The Goo 1
In conversation with: STEPHEN STONE Matthew Dever
eux Darker Shade Of Pale Let’s play ‘Odd One Out’ shall we? Stump, The Pale, Sultans of Ping, Frank and Walters, Microdisney... Give up? All were from Cork, except for Dubliners The Pale. They vexed and pleased puzzled music journalists in equal measure. Impossible to pigeonhole yet equally impossible to ignore. Variously described ‘Hare Krishnas on Buckfast’ (they weren’t) and ‘A Ukranian/Punkranian wedding band on acid’, (again, no) The Pale independently released two well-received EPs before signing with A&M. To date they have released an impressive 12 studio albums. They continue to tour and play in countries as different as the Czech Republic and Japan. One live review states, “part theatre/part gig, Matthew Devereux paces the boards like a demented dervish, growling confessions and crooning torch songs to three part harmonies...” Speaking of confessions, I knew him as a young fella! A precocious chap, a burgeoning musician, writer and composer, he’d simply knock on the doors of people he knew who were in bands just to find out how it was done! People like Mark Byrne (Candyshop/ Harvest Ministers/Maul Park), John Brereton (Lord John White/SACK and august editor of this magazine) and even Galway’s Toasted Heretic (Julian Gough) were happy to help. His current solo LP, ‘House Devil’ (his second solo record) is currently on release, but more of that anon... Devereux is happy to remember. “Yeah, I’m not sure what people made of us at first. We did get the usual cliches, quirky, esoteric, outsiders, eccentric. Also literate which I quite appreciated. You’re correct in saying that was more of a Cork thing at the time. Maybe we got a whiff of the air when we played there? In truth The Pale worked with what we had which was mandolin, bass guitar, a drum-machine at first and yours truly. Mind you, the records sold as did the gigs. PAGE 16 .. INDULGENCE CAN BE ILLUMINATING. PRETENSION CAN BE INFORMING. DAVID BOWIE WAS PRETENTIOUS AT TIMES ..