Updated: Friday, 12th January, 2007 12:00am

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Navan band Large Mound release new album

NAVAN rock band Large Mound have just released their new album, `My Whole Life is Have To`, which is the band`s first album since 2004`s `Go Forth and Amplify`. 

The band - Hugh McCabe, Mark Jordan, Eric Stover, Anthony Mackey  have just played numerous other gigs throughout the country, including Navan last week in the Backroom Sessions at the Lantern Lounge.

On the recording of the album, Anthony says: "We began recording the album almost a year to the day of the launch in Dublin on 9th November last. We recorded most of it live in three days in Experimental Audio studios in Dublin with Stephen Shannon.

"We were unable to start overdubs until about April of this year. Then we had three different guys mix it,  two of whom were in America  - Portland, Oregon and Chicago, respectively. David Dubh Black is working on a project with the Enigma whom people might know from the Jim Rose Circus.

"The second man, Kris Poulin, does a lot of work with Pinback. Our Irish mixer was Alan O`Boyle from electronic band Decal. He`s also a high rock fan and they all did great work.

"We spent a few weeks on that, sending songs back and forth. It was mastered by John Golden in California who is responsible for mastering pretty much any half decent alternative rock album in years.

"So it seems like a long time but that`s how long albums take when you`re working the way we do and on a budget."

He describes `My Whole Life Is Have To` as "the fruits of a year`s rocking in the life of the Mound. It sounds big, it sounds tight. It`s got 13 killer songs that run the gamut from sweet  pop, to grooving pedal to the floor riffing, to manic guitar mayhem.

"Lyrical subject matter covers ongoing Mound fixations such as work, rocking and life`s little peculiarities, as well as more weighty subjects such as hating your friends - and the problems that arise when one accidentally becomes immortal.

"We`ve all been there. The songwriting is about 70/30 Anthony and Mark. In fact, Mark wrote the single "Your Holiday Sounds Boring". We did a pretty great video for that a couple of weeks ago."

The photos on the cover are by photographer Kevin Russ from Portland, Oregon. "He specialises in photographing people. We were beating around ideas on what to do with the album artwork until one day I came across Kevin Russ`s work, and the work just jumped out, and that was it."

Regarding who plays what instrument in the band?: Mark Jordan, guitar and vocals; Hugh McCabe, bass, and Eric Stover drums.

"Eric, on drums, is the latest recruit. We`ve known him since his days pounding the skins for anarchic improv rockers Jam Jar Jail. Eric is into far crazier music than the rest of Large Mound - but so far we have managed to keep him under control!"

"Actually, we had this idea when Mark was in Canada to start a worldwide Large Mound franchise operation. The aim would be to set up a Large Mound band, made up of locals, in as many cities across the world as we could manage.

"We would send them instructions about how to dress, behave, and so on; they would learn how to play our songs, and start gigging.

"We had one more or less ready to go in Toronto and we`re planning on getting Kris and his buddies to set one up in Chicago too.

"Once a year, all the Large Mounds would then come together, for a big gig/convention type thing. We might yet try and do this, particularly if the new album does well for us. It`s an idea whose time will come."

Anthony says that the band plan to play abroad also."We`ve played abroad, supporting the last album, and have every intention of doing the same with `My Whole Life is Have To`. 2008 is going to be very busy for the Mound. We`ve got people in the UK and the continent working on this."

`My Whole Life Is Have To` is available from shops including E2 Music in Navan, gigs, from the website, www.LargeMound.com, on CD and vinyl and as a download from iTunes.