Paul O’Sullivan, guitarist with hard rock duo Greywind told David Hennessy about their new album that comes nine years after their acclaimed debut.
Greywind, the emo/ hard rock duo made up of Killarney siblings Paul and Steph O’Sullivan, have just released their second album, Severed Heart City.
It comes nine years after their 2017 debut Afterthoughts but in between they have released the Antidote EP.
But a lot has happened since they first came to prominence.
The buzz around their debut song, also called Afterthoughts and inspired by an uncle’s suicide, saw them being the subject of a label bidding war.
However the band would be dropped by label Universal Island Records even before they finished their debut album.
But since then, the band has been rediscovered by new fans on TikTok and Instagram and been streamed millions of times.
They have also toured the US both playing their own shows and supporting Chicago rock band Madina Lake.
The band released the singles Acid Rain, IKAMF, Make Believe (L.O.V.E.M.E), Swerve and Waterfall last year to give fans a taste of the album.
They have also just released the single Cope in The Coma.
We sat down to chat with guitarist Paul O’Sullivan last week on the eve of the new album’s release.
Can you believe it’s been nine years between albums?
“It doesn’t feel like that.
“We’ve achieved so much in that time.
“The reaction has been amazing.
“We’ve always been very ambitious.
“We’ve always believed in the music we’re creating and we just write it for ourselves really.
“These songs are so personal and therapeutic and we’ve been through so much in our lives so we forget, ‘Oh damn, people are going to hear these songs’.
“Is it worth the nine year wait? The reaction online is it’s more than worth it.
“So I’m buzzing seeing everyone’s reaction.
“I’m so excited to finally have it out everywhere in the world tomorrow.”
There seems to be a real story from track one to track ten, there’s a journey in the tracks and their order, isn’t there?
“Exactly.
“Severed Heart City is a place where it’s okay to be depressed, it’s okay to be sad but you should never let those things destroy you and there’s always a road out.
“It’s accepting yourself and also realising, knowing that you can only save yourself.
“A lot of people wait for other people to save them in their lives or try to follow their dreams.
“We just wanted to create an album where also it’s written in a way that you can put your own story in there.
“Even with (last track) Cope in the Coma, that was a song we’ve had for years and, like you were saying about the nine years, Cope in the Coma is us surviving.
“We felt like we were trapped in a coma for so many years because of traumatic events, being dropped by our label/ management/ agent on the same day to family members passing.
“There’s been so many lows but Cope in the Coma is the Greywind way of saying, ‘Never give up’.
“And during that period, so many of our biggest dreams have come true like getting to tour the US for the first time.
“We wanted to end the album on a positive note as well because usually people will expect the slow, dramatic, sad Greywind song at the end.
“We were like, ‘Nah let’s have a party. It’s still gonna be sad but also like, ‘Just never give up’.
“So that’s why I wanted to end the album with such a kind of hopeful song.
“I’m so excited for people to finally hear that song.”
You say you have gone through a lot. You went from major labels fighting over you to being dropped, did that leave you feeling chewed up and spat out?
“Yeah, me and Steph are the opposites in that.
“I think that’s why we work so well because when those moments happen Steph is very ‘end of the world’.
“So when that all happened, we were dropped by absolutely everyone, Steph was heartbroken .
“I’m very like, ‘Hell yeah’.
“I just love it.
“I love the revenge story.
“If you cut off my left hand right now, I’ll be like, ‘I have my right’.
“While some people can go into that negative, broken mode straight away I’m very, ‘I’m going to prove you all wrong’.
“And I think even our story since then, it’s been incredible and we’re so grateful for all the fans for supporting us and being patient.
“So many hardcore fans have stuck with us since Afterthoughts.
“80% of our fan base is in America so it’s just being patient and finding where you belong as well.
“It’s the same with friendships.
“If you surround yourself with toxic people, you’re going to feel bad and upset and worthless all the time but it’s just getting rid of those people and finding where you belong and just knowing your worth and your value.”
A big theme on the album seems to be moving on and cutting out those toxic people..
“100%, even I Killed All My Friends.
“That is about getting rid of people.
“In our career early on people we thought were our friends just didn’t like us being successful.
“You’re like, ‘Oh my God, our dreams are coming true’ and they’re like not happy for you.
