Mik Pyro, Republic of Loose December 10, 2009

“I’ve fucked up a lot… I’ve made a lot of bad decisions.” Republic of Loose frontman Mik Pyro talks about his struggles in the music industry and in his personal life. Originally published in December issue of  Flux.

I first saw Republic of Loose in concert about three years ago, when they toured Ireland to promote their 2006 album, Aaagh!. I remember being completely taken aback by the energy that the band exuded on stage. Their movement had all the force of a full-on rock band, but their music couldn’t be categorised so easily. Indeed, a reviewer of one of the gigs from that tour said of the band, “They are unsure whether they want to be gangbangers or cowboys or gospel singers”. Whatever they are aiming to be, a live Republic of Loose show is equal measures exhausting and thrilling.

I was expecting Mik Pyro, lead singer of the band, to be equally energetic offstage. That’s why I was surprised when he answered the phone at 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon sounding like he had just woken up. He had, in fact, just woken up. “I’ve had weird sleeping patterns lately, I’m like a vampire. I was up ‘til eight or nine this morning.” The interview continues, but I get the distinct feeling that Pyro is still horizontal, and will probably pass this phone call off as a dream when he wakes up again later.

The band’s third album, Vol. IV: Johnny Pyro and the Dance of Evil was released last year, but the band has been fairly quiet on the promotion front. “We’ve been gigging around over the last year. We did Oxegen and played with U2 in Croke Park. But we’ve been taking it easy enough. It’s been a really difficult year for the music industry. We can do some work in Ireland, but we don’t have the money to go touring around the UK.”

Personal finance is a huge factor in everything the band does, from recording to promotion to distribution. They have never had a record company, and finance all their efforts out of their own pocket. “We’ve been trying to keep our profile up in Ireland, to keep things afloat, but it’s difficult. We still do it though, because we love it.”

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