Who is Aoife?

Don’t know how to answer that exactly. Very broad question. I am me!

So how would your mother describe you?

My mother, like most people’s I suppose, only sees the best in me! She is really supportive of me and she loves the band. She has even listened to MX going to sleep, which I definitely wouldn’t do! She says the Aoife performing onstage is a side of me she doesn’t really get to see normally. I have a birthday card from her where she writes that how she thinks of me is as “bright and sparkling”! She describes me as a strong person with a good brain and a strong sense of fun. She describes me as confident, kind, sensitive and a happy person.  I think I’ll just give her description in future!!! It’s such a complimentary one!

To what music did you listen as a kid, did music play an important role at that time?

As a small kid, I suppose like everyone, I listened to the music my parents were listening to. They loved stuff like Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong. So that was a good start for me. And then when I was around 12 or 13 my brother, Fin, had Metallica CDs that I started listening to. And then I found Rage Against The Machine. And so it all kind of built from there.

Music was a big thing in our house … In every room there was always music playing or being played and we had a garage type room that served as a music room and a rehearsal room for both my brothers’ bands. At different stages it had amps, guitars, a basic drumkit, a piano, a
cello. There were always people coming in and out playing music and leaving their various instruments in our house.

I was studying singing at this time and learning guitar, but I was way too shy to sing myself. After a while Fin recommended me to a friend as
a backing vocalist and I started there. Despite being shy, I always wanted to sing and from as far back as a few years old, I always knew
that was what I was going to do.

Gradually. I took the expression “The journey of a thousand steps starts with one step” to heart.  I started doing singing lessons first of all and that helped me feel more grounded and confident and able. Then after a while, my brother recommended me to a friend of his as a backing singer. Doing an audition type thing with only me and one other person in a room, I was SO shy – and nervous and scared. But I just made a decision to do it and I did it. Then I started doing recording on albums and singing onstage, all as a backing vocalist. And yeah, I’d be shy and almost sick with fear mixed with nervousness and excitement. But the driving force in me was that when I’d start singing, I’d relax into it, any fear or shyness would go and the singing would feel so good. So I just persevered and bit by bit my shyness subsided. Singing is amazing for me. It’s my absolute favourite thing to do in life. It felt like I had no choice but to do it so I just found my way. The nerves and fear never completely go away, because by the very nature of a “live” performance, anything can happen, and I always have the fear of messing up and/or making a complete eejit of myself on stage in front of a big crowd of people. But I’d much rather experience that fear and be a singer.

You are singer and songwriter for the band Moth Complex, can you give us a brief introduction?

I’m the singer in Moth Complex. I write the songs with a friend of mine, Gerry Owens, and in a live setting, Moth Complex is me, drummer Damien Murphy, guitarist Ronan O’Leary (also my brother) and our new bass player, Eoin Markey.

Why did you pick the name Moth Complex, is there a deeper meaning in this?

I had the word “Moth” in my head around the music from really early on, even before there was a band, and I don’t really know why. Then I put
“Moth Complex” together after that, again not for any particular reason and not really knowing why. Then I came across a theory called “The Moth Complex”, based around the idea that people are attracted to light. And that did it for me. Cause that’s what the songs of MX are about… me finding my way. And so Moth Complex it stayed.

How would you describe the music of Moth Complex?

In a nutshell, I describe it as electronic rock.

Gerry and I write the songs. I come up with ideas and melodies, Gerry does the music and together we mould it all into a song! Instruments are
guitar, bass, drums and electronics.

Is it hard to find a good balance between rock and electronic music?

Not at all. Each song kind of finds it’s own balance. I think loads of bands balance rock and electronic music really well. Some, like Rammstein, where the balance is more towards the rock end and some, like IAMX, where the balance is towards the electronic end. And I love them both. I love the mix of heavy rock and electronics – it’s my favourite type of music. I love the way electronics can give an edge or distortion to rock and how rock can give a grounding and force to electronics. I love it.

