Jan. 9: Irish folk trio Socks in the Frying Pan ready for world domination. First stop: The Music Hall

PORTSMOUTH, NH – The music of Ireland has had a major effect on the music within the United States in various capacities. Go from bluegrass to punk rock and you’re bound to hear the Celtic tones and arrangements having some sort of influences. A talented folk act from that storied country who have been causing a racket, along with winning a few awards, is Socks in the Frying Pan. They have a show coming up in the lounge of The Music Hall in Portsmouth, which is part of a tour they’re on in support of a full-length record they released last fall. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and it promises to be a great way to get some fun in a day early before the weekend hits.

I had a talk with Shane Hayes from the band about the album they recently put out, playing the accordion and a quest for world domination.

IF YOU GO

The Music Hall

131 Congress Street Portsmouth, NH 03801

Rob Duguay: Back on November 15th, you and the other members of Socks In The Frying Pan released a new album titled “Waiting For Inspiration,” so where was it made and did you guys work with a producer or did you handle that part of the process yourselves?

Shane Hayes: It was pretty much all done by ourselves. We went back to our local recording studio at Malbay Studios where the great Martin O’Malley is. He’s a fantastic sound engineer and we did our first album with him as well, so we asked him if he wanted to do something with us again and bang, bang, bang, it was done in about two weeks.

RD: Did you guys aim to do anything differently in terms of vision and approach versus your previous releases? What was the collective goal you all had while making the album?

SH: This one is entirely original, which is not all that common for an Irish band. There’s all original songs and all original tunes, it was pretty much a blank slate. We learned so much from working in different studios and different places, so we wanted to bring in some new ideas while not trying to take too long while figuring out the nitty gritty stuff. We wanted to get it done, get it out, leave a week in between and come back to fix what we wanted to fix afterwards with fresh heads.

RD: I really liked listening to it a lot. You play the accordion in the band, and the accordion is a very unique instrument in the sense where it’s transcendent amongst various cultures. In the United States, it’s very much associated with bluegrass and New Orleans zydeco, but the accordion also has a presence in Eastern European music and other types of music from around the world. How did you first start playing the instrument and what made you gravitate to it?

SH: I was very lucky. Where we’re from in County Clare, every man, woman and child plays an instrument so the school I was in, one of my teachers was a great accordion player. He played in a band and he had everyone in the class playing an instrument. When I got older, my mom asked me if I wanted to learn something, and my teacher was a big inspiration for me wanting to play the accordion. My parents, who were very supportive, said “Ok”, even though I sometimes feel like I should have picked the guitar.

RD: I think it’s great that you have the element in your band. What are your thoughts on performing at The Music Hall? Is this going to be Socks in the Frying Pan’s first time playing there? It’s a pretty historic venue to perform at.

SH: Every venue brings its own charm and character, especially a place that is so established like this one. It’s cool to walk the halls where such-and-such has played or one of our heroes might have played at, that type of thing. Just the amount of music and characters that have passed through over the years, you take a minute to take that in and it makes for a very special experience.

RD: 2025 has just started, so what are Socks in the Frying Pan’s plans for the next few months? Are there any new projects in the works, or do you guys just plan on touring for the time being and seeing where it goes from there?

SH: Total world domination, Rob, that’s the plan. We won’t stop at anything other than that. No, I’m only joking, we have a few dates later this month and we have a run of shows in March and during the summer, so there’s going to be a heavy amount of touring.