After seven long years, The Answer are back with their long awaited and highly anticipated new and seventh album, Sundowners, which captures the soul of a band intent on not just reigniting the spark but burning more brightly than ever before. These four Irish rockers have regrouped and thrown themselves into the creation of album that harnesses their unique energy and relentless passion for rock music.
A fortuitous ‘how do you feel about writing again’ call from management in early Covid-stricken 2020 planted a seed that slowly gathered real pace as the band started sharing new ideas that felt exiting, fresh and relevant. The now triumphantly completed collection of work displays all of the band’s trademark raw attitude and lack of compromise. In their own words “It felt like we were back at the beginning again, a total reset’.
Says singer Cormac Neeson “We’ve been through a lot as a band, we’ve toured the world, made six great records we’re all proud of, given our live shows everything always and done our best to make honest and timeless music that connects with rock fans and music fans in general. After six albums and a lot of road miles we felt we needed to step back from it all and reset. Whilst that wasn’t an easy decision, with retrospect it possibly he best decision we’ve ever made because the end result is the album we’ve been waiting to make our whole lives…full of good time rock n roll and positive energy created by four brothers who quite frankly just really missed each other. We’re back and we’re ready to go!”
Undeniably, The Answer – completed by perennially charismatic front man Cormac Neeson, iconic guitarist Paul Mahon and the powerhouse rhythm section of bassist Micky Waters and drummer James Heatley – have achieved a great deal in their career to be proud of.
Emerging into the rock world spotlight in 2005, their debut single Keep Believin’ became the subject of critical acclaim and led The Answer to the ‘Best New Band’ award at that year’s Classic Rock Awards. The following year, the young band consolidated that early promise with ‘Rise’, a debut album that received universally great reviews and backed up their burgeoning reputation with fistfuls of gloriously anthemic songs like Under The Sky, Into The Gutter and Come Follow Me that delighted everyone from cantankerous classic rock fans to bright-eyed teenagers with a penchant for balls-out rock ‘n’ roll. ‘Rise’ went on to sell over 125,000 copies worldwide on the independent Albert Productions rock label, a startling debut achievement that ensured when the band released their second album, the mighty ‘Everyday Demons’, three years later, the world was more than ready to embrace The Answer on an even greater scale.
The ensuing years saw the band cement their fearsome reputation, both as an astonishing live band and as rock’s brightest hopes, securing high profile support slots with The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and a two-year stint on AC/DC’s 2008 Black Ice tour, which took them around the world and into some of the biggest venues on the planet.
“We were thrown to the wolves a lot of nights on the road with AC/DC and all we had to fall back on was the four of us playing together,” recalls mercurial guitar hero Paul Mahon. “We had to make it work and dig in really hard. It was a super time”.
In 2020, long time uber fan and Australian independent hard rock label Golden Robot founder, Mark Alexander Erber, fulfilled a life-long ambition by signing The Answer to his Golden Robot Records to produce a brand-new 7th studio album, due for release in 2023; a record which, in the words of Erber will be The Answer’s “greatest balls out straight ahead rock album ever’, eclipsing the debut of Rise for power, songs and sheer attitude. To say I am excited is an understatement, for me it’s a life-long ambition and privilege to work with these guys”
Produced by rising British rock producer Dan Weller (Enter Shikari, Bury Tomorrow, Those Damn Crows) and recorded at Middle farm studios in Devon, the new album promises to be something very special indeed. Says Weller, “I’ve been swamped by loads of rock bands wanting to make records but when I heard these The Answer demos, I was literally gob smacked – fabulous song after song, crafted, kicking ass, it was almost too good to be true, I simply had to get involved”.
With over 300,000 catalogue album sales under their belt, The Answer are now considered one of the leading pioneers of what is now colloquially known as the New Wave Of Classic Rock, and have returned with their fantastic new Sundowners album which they believe is without doubt their best yet.