Photo: Press
Gigwise jumped on the phone with Jessy & Tony from Hare Squead ahead of their headline show at Birthdays tonight (26 July) and the release of their new video ‘Flowers’
Hare Squead the name is “a flip of Squarehead, which is a band from Dublin”, where the trio were born and raised. Their sound is a strong brand of pop infused R&B with nods to artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Outkast. Now in their early twenties the group met on Dublin’s skate scene, “back in the day we used to skate more, now we’re focused more on the music. But we’re pretty good, I can half cab. I would say we’re not shit but we’re not great."
The group recently signed to Columbia Records, something they attest has been important to reaching a wider audience in a climate where many new artists are going the independent route, “where we’re from you wouldn’t get heard, it’s benefited us a lot. When we release a track now Mister Jam will play it and all the people at the BBC will hear it. Before we didn’t really have that kind of platform. We’ve always been outsiders, this just bought us more attention.” Being young, black & Irish, these lads are charting a course for other musicians of colour, who are from places not normally associated with vibrant, new music. There was a flurry of excitement when they put out an EP three years ago, “15 labels negotiating, flying us out. Columbia was one of them.”
Recently, Hare Squead's track ‘Herstory’ was re-appropriated by the Virginia rapper Goldlink on his album At What Cost. Initially the guys thought Goldlink was just doing a remix, "but next thing we knew it was on his album. He used our beat.” There’s no denying the groups ability to come up with catchy songs that transcend genre, although they do live shows with just a DJ, they make use of instruments such as guitars and bass when in the studio.
When asked about what it is was like to grow up black in Dublin and if racism was ever a problem, the group answer with diligence, "I think there’s racism every where. Racism exists in remote places everywhere. Yes it does exist. But i don’t think people want that to be the main focus of Ireland. People are more concerned with having fun and stuff like that. A lot of people don’t know there’s black guys from Ireland making moves.”
Look out for for new music from Hare Squead in the coming months as well as shows in London and further a field.
