Picture This

Years before, Picture This band member Jimmy never would've thought that conversations with bandmate Ryan as he drove him home in his car would turn into a fourth studio album, aptly named Parked Car Conversations, transforming the chats into an emotional 16-track ride on the album. Since then, the band made up of Ryan Hennessy, Jimmy Rainsford, Cliff Deane, and Owen Cardiff have gone on to gain a hugely dedicated fanbase, an ever-growing bond between them, and have played shows all around the country, including supporting the Jonas Brothers and Irish rock artist, Rea Garvey next month.

As they gear up for the release of Parked Car Conversations next month, the hit Irish four-piece takes HATC's Alice into their writing process for their upcoming album. They discuss the nerves and thrills of playing brand-new songs from the yet-to-be-released album right in front of lucky fans for the first time ever.

ALICE: My favourite gigs are intimate gigs. I love it, and I feel you get a bit more for your buck when you go in. A smaller crowd feels more personal.

RYAN: We've heard that a lot this last week, actually. I've seen it a lot online after the shows everyone was like, ‘you can't beat an intimate gig’. Which is funny because I always, for some reason, just naively thought everyone loves the big spectacle of arena shows or the big outdoor shows we do, which people do, obviously, but I did see that a lot of people love an intimate show, but we love it as well.

ALICE: Do you get more nervous playing smaller gigs?

RYAN: Totally! This was really nerve-racking because we're playing new songs for the first time—songs that nobody's ever heard before, playing a new song for somebody off your phone, that alone is nerve-racking, and then having to actually perform it in front of an intimate crowd that standing right in front of you is really nerve-racking, but we loved it.

ALICE: You can imagine with big spectacles, you kind of get used to everything being a well-oiled machine. Do you find that things go a little bit more spontaneous, too?

RYAN: You're so right. I would say in Manchester, for example, I ended up standing on the bar at the venue. That doesn't happen at big shows because more often you are a little bit removed. We had to walk through the crowd to get to the stage for shows, which we haven't had to do in years. But it's an amazing feeling and I think it's just cool for people to have the band walk through you and then get to the stage. But yeah, it is just a lot more off the cuff and a lot more interaction with the crowd. Sometimes it feels like a stand-up sometimes on stage because you get heckled, you have to respond, you know? It's fun, though.

ALICE: Then, with bigger crowds and stadiums, how do you connect with a crowd of that level?

RYAN: I think it's the music that's kind of the entryway into the connection for us because we have these big sing-along songs. The first song, the whole crowd is singing at the top of their voices. That's kind of where the connection happens, and you're in it quite quickly. There's no greater connection than that feeling of performing a song and the crowd singing it with us. From the first song, everybody's equally a part of the show and the performance. That's what we do anyway, you make the audience a part of the performance so that they're not just watching and observing a performance. They're a part of it by singing along and getting them involved, or it's just simple stuff like clapping or hands in the air or all of that stuff, letting them know that we see them and feel them.

We've always had a natural connection; I think no matter how big the shows are, I don't know why. I think maybe it is just the music and probably just how we are as people; we want people to feel seen and heard at our shows; it's not all about us, we're only there because of them. So, it's just a natural thing that we connect with audiences we play for.

ALICE: With a new album coming out, does that make you nervous when you're waiting for their first reactions?

JIMMY: Yeah, it does, when you play a brand-new song, everyone becomes very attentive because they know they're hearing a brand-new song for the first time. Having that many eyes on you all at one time, or even people recording it and stuff, it can be quite nerve-racking, obviously because for us, we would obviously have played the song in a rehearsal room or played it in front of people; it's a mixture of different things. It feels like a separate part of the show. You're delving into this kind of weird, unknown world. But we love it. And we've really loved being able to play the new songs off the upcoming album live for people because they are very live-sounding songs. They work really well in a live setting. That's something we have been told over our career is that our music is made to be performed live. So, with this album, it feels we bridged that gap a little bit. And [the new songs] are just very live energetic songs. They suit that mood. And I think the crowd can feel that. And thankfully, there's no real difference really between hearing all our new songs live and listening to them on the album. So, I think it's the perfect time to showcase it really.

Alice: Do you guys feel that when you write, you make it for live performances?

RYAN: From a lyrical point of view I would say sometimes. It's not necessarily that you do it, but you kind of know it in the moment when you do it. You're like, oh, this is something that crowd of people are going to want to sing along to, or whatever it is just lyrically. I think if you think about the outside world when you're creating a song, you might contaminate the song, and it has to be quite personal.

JIMMY: You're totally right. And I was just thinking of something that I saw recently of Rick Rubin talking about how when you make songs, it should be for you, and the audience comes last. I think that's mental. I would actually think the opposite. I love making songs for people. Wanting people to love your song is an amazing feeling. It's not like you're desperately trying to get confirmation that the song is good. But that's the whole reason we love writing songs. And playing it for people is because we want this to be a shared enjoyed experience. And there's nothing more enjoyable than writing music, that you know people will love and people will get something from. It's about sharing. It's not about keeping it in. And if someone likes it from the outside world, and that's whatever you want to do.


RYAN: For me, I feel a song doesn't exist until people hear it. I remember I wrote a song for Jimmy for his wedding. And it was the first time I think I'd ever written a song that I hadn't shown him. It just didn't feel the song existed to me. Until he hears it. It doesn't exist. That's exactly how it is for an audience. I'm the same. I hear people saying, ‘Oh, I just make music for myself. And if people listen to it, then-’ Just fucking stay in your room then. Just don't release it. It's a shared experience. A song doesn't exist until somebody hears it.

ALICE: I think the beauty of songs is that feeling when you listen to something and connect to the words in a way that says something you've been trying to say for so long, and that connection that fans get with it, I think, is the most special thing you can have.

RYAN: Absolutely. I think exactly what you just said hearing a song say something that you've always felt that you didn't know how to say. That's something that I've always felt over my life.

ALICE: How has it been approaching this new album, has it felt different in the approach, or have you followed the same sort of routine?

RYAN: I think it has been quite different from the others. I think it's evolved. Going into recording the album for me, I had a couple of goals, I wanted to be able to stand behind every single lyric confidently and know that I really did my best, not that I ever wasn't doing my best, but sometimes something has to fucking rhyme! But I didn't want that on this album. When it was finished and listening back, I was able to stand by that. We wanted to try and bridge the gap of how we come across live and how we are on a record. And that was a big goal for us. Like Jimmy said, I think that's something that we achieved on this. You're never going to be able to capture the live energy 100%. That's impossible, but I think we came as close as we possibly could.