“There’s been such a big growth in the scene since we started” — Interview with Irish rockers TaLLLon

Finding meaning in human existence. Even when it seems as though there is none. This was what unsettled or fascinated Viktor Frankl (1905–1997), an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and philosopher who survived the Holocaust and founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy which describes the search for life’s meaning as the central human motivational force.

Losing a loved one — a bandmate, child, friend — is never easy. There are no words to describe the experience. It is resilience and finding meaning that drive us to carry on. For the Irish band TaLLLon, honouring the memory of their late drummer, Adam Nagajek, meant continuing with the thing he loved so much: music. His spirit lives on in every drumbeat, chord, lyric and note.

The alternative rock, grunge and more quartet, who hail from Galway in Ireland, were invited to attend and perform at the launch of the Government’s Grassroots Venue and Night-Time Economy Support Scheme, which was launched on 6 March by Minister Patrick O’Donovan of the Department of Culture, Ireland.

It is worth noting that, alongside the late Adam Nagajek, the lads first connected in the summer of 2023 at Galway’s School of Rock and have since then been involved with Music Generation Galway City/ Ireland, which has provided them with a platform to gain experience of playing live performances and opportunities to share their own original music and style throughout the west of Ireland.

In the run-up to the aforementioned event, Chaoszine spoke to Liam Carroll (vocals, guitar), Cian Geraghty (bass), Ultan Krause (guitar) and Eoin Keague (drums) about their plans for this year, the sound of their EP “Found and Forgotten”, influences and much more. Something big is brewing in Ireland, and this time it’s coming from Galway.

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TaLLLon is going strong. You kicked off the year with a show in Galway on January 11, played at Hell’s Gate Metal Fest in Drogheda on February 1, and in April, you’re playing at the Button Factory in Dublin. Then in August, you’re heading to the Rebellion Festival in England for the first time outside Ireland. You’re bursting with energy.

Liam Caroll: Yeah, it’s a big excitement playing outside of the country for the first time, especially in a place like England that has such big historical places as well as such a long history with festivals and major bands coming around. So it’s going to be a great experience, and we’re all really excited for it. By then, we’ll have more music out and be able to play longer shows of original music, and to show that to people for the first time would be great as well.

Regarding the band’s sound, what I like most is that you meet influences from the 90’s alternative rock music and grunge, but also with heavy metal, for example, in the song “Bleeding Out” that has a heavy metal sound. Which international bands or Irish bands have influenced you?

Eoin Keague: I’m still fairly new to the band at the moment, so Cian would probably be more equipped to answer this question. I know myself, we’ve only messed around with a few stuff so far. But I agree, there’s a grungy and heavy metal sound in there with a few songs, but you also have nice melodic and slow songs as well. There’s this one that we have, but it’s not released yet. I think it’s “Out Of My Head”.

Liam Caroll: Yep.

Eoin Keague: It has a Deftones influence. I don’t know, it’s like slow heavy-hitting melodic. It has the whole bunch.

Cian Geraghty: I’d say for our influences, we got a lot of Irish band Thin Lizzy with the harmony guitars. And then for our heavier side, I suppose you can see a bit of Metallica in there. We’ve got a bit of Green Day; we have been matching that energy for some songs. And for our next single, there’s a really high-energy song, similar enough to Sum 41, kind of like. I’d say there’s a bit of grunge like Nirvana, too. And then, as Eoin said, “Out Of My Head“, which is another unreleased song, is very influenced by Deftones.

What about you, Liam?

Most of the same stuff there, with Thin Lizzy, especially for me as a guitarist. I love guitar harmonies. Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, those kinds of bands with a lot of harmonising in them would be big influences. Lyrically, I’m influenced by Muse and those kinds of earlier mid 2000’s acts as well. We also have a big grunge element in songs like “Lost”.

What are your plans for this year?

Cian Geraghty: For this year, we’re hoping to get, obviously, studio time to record the singles for our upcoming album. We are going abroad. Hopefully, we’re going to get a tour going in England while we’re over there playing at Rebellion Festival. We’ll try to get as much studio time as possible, play as many shows as we can, and then keep writing more and more music and keep going.

How do you see the music scene in Galway? It seems like everything goes through Dublin, but lately bands from Galway, Dundalk, Donegal and other counties have emerged, proving that not everything happens in the capital.

Liam Carroll: There’s been such a big growth since we started, especially in the last 3 years. I’ve seen so many bands our age start playing and start getting out there. And it’s great to see people our age getting more confidence playing in front of people and writing their own stuff, starting to release music as well. It’s great to see, especially in a place like this in Galway, where it’s not extremely famous for a music scene. It’s evolving.

Eoin Keague: Especially when you have organisations like Music Generation, it’s great for getting new young up-and-coming bands getting them started, teaching them the ropes, getting them their early gigs. It’s very hard to start as a band, so when you have somebody to give you support like that, it really helps. Now there’s a big number of new bands and musicians: it’s just growing bigger and bigger every day.

I know that some members of the band have connections to Latin America. Tell me more about that.

Liam Caroll: Ultan and me. My mother is from Bolivia, so I have a lot of family over there. We go there every once in a while to visit them.

Ultan Krause: My mother is fully Mexican, so I consider myself half Mexican, and I go over there a lot, and I’m trying to improve my Spanish.

How do you see yourself in the future? Would you like to pursue a music career?

Liam Carroll: Yeah, definitely, I think. It’d be a big dream for us to have, like, even a world tour, actually, like selling out arenas and even stadiums. Hopefully, at some point would be just amazing.

How do you remember Adam Nagajek?

Liam Caroll: He was a very powerful member of the band; very present in writing and especially in the recording side of it. He would have had a very strong voice in how it would sound and how he wanted the songs to turn out. It was great to have someone like that. It was a hard loss…

Eoin Keague: He was a brilliant guy, a brilliant drummer. When I first decided that I was going to play a few gigs with TaLLLon, when I first sat down and tried to learn his drum parts, man, I tell you I had an insanely difficult time. Definitely the top drummer in Galway, one of the greatest drummers I’ve ever met personally.

Cian Geraghty: Even on stage, he brought such a loud presence and big, loud, massive drums that would really add to the energy.