A Chat with Sun Mahsene (23.07.24)
Eclectic, diverse, experimental, unconventional – just a few words to describe Irish six-piece Sun Mahshene. Tapping into various flavours of rock, psychedelia, and even some folk mixed into the blend, the lads are an enigmatic obscurity bringing their unique brand of kaleidoscopic music to the masses. We speak with bandmates Nathan, Rob, Dave H, Ian, Asia and Dave M about their album A Place We’ve Never Been, favourite Christmas movies and much more.
OSR: What drew you all to music and how did Sun Mahshene come about?
Nathan: When I was a kid I used to listen to Del Shannon and Bill Hayley and The Comets a lot. My dad had ‘best of’ albums for both and I think I wore those records out, they were played that much. That led me on to Buddy Holly, The Beatles and an obsession with guitar music!
Rob: My earliest memories are of listening to Paul McCartney but not being aware of the Beatles. That came later! But for me it was guitar, once I started playing that was it, I was hooked. I couldn’t get enough. And now I’m in the guitar-iest band of all time.
Dave H: My early music memories were Sunday mornings when there were always records playing. The Beatles’ blue and red albums were played regularly. I got really into the Magical Mystery Tour songs straight away. Oasis made me really aware of guitars and guitar music and that gradually led to buying a guitar and trying it for myself.
Ian: Music was the first thing that I became infatuated with. It became a religion to me.
Asia: I’m quite shy, so I always felt I could express myself better through music. It gives me a kind of freedom
Dave M: Music was always on growing up, on the radio, LPs, on TV, in the car. It’s something I was always surrounded by.
Nathan: Sun Mahshene started as a bedroom project, really. I hadn’t been in a band for a while and started putting together some fairly lo-fi demos which would later be released as the first run of EP’s. The recordings weren’t great but people seemed to be digging the songs. So, that acted as a catalyst for turning it into a live thing. The first person I got in touch with was Dave (Murray) our drummer. He was on board straight away. Then after putting out an ad for a guitarist and bass player. Ian and a really talented bass player called Martin Fagan were the first two to answer. There was no big plan behind it. I just wanted to bring the songs to life with great musicians. And everything has pretty much evolved from that point.
OSR: Your band name is quite different. How did you decide on the name Sun Mahshene?
Nathan: The early sound of the band was quite psychedelic. So I wanted the name to be eye-catching. Initially, it was going to be just Sun Machine. Then I tried a few alternative spellings and Sun Mahshene came out on top. It looks great, and it suits us to have a unique name.
OSR: You are about to release your album A Place We’ve Never Been. What can you tell us about it? Is there a particular theme or backstory?
Rob: It’s our real debut album – we recorded an album’s length of material already that was split between two EPs. But that was with a different line-up of the band – this is THIS band’s debut! The title comes from where we found ourselves at the end of 2022 – post-pandemic uncertainty, a new lineup, and a future unwritten. We could do whatever we wanted. And we did! We made a great album. The theme is about escaping and breaking free of the past. Every track on it has some kind of relevance to that.
OSR: If you could change one thing about the album, what would it be and why?
Rob: I don’t think any of us would want to change anything about the album in fairness. We went in with a very clear vision of what we wanted to achieve and we worked pretty efficiently on it. Not a second was wasted. We did design the running order and length to fit well on a vinyl record, as we really wanted to get it out physically. Without that, we may have recorded a couple more tracks or made some of them a bit longer. But what we do have is a classic 40-minute, 8-song album.
OSR: Your first EP Drones That Don’t Kill was released in 2016. How has your music changed over the past decade and is A Place We’ve Never Been a true representation of your sound at the moment?
Nathan: There has been a steady sonic evolution. We’ve had several members pass through our doors. So naturally when someone new joins, they bring new energy, ideas and musical influences. In our Drones era, it was really a singular vision. I was writing the songs and directing the band members at that time on what to play, how parts of songs should be played etc… But as Rob mentioned earlier, just after the pandemic we found ourselves in the unknown. We had a new lineup. Dave (Hilliard) had joined on bass and Asia had joined on keyboards. It felt like a fresh start for us really. And there was a notable change in our sound in those early rehearsal sessions. Which did lead us to make a conscientious decision at that point, and move away from the early psych sound. So, it progressed naturally from there. The album is very much a representation of the journey we’ve been on as a band since then and the album captures it perfectly in its sound.
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OSR: Considering you have recorded several albums, is the production process the same for each or does each album come together in its own way? New challenges and learning processes?
Rob: The production approach was very different from before – on the older material, we all played live to get the backing track down, then added overdubs. This time, we did it piece-by-piece, which meant we could focus on getting each part perfect. Because we were under (self-imposed) time pressure, we had to work quickly and get ideas down before it was too late. For the most part, they all worked out! We used to joke about having a last-minute idea about 20 minutes before we were due to finish for the night, and we always had to try it. Some of those were great ideas too. Maybe next time we’ll have a different method of working, who knows?
Nathan: Yeah, the sessions used to end at 7 pm, I think. For some strange reason at 6:40 pm, an idea would arrive in someone’s mind that we HAD to put in the song we were working on that day. It led to some frantic finishes to those sessions. Some might call them eureka moments.
OSR: Where do you picture yourself five years from now as Sun Mahshene and individuals?
Rob: It would be my wish that we’re still all together and making music. That’s the most important thing. Ideally, we’d be three albums in by then and will have made a bit of a name for ourselves, both here and internationally. I still have a few bucket list items to check off – one of them is playing the main stage of a big festival in glorious summer sunshine!
Nathan: Older. None the wiser. With 2 sold-out nights in the 3 Arena at the end of our world tour. Something like that.
Dave H: I’d love to have the opportunity to go around the world and play these songs and more. Heading for a soundcheck in Tokyo or Buenos Aires as part of my regular day would be great.
OSR: Do you prefer to work in the morning or at night?
Nathan: Night.
Rob: Morning and then night.
Dave H: Night.
Ian: Morning.
Asia: Night.
Dave M: Morning.
OSR: What is your favourite Christmas movie?
Nathan: Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Rob: The Lighthouse
Dave H: Gremlins 1
Ian: Die Hard
Asia: A Christmas Carol
Dave M: A Christmas Story
OSR: What can we expect from Sun Mahshene in the future?
Rob: Our album is out in August and we can’t wait for people to hear it. We’re already halfway through writing the follow-up, so that’ll be on the way too. I think we’d like to push the boundaries of the genre a little bit more – not that we’ve ever been restricted by it – but it will be interesting to see how our sound will evolve. It’s already changed a lot since the early days so that could be something to look at in the future.
OSR: Do you have a message for our readers?
For anyone who knows us and has come to our gigs, thanks! It’s important to support local artists – go to their gigs, buy their t-shirts and records, share their music with your friends and on your socials. It makes a massive difference to a band when they see people do that. I remember once we did a gig where we sold the last remaining copies of our 12” vinyl [2022’s Space Echoes: The EPs]. We couldn’t believe it had “sold out”. We got such a buzz from that. Same when we saw people wearing our t-shirts at gigs. Those little things really make it all worthwhile.
Many thanks to Nathan, Rob, Dave M, Dave H, Ian and Asia for speaking with us. Find out more about Sun Mahshene on their X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Spotify.
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