Interview, Jeremy Hickey, Rarely Seen Above Ground

Artist: Rarely Seen Above Ground
Source: Liam Griffin

Rarely Seen Above Ground (RSAG) is a one man band who records all his own material and plays drums live alongside some pretty interesting visuals. His debut album Organic Sampler, was released last year and gained him a nomination for the Choice Music Prize. His sound is energetic, exciting and well worth checking out. Drop-d spoke with the brain of the operation Jeremy Hickey over the phone last week, just before he played at a Jameson Film Festival party in Dublin.

Drop-d: Playing live as a drummer accompanying virtual band mates is a pretty unorthodox approach. How did you come up with this idea?
Jeremy: It came about because I'd played in bands for years and I always wanted to get my own thing going. It was easier to do it all myself, I'm a drummer first and foremost but I also play guitar and other instruments. Back in about '96, I made a demo and it came out pretty well. After that I got involved with a band called Blue Ghost. But it was actually always since about the age of 20/21 that I was going to do a solo thing. There were a lot of people making and performing music on their own at the time, like DJ Shadow, there was a lot of stuff that you didn't need a full band, so it was in the air for me.

Drop-d: How do you get the images for your show?

J: I make the images for the live show myself with help from my friend Paul Mahon. We both film the stuff and then we both sit down and cut it up. Its more or less the same way the music is done, as in its recorded and cut up. Like how the music is done, except it's visuals. That's why I think it works so well.

Clicky clicky for the rest of the interview.