Quintessential
Words: Stephen Stone
Paul Quin looks famous. A lot of famous people don't, but he just does. It's deliberate. But more of that later.
His new 'Hivemind' album harks back to the halcyon days of synth pop where duos like Pet Shop Boys, Soft Cell and Eurythmics ruled the airwaves. Words like 'luscious', 'accomplished' and 'adult' have been bandied about. With good reason. Where did it all go right?
"Well, I was born in London to an Irish mam and dad, moved back to Ireland as a kid, settled eventually in the seaside town of Bray in Wicklow, listened to music on the TV and radio, in those days we didn't get British TV or radio stations. So what I heard was limited by that, I suppose. Country and Western was really big in Ireland, as was The Eurovision and The National Song contest and I was fascinated by the look and sound of these people. And then there was Abba's arrival, if you'll pardon a possible pun most people won't get! They changed everything. To be honest, it wasn't so much that I found music, more that it found me, really? Without going into too much detail, I suppose I was quite a shy child and, like all families, there were issues there that I was aware of, though mine was a very loving family. But music was a kind of 'otherness' for me, eventually I was listening to Blondie, Boomtown Rats, as well as Bee Gees and stuff. And I, like a lot of kids I suppose, always felt a bit of an outsider. And in the music I was listening to I wasn't."
That 'outsider' that 'otherness', I venture, was that to do with his sexuality? He's gay, right?
"You're very observant. (He may be taking the piss, here...) Yes and no, I suppose, really. Fom being a little boy, before I even knew what sex or sexuality was, kids don't, I knew I liked men. I just did. And I was what some might call an effeminate little boy. Which led to some bullying as I got older, approaching adolescence, really. By then I was wearing make-up, as I'd seen Phil Oakey, Dave Vanian and Pete Burns do. But I lived in Bray and like a lot of seaside towns, Brighton is a good example, Bray had a kind of 'subculture' that you could fit in with. Punks, Goths and even Gay kids, though that wasn't ever a thing, per se. But gradually I became aware of it, the graffitti in the public toilets on the seafront hinted at a kind of world I couldn't yet truly imagine, let alone discover. Then, eventually, my then goth girlfriend Sinead, on a trip we took to Dublin, brought me to 'The George' and said, "I think you might like it here?" and she left me there! And I did like it. People weren't trying to kill me, for a start!"
Let's talk about pop music?
"Dublin's Gay Scene was all about music so that suddenly opened a whole new set of doors. I was meeting friends who like Broadway Show Tunes or the kind of 'Hi Energy' and 'Garage House' coming out of the USA scene then but I liked guitar bands like The Smiths and all of that was good, there was a crossover. It was a real education. My flatmate, (Irish Performance Artist Francis Fay) because I'd moved to Dublin then, brought me to nightclubs like Sides DC and they played allsorts. Sides was really a template for a lot of clubs that came after? And even then, Sides wasn't a 'Gay Club' but it was a 'Queer' club. Straight people would go there too. So it wasn't like 'Flikkers' had been? It really was a groundbreaker. In a way, kind of like the scene in Bray that I got into as a kid. It wasn't about sexuality, necessarily, it was about having a good time and being yourself. And fuck anyone who didn't get that. Because all the good people did."
When did Paul Quin think he might go from listening to cool tunes to writing and singing some?
"I'd been a singer since I was little! I was the kid they'd stand on the table to sing when the adults came home from the pub! Belting out 'Any Dream Will Do' while my parent's friends would tuck fivers into my pyjamas, though be careful of that image? It was a typically Irish thing, then and probably now? And I'd been in a band in school a bit later. But, in Dublin I met John Butler, now sadly left us, and he played keys and wrote music and I could sing,write lyric and arrange tunes so 'Bizzarre' was born. We did really well, considering, but a 'Gay Synth Pop' duo wasn't exactly what anybody was looking for in the year that Boyzone got signed! It was a learning curve, though. By 2021 I'd written and recorded the 'Life On Earth' album, with a little help from my friends, and the 'Everything I Loved I Lost That Day'' single got us, bizzarely, a record deal with a Russian record company,(Scentair) with loads of radio play and media and that attracted some notice, I suppose?"
Including from Tricky, Bowie,The Cure, Erasure, Mick Jagger and John Lydon, UK Producer/Engineer/ReMix Tech Mark Saunders?
"Erm, yes! And Mark suggested we do something together so we did. People like Eamonn "Jabbawookie" Barrett (Royseven) got involved and so now I have a new record album to plug!"
'Hivemind' has that trademark 'lush' sound and thoughtful lyric that Paul Quin has been noted for, how much of that is all worked out?
"Well, it's all 'worked out' as you put it but I'm not a proper musician! Instead I work with better people who do that, yeah? I write melody, lyric, harmony and arrangement so it's a collaboration. The music and ideas bounce to and fro until everyone is happy. You can do that now in a way you couldn't ever before. The internet has its advantages. You don't all have to be in the same room. But you can 'chop and change', adapt, take or reject ideas. It's not the way I've always worked but I love it. It's a collaboration, as I said. Once everybody knows what they're doing, what's expected, once everybody is on the same page, it's really just about 'fine-tuning'. And we have fine tunes."
https://open.spotify.com/album/7gxZ79XYjaGz7wqOlp1xMo?si=_8bVm7tVRuWV_tEyNZLw5w
You're going to lauch 'Hivemind' with a Live Show in Dublin's Whelan's on Saturday, December 6th. What can we expect?
"Well, you can expect me to be shitting myself for a start!!! I'm joking, honest. I do get 'Stage Fright' before going on up there, but, conversely, it's the best feeling to play the songs you believe in to a live audience. I love the studio but there's nothing better than the energy you get from a live crowd. That's when you know you've done it. In truth, the theatre of the performance is important to me, it or I have to look as good as the songs sound. It's a show, after all. I won't be on my own up there of course! Greg Mallocca who normally does my vocal production is also a really good guitarist so he'll join the band, Phenough, who's this wild punk girl keys player, has the keybard parts all nailed down and, as harmonies and 'other voices' are important to me, both Flo McSweeney and Leslie Dowdall are coming to the show to help out with that. There might even be a surprise Christmas number?"
Look, though I don't normally ask the interviewee for a 'headline', how do you feel about 'The Mighty Quin'?
"Ahh, I'm sure you can do much better than that, Love!"
And as you can read above, we did.
Hivemind is out on December 6th 2026. Paul launches Hivemind with a special intimate show in Whelans on Dec 6th. Tickets: www.whelanslive.com