“It kind of blows my mind.
“I just don’t understand how I could ever be toxic or jealous of someone when I’m supposed to be their friend?
“It’s about everything from music industry to friends.
“It’s about killing off all that toxic energy.
“The whole theme of the album is going to that dark place and getting some revenge along the way and just never giving up.”
Another big message is about bouncing back from the setbacks..
“100%.
“We live in Killarney.
“There is no emo scene.
“We are not part of anything.
“We would love to be part of a scene in Ireland but we’ve always felt like outsiders in a way.
“We always were told that, ‘Oh, you’re from Killarney. You’ll never get out of here’ type of thing.
“But even three years ago, we were told we’d never tour the US by people in the music industry.
“We’ve always been kind of put down and been made the underdogs.
“We just want to show people it doesn’t matter where you’re from in the world, that you can literally achieve anything, especially in this day and age.
“One of the things that drives me crazy but I just laugh at it is when I see bands complaining about social media- You could not be in a better place in the world as an artist to be discovered than it is now.
“Years ago, you’d have to pray you got signed by a major label or a big manager came for you, or you got played on MTV or Kerrang or Scuzz.
“Now in this day and age you could write your first song tonight, post it on TikTok, go to sleep, wake up, have 100,000 fans.
“That was not possible years ago.
“It’s kind of crazy for me when bands are complaining about social media.
“We’re just embracing everything and we just love the amount of new people that have been able to discover these new songs via social media.
“We just love it.”
We see a new side to the band in more stripped back songs like Moon and The Scarecrow..
“Moon is a song we had written before Afterthoughts even came out.
“The album was done and in that period before Afterthoughts was released, we started writing and songs from our EP Antidote was part of that.
“We were always, ‘Moon is not built for an EP. This is part of album two’ so it’s been secretly hidden up our sleeve for years.
“It felt like a special moment in the record where, like you said, it shows a different side.
“It’s really just a beautiful song.
“It’s one of my favourite songs we’ve ever written.
“The Scarecrow is about watching someone that you love and what they’re going through affecting you.
“We wanted Scarecrow to be such a delicate, beautiful song and it was one of the songs where we had to reign ourselves in because we’re so used to being like, ‘Okay, we’ll go heavy as hell at the end of this and just explode’.
“We love showing so many different sides of us in this record.”
That’s the strength of the album, isn’t it? It incorporates elements of pop punk, emo stuff and even some slower ones but Moon is not your attempt to be Taylor Swift or anything, it’s Greywind doing a more stripped back number..
“Exactly.
“Luckily for us, we’ve always known what we are.
“What feels so crazy right now emo and pop punk is having this massive, massive revival and bands that were pop bands or indie bands last week are suddenly emo now because it’s in.
“I love that we’ve always stayed true to ourselves. If you listen to the first song we ever released Afterthoughts to now what’s coming out tomorrow, we have always known what we are.
“We grew up with our dad playing Thin Lizzy and Queen but then we’ve always loved pop music.
“Then when we discovered emo when we were kids, it just changed everything for us: Bands like Mineral and Thrice and Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance.
“There’s so many bands that are sitting in a room being like, ‘I want to write a song like this band. I want to sound like..’, we don’t look at what anyone else does.
“We’re just in our own bubble and these songs just come out of us because we just know what type of music that we love.”
How different did the process of this album feel from that debut album back in 2017?
“Recording Afterthoughts we had never even played a live show.
“Imagine this: We’ve never played a live show in our entire lives, we’ve only written one song and we’ve just got signed to the biggest label in the world. Now we’ve been flown to Texas to record our debut album.
“Steph was freaking the hell out and I didn’t sleep for months but not out of nerves, out of, ‘We need this album to be the best possible thing that we can create in our lives’.
“You always hear that album two is supposed to be the nervy one.
“It was the most relaxed experience ever.
“We’d never be a band that go in and have some rough ideas and going to cook it up in the studio.
“We went in knowing, ‘Here’s the ten songs we’re doing and we’re just going to make them better in the studio’.
“It was a very relaxed experience.
“It was such an amazing experience and as soon as we finished that record, we went on a two month US tour so we were in the US for a long time doing that but we recorded over three weeks.
“It was an incredible experience.”
When are you going to tour and are there shows planned for Ireland and the UK?
