Interview: We sit down with Wexford duo The Ocelots ahead of their gig in the National Opera House

Ashley and Brandon Watson, better known as The Ocelots, are Wexford natives that have been around the globe with their music. Now, they’re bringing it all back home, kicking off their biggest tour yet in the historic National Opera House…

Ashley and Brandon Watson made their musical bones busking on the streets of Wexford before embarking on an odyssey of epic proportions, playing music around the world. Two albums and countless live performances later, they are returning to where it all began, to kick off a monster tour that’s going to take them around Ireland and into the UK and Germany.

The Ocelots first made a splash on the music scene with the release of their first EP ‘Till We Get There’ which accumulated 1.7 million streams. They followed up this stunning debut with the release of their first album, ‘Started to Wonder’, which came out in March 2020 on the cusp of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, they’re back in full swing with the release of a brand-new second album ‘Everything, When Said Slowly’ that will be released on Friday 7^th of February. To celebrate the release of this record, The Ocelots are embarking on a nationwide tour, beginning in none other than their native Wexford at the National Opera House.

The concert in Wexford, which coincides with the release of ‘Everything, When Said Slowly’ on Friday, is the first of many tour dates The Ocelots will play over the next month. Their Irish tour will bring them up and down the country from The Duncairn in Belfast to Prim’s Bookshop in Kinsale.

The two aren’t stopping there though; after their Irish tour, The Ocelots plan to jump into a UK tour followed closely by a tour of Germany, where the brothers currently live. With three countries and over 30 tour dates, The Ocelots have a jampacked couple of months ahead. We had a chance to sit down with the musicians ahead of their opening gig to talk nostalgia, live concerts and celebrities.

How do you look back on your first album ‘Started to Wonder’ now?

“It’s great that we made that album because it was exhibit A and we thought ‘How can we improve on this?’. We recorded that album just before COVID in 2019. It was between a whole year of touring and we found this two week window so we booked a studio to get these songs down before we didn’t have the opportunity. Then COVID came and tons of our gigs got cancelled and we were stuck at home. For the first time, we practiced together and learned how to work in a recording studio which we’d never done before.

For our second album, we had a budget because we did a funding campaign. We got to hire a studio engineer, pay for band rehearsals and get some session musicians in. I think you can hear the quality difference because the first album was recorded completely on a budget with cheap microphones while this one has been recorded in a top studio in Wexford, Orphan Recording Studios.”

How has Wexford influenced your music?

“Wexford has always been a base for us. When we were eighteen and first decided to pursue music, we lived in Wexford town and used it as a base while we went on our travels and came back. That was before we moved to Germany. I guess Wexford has always been close to our hearts. We started our band there. The very first time we performed was busking on the Main Street.

We were very lucky as well because there was a lot of opportunities in Wexford. There was a weekly open mic in the Bean n’ Berry. There was also nights in the Arts Centre and we played pub gigs. We played a lot in The Sky and the Ground and we played every Tuesday in Maggie Mays for a brief amount of time. Wexford has always been a huge part of the story of us becoming musicians.”

You guys are known for your lively, energetic performances. In an era of on demand streaming, how important to you is the live concert experience?

“It’s what we love and live for. I think the touring life always suited us. We’re used to being on the road. When we’re on stage we feel purposeful. We’ve had other jobs before, and it never felt right but it’s always felt right to be a musician and to play on stage. We’re putting our energies to good use, I think.

There’s also the fact that you can’t really make a living from streaming. You can make more from selling T-shirts at your concerts. Even touring can be remarkably underpaid after expenses. There’s been tours where we’ve come out of it a couple of grand down the drain. It’s a lot of investment when you’re starting out.”

You guys have shared the stage with some big names. Glen Hansard, Jack Johnson and Hudson Taylor to name a few. At any point, did you have a ‘we made it’ epiphany?

“I think the epiphany was that no other musicians have given us as much time or generosity as those people. When we supported Jack Johnson, we were told that we can’t go near his backstage area and we were put into a different floor. We were drinking tea and Jack Johnson knocked on our door and was like ‘I’m so happy you guys are here. I’d love you to come backstage’ and he invited us to sing his big hits on stage with him. In comparison, we’ve supported bands who didn’t even acknowledge we were there. It’s kind of taught us, as cringey as it sounds, that being nice and generous and loving to the people around you does make a difference. And we hope that if one day we’re as big as them, we won’t turn into pr*cks (laughs).”

The Ocelots tour dates can be found below, starting at the Wexford Opera House on February 7th.

IRELAND:

Feb 7 – The Jeremy Hynes Room – Wexford Opera House
Feb 8 – The Seantí – Waterford
Feb 12 – The Black Gate – Galway
Feb 13 – The Commercial – Limerick
Feb 14 – Whelan’s – Dublin
Feb 15 – The Duncairn – Belfast
Feb 16 – Sandinos – Derry
Feb 20 – Music in the Park – Kenmare
Feb 21 – Coughlan’s – Cork
Feb 22 – Levis’s bar – Ballydehob
Feb 23 – Prim’s Bookshop – Kinsale

UK:

Feb 26 – Newport (Le Pub)
Feb 27 – Frome (HydeAway)
Feb 28 – Worcester (St. Swithun’s Church)
Mar 1 – Birmingham (Sunflower Lounge)
Mar 2 – Sheffield (Cafe #9)
Mar 4 – Leeds (Oporto)
Mar 5 – Manchester (Castle Hotel)
Mar 6 – London (Green Note)
Mar 7 – Brighton (Folklore Rooms)
Mar 8 – Winchester (The Arc)
Mar 9 – Southbourne (Wight Bear)
Mar 11 – Cambridge (Portland Arms)

GERMANY

Jan 31st – Rough Trade Records Instore – Berlin

April13 – Bad Kotziting (Banhof Kotzting)

April 23 – Hamburg (Hebebuhne)

April 24 – Berlin (Prachtwerk)

April 25 Leipzig (Neues Schauspiel)

May 11 – Munich (Milla)

May 15 – Cologne (Blue Shell)

May 17 – Dresden (Club Puschkin)

May 18 – Frankfurt. (Ponyhof)