THE Strypes should allstill be in school.Well, one of them still is.The lads — singer Ross Farrelly,15, guitarist Josh McClorey, 17,bass player Pete O’Hanlon, 17, anddrummer Evan Walsh, 16 — are thehottest band around right now.And it’s not hype.Noel Gallagher and Elton Johnhave both forked out for gig tick-ets to see them — and Foo Fightersstar Dave Grohl is waxing lyricalacross the Pond about the rhythmand blues prodigies.The band — from small Irishtown Cavan — understand why lotsof punters reckon it’s some bigmarketing ploy, even comparingthem to One Direction.Evan said: “A couple of peoplehave called it manufactured.“There’s been a couple of scep-tics who haven’t realised the hardwork we’ve put in.“But it couldn’t be more real.It’s what we thought all bands did.We thought they all learned loadsof songs, got in a van and drovedown the motorway to play them.”The band spent the best part ofa year negotiating a record deal,finally going with Mercury. Over-night, they’ve gone from schoolboys to rock stars.Even said: “We always play loudand aggressive so we get every-

By CHRIS SWEENEY

one’s attention. Three of us don’tgo to school anymore, we’re oldenough to quit.“But Ross is still clinging on bythe skin of his teeth.“I think he shows up once amonth or something like that — aseverything is so busy.”Their passion for music startedlike so many youngsters, raidingtheir parents’ record collections.But they took it astage further andbegan playing thesongs — not just listen-ing to them.Stick-man Evanexplained: “Myself, theguitarist and bassplayer have knowneach other since wewere born, we grew uptogether and all live inour tiny, rural town.“Our parents all camefrom musical back-grounds, so we grew upjamming and the influ-ences came from my par-ents’ record collection —

a lot of the rhythm and blues,rock ’n roll stuff.“We got into the 60s blues boomand 70s prog rock, then from therewe went back to the original rock’n rollers like Chuck Berry, JerryLee Lewis and all of them.“Then three years ago we metRoss, the singer. He came in asnone of us could sing at that time— we still can’t really.“But we all got on really welland started playing gigs in ourhome town, then doing pubs andclubs all around Ireland.“My dad drove us around, hebecame the manager and gave us ahand to get to where we are now.

Then last April, we put out a four-track EP which we recorded inour mate’s flat. It came out on theFriday and by Saturday, it wasNo1 on the iTunes playlist chart.“That blew us away. That’s whenwe started getting interest fromrecord companies.”Since then they’ve been bangingout supreme performances at gigs.That’s where their reputation hascome from and earned them seri-ous respect from the industry’s bignames — the celeb fanclub alsoincludes Paul Weller and MilesKane.

ExcitingDemand is now so high they aredouble-shifting most days.On their European tour, theyhit King Tut’s in Glasgow onMay 4 — doing a matinee andevening set to satisfy the demand.Evan said: “We’ve done it a fewtimes in London, done two setsin one night.

“We don’t find playingfor a long time a big dealbecause in rural Ireland wewere reared in the pub-band thing where you playtwo-and-a-half-hour sets.“We went around pubs

and hotels in Ireland. Some-times there was only fivepeople there but you stillhad to play that long. So

we’re used to longsets. Then when we came to Londonand they told us to just do 45 min-utes — we were amazed that’s allthey want on tours here.”They’ve also approached theirdebut album with that same old-school approach.It’s going to be a mix of theirown material and covers of theirfavourite tunes.Their likely first single is set tobe Blue Collar Jane (but a new ver-sion of the song, the original toppedthe Irish charts last year).Even explained: “It’s really excit-ing to be recording and doing itproperly. Everything is done live inthe studio, we’re not bothered withmessing around with tracks.“We just like to do a minimalamount of overdubs and thenwe’re done. We hope to have itdone and dusted quickly.“We’re trying to capturethat sort of essence of earlyYardbirds (far left), or TheStones, where they mixedin Chuck Berry (left)songs with their origi-nals.“We enjoy interpret-ing those songs asmuch as we enjoy play-ing our own ones.“It’ll be that sort ofrough and ready style,we want it to be raw.”

The band are keeping their feet onthe ground. They want a career outof this and have no time for the XFactor generation they’ve grown upin.Evan snapped: “That’s not real,it’s the easy way to fame and for-tune. That doesn’t interest us.“This all still feels exciting to us.Since we’re in Cavan a lot of thetime, we’re in the eye of the hurri-cane. We don't really know what’sgoing on.“We keep hearing this show issold out, or that show is — it seemsto have all come on a lot.”Q For gig tickets and info go online to:www.thestrypes.com

EVEN meeting one oftheir idols, Noel Gallagher,

didn’t faze the lads.The Oasis legend, below,

asked to meet them beforea gig in London this year.Evan said: “He came to see

us in Shoreditch.“We just found out minutes

before that he was going tocome to the dressing room andhave a chat with us.“He was a really nice man and

asked us how we were getting on.“It’s weird, you just take it all in

your stride and don’t think toomuch of it — things keephappening.”

