Richard BodinIt has been a while since I noticed Neptune Blood appear on the Limerick scene. All I knew was that former members of Fox Jaw and the Hip-Neck Blues Collective had formed a new band and released their first single. I tried to reach out to get more detail about the story and we agreed for an interview. But life happened. Professional commitment, busy schedules, personal vacations, simply got in the way. Until recently. Neptune Blood was announcing their new single —released on July 14th— and eventually the planets were aligned and we could arrange a meeting.
As it turns out, the former Fox Jaw quintet—Ronan Mitchell, Morgan Nolan, Shane Serrano, Kieran J. Sims, and Manolis Pates—returns as a sextet, now joined by Damien Moore of The Hip-Neck Blues Collective. When the band had split last autumn, they mentioned something a story related to a band in the UK with similar sounding name, and they hinted at a come back… I was eager to meet them and dig into the whole story.
I met singer/guitarist Ronan Mitchell and drummer Shane Serrano —freshly tanned from a trip in Greece— in a trendy coffee shop in Limerick. As the Irish summer shines hard, we had to sit inside as the outside tables were all taken. We started exchanging about the local cultural life, before focusing on Neptune Blood.
Drawing the Line Under Fox Jaw
Introducing this new project is not as easy a task as it seems. “It’s alternative indie rock,” begins Shane “that’s the easy description”, before getting into more detail. The idea to start this new project actually came before the end of Fox Jaw. Shane explains: “there were some issues around the name of the band. The idea was to just pause for a moment. Release songs under another project title. See how it works with the public. Not even show our faces so much. But as time passed, Ronan suggested to just draw a line under Fox Jaw and focus our attention on the new project”. Ronan confirms: “It was the right time to do it”.
I mention how their first press photos didn’t exactly reveal much — all blurry, shot with a pinhole camera. At first, I thought they were trying to stay anonymous. “Yes,” Shane says. “That was the idea in the beginning.” But they quickly realised how hard it is to gain attention without some connection to their past. “At least if we mention we’re from Fox Jaw, maybe a few more people will check out the new songs. We worried more about it than anyone else really did.”
A Different Cake with the Same Ingredients
Still, even with a new name and a hazy new image, some things were bound to carry over. After nearly two decades of writing and performing together, it wouldn’t sound too different — especially when the line-up hasn’t changed. “It’s like trying to bake a different cake, but with the same ingredients” analyses Shane. Ronan explains how the band is trying to fight old habits. “If an idea is too much in a backwards direction, maybe we scrap that, or just take that idea and put it on a different instrument and do a completely different thing with it.”
Ben & Damien Join the Bloodline
That’s where Ben Wanders comes in. The pair sings the producer’s praises, an “incredible musician and drummer”, who knows how to steer Neptune Blood in the right direction, “almost becoming a member”. “We have been trying hundreds of ideas, and he has taken control” explains Ronan. “An unfortunate position, as he is spoiled with so much choice,” adds Shane. “Sometimes he’s just, soloing, using channels, and I’m hearing stuff for the first time that sounds great.”
Alongside Ben’s remarkable influence in the studio, another notable change came with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Damien Moore. The lads from Fox Jaw and The Hip-Neck Blues Collective had known each other for a long time: partying together, and also collaborating. Damien had occasionally guested with Fox Jaw in the past — playing trumpet or cello for live acoustic shows — but he’s now fully onboard in Neptune Blood. “He can basically play anything. We’d been trying to poach him for years, ” Shane says with a smile.
A whole new game
Beyond the name and the sound, Neptune Blood is learning how to be a band again in a very different landscape. The way people release — and consume — music now is different. “Before, you could have a couple of singles, put out an album, have a PR campaign, and that was great,” says Shane. “Now it’s very different. The way people are listening… it’s content-driven.” Ronan continues: “if you spend a year or two working on an album and then release it, people immediately go, ‘That’s great — when’s the next one coming out?’”
Ultimately, with what they created as a side project before Fox Jaw ended, and the new material, Neptune Blood is now sitting on enough material to fill up a couple EP. The band will release each track individually over the next months, giving each track its moment before grouping them into EPs. “That seems to be the way,” Ronan says. “We’re still figuring this out. It’s a whole new game.”
“We really feel like we’re starting from zero,” Shane reflects. “And that’s exciting — but now it’s more of a reality we just have to face. Right now, it feels like trying to start a cold engine.” I ask them if they ever regretted drawing that line under Fox Jaw. The answer come quick and sharp. “No,” says Shane, “I really think we all had reached a tiredness with these songs, we were ready to be playing something else”. Ronan remembers: “The farewell gig we did really felt like saying goodbye to these songs. It’s what really made it special”
The Phoxjaw Case
Before closing the Fox Jaw chapter, I had to ask them the obvious question. After about two decades playing as Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters and then Fox Jaw, having gathered a loyal audience: what brought them to end it? They confirmed what I heard previously: it all stemmed from another band with a similar name in the UK. “It’s hard to have an original band name,” explains Shane. “There was a band in the UK who also wanted to call themselves Fox Jaw, but they were aware of our band, so they decided to spell it differently. So instead they spelled it ‘Phoxjaw’”.
Usually when something like that would happen, the band would reach out to the other bands, make themselves known and the other band would change name to avoid confusion. This time, since the spelling was different, they didn’t reach out. As years went on Phoxjaw grew its audience in the UK and started playing big festivals.
