“I was 100% better on guitar when I was 15. Technically, I’m a much worse guitarist now – but I’m a better songwriter”: Meet Sprints, the Irish garage rockers cranking Boss Katanas in stadiums
The rising-star Irish outfit are Telecaster diehards, but they sure appreciate a lightweight amp, even when supporting Liam Gallagher. Now endorsed by Fender, they reveal their secret-weapon pedals and how they replicated the Smiths’ most sought-after effect in studio
(Image credit: Fern Rose)
Dubbed ‘Dublin’s next no-fucks-given guitar heroes’ by NME, Sprints join the ranks of notable acts coming out of Ireland right now – from Pillow Queens to post-punk staples Fontaines D.C – who are dragging the scene out of ramshackle Temple Bars and onto the global stage.
Sprints’ debut single The Cheek won early support from BBC broadcasting buff Steve Lamacq, and the group rounded off a mighty 2022 supporting British stalwarts Suede. Their first full-length, Letter To Self, channels the visceral live energy they’ve become known for, from the whipsmart A Wreck (A Mess) to the doomy swell of Cathedral.
The quartet – who started out during lockdown – features lead singer and guitarist Karla Chubb, guitarist Colm O’Reilly, bassist-vocalist Sam McCann and drummer Jack Callan.
When did you both pick up the guitar and do you remember your first one?
Chubb: “The first guitar I ever played was a classical nylon-string guitar. My mom said if I learned how to play music properly she’d buy me an electric guitar. I did a year. I learned Enrique Iglesias’ Hero and then I was like, ‘This is not for me!’ I wanted to play Guns N’ Roses.
“I was just turning 15 when I got my sunburst Fender Squier Stratocaster with a small Marshall amp. I set it up in my living room and played Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
O’Reilly: “I never actually asked to play. I was 10 years old and my mom’s friend’s son wanted someone to go to guitar lessons with. My first guitar was a classical guitar as well, a steel-string. Then after a year I got my first Les Paul. I think I was better at guitar when I was 15 years old than I am now!”
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Chubb: “I was 100 percent better on guitar when I was 15. Technically, I’m a much worse guitarist – but I’m a better songwriter, so it’s like, ‘What have we gained and what have we lost?’”
You released two early EPs working with Gilla Band’s Dan Fox, who you said brought ‘textures’ and led you towards performing live on record. What was the studio experience like laying down the debut?
Chubb: “We put so much into the guitar. People would be in there conducting each other. I’d go in and twiddle the pedal for Colm so the tremolo or the phaser would kick in just at the right time.
O’Reilly: “When you’ve got four hands playing one guitar you can do anything!”
Chubb: “I think it was for Can’t Get Enough – we were going for that How Soon Is Now Smiths-style tremolo effect. We had two Voxes and two other ones stacked together at the same time. Colm was going through all four of them to get this one perfect tremolo effect because it made it beefy and deep, but also gave it a crunch.”
O’Reilly: “There were times when I was up till 3am every night with blood everywhere. There’s one part in the chorus of Can’t Get Enough when I was going the whole way, and Dan kept going ‘Go harder, go harder!’ My fingers started bleeding, but we had to finish to take so I just had to keep going. It left a little scar for a little while.”
You performed last year as part of BBC 6Music’s Independent Venue Week tour, sporting a dual set of Telecasters. What gear makes up your current onstage set up?
Chubb: “I’ve had the same guitar for the last six years, a modified ’50s Fender Vintera. I was always obsessed with getting the next one, but I’ve written both EPs and the album on it so it’s a part of me now.”
O’Reilly: “I realised today that I’ve had my Fender Telecaster for 12 years and I’m still playing it.”
Chubb: “Colm has two humbuckers and I’ve got a humbucker and a single coil, so his definitely gives us that beef and hard rock edge for the solos. Mine cuts through because it’s a little bit twangier. Amp-wise, we own a Vox AC15 and a Boss Katana.”
