Various Cruelties


Claire White

Various Cruelties is the musical alias of Liam O’Donnell.

After moving to Leeds he spent his teenage years following the well-trodden ‘indie’ path. Moving to London enhanced his struggle to escape the ‘singer-songwriter’ tag, yet a booking at a communion night in Brighton proved to be a turning point – Liam decided to do what he wanted: ditch performing under his own name and, inspired by an Ed Ruscha exhibition, started working under the Various Cruelties tag.

Since then, Various Cruelties have toured the UK with sold out shows in London and Leeds, released a self-titled debut album on July 30th and appeared on Later With Jools Holland.

If this wasn’t enough, Various Cruelties have a host of festival dates lined up for this summer.

We spoke to Liam to find out more.

If our readers have yet to discover your music, which track of your own would you recommend?

I guess its got to be “If It Wasn’t For You”. It was the first song we wrote that really defined the sound of what the album would be and of course the first single we released. It was written on the piano, but when it got porduced by Homes & Homes we flipped it on its head, into the sparseness recorded.

How would you best describe your sound?

The best music from whatever genre always has soul and blues to it, whether its Alabama Shakes, Bon Iver, Jeff Buckley, Rodriguez. There’s soul in all great writing and singing regardless of background or time. That’s what I love and try to aspire to, whether that turns out in folk music or alternative is secondary really.

Where would you most like to tour that you haven’t already?

Any venue we have not played yet, so there’s a fair bit of work ahead!

What’s been your favourite festival gig so far this summer?

I’m gonna choose one that is yet to happen, Leeds Festival. I can’t wait!

What can readers expect from your set at this year’s Leeds Festival?

Pyrotechnics, flying bicycles, stage props reflecting industrialised Britain and a cover of ‘Hey Jude’….

What do you feel has been your biggest achievement as a band to-date?

Later with Jools was definitely a high point playing with Lou reed, Aaron Neville and Metallica. Playing our first show supporting the Vaccines at Madam Jo Jo’s was definitely a big achievement after 3 rehearsals though!

Do you have any ‘band aims’ by the end of 2012?

Play some shows in the US, write an album in 5 days, kick off Leeds Festival in style!

You can find out more about the band at the following links:
Website
Twitter
Facebook

One response to “Various Cruelties”

  1. […] read our interview with Liam O’Donnell, click here now. Like this:LikeBe the first to like […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.