The BRIT School in London has become famous over the last few years for producing many UK chart stars such as Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis, Kate Nash, Adele and Katie Melua. It was also the starting point for Dan Gillespie Sells and Richard Jones of The Feeling in their rise towards the summit of the recording industry. The group – many of whom have Irish heritage – came together as a band doing cover versions at a ski resort in the Alps and indeed took their name from a bar in Paris. 2006 was the highpoint for the Feeling as their debut album Twelve Stops and Home had sales in excess of 1.5 million and singles such as “Sewn”, “Fill My Little World” and “Never Be Lonely” all became Top ten hits. Lead singer Dan Gillespie Sells is the product of County Mayo parents and as such the Feeling are delighted to be playing The Royal Theatre Castlebar on Saturday November 29 in what is sure to be a sold-out show.
The Irish connection
At the moment the Feeling are promoting their second album Join With Us, which has already sold over a quarter of a million copies, and they are very keen to extend that promotion to Ireland as it is a place they hold very dear to their hearts. “The Irish connection is very important to us,” states drummer Paul Stewart “I’m actually marrying an Irish girl in December (former Fame Academy contestant Sinead Quinn ) and we’re having the wedding reception in Sligo. My dad’s side of the family are Irish, Dan’s mother is from County Mayo and Kieran and Kevin’s mother is from Ireland too so we’ve always had very strong connections with the place. We’ve always enjoyed playing gigs there and we’ve always had lots of support.”
To date most of the Feeling concerts in Ireland have taken place in Dublin or Belfast but for this upcoming tour they are getting to see a little more of the country as they are also playing Castlebar and Killarney. “We’re really glad about that,” says Stewart “We’ve been actively trying to play places other than Dublin in Ireland since the very start. Maybe this time around all our emails to the promoter have finally paid off! It’s nice to get to the west coast so that Dan’s family can come and see him there. I’ve also been lucky enough that we’re winding up our Irish tour in Belfast four days before I get married. I’ve spent quite a bit of time over there the last four or five years and I really enjoy it.”
The ‘Hamburg years’ in the Alps
Another place that the members of the Feeling hold close to their hearts is the Alpine region of France as it was there that they first developed their craft. Just as Hamburg was an important place in the development of the Beatles, the French Alps was to be the place where the Feeling retreated to try out new material and to road test their sound. “Unfortunately we haven’t been back there for a while,” states Stewart, “It was something that we did just before we got a record deal. When we were playing initially in London we didn’t feel confident enough to play in front of record executives. We used to go to the Alps and play some covers and throw our own new songs in. It was a really good thing for us and it was really, really useful. Dan had grown up in London, whereas the rest of us had grown up in Sussex. Richard (Jones, bass guitarist ) met Dan at college in 1995 and they formed a band together and then the following year Kieran and I joined. That’s the line-up that went to the French Alps and subsequently became the Feeling.”
From early on the band were not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves and rock band Queen were in particular a big influence on all of them. “When we were growing up all of us used to listen to bands like Queen” states the Feeling drummer “The first time we played together as a band our set was a mixture of covers and some of our own stuff. We’d do the cover gigs during the week to subsidise our own shows at the weekend. We divided our time between that, attending university and trying to get signed.”
The fans and the live experience
The band were signed by Universal Records in 2005 and released their debut album on June 5 2006. That year they took the UK charts by storm and also made serious inroads into the American market opening for the Fray across the Atlantic. They made numerous TV appearances including on The Charlotte Church Show and The Vicar of Dibley In January 2007 it was announced that the Feeling was the number one most played band on UK radio in 2006. “That was a great year for us” says Stewart, “but obviously then it was difficult when we came back with the second album this year because we’d been away for a little while. You’ve got a lot to live up to and we’ve tried to ignore that pressure as much as possible. Thankfully though when we did release ‘Join With Us’ it went to number one and we were completely overjoyed. It showed us that people were sort of holding on and waiting for us to come back with something special.”
One of the most important reasons why the Feeling sell so many records is their magnificent live set. Charismatic front man Dan Gillespie Sells develops an instant rapport with audiences and indeed his stage presence has been compared to that of Freddie Mercury. “We view the live show as important as making a record”, states Paul Stewart “We try to make it energetic and exciting and to best convey our songs. You get a sort of instant reaction from the crowd and you sort of feed off that”.
On the live front and during their various rounds promoting their records the band have crossed paths with Galway band the Saw Doctors and indeed informed guitarist Leo Moran that they were big fans “Yeah, we’ve met them on the road a couple of times and they’re really nice guys,” says drummer Stewart “That’s the life though when you’re always travelling around and meeting new people. We’re away a lot of the time but it’s nice when we can make ‘homecoming’ gigs in Ireland happen.” For tickets phone Royal Theatre Box Office on 0818 300000.
