{"id":7337,"date":"2015-02-25T05:30:57","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T10:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=7337"},"modified":"2015-02-25T05:30:57","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T10:30:57","slug":"third-times-the-charm-pugwash-aims-for-america-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2015\/02\/25\/third-times-the-charm-pugwash-aims-for-america-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Third Time’s The Charm: Pugwash Aims for America, Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n

Some listeners might peg the music of Pugwash<\/strong> as \u201cretro,\u201d though in reality it’s classic pop in the best sense of the word. Many reviewers have pointed out sonic similarities between Thomas Walsh<\/strong>‘s voice and Jeff Lynne<\/strong>‘s. But the hallmark of Pugwash’s music is the song construction. At its best, it’s on a par with the finest efforts from writers such as Difford and Tilbrook <\/strong>(Squeeze<\/strong>), Neil Finn<\/strong><\/a> (Split Enz<\/strong> and Crowded House<\/strong>), and Paddy McAloon <\/strong>(Prefab Sprout<\/strong>). Walsh is modest when mentioned in the same breath as those names. \u201cIf I knew the hallmarks of a successful song,\u201d he says, \u201cI’d have written a hit by now! The thing is, I do<\/em> know \u2013 and I’ve known for a long time \u2013 if you have any talent for writing a song, there are certain tricks you use.\u201d He goes on to explain his craft in a bit more detail. \u201cThere’s a lot of chords in my songs. But they won’t do much else than repeat themselves.\u201d Exaggerating slightly to make his point, he says, \u201cIf there are twenty-four chords in one of my songs, they won’t jump all over the place. They’ll stay in a nice little cage and wait to be fed. And I don’t do a lot of ‘bridges.’ At least I don’t think I do; I never check!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFunnily enough, Neil Hannon<\/strong> [of fellow Irish band The Divine Comedy<\/strong>] was over the other day, helping with stuff for the new record. There’s a song called ‘Oh Happy Days.’ The demo of it was up on the pledge site [for crowd funding of the next Pugwash album<\/a>, due out in 2015]. So Neal says to me, ‘Did you ever even think of bothering your ass to write a second verse?’ I said, ‘No, nope…No.’ And he just laughed. The great thing is that Neil and I work so great together. He probably would have written an eight-verse life story of how happy the old days were, and how sad it could be now. That’s Neil, and I love him. But with me, it’s, ‘Oh happy days,’ then \u201cba ba ba,’ and then…goodbye. In two minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/center>Walsh is an avowed fan of the leave-them-wanting-more style of songwriting. \u201cThere’s so many songs that I love, where you think, ‘Ohhh…this is going to be great for three and a half minutes.’ And then boom<\/em>, it’s gone. That’s especially true of ’60s bands like The Kinks<\/strong>. And The Lemon Pipers<\/strong>. I’m such a fan of their ‘The Shoemaker of Leatherwear Square.’ It’s so short, like a minute-forty or something [actually 2:01 \u2013 ed.] I have to play it six times to get the feeling of having heard it once. There’s all that arrangement \u2013 harps, and flutes \u2013 and they did all that for such a short song!\u201d<\/p>\n

I point out the contrast between that approach and the one used on such tracks as Bob Dylan<\/strong>‘s seven-minute, nine-verse opus, \u201cStuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again.\u201d Walsh replies, \u201cI was an anti- ‘leave them wanting more’ person when I was younger. But I remember when I first heard Michael Penn<\/strong>‘s Free for All<\/em>. I had to import it from Canada because you couldn’t get it in Ireland. ‘Free Time’ is the fourth track. And on the fade, you hear this great trumpet thing, and you think, ‘Why the fuck is he fading it? It’s so wonderful!’ It’s a mark of genius, really. Michael might have made me start thinking that way about songs. It’s something you’d think every writer would know, eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n