REALLY GOOD TIME
REALLY GOOD TIME
A scorching debut album, a killer live show and a trés chic band uniform indicate that Dublin 3 piece Really Good Time have seriously got their shit together as they prepare for global domination.
Words: Lauren Lawlor
Today I caught up with Wastefellow, known to his ma as Diomhlain Ingram, lead singer of Really Good Time to discuss their debut album 'Affirmations' released August 7th. Sooo what are you wearing? ;) It was recently DIFWand Ireland Fashion Week is just around the corner so I'm inspired by the RGT boys' commitment to the stylish jumpsuits they don for their performances so what better way to start, here with my cunning fashionistas.
"We had the jumpsuits before we even had the name of the band, certainly before we played any live shows. At its most basic, it's work-wear. We're going to work, whether that's on stage or doing an interview together, it forces us to get into a headspace. — I think whether it's a jumpsuit or not, this uniform is helpful for entering the right headspace for the job. Also they're really uncomfortable! Not breathable at all! There's a way about how we gig, I like a certain level of being uncomfortable, things barely hanging in there. That feeling of wearing a sweaty jumpsuit you've had to gig in three days in a row, there's something about it that I love."
The new album 'Affirmations' is about turning inwards when this 'fresh hell' becomes too much to bear. I asked how the band feels about promoting music in 2026 through these fickle communication means we call social media. Is print media the future perhaps? Are we crying out for something tactile? The album attempts to answer at least one part of that, there's nothing social about anything we're doing.
"It's a bit of a head-fuck, a deep one. — there's a level of acceptance that it's just the way things are, that there's always been stuff you maybe don't want to do as an artist — when you just want to focus on making your music. There's a bit of cognitive dissonance that happens. A lot of what we're shouting about on this record is about giving out about that culture, the pacifying, brain-mushing effect. Recommendation algorithms have taken over how we meet culture. We point at some of these issues in our songs. The dissonance lies in the fact that we have to engage with this system to promote our songs. Even through the process of promoting this album I've found myself on my phone more. Sucked into a void of doomscrolling. It's frustrating. We can find a way out. Whether it's going back to print media or blogs where you're directly checking up with things. Maybe it's a smaller circle, a direct to community thing. I hope there's a return to the way things were, even if we keep it online, I'd like to see some blogs like back in the 2010s, where you're actively searching up things instead of this frictionless feed of recommendations."
I hear you, Wastefellow! I hate this lil' doom box in my pocket. Is it too late to bring back Bebo? We're in the plateau of the technological S-curve, a time usually rife for innovation, but something in the zeitgeist suggests we will return to times of old sooner than we will adopt the next technological revolution. (I'm totally biased about print media… just saying. In their press release on the album, the boys are quoted: "We find ourselves in a curious moment, where our technofascist god-kings — try to boil every human interaction down to something transactional." This begs my next question, where does curiosity fit in your tool-belt and how do you feed your curiosity?
"It's what we've been chatting about already, like my writing across the album, there's this essence of a constant panic attack, just like the news we're fed scroll after scroll. It stops you from being present in the moment and allows you to detach. This is where this curiosity begins. Asking ourselves how we can remain engaged. That curiosity itself is the biggest tool we have. Don't let them make you disengage. We had this very long process of making the album. We learned to go with each other'swhims and always stay open to each idea, as not to dismiss it or hold too strong to our own personal reservations. To trust one-another."
Facts for life right there. Stay open to life, to change, to curiosity. Learn anything about yourselves in the process?
"We would do a couple of tunes, take some time away and then back into the studio for as long as we could each time, fitting around our busy schedules. Each time influenced the next. Bit by bit we're seeing a clearer image of what the songs were about and what the sound was supposed to be. We learned a lot about where our default state of excitement lies for each of us, how that differs and how the pull between all of them is what makes anything interesting at all. Learning to say yes to things and not white-knuckling your precious little ideas. Be playful with letting ideas happen."
'Do It', the stand-out track on the album (at least the one that's stuck in my head) really encapsulates everything we've discussed, the woes that face a generation. I pose the question: How can we do it? When we can't afford to DO IT! It'sa song about impossible tasks. Paired with an equally hair-raising music video directed by Sophie O'Donovan, where she taps into this vein of weird sexual energy that runs through the performance, presenting our RGT boys as "cucks to the world".
"Sophie is an incredible director and thinker, we've been very lucky to work with some incredible directors and creatives over the years. There's something about that skill of having a very particular lens on the world that lets you get what that song's about from a different angle. It's very funny and apt, but not something we would have copped or realised. There's something interesting there, like oh you understand this better than I do."
To quote the 'Affirmations' press release again: "Are you angry? Are you ashamed? Go roll that stone up the hill again". One must imagine Sisyphus happy right? "Go climb a tree, scream into a pillow, and tell your friends you love them."
How DO you tell your friends you love them ?
"Apart from the straight-forward way of course, you could play a little prank on them, sellotape some breakfast goods to their bike. In a strange way that might let them know you're thinking of them. Much like a cat does, you could leave a dead mouse or fragments of a bird at their door, or if it's your housemate, in their room. That might let them know you love them as well. Buy them a pint! Have an arm wrestle and take it really seriously and kind of hurt each other a little, but ultimately both being the winner. There's lots of ways to say it, but I think just saying it is the most important, being able to say I love you."
Affirmations is available to buy on navy vinyl from reallygoodtime.bandcamp.com and as a digital download. They play The Button Factory on December 5th and Spirit Store, Dundalk on Dec 6th Tickets: www.singularartists.ie
