Sebastian Sparr of the Irish metal outfit Uragh shares insights into their upcoming debut album, Maelstrom set to be released on April 19th. He speaks of their journey in the Irish metal scene, the album’s evolution from a single to a full-length project, reflects on the challenges and triumphs of recording, their efforts to build a fanbase, and their excitement for the album’s release.
ATN: For my own sanity and because I mispronounce everything, how do you pronounce Uragh?
SEBASTIAN: Haha, thanks for asking. It’s pronounced UH-RAH. Our guitarist Marcelo came up with the name. He travelled around County Kerry in the southwest of Ireland during a vulnerable time in his life and he came across this ancient stone circle called Uragh. He started recording demos afterwards using the name as some sort of working title – the name stuck and we decided to use it as our band name as it also has a cool ring to it. It also connects us to the place, this little island called Ireland, that the band calls home.
ATN: What is Ireland’s metal scene like?
SEBASTIAN: Ireland is a small country, so the scene is very familial. However, there is such a wealth of talent and dedication it’s incredible. The main hubs are Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Belfast, but you have amazing stuff emerging from all over the island. I am from Germany originally, and the scene in Ireland has made me feel right at home from the get go. Everyone is willing to help each other out, bands support one another and older more experienced bands generally take younger bands under their wing. At least that’s our experience. We’ve had so much help along the way from other bands, bloggers, podcasters, there is a very nice and friendly vibe generally. Metal often gets overlooked here by the Irish mainstream media unfortunately, even though there is such a vast cultural treasure to be appreciated or at least to be acknowledged, it’s a pity really. Because of that, I feel sometimes bands and artists have to fight twice as hard to garner attention, which maybe is the reason why bands here have this amazing work ethic.
ATN: Craig (vocals) has said, “This album happened out of the blue…” was Maelstrom initially an EP or something else all together?
SEBASTIAN: By the time we went into the studio we had one single released “Decimate” the track was well received and we were eager to throw more stuff out there. We had been playing in the full line-up for just about a year, so the possibility of making an album seemed a bit ambitious at the time. At first we were thinking about an EP maybe, which is a pretty normal thing to do for a band of our size. Marcelo however kept pumping out new tunes and we were making such good progress learning and rehearsing them, that it dawned on us that we could just make an album. We feel the album is less and less important in the digital streaming era, but each member of the band absolutely loves the album as a format, so it was a bit of a dream for all of us to eventually release one. What initially seemed like a crazy idea just took on its own dynamic and here we were booking more days in the studio to hammer out everything we had. We literally just finished learning some of the tracks when we went into the studio for the second time.
ATN: What was the writing and recording process like for Maelstrom?
SEBASTIAN: Marcelo generally writes the tunes at home, records demos and passes them on to us. We learn it, change and add our bits and Craig, our vocalist, writes the lyrics for it. Once we start practising the song in our rehearsal space, the song spawns and comes into shape. Every now and then we rearrange or change stuff around but basically that is how an Uragh song comes into being.
We recorded the album in JSR studio in Belfast with Josh Robinson. With Josh we had the ideal producer who eventually gave the album a thick and multilayered sound that we’re really proud of. In the studio we recorded a song a day. Jason lays down the drum tracks first, I add my bass lines over it and have a celebratory beer with Jason while Marcelo tracks and layers guitar and poor old Craig is last adding his vocals. He basically guzzles tea and honey all day long, while Jason and myself are on the cans enjoying ourselves. Being in the studio and the whole creative process is such a joy for us.
ATN: What was the easiest song to write or record for the album?
SEBASTIAN: Easy to record was “Mo Dhia Maith,” a ten minute epic that closes the album. However, it definitely wasn’t easy to write and learn. When Marcelo came up with the song, myself and Jason were sighing and it seemed impossible back then that we’d ever get that right as a band. The song has a very chaotic middle section, reminiscent of some Converge moments. At the time we were so intimidated and scared of it … by the time we went to the studio, we could play the song with our eyes closed, and we laugh now, remembering how hard it was initially. In the studio I think we all nailed it pretty much in one take (I might be totally bullshitting here, but at least that’s how it felt).
ATN: What was the hardest?
SEBASTIAN: Uff not sure … I think every member would have a different answer to that. For me on bass it was “The Widening Gyre” which was eventually released as a single. It has lots of tricky, fiddly parts in it … a few takes were needed for those along with some hissy fits.
