Strypes to bring out of this world show to The Townhall

Sharp suits at the ready, creases pressed to razor sharpness and winkle pickers should be polished as The Strypes take to stage of the Townhall. Well, technically it's the floor of The Townhall.

Health and safety will probably dictate that there has to be an exclusion zone to allow for the frenetic styling of the band as they blast out cuts from their forth-coming follow-up to Little Victories.
How is this possible: “The audience just stand in front of you,” Pete O'Hanlon explains.
Not known for his static performances the bass player says that audience decapitation should be kept at a minimum: “For most of the gigs people are just standing on top of us, it's just the way we play. The live thing is our forte, that is how the band works.
'We love playing at home – to play in the Townhall, with such a creative engine behind us, will make it special. It brings an excitement and theatricality to what we do. It is going to be a bit more low key that our last gig there - we won't be taking off in a space ship, it is going to be more intimate, clubby.”
Reaction
This will not be the first time the new material has been unleashed as the group have been plying their trade in various locations up and down the island in an informal manner: “We have been doing a whole Irish tour, which is going from small clubs and pubs the length and breadth of Ireland. It is about playing our new material, judging reactions and maybe jig it about a bit and look at how it sets up for the next year or 18 months, depending on how the album goes,” Pete says. The response thus far appears to be positive: “We are performing 90% of the new album. There are only two or three songs that we are not playing live yet. You are always anxious whenever you announce the new stuff. Some people head to the bar, so you worry about holding people's attention.
'So far the reaction has been great and people have been very responsive to the songs. People hang on after and chat about the songs and the feedback has been great. It is nice to know that they have been listening. People are asking us: 'When's the new album is out?' There is a hunger for it, which is great. There is noting better in the world than people saying they are looking forward to the new album.”
Album
The Townhall showcase will give local fans a pre-release listen to the new material: “It will be a couple of weeks before it is released. It looks like the first single will be 'Behind Closed Doors', a song that we have been opening the set with, it was one that we came up with in the early stage of the album.”
Josh McClorey took the lead in songwriting in Little Victories, but there has been a redistribution of the artistic labour on the latest offering with O'Hanlon and Evan Walsh taking the opportunity to flex their song-writing muscles: “Me and Evan have written half the album, seven songs on the album of 13. It is a bit strange performing the songs that you have written, but more so from the reaction that you get from it. 'There is a challenge of bringing a song together. There are fears that maybe it is not going to turn out the way you plan. When you bring it to three other creative people it could totally change shape. Mostly for the better, which is great, but it is the risk you take. You could end up with an 18 part brass section tucked in and that can be tough to take,' he jokes, 'but they are the trials and tribulations of getting a song from starting point to the end point.” With that part of the album completed the next phase of world domination is the live performances. The Townhall gig this Friday will be a good barometer to assess when the emperors will be fitted for their crown. Even without the spaceship it is sure to be out of this world.