This week, Ryan Smith, spoke to the local band who have taken up the task of covering The Pogues’ classic this Christmas…
PERHAPS the most famous Christmas song of all, The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale of New York’, has been taken on by a local band.
‘Blurred Lines’, released their version of the classic this week with a video to accompany – and they hope to raise funds for the those affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
The band features ‘Krum’ Maguire on guitar and vocals, Roisin Burns on keyboards and vocals, along with Lisa Howe on drums and Daniel O’Toole on bass.
And, on this song, country singer Cathy McGovern sings the female vocal.
“This isn’t Blurred Lines first recording, although we’re more of a live, gigging band than a studio band, we do love to go record at Oaks Studio with John Moffatt when we can,” explained Lisa.
“Our last recording/video was Lady Gaga’s ‘Applause’ – it was a real challenge to arrange the songs to suit what was then a three-piece line-up and had a lot of fun making the video with Clarissa Hall, it turned out great.”
And, for their Christmas single, they chose a song that many wouldn’t dare to touch.
“Fairytale Of New York has real attitude and is rooted close to home. We knew it would be an extreme challenge because the original version hasn’t ‘aged’ like most Christmas tracks have, everyone still loves the original.
“But we did know we could recreate our own version that would still do the original justice, I think we have achieved this, but it’s really up to the listeners to decide!”
The group invited Cathy McGovern to sing on the track, which will also feature on her Christmas album, and it also features Lauragh, Caragh and Caoimhe McElholm for their fiddle, accordion and tin whistle.
The video was created by another local, Dan Doran.
Lisa commented: “The video turned out really well, we spent a long day filming and it was very much worth it.
“We’re hoping that people enjoy watching the video as much as we enjoyed making it. We wanted to have fun with the video, but maintain an appropriate feel for the more serious side of the song, we hope that that comes across.”
The band are making the single available for download, with proceeds going to those affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
“We have a few shows coming up in December, the one we’re most looking forward to is December 27 in Charlie’s Bar as we will be sharing the stage with some other great bands including Atticus Finch, Phil ‘Philthy’ Cassidy and Ghosts Of Grace, this post christmas gig will no doubt be buzzing with atmosphere!”
For more information see: facebook.com/blurredlinesband; facebook.com/cathymcgovern; facebook.com/oaksrecordingenniskillen; @blurredlinesNI.
And for the video, see:
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