Review Fix Exclusive: Seafoam Green Talk ‘House On the Hill’ And More

Review Fix chats with Seafoam Green’s Dave O’Grady and Muireann McDermott Long, who discuss their origin in music and so much more.

Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?

Dave: Growing up there was always music playing on the stereo at home. My Dad is a big Rock’n’Roll and guitar music fan so the sound was always there. From and early age he would take me to see St Patricks Athletic play and there was always singing on there terraces which I loved. 

Muireann: I started singing when I was small, in primary school. My teacher and subsequent headmistress was also coincidentally an opera singer, and she must have heard something in me. Every year there was this Christmas craft fair in the local GAA hall, and Ms. Tierney would lead our school singing carols, (for which there would be rehearsals, complete with screeching tinwhistles and fiddles) I got given solos (’Away in a Manger’ was my jam back then)..and I guess it began then

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Dave: It’s varied, every day I sit down with the intent to write a song. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t.  The best is when it flows out of you with little effort but sometimes you can get lost down some narrative rabbit hole, never to return or finish. 

Muireann: I would answer by changing the word ‘creative’ to ‘emotive’ because for me, when I try to construct something in a formulaic manner, I rarely land on ‘it’. The moments that I am merely expressing a feeling or capturing a thought are the times when shit seems to stick. So I kind just try and make noises on whatever instrument I’m feeling at that time and see if anything comes out that I like. Dave and I have a great cowriting relationship though and a level of honesty that we both value, so that’s a massive part of it too

Review Fix: What inspires you?

Dave: Everything, I love the subtleties of real life and peoples relationships with each other and everything that goes with it. Thats what makes me want to create the most. 

Muireann: Life inspires me, how can I write about what I know nothing about? Lots of wonderment comes into it too, of course, I’m a pretty tangled ball of string

Review Fix: What does music mean to you?

Dave: Music to me is a way of expressing myself and thoughts on the world from my view point. It can transport to a place to time in less than a bar.

Muireann: Music has pervaded every part of my life, always. In culture, in expression, in relationships, in coping, in earning, in validation and in purpose, in learning and in growth. It is a pleasure, an escape, a job, a joy, a gift, a task, a challenge, I could go on..ha

Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?

Muireann: I probably wouldn’t try, just press play aye?

Review Fix: How are your live shows different from your studio work?

Dave: We are an old school touring band, we do 150-200 gigs a year, the live gig is the thing, man. Making records is fun and cool and its great to get locked away with people I love and create but there is nothing like the buzz of a live band really killing it. Nothing even close. 

Muireann: They’re as close to sisters as we can get, live and loud is how we prefer to record! It’s not always possible to track I’ve, but where we can, we do it that way, cause that’s where we all get the buzz; playing with other human beans. Sometimes we get to record with heroes of ours though and we wish we could play those gigs with them all the time! B)

Review Fix: What inspired your latest single?

Dave: Magic Mushrooms and lake side lodge in Montana.

Muireann: A trip to Montana that involved a moose and some shrooms!

Review Fix: What are your goals for 2021? 

Dave: Getting Martin’s Garden out to the people and getting back on our bike. There are a lot of people who have missed live music and we’ve missed playing it. 

Muireann: We want to get back out to Atlanta to record our third record which we are currently working on, and the rest of the singles and THE FULL RECORD is coming out in June!! Hellyeah!

Review Fix: What’s next?

Dave: A ton of gigs and maybe another record sooner rather than later…

Muireann: We want everybody to hear Martin’s Garden, so tour tour tour.