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Cillian Murphy has recalled in a new interview how his teenage band, The Sons of Mr. Green Genes, were once offered a record deal.
The Peaky Blinders and 28 Days Later… star was speaking to BBC Radio 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq ahead of the launch next week of his own new series on the station, Cillian Murphy’s Limited Edition.
During the interview, Lamacq asked Murphy about his musical background and the fortunes of The Sons of Mr. Green Genes, who were named after a Frank Zappa song from his 1969 album ‘Hot Rats’.
“Yes, that is true: I played in bands in my teens and then when I was about 18 or 19, we were offered a deal and it didn’t work out,” Murphy said. “So that was the end of the dream.”
Murphy, who played rhythm guitar in The Sons of Mr. Green Genes, said that acid jazz was “a big influence” on his band, although he acknowledged that “we were probably a bit late to the party with that sound”.
“But you remember bands like the James Taylor Quartet, Corduroy and Galliano? We were kind of into those bands and combining that with Zappa and a lot of funk and soul and that kind of stuff. So that’s what we were listening to and that really influenced the sound: there was a lot of instrumental music and a lot of excessively long guitar solos and stuff like that.”
Murphy added that the band’s choice of sound made for a “very good live” experience, but admitted that “we weren’t great whenever we tried to put the sound down, you know?”
The actor later said that he wasn’t “sad” that his career in music didn’t work out, and that he has no regrets over what happened with the band.
“No – you know better than anyone it’s a treacherous industry, isn’t it? All the lads that I was in the band with we’re [still] such good friends now, and I don’t know if that would have actually stayed the case if we’d have been put through the jaws of the music industry as youngsters. I don’t know if we’d have stayed friends.
“I know lots of lads that went through that and it was pretty traumatic for them if they didn’t make it. So I am happy with my lot, Steve, I can’t complain.”
Murphy’s new 6 Music series Limited Edition begins on Monday (October 19), and will see the actor curate “his own nocturnal playlist made for [playing] after midnight” over the course of a 12-part series.
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