very nice of Una to mention us, and we appreciate when anybody mentions our music like that. For us it’s not about pressure, we just do what we do.We want people to react to our music and get involved with it, so the more people that can do that, the better!
Did you get to check out any other bands at Hard Working Class Heroes?
NAOISE: I did, I went to see Val Normal on Thursday, I Have a Tribe, Dott and Ghost Estates on Friday and on Saturday we stuck around for Elaine Mai and Fight Like Apes. They were great! They did a great cover of Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks. A bit different, but very cool.

Aside from the bands that played the festival, are there any current Dublin bands you admire?
MARK: I love Raglans, their album is cool and they’re great live too.
NAOISE: Any Dutch-Indonesian bands that you’d like to include, Jacob?
JACOB: [Laughs] Nah!
You supported Bastille last year, and they were still quite a young band when they became successful. Did they give you any tips?
NAOISE: I think if we learned anything from them it would be to write one really good song! [Laughs] That’s why they are where they are now. Obviously the rest of their album is good but they did lean heavily on that song to become successful.
MARK: It is a really great pop song, it connected with people on a massive level. I think the way people listen to music and hear about music now means that if you have a song like that, it happens very quickly. Then it becomes about making sure you have the live show to back it up, and an albumready, so you can bring it to the next level.
What would you consider your favourite gig so far?
MARK, NAOISE & JACOB: Electric Picnic!
NAOISE: The stage and the sound were great, the vibe was just fantastic. We played Indiependence and Castlepalooza a few weeks before and they were great too, but to play Picnic with all the other bands on the bill was really special.
Are there any venues in Dublin that you haven’t got a chance to play yet, but you’d like to?
NAOISE: We’ve done the Academy, the Olympia, Whelan’s… So I guess the 3Arena? Or the O2, or the Point Depot, whatever it’s called! The Ambassador isn’t open anymore but that was a cool venue.
MARK: There are lots of great venues in Dublin now. It used to be just Whelan’s, but now there’s loads of places that have really good sound systems and set-ups specifically for live music.
JACOB: Croke Park!

You played Arthur’s Day last year, and this year you’re playing Doyle’s for Guinness Amplify. What do you think about the idea of Guinness Amplify?
MARK: It’s great for original bands to have an outlet to play their own music. A lot of the time pubs and venues will contact bands and say, “why don’t you guys play an original set?”, but then it turns out they want you to do it for free. The great thing about Guinness Amplify is that Guinness approach the pubs and tell them that they’ll finance it. For publicans to pay for bands they need to know that it’ll get people through the door, and new acts might not be packing out the place just yet, so that makes pubs worry about having to pay them. As much as every band wants to play live and get their music out there, it’s great to be able to say that your costs are covered. Guinness are showing a firm commitment to supporting new live music and younger bands, and I think that’s great.
NAOISE: We did a Guinness Amplify gig earlier in September in Horse Show House in Ballsbridge, and it went well.
MARK: It was an outdoor gig at the end of summer, the weather was really good and it was a Friday evening, it was a great vibe!
With a drummer that has a fascinating heritage, identifying as Dutch-Indonesian, you’re not an entirely ‘homegrown’ band. So how did you guys get together?
MARK: ‘Homegrown’ is an interesting idea. There’s so many musicians here who aren’t originally from Dublin! Naoise and I played together for years in different bands, and we started looking for a drummer to make up a three-piece. So we found Jacob busking on Grafton Street! Then we added Conal, our guitar player, who couldn’t be here today so we can bitch about him! [Laughs]We were friends for a long time, we met at a gig that both of our bands were playing, years ago. We stayed in touch, so it was great when we found ourselves looking for a guitar player and he was around. We recorded an EP literally a couple of weeks after we got the full band together in May. Is there any other cool story we could add in there to make us sound more interesting?
JACOB: Ehh… I was thrown out of my country and a voice came to me to tell me to go to Dublin to join a band… Will the authorities read this? [Laughs]
Your new EP will be released at the end of October, just 6 months after your debut. Why have you decided to release another so soon?
NAOISE: The songs on the last EP were songs that myself and Mark worked on together. When the other two lads joined the band we were eager to get writing again with Jacob and Conal involved.
MARK: I can hear a big difference between the two EPs because of Jacob and Conal’s influence. I think there’s a real step forward in terms of the song-writing and the sound.
You just released a video for ‘Not Back Down’. It starts off very beautiful, and ends up getting a bit weird! What is its meaning?
NAOISE: So… The two main characters in it are having a dinner party-
JACOB: His lordship and her ladyship…
NAOISE: And our role is the hired entertainment. And with the name of song being ‘Not Back Down’, we were trying to say that we would play our own way regardless of what was going on in front of us…
MARK: That’s a really good attempt by Naoise to explain a video where we basically said, “It’d probably be cool if we had snakes! And set a fountain on fire!” [Laughs] I wouldn’t read too much into it or how much it relates to the song or its message. I think there’s a much stronger message in the song itself than in the video, and they don’t necessarily collate. We just wanted to make something that was fun. And when everyone starts jumping around… There was a lot of alcohol taken at that point! The fact that we could still play guitar was a pretty good achievement!
I want to ask about your logo. What’s it all about?
MARK: Well Joanne, what’s it about to you?
I was thinking maybe it’s a gymnastics bar? Because you’re Acrobats and all that…
MARK: That’s a new one! We’ll add that one to the list! We’ve been asked if it’s a burning cross before, too…
NAOISE: It was designed by a friend of ours, as part of the font for our band name. Jacob actually designed the new EP, and when we were putting it all together Jacob picked it out for the logo.
JACOB: I wanted the logo to be something that people would remember, and I think it’s a strong symbol.
So my last question for you is, why ‘Acrobat’?
MARK: What’s in a band name…
NAOISE: Ask many bands what their name means and they won’t be able to tell you. I think our top priority was that people could spell it!
Acrobat’s ‘Flux’ EP is out on October 31st. Preorder the EP from iTunes now and you’ll immediately receive the EP’s first single, ‘Not Back Down’. - In Dublin

Acrobat @ Meeting House Square
If you’re looking for the next act that could follow in the footsteps of the mainstream rock acts in Ireland that are getting either snapped up or closely followed by majors, then Acrobat would be a good bet. They might not have built up a substantial fan base yet, but there’s big radio potential in these meaty and well-executed tunes. - The Irish Times

Acrobat are a good solid rock band that certainly know what they are doing. They looked like the band ‘most likely to succeed’ out of those I saw this weekend. - No More Work Horse

Before Owen takes to the Olympia stage, local band Acrobat get the chance to open the show. When a name like Owen’s is involved, there will always been a loyal fanbase awaiting his arrival. This however, didn’t deter Acrobat from giving their all. Officially a three piece, the band enlist a synth player for live shows and it pays off. They have a tight indie rock vibe and their sound is balanced beautifully. Singer and guitarist Mark Thomas uses the Olympia stage well, interacting with the crowd and getting the seated audience clapping along and involved in the set, which includes their debut single Safe Inside, and the soaring Silent Sound. All come across as competent musicians and while it was their first time on the Olympia stage, they seem like they are ready for bigger. - Goldenplec