Padraig Cooney on Autre Monde's final gig, the motivation needed in the music industry, and his new bands

Autre Monde made two great albums and called it a day with a show in Limerick on September 6

I’ve talked to Padraig Cooney and Autre Monde a couple of times over the years - TPOE 160 and TPOE 277 - as they released two great albums: The Imaginary Museum and last year’s Sensitive Assignments. So it was a pity to see an Instagram post on August 30 announcing “the only Autre Monde gig of 2024 and in fact the last chance you'll ever get to see Autre Monde live”. It was at Treaty City Brewery in Limerick on September 6. I asked Padraig if he’d like to have a chat about Autre Monde finishing up - and to talk about his new band(s); Padraig Cooney and Bedtime Now support Badhands Upstairs at Whelan’s on October 24 (tickets here). You can read that below.

Are Autre Monde finished now? I wasn't ready for the Instagram post about it: "The only Autre Monde gig of 2024 and in fact the last chance you'll ever get to see Autre Monde live" Was that a tough decision to make? When was it made?
So, here's how it goes. I'll have to answer multiple questions in one go here. We released the album Sensitive Assignments in autumn 2023 and while we remain very happy with it and indeed proud of what we did, the promotion of the record and the tour to accompany it was a disaster. We had to cancel gigs due to poor ticket sales, the album hardly sold at all, it was completely ignored and that's fair enough - we didn't have the resources to push it, and we're yesterday's news anyway. However, we did end the year on a high with a great show in Dolan's on NYE supporting Gilla Band. At that point, Paddy had decided to take a break to focus on making his solo album. The rest of us had no reason to take a break though so we started working on a record. The music came together really beautifully, and we recorded it in early summer mostly in Eoghan's pastoral Kildare home. As we lived with it and worked on overdubs and the mix, it gradually dawned on us that we were working as a new band, and not Autre Monde. We called it The Nose and the new album will be The Nose. We'll play shows as The Nose, but it's not compatible with Autre Monde, if we had to do AM songs it would be contrived, the whole configuration is different. 

What was the final gig like? What a delicious place to do it - at Treaty City Brewery; tasty pints were had?
Well we were asked out of the blue by Diarmuid of Feile na Greine prominence to do this show outside Treaty Brewery, and we just thought it would be fun to do one last AM gig with Paddy in tow. We all agreed. To be honest, until that point we just weren't going to say anything about it, we just weren't going to play again. But these things come up and you make impulsive decisions and it's grand. It was a sloppy gig, we rehearsed once as AM in 2024... but by the second half of the gig we were motoring well, so it wasn't a total disaster and the atmosphere was nice. We've been quite Limerick-centric, mostly cos it's the only place where people ask us to play lol. 

How do you reflect on Autre Monde? You guys released two great albums. What are your favourite memories from the band?
Very happy with our recorded output. As with everything I am involved in, there were lapses of taste along the way. However, the creativity, the quality of the playing, the intelligence, the expression... I think AM had a lot going for it. I like the arc - good early singles, sloppy and confused EP, promising and catchy album, then difficult but rewarding followup album. I can get behind that. Personally, I would reflect that Autre Monde came a few years too late for me. I would have liked to get stuck into that groove in the early 2010s but what can ya do? By the time Covid derailed whatever we had going in 2020, I think the motivation to do the kind of stuff you have to do to make yourself a viable band for anyone involved in the music industry just left us. Average age: too old. Miles on the clock. 

Do ye have more music that might come out in due course?
The Nose is a shape on your face, as the song goes. 

You've always been prolific with releasing music, whether in a band or as Skelocrats (and probably many other monikers too). Is Padraig Cooney & Bedtime Now a 'new' project? Is it just you or a band? I imagine the name probably comes from the fact you're a father?
It's a new band, and we'll be recording an album together in January. But it's also a solo thing, it's a halfway house... Like many Someone and the Somebodies in rock history. Some of the album tracks will be more soloey. I put out an album under my own name in 2021 and I think of this as a continuation... Like the first Elvis Costello album is just him, then the second one is just him too but the Attractions are the band, then by album three it's him and the Attractions. But it's all the same thing. Honestly the name, similarly to Autre Monde, came from needing a name immediately for a gig poster. I was really tired and wanted to go to bed at that moment so the name came very naturally! Maybe I'll regret it, like I always have Autre Monde, which was changed in a flash of panic from the original tag... The Nose. Skelocrats is basically the only band name I've remained happy with. 

You're supporting Badhands Upstairs at Whelan's on October 24. What will the live show be like? I imagine you and Dan Fitzpatrick are good pals?
I know Dan, we're not big friends or anything but I've enjoyed chatting to him from time to time. Ross Hamer is in Bedtime Now and Dan actually asked Ross' Hamer Place to do the gig, but they couldn't do it so Ross told him about this new thing we were doing. Hopefully it procedes acceptably on the night. Our live show will be electrifying - but also acoustifying as for the first time ever I'll be playing acoustic guitar live, for some of it. New songs but also cuts from all my previous bands. Danny Carroll stars on 'lead guitar'. 

What musical plans have you got for the future?
Albums by the Nose and Bedtime Now in 2025. So, winding down. 

And finally what's your favourite track(s) by an Irish artist right now?
The Hamer Place album is surely going to be out soon and when it does come out it will be Best Irish Indie Album of The Year. I love the song ‘All I Knew Was Blue’, the classic story of a young Rangers fan who moves from Glasgow to Navan, set to thrilling power pop.