MacD on Music: I Can’t Explain

Generally, when I write the introduction to this column, I would talk a bit about who or what I’m writing about.

This week, I’m not sure that’s going to be possible. I don’t know exactly why. It’s Hard to Explain.

Wait a minute, that’s just the name of the group, made up of Aisling Faulkner on vocals, Chris Kelly on guitar, Niall McDonagh on other guitar and Michael Kelly on bass.

The group formed in the summer of 2022 and have just released their new single ‘Young & Free’. I spoke to the band about the new song, as well as the origins of the group and who else they think we should be keeping an eye on. So without further adieu, let’s begin:

Tell me a bit about your new single? 

Our new single ‘Young & Free’ was one of the first songs we wrote together. The song is about the struggles we all feel coming out of our teenage years and not having a clue what your doing and just how hard life can be as we are sure everyone can recognize that feeling when you are still navigating who you are both on the inside and on the outside. 

How did the band first come together?

We all lived together in 6 Mountjoy Street, Derry. Chris had set up a home studio and set about writing music in his free time along with ex-drummer Luke, we decided to bring in Aisling to track some vocals on a track we were working on and it immediately clicked between us and Hard to Explain was born. Michael had moved in with us and had previously played in bands with Chris growing up and it became a no brainer to bring Michael onboard to play the bass. We then found our sound was somewhat lacking an element and we found that element in niall on guitar finalizing the line up. 

Who would you say have been your main influences?

Hard to explain draw from a multitude of influences, everything from Miley Cyrus to Architects. We all share a love for bands such as Foo Fighters, Muse, Nirvana and Joan Jett and the Black Hearts. This multitude of influences gives us our unique sound. We also draw a lot of inspiration from local bands such as Cherym, Parker, Touts and the Wood Burning Savages.

What have been some of the highlights of your career to date?

It’s so hard to choose what we can class as a highlight as it’s all been a bit of a whirlwind! One of the main high points for us would be the first show we ever performed as a band as part of Fireside Festival, Bellewstown, Co. Meath as this was the show that cemented that this is something we definitely should be doing and we will be doing for a long time! 

Another high point for us would be our headline show in Bennigans as part of our ‘It’s Complicated’ Headline tour! we performed alongside our boys in Boy M5 and our great friends Spiderjuice and this was our first show with Niall and for Niall it was his first ever live show so it holds a special place in our heart! Hearing everyone singing our debut single ‘Messed Up Head’ was absolutely surreal! We will never ever forget that night! 

Got anything coming up you want to talk about?

We have just released our new single ‘Young & Free’ and have been very excited to release this one for you all! 

We will be releasing multiple lines of merch in 2023 so keep your eyes peeled on our socials.

We have been working hard on writing and recording our first album and it shouldn’t be too long now before it will be ready for mixing and mastering! We are so unbelievably excited about this and being able to get out there and play all the new tracks for you all! 

Keep an eye on our socials for all upcoming news and info! 

Are there any other artists you think we should be keeping an eye on?

Derry is such a talented city it’s so hard to just mention a few! We live in such a diverse city and the music scene here is rich in amazing artists/bands. A few we would recommend you keep your eyes on would be the brilliant Boy M5, our buddies in Spiderjuice, Parker, Wohn, Fierce Pit Bosses, TRAMP and the fantastic Cora Harkin! Make sure to catch them any opportunity you get! 

Now, the socials. Hard to Explain can be found on Instagram @hardtoexplainofficial. Their new single, ‘Young & Free’ is out now.