Recently the band was interviewed by hometown journalist Louise Coghlan for the Offaly Topic's "Under The Spotlight", here's some of the best bits!

Under The Spotlight

Name: Frantic Jack

From: Edenderry, Co. Offaly

Family: Eachother? Daragh, Mark, Pauric, James and Mick!

Occupation: Musicians (ish)

Did you always want to be a musician: I think we all wanted to play music but how a funk bassist, metal guitarist, and rock drummer ended up in a band together with a key’s player we’ll never know!

How did you start playing/writing/singing music: We all sat down in February ’09 and went about forming an original band from Edenderry talent that could release their own stuff and here we are, 2 single’s later and an album on the way in July!

Who taught you: We’ve pretty much taught ourselves over the past year about how to promote ourselves and how to build up a good little following! Its slow hard work but things come good eventually (or at least we hope they do!)

Your favourite part of the music industry: Learning about all the different people behind the scenes. E.g. Those who have no interest in helping out independent bands but will talk on their radio shows about how supportive they are of “homegrown” talent. And then there’s the people who honestly go out on a limb to help new artists make a relevant push. One that comes to mind is Roddie Cleere on WLR Fm

Who is in your band: Daragh Fitzgerald – Vocals, Pauric Hurst – Bass, Mark Kelly – Lead Guitar, James Kearney – Keys, Mick Holten – Drums

Tell us about your band : We’ve been gigging consistently since April ’09 and have released to singles, “Firefly” which reached the Official Irish charts at no.23, got Larry Gogan on 2fm’s single of the week and was no.1 in the downloadmusic.ie charts and “Free” which was no.20 in the charts and also no.1 on downloadmusic. We’ve supported the Saw Doctors, headlined in the Village and Whelans and basically had a hell of a first year.

What are your plans for this year: New album called “Independence” is out on July 23rd with a huge launch night in Edenderry GAA on July 24th! We’ll also be releasing our 3rd single “Hold On” hand in hand with the album.

Is there anyone you would like to thank for the success you have achieved so far: anyone who bought a cd, came out to see a live show. We have an endless list of people to thank this first year!

Is there a way of people contacting you or listening to your music: WWW.FRANTICJACK.COM

Who do you admire most in the music world: Our musical influences a extremely varied. Anyone from Pearl Jam to Dave Matthews band and everything in between.

What band do you think do it best: The Coronas will be the next big international band to come out of Ireland. Real nice and helpful lads as well

Who in the music world would you like to meet: A record label with a nice big contract!

Your favourite Irish musicians: Saw Doctors, serious men to drink!

Have you any advice for musicians: I wish they’d some advice for us! There’s no magic formula, its a lot of persistance and a big slice of luck!

What kind of music do you enjoy: A pretty eclectic mix, that’ll probably come across more in the next album!

Any concerts you have been to that you would recommend to others: ACDC, Chickenfoot, Chilli Peppers, U2...

What radio station do you turn on: Today Fm, Fm104

Favourite radio presenter: Roddie Cleere!

What do you think of the Late Late now that Ryan is presenting it: I think he should have us on! Whats the worst that could happen?

If you could invite any three people to a party, who would you invite: Jesus, Charles Darwin and a bottle of vodka. We’d get the truth!

Who would you like to be for a day and why: We’ve always wanted to be Pauric and see what he thinks about!

Sporting interests: Soccer

Who you would like to meet: Someone who’s whelmed. Not overwhelmed. Not underwhelmed. Just.....whelmed!! (thank you Lisa)

Who wouldn’t you like to meet: A woman scorned

Are you a reader: Some of us

Favourite book/author: the Kurt Cobain Diaries are pretty interesting

What did you want to be when you grew up: Somethin cool, not a musician!

Most useful invention: Guitars

Most useless invention: Drums, haha

Favourite Thing about Ireland: We’re one of the few countries that have proper pubs.

Favourite Thing about Edenderry: Music Scene

Concept of Hell: Being a wedding band (but thats just us)

Concept of heaven: Not appropriate for the Offaly topic

Favourite Season: Lost season 6 (and summer)

Do you think we do enough for the environment: We definately do enough to ruin it!

Do you like dogs and do you think they can be a man’s best friend: A very lonely mans best friend.

What do you think of the recession: Recession?

A piece of advice or motto: If you build it, they will come

Your thoughts on Edenderry festival, did you enjoy it: It was great to be a part of the first Harbour Festival, the organisers deserve serious credit. Its nice to see what a small number of people can do with a bit of effort. The music all day saturday was of a really high standard and the weekend as a whole couldn’t of gone better. Lookin forward to next year again!