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Five Questions And A Playlist: Doomshakalaka





Doomshakalaka is the new project from Paul Rafferty, formerly of Liverpool band Hot Club De Paris. His thematically bittersweet sounding self-titled LP will be released in June via Moshi Moshi. 

Of the album’s concept Paul says, 

“I thought it would sound like being sad at a party or maybe it would sound like being invited to a party and feeling good about not going.”

The tracks have their foundations in nostalgic, Pavement era indie rock. 

We asked Paul a few questions about life as a musician and he also put together a 10 track playlist of some of his favourite tunes below.

Pre-order ‘Doomshakalaka’ via Moshi Moshi here. 



Who were your favourite bands / artists as a teenager?


Technically speaking there are 6 years to take into account here which is a vast amount of time in teenage music terms. If I were to pick one band I could probably say I was mainly ruled by the Beastie Boys.

When did you realise music could be a career?


The first band I really loved was Queen (I was probably 8 or 9) and I never got the sense that 70s harlequin Freddie had a job elsewhere, so it was probably then. In later years I came to realise that a career in music is an incredibly elusive goal.

Do you have a job outside of music?


I'm a screen printer and graphic designer when I'm not making music or touring as a session player with other bands.

How well is live music supported in your hometown / city?


Like everywhere else, live music in Liverpool has taken something of a pummelling due to the austerity-ridden council allowing developers to build flats on the sites of all the decent venues. There have been venue closures due to noise complaints from new residential developments built next to existing venues and so on. There are some great bands and venues soldiering on in spite of this, however.

If you could make one change to the music industry what would it be?


I'd change absolutely all of it but would probably start with shuffling the queue for the cash so that the artist gets paid for their work before the countless vampiric agencies that exist solely to exploit them.