The Answer are ready and prepared to field questions, as their name would indicate. They’re the sort of band who know what it is that they’re here to do – and that’s play some straight-up rock ‘n roll. With swivelling hips, and a big sound, they’re the sort of group who’ve benefit immeasurably from the likes of Kerrang! in the UK, who consider their debut album one of the finds of the year.

“It’s spreading nice from touring and word of mouth,” says guitarist Paul Mahon.

On Rise, there’s a range of influences displayed – from the originators like Led Zeppelin through the likes of Free, and even a touch of Guns ‘n Roses in the group’s sound. “It’s all those things,” he confirms. “The earliest things I was into were AC/DC, and bands like Motley Crue, Van Halen, and Guns ‘n Roses. From those bands I wanted to hear who inspired them, so I went back to Led Zeppelin, the Stones, Free, and Deep Purple.”

The Answer’s sound is very much inspired by that approach to rock ‘n roll, and by firm friendships – Paul grew up with bassist Micky Waters, and met frontman Cormac Neeson and drummer James Heatley at university. Indeed, it was the writing combination of Mahon and Waters who initially came up with the songs that germinated towards Rise, and it was another party’s suggestion that the big-voiced Neeson would perfectly suit the songs.

“At the time he was in America,” Paul explains, “so we got in touch with his parents and they got in touch with him, and we didn’t hear anything back from him for a while. Then one day at university I happened to be sitting beside him and got talking to him, and we were playing in a Brazillian music ensemble, and by the end I said ‘do you know a guy called Cormac Neeson?’, and it was him!”
After that, he went to rehearsal with the band, and the first song they did was by Free, a classic rock band that many have covered in the past. “You know how good the singer is by those first few notes,” he says, “and he nailed them from the get go. We wrote a couple of songs that day and there was instant chemistry there.”

After this, the band soon found themselves supporting The Darkness at a festival in Belfast, and then were whisked away on tour with said group around England and Europe. Then it was the case of a bidding war occurring – with rock ‘n’ roll in the ascendancy, a band like the Answer were the perfect sort of group for major labels to swarm over. But in the end the Irish four-piece had a good hard think about it all, and decided that perhaps the best way to approach their musical career was to strive for longevity.

As such, the band plumped for Australian-based Alberts Productions, home to the likes of AC/DC and Dallas Crane. “Just the development and the way they worked with AC/DC and really built them up, and every record was great, we want it to be a similar thing for us.”

When it came to making Rise, the group worked with a couple of different producers, with a couple of different sessions in the likes of Olympic Studios, where the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and others have also made many famous albums. “That was amazing just being in that room,” he gushes, “and it was a great place for us to record because we could do it basically live, and get a great sound, and really go for it. It was really conducive to capturing that ‘live band’ sound.”

After initial recordings there, the Answer returned home to Ireland and went to record some b-sides with a friend who also recorded some demos with them. But they were so excited by “Memphis Water” and “Leavin’ Today”, the new numbers that they were recording with Neal Calderwood in Manor Park, Northern Ireland, that they opted to include them in the finished product as well. “It was quite inspiring to go back into a smaller room,” he confirms.

“It gave us two different approaches. Olympic was inspiring in terms of all the history, but the lesson we learned from that was that it isn’t all about the studio that you’re in, but what songs you have and where you’re playing’s at. If you’ve got good songs and you give good performances, you can capture that.”

The Answer’s Rise is out now.