Production wise the hardest song was “Regrowth At The Mouth Of Sickness” … the song is long and ebbs and flows, with a quiet middle section with hushed vocals. I think we drove poor Josh the producer crazy with mixing remarks, it took ages and tons of revisions to get the dynamics of the track right.
ATN: Being a relatively ‘new’ band, how easy or hard has it been to garner attention and create a fanbase?
SEBASTIAN: As I’ve mentioned above, in Ireland you have to fight really hard to get attention if you want your music heard outside the scene. With perseverance and the help of a great PR company I feel we are on the right track. But it was definitely a learning curve and we needed to figure out carefully what the right steps would be. Early on we realised that you need to be super careful as in how and with whom you invest your budget. It takes a lot of research and help from bands that have gone through the motions already, which we could always count on. We worked with targeted ads on Instagram and Facebook at first, to increase our followers and get our name out there. Also, I realise not every band has the budget to invest in PR or Social Media ads so it’s tough. On top, there is such a sheer crazy amount of music released these days, which complicates it even more to get your stuff heard, the market is so saturated.
ATN: What song are you most nervous for fans to hear and why?
SEBASTIAN: I guess it’s “Ar An Trá Fholamh” – a postlude to the song “Capsize” in Gaelic language, the native language of Ireland. Craig did such an amazing job learning the lyrics, delivering such a haunting performance, it’s beautiful. It’s basically the last verse of “Capsize” which was then translated with the help of an amazing lady who was an Irish teacher her whole career and is a firm Irish language enthusiast. We really hope we are doing the language justice with this track and got it all right. It’ll be nice for people from outside Ireland to hear what the language sounds like and maybe some don’t even know that English is not Ireland’s native language.
ATN: With Maelstrom nearing release, what feelings, if any, is the band going through?
SEBASTIAN: We hate the waiting game, we just want the thing to be out and for people to finally hear it. It’s such a long process from start to finish and having the album ready, just idling until release day requires a lot of patience. But all in all we are very excited of course and hope that some people like it. Of course we want it to do well and all that, but in the end we did it for ourselves and we are proud of what we have achieved, everything else is the cherry on top.
ATN: How will you celebrate release day?
SEBASTIAN: Good question, a few pints I guess, Irish style haha.
ATN: What do you hope listeners take away from Maelstrom?
SEBASTIAN: Of course, we hope they will dig the music, the riffs, headbang, make funny faces to it and have a good time with it. The album is sometimes complex and intricate, ebbs and flows, we hope that people will find access to it. There are some moments of light and positivity amidst the doom and gloom and it would be nice if people cop on to that and get a sense of that. We are all in this game because we like our music heavy and aggressive … to sort of process some dark emotions in us and have that outlet to deal with the negativity within and around us. We hope to emerge as good and kind human beings because we have that outlet … so be kind and respectful to those around you and channel your hatred and frustration into creativity and art. That’s what we are trying to do with Maelstrom.
ATN: What can fans expect in 2024?
SEBASTIAN: Gigs gigs gigs to promote the album, we’d like to play as much as possible. We have a few exciting shows lined up already. We will be supporting the amazing Urne on May 3rd at the Academy 2 in Dublin, along with our brethren LaVein, which will be a blast and our biggest gig to date.
On May 31 we will be celebrating the release of Maelstrom along with Nomadus from Belfast and Dublin’s own Barrfite, we will be playing the album in full in Fibber Magees, Dublin, party with us if you are around (tickets here). If promotores are looking for bands to play, get in touch with us, we want to play everywhere.
Hopefully a new merch drop and a physical release of the album, but that could stretch into 2025.
SAME 3 QUESTIONS WE ALWAYS ASK
ATN: Artist / band that you feel is the most underrated and why?
SEBASTIAN: Uff four band members, four answers but my pick would be German doom band Ahab, they don’t get the love and recognition they deserve in my opinion. Faith No More are underrated, they should be the biggest band in the world.
ATN: Artist / band that you would like to collaborate with and why?
SEBASTIAN: I think the majority of the band would say Deftones, especially Jason and Marcelo are huge Deftones disciples and were majorly influenced by them. I personally would like to do some weird shit with artists that think outside the box like Sunn O)))), Botanist or Gnaw Their Tongues. Portal would be interesting too. Hold on, I wanna tour with Darkthrone, that’s it.
ATN: Artist / band that you would like to tour with and why?
SEBASTIAN: Mötley Crüe or Ozzy anno 1986 – you know why lol