(Image credit: Dave Pedley/Getty Images for SXSW)
O’Reilly: “I have a Blackstar as well, that’s too big to bring anywhere. I played the Boss Katana when we were supporting Liam Gallagher on this huge stadium stage and it sounded great.”
Colm has four or five pedals on his board and squeezes more sound out of them than I do with my fucking 10. It’s about how you use them and how you get to know your gear
Karla Chubb
Chubb: “It’s sturdy as anything and it weighs like five kilos, compared to the 20-kilo AC15 for lugging up four flights of stairs! There’s such a fear of having what looks like proper gear or a big rig, but it’s how you play it and what you’re playing that matters.
“Colm has four or five pedals on his ’board and squeezes more sound out of them than I do with my fucking 10. It’s about how you use them and how you get to know your gear.”
There’s a great live video of Little Fix showing a wealth of Electro-Harmonix pedals across your boards. What other effects are staples for you?
O’Reilly: “On How Does The Story Go? it's an Electro-Harmonix Pitchfork. In some parts, I would put an octave below just to get a beefiness on certain sounds. On Modern Job I used it in one of the lead bits.”
Chubb: “My pedal staples are the Memory Man, especially for those creepy textures and the depth we like to add. There’s a pedal called a Battlehammer by an Irish guy called Moose Electronics who builds custom pedals. The Battlehammer has nice fuzz distortion with three different channels on it – a booster treble, a bass and a lovely gain.”
O’Reilly: “One of the things I use for a lot of weird sounds is by Mooer called Reecho. It’s terrifying and adds some of the scarier noise effects. I also built my own overdrive as well. It’s a mix of both Tube Screamers.
“There are only two resistors in the old one and the new one that are different so I put one of each and blended them. That’s basically on all the time. I have a great booster pedal as well. I put this bright LED onto it that almost blinds you so you know when it’s on.”
Chubb: “We walk on stage. It’s pitch black. Colm clicks his pedal and boom! – It’s like a lightsaber!”
Your debut album, Letter to Self, has already had some rave reviews. Which guitar riff on there are you most proud of?
Chubb: “I like the riff in Cathedral because it’s beefy and dark. Can’t Get Enough Of It as well – it’s a very repetitive rolling riff, like your desert rock Queens of The Stone Age style, and it’s an earworm. And Literary Mind is my little Strokes moment. I tend to come up with simple ideas and then I’m like, ‘Okay, Colm, now solo!’”
O’Reilly: “I have a lot of fun. A Wreck (A Mess) was a very spur-of-the-moment guitar solo. I wrote it while lying in bed.”
Chubb: “In the studio, like the day he was supposed to record!”
O’Reilly: “Well, you see, I already had it in my head. It’s just a matter of putting them on a guitar. That’s the hardest step. I work best when I’m in the moment, about to do something, and just let it surge out.”
How are you feeling about bringing the new record to life on stage?
Chubb: “There have been talks of using an extra guitar, because in some songs we tracked five or six guitars. There are a lot of acoustic moments as well. Myself and Colm both have Taylors so we’re potentially bringing them.
“There was also a lot written on Gretsches to give them more of that bluesy body. I got mine second hand. I love it, especially the Bigsby tremolo. Colm played it for Shaking Their Hands on the album.
“We were lucky enough to be endorsed by Fender this year. For the show in Scotland, they gave us a full backline and we were able to pick what kit we wanted – we had a lot of fun playing the Fender Deluxes. Colm and I might expand to two amps on stage and two guitars.”
Cheri Amour is a writer, editor and broadcaster intent on amplifying the voices of women and non-binary artists in print, online and on air. During her twenties, she played lead guitar in a touring two-piece, sharing the stage with The Slits and John Peel-approved punks The Nightingales. Formerly Deputy Editor at TGA Magazine, Cheri headed up its Tech section pouring over pedals with everyone to indie icon Debbie Smith (Echobelly/Curve) to multi-instrumentalist Katie Harkin (Sleater Kinney/Waxahatchee/Wye Oak). She's currently working on an upcoming 33 1/3 book on the unassuming influence of South Bronx sister troupe ESG, out in Spring 2023.