MARIONETTESWHO: Paddy Buchanan(vocals/guitar), DarylRankin (guitar), Pete Tay-lor (guitar), ThomasEmslie (bass), Derek Stew-art (drums).WHERE: Aberdeen.FOR FANS OF: The Char-latans, Arctic Monkeys,Stone Roses.JIM SAYS: I’m a sucker forcatchy guitar pop, and Mar-ionettes do it wonderfully.Formed in 2007, they

released their debut singleDeja When? last year, fol-lowed by The Rightness OfBlindness EP.These came out through

Aberdeen label BedfordRecords, but their latestsingle is self-released.Daryl said: “This year

we’ve decided to go italone and released ournew single, Teaparties, fordownload as well as 7invinyl.”Coupled with support

slots alongside acts likeThe Pigeon Detectives andThe Ordinary Boys, theirreputation has steadilygrown. They’ve also ven-tured to London to head-line the influential Death2Disco night at Notting HillArts Club (spawned fromScot’s music guru AlanMcGee’s legendary nightsat the venue).They have another invite

to play the weekly show-case in July.In the past Aberdeen

bands have struggled toget attention outwith their

local scene. But Daryl said:“There’s nothing wrongwith playing in Aberdeen,but eventually you need tostart playing further afield.It’s too easy to suggestthat if Marionettes werebased somewhere likeGlasgow, which perhapshas a bit more going onculturally than Aberdeen,that we would find it easierto get our music out there.“The reality is that we

would have to pursueshows outside of Glasgowanyway. Certainly digitaltechnology has made net-working and arrangingshows in other cities muchmore accessible, butwe’ve never felt hinderedby our location.”Marionettes appear at

The Lemon Tree in Aber-deen on April 27, forAnchorock, a benefit forThe Aberdeen and NorthCentre for Haematology,Oncology and Radiother-apy (ANCHOR).They’re also confirmed

to play May’s Big BeachBall in the city. It soundslike a fantastic event, witha pretty impressiveline-up.MORE: facebook.com/marionettesmusicQ Jim will be playing Mari-onettes on In:DemandUncut this Sunday from7pm on Clyde 1, ForthOne, Northsound 1, RadioBorders, Tay FM, West FM& West Sound FM. Visitindemandscotland.co.ukfor more.

NEWMUSIC

CHVRCHES: Recover. LaurenMayberry’s sweet, lilting voicedances through dense synthson this piece of perfectelectro-pop. The hypnotisingbeat and euphorically powerfulchorus make it the perfect fit fora massive crowd. 4KENDRICK LAMAR: SwimmingPools (Drank). Intelligent hiphop that delves into the murkydepths of alcoholism and seesKendrick nattering away withhis subconscious. 4THE LUMINEERS: StubbornLove. This has ‘plays at the endof a season finale of a major USdrama’ written all over it —evocative strings, a stark,memorable chorus and a heftycrescendo. 3MIGUEL: Adorn. Borrowing acouple of subtle (but highlyeffective) elements from Marvin

Gaye’s Sexual Healing, thispassionate, soulful love song isplay-it-over-and-over amazing. 4SKY FERREIRA: Everything IsEmbarrassing. The meaneighties drum beat thatcontinues throughout thistrack is the best part ofit — Sky’s vocals havebeen overly treatedand sound a bit lostin the mix. 3LEWIS WATSON: IntoThe Wild. This20-year-oldsinger-songwriter is twoparts Ed Sheeran to onepart Owl City on this track.Judging by the careers of thosetwo, he could be on tosomething big. 3THE AVETT BROTHERS: I NeverKnew You. A giddy-making beatand infectious chorus render

this one of the best tracks fromthe brothers’ seventh albumThe Carpenter. 3.5TRIBES: How The Other HalfLive. Some air guitar-worthylicks and hoarse, rock god

vocals from Johnny Lloydsee this bandchanneling The RollingStones. Taken fromtheir second album. 3THE WEEKND:Twenty Eight.Sophisticated R&Bfrom Canadian Abel

Tesfaye, which pulls offthe obvious vocal influence

of Michael Jackson. 3.5EVERYTHING EVERYTHING:Duet. Jonathan Higgs’ instantlyrecognisable voice flits in andout of this typically zanyarrangement, which this timeround is heavy on the strings. 3

By JIMGELLATLY

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