By Laura Shields, Arts and Entertainments Editor, @LauraShields86.
Tyrannasonic Deaf Rays are a three-piece rock band from Co. Down. Their sound is difficult to pin down and their energy, hard to contain. With live performances that are incomplete if one member of the band hasn’t scaled some piece of furniture, their antics are as infectious as their songs. I met with Neil Cromie (Guitar/Lead Vocal), Ronan Rogers (Bass/Backing Vocal) and Mick Kearney (Drums) to find out where the dinosaur-loving band are heading and just what is in their food that gives them so much get-up and go.
I have to ask about the name. Where did it come from?
Ronan: Sonic Death Rays sounded cool, but we wanted a twist on it. So Tyrannosaurus is a cool word and “deaf” rays instead of “death” rays plays with people’s expectations.
Mick: We are trying to get “Tyrannasonic” in the Oxford dictionary. We just need enough people to start using it!
How would you describe your sound?
Mick: I would describe it as a mixture of genres.
Ronan: It’s heavier than indie. I listen to punk but it’s not quite that either. It’s definitely inspired by it but it’s not any one of the above.
Neil: I think it’s nice to do that because then we can go for any sort of song. We can do acoustic stuff, we can do heavier stuff. We don’t tie ourselves down. The next album could be a country/mariachi number for all I know!
There is no denying you are an energetic bunch. Where does all that energy come from?
Mick: Weetabix!
Ronan: We all just bounce off each other. If you look over and see Neil going mental you think “I want to do that too!”
Neil: For me, it’s the pressures of the daily grind. It gets to the point where you just say “It’s the weekend. I’m going to climb up on this table”. It’s my way of letting off steam. Some people like playing sport or going to the cinema…
Mick: Thankfully you don’t go to the cinema a lot!
Your first EP, “Prehistoric Power”, was released back in March. Can we expect any new songs soon?
Ronan: We recently recorded some new tracks for our second EP. We are also working on our first music video. At the minute we are just throwing about ideas. It’s going to be recorded September/October time.
Mick: Hopefully the video and new EP should be out in time for Christmas. I think we have gotten more comfortable with writing songs this time round.
Ronan: They are definitely riff-ier.
Neil: We always seem to write some heavy and energetic, then some real mellow. The new EP should have that balance too.
Find Tyrannasonic Deaf Rays on Facebook, Twitter and Bandcamp for music and news.
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