The Saw Doctors want you to sing along at LA House of Blues March 24
March 20th, 2011 2:33 pm PT
Gary Schwind
Orange County Music Examiner

The Saw Doctors is a band from a town called Tuam (it sounded like "tomb" when the singer pronounced it) in western Ireland. The band is not only wildly popular in its home country, but also in the governor's mansion in Maryland. The band played at Martin O'Malley's inauguration. Via phone, singer/guitarist Leo Moran discussed the new album, the band's devoted fan base, and the effects Tuam has had on the band's music.

 

 

We thought it was a bit different. We used some different sounds. We really worked hard at polishing it up and making sure that all the songs were as good as they could be. I also think it's probably our most consistent album. It's easy to listen to from start to finish. Some of previous albums have been lacking that consistency with different types of songs stuck next to each other, not working as a whole. This one seems to be a collection of songs that works as a whole.

 

 

It was a conscious desire, I suppose. Whether you're going to get there or not, you never know. I think we did work a little bit harder at it, just to try and make sure that we had the right songs and the right versions of songs. Some of the songs we recorded more than once and we had to scrap the original version because it just wasn't exactly as we thought it should be. That's a lot of work and a big decision when you start work in the morning that we're going to have to throw that one out. We were very determined and made sure we polished it as well as possible. We're proud of it anyway. It's a strange time now for albums. They've almost reached the end of their lifecycle. There's going to be different ways of presenting music in the future. I think a band is going to have to put together a collection of songs as a raison d'etre. This is why we exist in this time and what we're doing at this moment.

 

 

You always have to be conscious of the technology in music, as it always has been. When we made our first album, we made it with vinyl in mind. You have four landmarks: the first and last track of each side. They were the landmarks that you were aiming for. That got outdated and then we were making it for CD format, where you're looking at the first and last track and hoping they flow together. Now, people are just choosing the tracks they want and they're probably not buying the full album most of the time. People are not going to be listening to a collection of songs the way we did. It's strange, but I suppose it means you'll just be presenting one song at a time to people. Or that's the way they're going to be consuming them, whatever you do.

 

 

Oh God! It's fabulous! It's almost like a religious experience. People love to get together in a room and sing. There is some kind of a deep connection people make to each other when everybody sings the same thing in a room like that. It's a wonderful experience. When they're singing something you've created, it's an even bigger connection. It's a fantastic thing. When you're doing a show, you're enjoying the moment, hoping that this one is good as possible, and you're hoping the next moment is good. Very often, you don't savor it in the way someone might imagine you would when it's actually happening. When they're really enjoying themselves, you're hoping that it lasts as long as possible. You're always on your toes, but enjoying it at the same time.

 

 

We're very lucky. It's actually essential for us. The way that people find out about us is that people go to the shows, and bring their friends the next time. Those friends bring their friends. That's how our fan base has expanded over the years. It's a slow process, but it's a steady process. Recommendations from friends are more trustworthy than reading something in the newspaper. Our fans have been so loyal and enthusiastic about bringing new people, it's been brilliant for us. I don't know how else we would find new people. I hope we never get big because I like to be able to see them.

 

 

I love it for its variety. One state is so different from another. They're just so colorful and varied. I love food as well. When I tour, I love to eat Japanese food and Vietnamese food. They're both foods you don't get in Ireland. That's something I look forward to when I'm touring. Another great thing America has that we don't have is all these venues. Proper rock and roll venues where the stage is visible from everywhere, well laid out. They're always a treasure to play in. Wonderful places.

 

 

Oh very much so. Probably what makes us distinctive from any other band is that we use the vocabulary and the idiom of the town in our music. While we have similar instrumentation as many other bands, our lyrics and our accents are quite distinctive. I think that's a very important element in what we do. People love to hear natural things in songs. That's what rings with them. They might hear a turn of phrase in our songs that they haven't heard before. There's a certain element of that as well, where it's not often that people think that ordinary speech can be made into an art form. In rock and roll, that's what makes us distinctive. That's probably our most important element to be distinctive. Otherwise, we're just going to sound like thousands of other bands.

 

 

It's a bit centralized and then the neighboring towns do catch on to it. It comes from the gypsies. We have a big traveling community that settled in Tuam. They brought that language. They've had kind of a secret language over the years. I think they made up a lot of the words we use. In other towns where there are a lot of travelers, they have similar language as us. It's centralized to where we are, but it's not unique to where we are.

 

I really have no idea. We've been doing this full-time since 1989. So, if and when the day comes we're not able to do it anymore, I'll have to see what happens. I might be working in an office or something. Who knows?

 

 

You never know. I'm very thankful to have the privilege to earn a living doing what I love.

 

The Saw Doctors perform at the LA House of Blues on Thursday, March 24. Tickets for this show are $20 in advance, $22.50 the day of the show.