“That became problematic when we were promoting our last album, because the PR company that was going to represent us in the UK dropped us at the last minute, because they also represented Phoxjaw. Even though It looks different on paper, they only realised when they started contacting the press or radio on the phone and it sounded the same” explains Shane. Even when written, the confusion would occur. Ronan remembers: “When we promoted our farewell show on social media, some people contacted them, thinking they were splitting. The other band had to reassure them: ‘It’s not us, it’s the Irish lads’”.
But the biggest issue came during the pandemic, when allegations of sexual assault were made against Phoxjaw’s singer Daniel Garland. These allegation were proven to be false however. But the harm was done, the british band kept being pulled from events. “As time passed, people kept confusing us… in the worse possible way” recalls Ronan — Fox Jaw’s singer. Shane continues: “that’s when we realised it was time to take a step back, and start looking at songs with a different project name.”
A fresh perspective, and new experimentations
Fox Jaw was indeed in a strange position, suffering from someone else’s reputation. As they were ready to explore new paths, it was just time to find a new name. The way Ronan describes it, it sounds like a new opportunity: “Putting a full stop after one thing and then just calling this a different thing just gives you a different perspective on how to approach the songwriting. And if we wanted to be an EDM band or something, we could do that as Neptune Blood if we wanted to. But we couldn’t as Fox Jaw.”
So what does Neptune Blood actually sound like? With just two singles released so far — “Midnight Showing” and “Best Laid Plans” — it’s early days, but we can already feel some noticeable differences. First of all… they don’t sound like an EDM band. While “Midnight Showing” gives me some Madchester vibe, Ronan explains that they didn’t start with that in mind. “We were just following ideas down a path. I had been gifted a baritone guitar for Christmas one year, I was just noodling and I came up with that riff. We build on that and followed the vibe. A friend also told me: ‘it sounds like Fox Jaw but in Major’”. The pair laughed at the remark.
A new and yet nostalgic sound
“Best Laid Plans” came from an older idea. “There was a demo I made a long time ago, but I just forgot about it and found it on a hard drive,” tells Ronan. “It had a lot of like vocal harmony things, just a bit of weird stuff. It was only a little snippet – I think it was only the chorus. There were so many ideas that we brought to the writing room that we jammed on. Some didn’t work and some did. This one found a vibe… probably much closer to Fox Jaw than “Midnight Showing.”” Shane agrees. “That one’s coming from an older riff. It probably would’ve ended up being a Fox song at some point.”
I note that the Neptune Blood’s track sounds a bit more psychedelic than Fox Jaw. “That’s Ben’s influence, introducing more synths” acknowledges Shane, “but also Ronan started playing with arpeggiator sound effects.” Ronan explains that the Arpeggiator is an 80s sounding synth that cycles through the notes when playing a chord. “There’s another song that’ll probably be released later that I wrote with the arpeggiator. This is actually a really interesting sound and we started toying around with it. We tried it on Best Laid Plans, and that part of the song is where the whole thing lifts.”
“That synthy stuff is definitely not something we would have done with Fox Jaw,” Ronan observes. “We may have played with organs,” Shane says, “but that was mostly for live shows. When it came to, let’s say, ‘Ghost Parade’, it was all as much real instruments. Harmonium and all sorts of stuff.” “Yes,” Ronan confirms “ we really steered away from the synthetic side with Fox Jaw. So with Neptune Blood, we try leaning into it a little bit and see how it goes. It’s new territory for us”
Neptune Blood: beyond the grave
As we observe a short pause, taking in all these ideas and memories the two musicians have been bouncing to each other, the name of the band comes up. Neptune Blood… It sounds quite mystical. I had done some research, and came up with a couple of Irish men around the XVIth century. It actually came from a tombstone. “A friend of mine happened to mention that there’s a guy buried, in the Dance Limerick church, called Captain Neptune Blood” Shane says, amused. “They called him the ‘Copper Captain’ because he had red hair. He is related to these other Neptune Bloods. They are also related to Thomas Blood who tried to steal the crown jewel… There is a whole blood-line… There’s a few interesting names on headstones around Limerick. There’s also, in St. Mary’s Church, a lady buried called Gladys Skellator!”. Delighted, Ronan quipped “Oh Yeah, that’s our next project”.
Gearing Up for the Stage
Before wrapping up, I had to ask: when will Neptune Blood finally hit the stage?
“By the end of the year,” Shane confirms. “When the EP is coming out, we’ll definitely play our own headline show.” They’ve already got two EPs written and recorded, and even more material in progress. “Some of the songs are long, so there’s definitely a set there,” he says. “And if we need” adds Ronan with a smirk, “we can always throw a cover or two of Fox Jaw”. Shane lets out a laugh. “From the English Phox”.
The focus, for now, is on support slots and building a new audience, slowly. “There’s a lot of lessons learned from our years with Fox Jaw,” Shane reflects. “Whether it’s how we write songs, how we release music, or how we approach the live show — we’re trying things differently this time.” But there is one thing to keep in mind, Neptune Blood includes six members. “It’s getting harder to fit on stages”, Shane laughs.
The Next Chapter
As we part ways after a warm and lively conversation, I try to gather my thoughts. Neptune Blood is not Fox Jaw — well, it kind of carries the legacy, but it’s also very much its own entity. Here we have a group of long-time friends who’ve shared music for decades, and yet have no interest in repeating themselves. They’re keeping the best of their past experience, learning from the worst, and shaping something new and exciting from it.
Neptune Blood aren’t rushing. They’re rebuilding with care — trying new recipes, exploring new sounds, and slowly crafting a fresh identity. And with two compelling singles already out, I’m eager to see what else they have in store.
Keep an ear out — or better yet, start listening now. “Midnight Showing” and “Best Laid Plans” are streaming everywhere.
