Interview: Jape

“I usually take a long time over songs, going back to them and tweaking them,” says the man who started out as one sixth of Dublin instrumental rockers The Redneck Manifesto. “I think maybe that’s a flaw because it takes me ages to get stuff done. I just need to be able to stand behind them and feel like they are true to me. The problem is that what feels true to you can change over time and so you start to wonder whether any of it was true in the first place. I definitely think there is a point when you are getting too complicated with an idea and then it’s usually time to step back. ‘Mixing past the money’ is what Quincy Jones used to say.”

Speaking of stepping back, it seems screens and devices dominate lives and eyes these days, an observation alluded to by the lyrics of The Heart’s Desire which comes with words of advice: people need to “take the time to breathe”.

“I wrote that song when my mother was dying. All the world seemed a bit trivial to me and the only thing that gave me some peace really was meditating. John from [Greystones group] Solar Bears gave me a mantra and was very nice to me around that time. I was trying to teach myself to meditate with that song really, and become part of everything. Don’t get me wrong though, I love Twitter!”