DEVIL'S ISLAND featuring Mirrorglass
Welcome to this weeks edition of Devil's Island! Every week we maroon a band or artist on the island and see what they get up to, how they cope with being all alone on a small island in the middle of the ocean. It's not your average desert island and we'll see just how each person copes with the extreme conditions.
This week when we arrived at Devil's Island we find Mirrorglass sat on the beach. The island is far from their home, so how did they end up here and how did they cope with life on Devil's Island?
Find out now...
Welcome to The Razors'e Edge and our somewhat lovely, warm desert island. Don't worry about it's name I'm sure it's not as bad as that would suggest.
You're marooned here on this island, but before you ended up shipwrecked you chose one album that you couldn't live without. Which album did you each chose and why?
I would for sure choose Appetite For Destruction. I could listen to it on repeat and never get bored. The riffs, solos and just the songwriting in general is incredible. It has been a huge influence on me through my whole musical journey so far. As I’m answering the questions on my own, I’m not sure what the other guys would say. Paul is a huge Mama’s Boys fan. They’re local to both Paul and Jack in Fermanagh. I’d suspect one of their albums would possibly be present on the island.
Just behind that palm tree is a shack for each of you to stay in, with enough space for you to put up a poster on the wall of one album cover. What album cover do you each chose?
I’ve a bunch of posters up in my studio. I actually find that album posters generally aren’t the coolest. I really love the tour or gig posters that you can get. I’ve a Pink Floyd poster from The Dark Side Of The Moon Tour, actually I've got two. I’ve one small one from 1973 and a big one from 1972. I’ve a lot of miniature card posters. I’ve got an A4 one from the Appetite For Destruction tour which is one of my absolute favourite ones. I’ve also got an AC/DC poster from the Back In Black Tour. So if I was to choose from my posters I’d choose one of them. If I had to choose an album poster I really like I would maybe choose the Use Your Illusion poster I have. Or even Rumours by Fleetwood Mac would be a cool one. I couldn’t choose one though. I’d have to have them laid in front of me and then just go with whatever strikes me on the day!
There's also a bar on this here island. But alas each of you only get to choose one drink for the entirety of your stay. What's your tipple of choice?
I like cider but not Bulmers. I hate Bulmers. Orchard Thieves is my go to, but I was up in Enniskillen actually for Paul’s show with his other band Index, and they had Outsiders there and that was probably the best cider I ever had. I’ve never seen it down south but it was great. So either Orchard Thieves or Outsiders would be what I’d pick. I’m the odd one out though. The other lads would all go for Guinness.
Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you each managed to salvage one item of band merch. What’s the merch and for what band?
I’d say Paul would save his Mama’s Boys shirt. I’m not sure if he has anything else from them but I’m sure he wouldn’t be able to let that one go down with the ship! For me, I suppose I’d have to be practical and save my Ghost wallet! I’ve got a lot of great shirts though. I’d hate to see any of them go down. If I had my wallet on me already, I’d probably salvage my Brake Loose shirt. I’ve lots of band shirts but I couldn’t let that shirt go down. I can get new shirts from Guns N’ Roses and all my favourite bands, and I suppose I could get a new Brake Loose shirt too but because they gifted me that shirt, it’s a lot more special to me. They’re great guys, their current lineup and people who’ve been in the band previously. They’ve always been very supportive. They’re music slaps too! They’re the kind of guys that give me the motivation to keep going when things are tough because they remind me of how awesome the majority of musicians are. It’s such a wonderful community of people to be part of and as always it’s the people around me that give me the spirit to do what I’m doing.
You’re sat on the island thinking “I’m stuck here on this island with my bandmates for eternity”… who would you rather have been shipwrecked with?
Now that’s a tough one! The guys are great and I love working with them, but the one person who has been here week in week out is my girlfriend. Teegan is like the truest bandmate to me more than almost anybody I’ve ever worked with. I’ve had amazing people on stage with me and even though she hasn’t been on stage, as of right now, she’s more of a bandmate than anyone. She’s the person I express most of my creativity with and she’s always there at almost everything I do. She’s a present part of Mirrorglass all the time and she also has a huge love for music. I’d of course choose to be shipwrecked with her.
There's a walkman in your pocket, on the tape inside is the recording of the one live show that stands out for you. It could be any show, from any band, anywhere in the world. What show is on that walkman?
For me, the live show that inspired me the most would be Guns N Roses Live In Tokyo in 1992. I grew up watching that live show on my laptop. This was before Not In This Lifetime. They were the first band I really got into like that and that show had such a huge impact on me. I was in awe every time I watched it. Seeing them running from one end of the stage to the other was the coolest thing to me back then. I could feel their adrenaline radiating back onto me. So for sure I’d choose that show.
You're getting desperate, you decide the only course of action is to put a message in a bottle and hope someone finds it. Your message could be to any member of any band, but should be the most suitable for a rescue attempt. Who is it?
Maybe Sting? He gets the whole message in a bottle thing! He may feel more sympathetic too if he got a bottle from us stranded on an island with a note saying “Sendin’ out an S.O.S”. I’d like to think he’d get us off the island. In all seriousness though, Message In A Bottle is one of those songs isn’t it? It’s so beautifully written and striking. I’ve played it with Mirrorglass a few times and it’s always a great one.
You've been stuck here a while and food supplies are running low. There's only one thing for it... which fellow band member gets sacrificed to help the others survive?
Jack. He’s on bass. I think it’s expected that he’s the sacrifice. When I sing “Will you be the sacrifice?”, in my song Heart Of Gold, I’m actually just asking Jack in advance if he’d be the sacrifice if we were stranded on a desert island. So we have that all sorted already.
Finally, when the ship sank you each managed to save one person from the wreckage. That person is the one musician that has influenced your career the most, shaped your way of thinking and your outlook on life. Who did you save?
It’d have to be Slash. His perseverance and drive are the things that stand out to me. He seems like the type of guy that when he’s focused there’s no one going to stop him doing what he wants to do. In music he is my biggest influence without a doubt and there’s a lot to learn from the life he’s had too. Particularly when it comes to what not to do!
