Riptide Movement’s bigger ambitions for the next wave

The Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell – tribunegroove@live.ie

The Riptide Movement, a raucous Dublin based four piece, play Róisín Dubh on Saturday week, May 11. Last year, the band released their second album Keep On Keepin On and its success led to two sold-out show in the Olympia and an appearance on the Late Late Show.

Speaking from Grouse Lodge studios in Westmeath, where The Riptide Movement are recording their third album, lead singer Mal Tuohy says:

“We did the last album here. It’s a brilliant live room, and all the staff are great, so we said we’d come back. The owner’s here beside us, he’s got an iPhone to my neck, so I’ve to be very careful about what I say!”

The Riptide Movement’s next album will be produced by Ted Hutt, an Englishman based in California. Hutt’s impressive CV includes established American bands like The Gaslight Anthem, Old Crow Medicine Show and the Dropkick Murphy’s. How did Mal and the lads acquire his services?

“We just put the word out,” says Mal. “We were looking at producers of albums that we liked and we sent off a few emails. Then we met a few of them, and we got the best vibe off Ted. We feel that we made the right decision, because it’s going great so far.”

“He really understands it. The new tunes, they’re a lot more advanced, there’s a lot more in them than our previous stuff, which we would’ve produced ourselves.”

It might just seem like a name on the credits, but having an experienced producer like Hutt onboard really makes a difference, especially to a younger band like The Riptide Movement.

“You put your trust in him and he manages the whole project,” says Mal. “It means the rest of us are freed up to work on guitar pieces and lyrics. We don’t have to be in the main room the whole time.”

“Down here as well, it’s such a big place, you can go for a walk and have the MP3s on your earphones, listening back. All the while, Ted’s inside, keeping the show on the road, bringing people in and out, getting all the stuff recorded. I’m really looking forward to the finished project.”

Keep On Keepin On did well, and helped to establish The Riptide Movement on the live and festival circuit in Ireland. But Mal, JPR, Ger and Gar have bigger ambitions this time around.

“We’ll definitely put it out through a label this time,” says Mal. “For the likes of America and the UK, we’ll have to license it and get it out to a bigger audience, involve a bigger team in the whole thing.”

“The last one did really well for us, so this’ll be a step up. We’re doing a lot of stuff abroad now, from pretty much the end of May onwards we’re doing festivals all over Europe and the UK. The plan is to break out of Ireland now.”

This plan seems to be bearing fruit. Recently, The Riptide Movement received an offer to open for an upcoming blues/rock outfit called The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park, this July. How did they land such a massive gig?

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.