Inhaler credit Beatles documentary ‘Get Back’ for helping to relieve second album pressure

Inhaler have said watching the Beatles documentary Get Back helped them to relieve the pressure of making their second album.

The Irish band watched the seven-hour Peter Jackson film while writing their upcoming second album ‘Cuts & Bruises’ and told NME for this week’s Big Read feature that it offered them a sense of comfort and inspiration.

“You’re watching the greatest band of all time and go through their own problems and their own struggles. You think, ‘That’s a perfect record – how could there be anything wrong with it?’, and then you see what their relationship was like,” said drummer Ryan McMahon. “It gave us a sense that, though we were at loggerheads sometimes, we were all working on something that felt good and felt right.”

The film proved particularly helpful when the band were writing the album’s closing track ‘Now You Got Me’, which came “out of nowhere” in the space of a few hours while the band were struggling for ideas. “It was those little bursts of magic we saw in Get Back that we were searching for,” said McMahon.

Frontman Eli Hewson remarked that making the record was a “struggle” for the band. “We had such a hard time making this record. We thought, ‘Aren’t you meant to enjoy making a record to some extent?’” he said.

Inhaler also discussed the “weird niche” they sit in musically. “We don’t think of ourselves as a boyband,” Hewson says. “We’re not in the pop mainstream but we’re not a proper rock band.”

It was Sam Fender who suggested how they could describe their – and his – genre, in a conversation backstage at a festival – “We’re alternative pop, lads,” he said, according to McMahon.

‘Cuts & Bruises’ is set for release on February 17. Inhaler will be touring next month and will play two further dates at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse and London’s O2 Academy Brixton in May. You can check out the full list of dates below and buy your tickets here.

FEBRUARY 
16 – Leeds, O2 Academy
17 – Newcastle, NX 
18 – Liverpool, Mountford Hall
20 – Norwich, UEA
21 – Cardiff, University Students Union
23 – Nottingham, Rock City
24 – Birmingham, O2 Academy
25 – Bristol, O2 Academy

MAY 
19 – Manchester, O2 Victoria Warehouse
20 – London, O2 Academy Brixton