Yes I did. I sang in a couple of bands with my brother, Fin and I did a whole load of backing singing – both live and on CD. When I was doing
all of that, though, it was always other peoples music and I wanted to do my own music. I had this idea in my head that I wanted to sing in a
band with songs that were heavy and soft, electronic and rock, dark and light…using my voice as a throughline. And I really wanted to do that.
So that’s what made me start Moth Complex.

What are your inspirations in writing lyrics, what are they about?

Lyric writing is completely and totally self-indulgent for me. It’s really personal. It’s like writing in a diary. All about my life – challenges, questions, feelings, adversity, frustrations... I can write when I’m happy, angry, down, sad… and it can be a release or a way of sorting out feelings in my body or thoughts in my head. A way to feel good or a way to feel better. Or just for fun. All about me!

Are some moods working better for you in songwriting, some people can only write when they are in a certain mood?

No. Except maybe to be focused. I can’t be distracted or flighty when I’m songwriting. I need to be 100% concentrating on writing a song. Other than that, I can be feeling any mood and write.

It’s been really well received. I’m so happy. It’s still creating opportunities for us now, as I speak. And it has been so far reaching. With “Non-Fiction” for example, a song on the EP, I remember tweaking lyrics to that song on a bus in Dublin, so to think that the same song is being listened to by people here in Dublin as well as in Japan or Brazil or places so far away from where it began. I love that. I love that people write to me from all over the world, who have bought the EP, and love it. Reviews were great and that was brilliant, but I especially loved that it is still reaching people close to me and all over the world.

When you look back now on the making of the ep, what lessons have you learned and what will you do differently next time?

Making the EP was an easy and brilliant experience. So next time, I’ll just approach the new experience as a fresh project and do what feels
good for that. That’s what I did with this EP and it worked nicely. So that’s the lesson I learned!

I don’t think about whether it’s an advantage or disadvantage to be female in music. I choose not to think in that way. I want what I’m doing with MX to be about music not about being female. I’m a singer in a band. I do music. I do what I do and that’s about it. I don't like to question beyond that.

Your liveshow is really energetic, how do you prepare for a live show?

I don’t really have to prepare in terms of generating energy. I get really excited and energetic before shows so my preparation is more in
terms of focusing that energy and excitement and being grounded. There’s are loads of parts to being in a band, but the best part and reason for doing everything else is to get to sing and do shows. So it’s easy to do an energetic show. It’s so much fun and what everything else leads to. So yeah, it’s more about focusing energy that is already there for me and doing a really good job.

Seems you are a spiritual person, what does spirituality mean to you and how does it have an influence on your daily life?

I prefer not to label life or approaches to it in definite terms. I know that we all like to categorise to help ourselves “get a grasp” on something. I do that too. But I think that can often lead to a narrower perception and as a result experience. So I don’t know if I experience life from a “spiritual” perspective or from another. What I do know is that for me, music and life and performance are all about working with energy and feelings. And I also believe that what you give out in life in terms of energy and feelings is what you get back. So I just live by that. I make the most conscious choices I can for myself and the more I do that, the better the comeback gets. Like anyone else, I make mistakes and I have days that feel better than others, but I think life is all about going with what feels good and feels right for you and I do my best to do that and I find my way.

I suppose the real and simple things in life. Music. Singing. The people I love. Having fun and feeling good. Those things are most important to
me. I love loads of other things. But those are most important.

If you could do one wish, what would it be?

I’m going to keep my one wish to myself…!

You just made a video, tell us some more about it, can people see it already somewhere?

We just made a video for “Tied Up In Knots”. I edited it myself, which was brilliant fun, and I’ve handed it over for post-production now, so it should be ready any day. When it is ready, we’ll put it up on our website, myspace and on youtube so people can see it there first and it’ll also be going out to various internet and TV stations.

The ideal Aoife day involves waking up in my own time, sunshine, playing a gig, people singing along to the songs, lots of laughing and feeling
good, nice food, being surrounded by people I like, a long night of fun ... stuff like that!

What is the next step for Moth Complex?

More gigs. More music. More travel. More fun.

Any last words for the readers?

Thank you for reading this interview! Come check the  Moth Complex website or find us on Myspace.

Also, big thanks to Cyber Angels for interviewing me...

www.myspace.com/mothcomplex