The Future Is Not What It Was – the title of The Clockworks’ scorching recent single, and a damningly resonant prophecy on the post-COVID projections for the music industry. Live shows are hanging in the balance, venues are closing left right and centre, but it isn’t stopping the Galway post-punk outfit from bursting onto the scene with boundless energy. There might be a thriving, ever-growing post-punk scene in the UK, and even just in Ireland, but rather than feeling like a saturated market, every band brings something electric to the table, and The Clockworks are certainly making their mark hard.
It’s a rough time to be a new band – “it was craziest earlier in the year when everything started crumbling. It was bizarre to see all these gigs we had planned falling like dominoes, but once we’d resigned ourselves to the fact that everything is on hold, it’s been alright musically. We weren’t sure if people were listening to music in the current climate, but the reaction has been great.”
Despite a well-deserved strong response to their releases, The Clockworks have still felt the toll of having to halt live shows. “It felt almost like being an athlete having the whole race planned and your victory dance all sorted and then falling at the first hurdle. The thing is, the whole world fell at the same hurdle too. Everyone’s in the same situation and it’s just about cracking on with what you can do. This situation has been a big reminder that life can take things out of your hands without warning so not to invest all your happiness in the future.”
The future is certainly a hot-ticket subject for The Clockworks, so what’s it like with the lead-up to The Future Is Not What It Was seemingly manifesting the themes of the song before their very eyes? “Frustration. Or maybe disappointment.” is how they’d define the track in a word, and we’re definitely all feeling both of those right now. “The song was written a while ago, and was just about the feeling that everything around you seems wrong. That so much changes in the world, but the underlying issues have never gone away, socially, politically and personally. When we planned this release last year, we had no idea that it would be in the context of such widespread social and political upheaval in the midst of a global pandemic.”
Penning the stingingly resonant tracks The Clockworks are so apt at, comes from an ethos of authenticity when it comes to songwriting: “I like to try and describe feelings and themes using particular situations. My rule is that anything that feels important at one time or other is worth writing about – so to me, a love song is equally as valid as a song about disillusionment with the world, which is as valid as a song about missing a flight. Because at the time you feel them, each of these feelings can be the most important thing to you, and that’s reason enough.”
Thematically, that’s where The Clockworks are at, but musically, they’re all over the place – in the best way. Geographically, having moved from Galway to London, they’ve “always sort of done [their] own thing musically”, not tied into any ‘scene’. “Even now, we’re in a part of London where there aren’t many bands. We love seeing and supporting other bands, but I think it’s also good to keep your head down and do your own thing too.” The Clockworks’ “own thing” is also superbly well informed, as the band cite a massively broad set of influences – “The Strokes to Kendrick Lamar, The Clash, The Beatles, Motown and yeah, Oasis too. Every song has a set of influences depending on what we’re listening to or what the song needs. We have strong ideas about what we want and this lets us take influence from anywhere. I reckon that’s a similar principle to what The Smiths worked on. They’re a huge influence on us, and we all love the fact that they could put songs like What She Said, Barbarism Begins At Home and Well I Wonder on the same album. It’s so cohesive because they knew exactly who they were, but so varied too.”
The future may not be what it was, but The Clockworks are hopeful for it anyway: “There’s a lot wrong with the world at the moment, socially, but hopefully we can see some real changes this year. I think the lockdown has allowed a lot of people to take stock and really engage with the world more than they normally would, and forced us to confront some harsh realities. It’ll take massive upheaval and it’s not an overnight fix, but hopefully we’re looking at some real, positive change. I hope artists and the live industry can weather the storm, and by the end of the year, we’re looking at a better 12 months to come.”
