A Dirty Dozen with CIAN MULLANE from GOD ALONE – September 2025

Photo credit: Shane Horan

According to a recent press release: ““Pink Himalayan” is the latest single from Ireland-based dance-infused math/noise rock outfit GOD ALONE. The track comes off of the band’s forthcoming new full-length, The Beep Test, set for release on October 10th via Prosthetic Records. GOD ALONE charges through styles and vibes with the velocity of a high-speed bullet train, barreling forward at a breakneck pace, busting boundaries, and beckoning listeners to hold on for dear life. The Cork, Ireland quintet mash together math rock virtuosity, metal intensity, pop hooks, techno textures, and dancefloor-ready grooves equally at home under the glow of a disco ball or in the center of the mosh pit. This is what happens when you invite a cohort of highly skilled music nerds with all of their amps and gear beyond the velvet rope and into the V.I.P. section of the club. This is controlled chaos converted into a catchy collage of sounds. This is GOD ALONE. Surprising at each turn, the group – Jake O’Driscoll (guitar, vocals), Cian Mullane (bass, vocals), Jack O’Hanlon (drums), Dylan Kelly (synths), and Seán Thompson (guitar) – continue to shock and awe on their third full-length album, The Beep Test.” We get bassist Cian to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

We’re very very happy with it! We’re big fans of implementing humor and in-jokes in our music and there’s a few references to our favourite TV shows and movies on the album as per usual if people are looking to do some digging. We were delighted to get the album back and listen to it together for the first time, we feel it’s our best work to date and we’re very grateful to everyone involved in helping us create it.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

My dad showed me Rory Gallagher when I was very small and I was fascinated ever since, for the rest of us then it’d be a combination of our parents music taste and music that was on WWE at the time because it was and still is brilliant.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Antidotes by Foals would be our band’s favourite collective album just for how much it influences our music still to this day after being released back in 2009 and us hearing us together for the first time around 2018. It’s one of my favourite albums of all time and one of the few albums that we all agree on as being perfect.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

There are way too many to choose from but personally I would love it if Louis from Coilguns would like to hop up and do a song with us. He’s one of my favourite vocalists and performers of all time and he’s a really lovely person too.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

We’re big fans of crazy golf and like to try to find the time to get a few rounds in together when we have time off on tour, we’ve been very lucky to get a lot of rounds in. Collectively we all read a fair bit and listen to a lot of music when we’re away from home and personally I love wandering around exploring new cities and towns that I have the privilege of seeing through playing music.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

In specifics then dance influenced math punk but in regular terms then just the word fun. We try not to get bogged down in sticking to genre specifics and instead just write whatever we all agree is fun to play and listen to and we hope other people agree with us then. We’ve been told a few times at gigs that we sound like Foals which may have been meant in jest, but we take it as a compliment because we love Foals.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Jake & Jack are brilliant chefs, the two of them, drinks would be a collective effort, and I personally love an acoustic sing song.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

We’re just home from a tour supporting ASIWYFA alongside Waldo’s Gift and watching both of those bands every night for 10 nights never ceased to amaze me. They’re some of the most unbelievable musicians I’ve ever seen in my life and the way both bands’ musicians gel together and combine to make a sound that’s larger than the sum of its parts blew my mind every night. They’re also collectively the nicest people on earth and I’d consider them all my heroes.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

I love hanging out with my friends, we’re all best buds in the band and I wouldn’t trade any of them for the world. Making music and seeing new places with them is an honour and it’s my favourite thing in the world. If I couldn’t play music, I’d love to be a touring sound engineer / tech / hand so I could still hang out with my friends and see new places with them.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

I would love to be asked what my perfect Sunday is! Ideally a lie-in, a nice coffee date with friends or family and then we sit down and watch the ball in silence for a few hours, bliss. We’re happy to answer all questions really! Our answers change a lot because we’re constantly listening to new music and seeing new places and meeting new people, so we never get tired of answering anything to be perfectly honest.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

We once falsely assumed we could sleep in a venue in Nottingham (our fault entirely) and ended up not sleeping for an entire night before getting a Megabus to Brighton when it got bright to record a studio session early in the morning. Definitely an educational moment for us in the value of sleep and not something we could perform nowadays. A fun core memory to reminisce on but something we definitely won’t be trying again anytime soon!

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

I would love to go back and watch Talking Heads record Remain In Light and maybe ask them if I could do a tiny second of backing vocals on “The Great Curve.” That album and Tina Weymouth’s playing are my favourites of all time, and I would approach playing bass completely differently if I hadn’t heard those.

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Category: Interviews