“We’ve been having some very exciting meetings in the last week.
“We’re so excited to be back playing in Ireland.
“We haven’t played in Ireland since before COVID so it’s been a long time but now it feels like the right time to come back.
“We didn’t want to just play random one off shows in Ireland.
“We wanted to come back with a full release.
“We cannot wait to finally do the Severed Heart City tour and play around Ireland for the first time in ages.
“It’s going to be worth the wait.
“So many new Irish fans have discovered us in the last two years so it’s going to be special getting to finally play in Ireland again and, of course, across the UK, as always, and US and other places.
“It’s going to be great.”
The new album got a glowing review from the bible of the hard rock industry, Kerrang! Were you stoked with that?
“100%, we grew up watching Kerrang TV, Scuzz, MTV Rocks.
“When we started Greywind, Kerrang was our biggest dream and luckily before Kerrang TV stopped, our songs have been played on Kerrang and MTV Rocks and Scuzz.
“It still has that.
“I even texted my friend when I saw it the other day. I was like, ‘Childhood Paul is screaming right now’.
“Because growing up every Wednesday I would go to O’Connor’s in town. I’d go into Killarney and buy my copy of Kerrang every single week.
“To get an incredible review from them is amazing and the reaction has been crazy.”
Do you feel that same support from Irish outlets? I think your story would be great for something like The Late Late Show..
“We haven’t to be completely honest.
“We spoke to the Kerryman two days ago so it’s nice having our hometown support and do a piece on it.
“But yeah, we would absolutely love to play on The Late Late or get even major support slots over here but the thing is we’re very patient and we know that’s going to come.
“We’re so proud to be Irish.
“We would love to play the Late Late and hopefully it will happen in the future.
“I’m very excited about this album so hopefully we’ll do it by the end of this era.”
The album has very vivid and very visual imagery in the lyrics..
“That’s one of my favourite compliments anyone can say.
“We treat this like a movie soundtrack.
“We want to feel cinematic and devastating and beautiful, and it’s all set in our world.
“If you look at the former album Afterthoughts, we want to bring people into our world and the opening line to that record is, ‘I’m swept onto rocks’ and you see on the artwork a silhouette of a figure in the forest.
“And then the follow up is the Antidote EP. You see that figure and there’s a bridge and you see a big city in the distance.
“Antidote is the bridge into Severed Heart City and now you’re in our world, in the city and it’s called Severed Heart City, so it’s always been leading to this.
“But we live in such a beautiful place with mountains, lakes, castles.
“We’ve always loved making our songs as cinematic as possible.
“Every single lyric you hear, we want you to visualise it.
“That’s my favourite thing and hopefully we’d love to do a movie soundtrack in the future.
“It’s something we’d love to do but we just put so much love and care into every single lyric you hear. So thank you for that compliment.”
You and Steph were born in London before relocating to Ireland, did that also contribute to feeling like ‘outsiders’?
“I think it’s just the way we are.
“Me and Steph are very different.
“We’re very ambitious but we were always insanely shy growing up but then we’d have the craziest dreams.
“And then this genre of music was not cool when I was in school.
“I would be getting bullied for my emo fringe and Steph being bullied for being an emo or loving this type of music and then we used to get the 2c Ryanair flights over to London, see our favourite bands and then travel up to Dublin and see some of our favourite bands when they came here.
“Music was always our escape and being in a room full of people like us was like, ‘Oh my God, these people, they’re just like me. They just get us’.
“That’s why this genre of music has always saved us, always helped us not feel alone even, in dark times this music allowed us not to feel like outsiders and then when we have the tragedies in our lives and the difficult moments, this genre of music has allowed it to be our therapy.”
I hope it won’t be another nine years before the next album..
“Twelve year wait,” Paul laughs.
“Tomorrow Severed Heart City is out and then we have so much that we cannot wait to announce.
“Right now we just want to tour the world and see our fans and just get these songs played to as many people as possible and just have fun with it.
“This is the exciting time.
“I can’t believe tomorrow the Afterthoughts era is officially over and the new Severed Heart City era begins.
“It’s been a crazy, dramatic, traumatic but exciting road to get here and but so so so excited for what’s coming.”
Severed Heart City is out now.
The single Cope in the Coma is also out now.
For more information, click here.
