Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

How is it that you started playing music? We think its how your raised and the environment you're in. Parents used to send us to music classes and then the fun of the music took over so it was our own choice from then on.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? There's Hugh Finn who plays banjo, tenor guitar, and sings. Then his older brother Ciarán, plays guitar and sings. James O'Connor plays accordion and sings. And lastly, theres Peter, who's on percussion, and sings. If we tell you our ages, we would have to kill you!! 

Have you had other previous members? The band started as a totally different line up years ago in 2007, and changed many times in the last few years until the one you see now. 

Did you make music even when you were young? We all did in abundance, whether it was playing fiddles or drum kits. Some of our individual music still stands to this day, and are being introduced to the band week in week out. 

Where are you from? Hugh and Ciaran are from Rathdowney, in County Laois, and Peter and James are from Tournafulla in West Limerick. 

What year did the band form? We got together in April 2014, the Year of Na Fianna! 

What's your style of genre? We have a unique genre we're told, but we're saying Celtic Rock. With influences of folk, traditional Irish music, rock and even metal. 

What inspires you? In general, a good life and easy living for our family inspires us to go and do great things. In music, it's other  artist's music and lyrics in songs, and also their drive and desire for the public to listen to them.  

How often and where do you reherse? We have rehearsed a lot in this last year. We stand by this part of the job as being the most important I think. There's a lot of class musicians out there that can fall in to any group and play along, but for a group to get together and consciously think about making each song unique is different and takes a certain amount of organised rehearsing, but whilst also making it fun, of course.

How have you developed since you started with the music? We are seriously all learning more and more about our instruments and what we can actually produce from each one. This is only helped greatly, when playing in a band with similar musical taste and goals. And we talk about it quite a bit how much our music is changing from song to song, and album to album.

Do you have other interests of work outside the band? We all like the outdoors living and activities, like kayaking and swimming. Listening to other bands play live music will always be a favourite past-time of ours too, when we have some time to spare.

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Talk to our managment team about that! We are a very close team, and besides, we wouldn't know the first thing about a booking agency.....Actually, we do know, at least, that it's an agent selling books!!!

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Is that like a sticky label??? As i said, that's more for our management to answer. 

What made you decide to make this music? The pure love of Irish songs. There's a real honesty in folk and traditional songs, and we love that, but also to invent and write new songs to match these great ones that have stood the test of time.  

What are your songs about? They are focused on the modern Irish culture, both sad and happy, and our nations on-going love, to explore andseek out broader horizons in foreign lands to work and live their ways.

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? We all write our own songs and bring them forward in rehearsals and see what hits home. Songwriting is one thing we all share a love for, and the future seems bright if there's four songwriters in the band. We also collaborated with Don Mescal for a few songs on our new album, and learned so much from him during this process.

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? It depends, some start writing the lyrics first, but not always. It's whatever comes in to our mind first, whether the lyric is catchy, or the music catches on. 

Do you compose in a certain enviroment? We do individually in our own areas of quietness and never compose with the television on. As a band when writing, sometimes we'd have a playlist of inspiring songs ready to play in between "writers block" (as they say), to get it rolling again.

Have you done any covers live? Yes, quite a lot. We've been playing the Temple Bar pub scene, in Dublin, for years now in duets and solos, and the punters always want to hear covers, so they are essential to those type gigs.

What language do you sing in? We sing all our songs in English at the moment, but we have sang in Irish in the past years on different occasions separately. And we're sure they will come again into our current sets. 

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? There's no "least" and "most" in our gigs to be honest. We have a very broad fan base and our gigs can be enjoyed in any way by any one person. If you forced us to answer, however, we'd say the people who least attend our gigs would be ones who dislike good music, and people who attend most, are the ones who love good music!!

What ages are most of your concert attendants? Any age, but if your ears are sensitive, I wouldn't stand so close to a monitor, there's a loud banjo live on the stage!!

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We vary quite a bit, although, there are many songs that we hate to leave out of a set because they simply rock.

Do you have a regular place you play live often? We do, in our duets and trios, but not so much as a full band. We are offered gigs quite a lot though so it keeps us on our toes.

What was your first gig like? It was't good at all in comparison to how our rehearsals sounded like. We were cramped up in a corner beside the bar men, in a small bar in Temple Bar. The speakers couldn't really hold what we were trying to convey, but it's not the pubs fault, that gig took us back a notch, and we buried our heads back in the rehearsal rooms to regain our confidence. 

What was your latest gig? We just played four straight nights in the Taste of Dublin festival on the main stage, for two hours each night. Its a great festival, amazing crowds, and we've just been invited back for the next 5 years. 

Have you had to cancel a gig? No never, and hopefully we will keep that clear record. It would not be fair on anyone who may want to hear us. The secret is good management and to keep ourselves healthy coming close to gigs. 

Where have you played live this year? We've played in Norway in January, and the rest here in Ireland. Corporate gigs in the Guinness Storehouse are frequent, and then other Dublin gigs like The Taste of Dublin, amongst others.  

Where do you plan to gig the comming year? We have two German gigs this Summer, Hassbergen, July 25th, and Balver Hohle, 8th August. And a two week tour of the East coast of the USA in September. A festival called Timoleague in Cork, and in one England, during August. And in Oslo, Norway, at the end of October to the begining of November for two weeks also. And we're sure there will be more dates added as the ride continues.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? At the moment we have the most important merchandise, our CDs, soon there will be T-shirts and hoodies, so very soon we'll have more to offer than the music. 

Where can people buy your merchandise? You can go to our website at Na Fianna | Official Website for Na Fianna – Traditional Irish Musicians also on iTunes, and other music outlets throughout in Ireland.

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records nowadays? It's a tricky one. But we believe if our music is good, people will support it, but we as musicians will have to give our money's worth to the public in exchange, and we are doing so by putting a whopping 12 quality songs on our new album "UnEarthed".

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? It has definitely made live perfomances more important to the artist and a pressure to get people going to their gigs. It has also made a lot of songwriters write more and spreading their skills in collaborations with others. The more material one has out in the public domain the better. 

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? It makes you realise how hard it is to get somewhere in this business, and it just inspires us more. .

Do you have any role models or idols? We have, in many in different aspects of life, but musically, Johnny McEvoy, Paul Brady, Dave Grohl, Dermot Byrne, Nirvana, Incubus, Dick Gaughan, The Clancy Brothers, and Bellowhead to name just a few.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Not so much, but an older band, that consists of Wally Page,we've seen last year, really showed us what musicanship in a live show is really about. 

What have been your biggest obstacles? Trying to balance a normal life with a hectic and unpredictable musician's life. That is quite difficult, but nothing is an obstacle we cant get over. 

What advice would you give other bands or artists? Keep rehearsing, believe in something new, and work until you can't work no more. 

How do you get psyched for a gig? We build it up, pretend we are unstoppable, and have a pint.......of water. 

Do you have any new material? Yeah we have lots of new material in our songwriting books ready to be released on the world. Right now we are concentrating on this new album "UnEarthed", then its back to the rehearsing dungeon.

What are your web sites? www.nafiannamusic.com 

How can people reach you? Twitter: @nafiannamusic. Instagram: @nafiannamusic. Facebook: Na Fianna Music

What are your plans for the future?To bring the world new exciting music from Ireland and to make them dance, cry, sing, and fly!