Ollie Cole

Ollie is the singer/guitarist with Turn, Ollie is best friends with Ian and it is their vision that **nurtured** the Turn dream. Ollie is the Liaison of the band, "Ollie will do anything for the band" comments Gavin. His work duties include artwork, song writing, production, PR and in general just a real nice guy that will do absolutely anything to see the band succeed. Ollie's vision doesn't stop on the singer front; he has a good idea of what their videos, interviews and overall perspective should be. On stage Ollie is the pinnacle of the band and makes great efforts to joke and communicate with the audience.

Ollie grew up in Kells, Co. Meath and stayed there until he decided that his interest in music would lead him to Dublin. It is in Dublin that Ollie joined Swamp Shack, a band which played Feile and achieved a good deal of local success but Turn was always was on the cards. After the Swamp Shack saga drew to a close Ollie vowed that the next band that he committed to were going to be a success. Himself and Ian had been jamming with some tunes that Ollie had written and with the addition of Gavin things took off.

Ollie worked for years as a producer in the Factory, he worked with greats such as David Bowie, Garth Brooks and U2. His favourite band is the Pixies and they were the band that changed his perspective on song writing forever, after Ollie saw the video for "Monkey Gone To Heaven" one day he knew that he would write songs that were different. His CD collection ranges from Slayer to Nirvana to Elliot Smith. Ollie can be always caught humming and singing melodies around his home or wherever he gets a chance, it's pure ambition, hard work and self criticism that elevates Ollie to the heights we associate with the greatest alternative song-writer and singer to step outside of Ireland.

Ollie's vocals have gained critical acclaim from the most cynical critics in the UK, the minute he opens his mouth he ensues an air of respect over the audience and what is one to do but welcome its sonic beauty. Ollie bases his lyrics and song writing techniques on real live situations and is constantly compelling himself to write more complex and more daring songs that can range from touching the most angst-ridden teenager (Beretta) to soothing an infant to sleep (Plan). According to the rest of the band Ollie comes up with the basic songs and the others evaluate, structure and suggest changes to Ollie however, a lot of the songs are written on the fly in the practice room. Ollie claims that a lot of the song writing depends on the other members of the band and how they are feeling emotionally.

Gavin Fox

Gavin plays bass on stage with the band, but also plays guitar and drums giving him a huge advantage, because he's able to put many suggestions to the other band members. Gavin admits to being the cynic of the band and is rarely happy with the bands sound and performance. Gavin's presence on stage and his musical input are the cornerstone of Turn's dynamics and stage presence.

When Gavin was just 16 he went to work in The Factory with lead singer/guitarist Ollie Cole. Eventually they got to talk and started playing chess together in the girls changing rooms in The Factory!! Ollie and Ian were trying to get a band together, even though they were both in different bands at the time, Ollie was in Swamp Shack and Ian was playing with Revelino. When Gavin came to work in The Factory he was in a band called Nero.

Upon Ian's absence one day Gavin filled in on the drums while Ollie jammed with a potential third member, but the shoe didn't fit, but Gavin really like what Ollie and Ian were doing and suggested to them that he would jam with them for the time being if they wanted.

According to all members of the band the first couple of rehearsals with Gavin were amazing and they really got on well together as a unit. Eight months later Gavin signed a record deal at the tender age of 19 (the youngest person to ever sign a record deal in the record company).

Although Gavin comes across as being really timid he is very opinionated about what he believes. In the studio he is really particular about the various levels that tracks have. He doesn't go for a really polished sound either Gavin prefers to make it sound human; he hates playing along to click tracks. Gavin says the best thing about being in Turn is to have some kid put his hand in his pocket buy their record or tee-shirt and then "Look for my fucking signature".

"Facedown was released first so that people couldn't pigeon hole us" says Gavin he admits to Beretta and Beeswax being more on the lines of Rock and Roll songs. From the upcoming album Gavin's favourite song is Beeswax and it's the first song that Turn jammed on together.

The Bass Player recalls that when he was first in the band Ollie and Ian would bring him out to O Connell's pub and the Trio would try to spot some hookers along the Portobello bridge, Gavin smiles to himself and recalls how "Ollie and Ian would send me home on my bike Pissed and Stoned". It was only one night when Gavin was speaking to Fiona about the band that he discovered his importance, Fiona commented that Ian didn't want to continue playing in the band unless Gavin was in it.

So what about the Turn image? Well according to our man Gavin he thinks that bands like Slipknot and the Beastie Boys have a great Image and when Turn get on stage the make-up and the suits are all part of the act, the irony of it all is that "we are all wearing these suits and playing this really heavy music", Turn are endlessly striving for ways of improving their shows from a lighting and effects perspective, Gavin quivers at the taught of ever having to stand on an X in the middle of the stage and stay there for the night. Turn have realised how important Lighting and Effects are from there last tour, so we can expect many bewildering lighting effects from Turn in the future.

Gavin's favourite band is Led Zepplin, "If you could get the four perfect musicians in the world together in a band that would have been Led Zepplin", so how do Turn go about writing songs? "We can go from songs like These Three Words to Too Much Make-up because we're not looking for a sound, the songs write themselves", how do the band get on together as a unit "brilliant, when we were recording in Rockfield we bought a crate of beer every night for seven weeks, it was great"

"It's pretty much impossible to succeed in Ireland" comments Gavin "everybody leaves, The Cranberries, U2 etc. it's just too small over here you need to go to UK or America". Although it's too small to succeed over here Gavin says that he's really happy with press coverage over here "we're like a bad smell creeping in the back door"

Gavin and the other sacrificed a lot and took a big risk, including giving up his old band Nero and hoping that Turn could deliver the goods in an extremely competitive industry but he's stuck with Turn and loves every minute of it.