When writing the song "Sugar High" for their new album Bloodless Coup, Bell X1 songwriter and front man Paul Noonan had no idea how much more relevant it would become; not just in reference to the Irish financial meltdown but also in relation to the rising tide of protest here in the United States.

Offers Noonan, "I think most people, myself included, have tended to glaze over at news of economic peril and impending doom. But as the simple unfairness and singular truth that it is always the little guy that gets fucked has come into focus, it seems that people are getting up off their arses and making their voices heard."

Ireland's recent economic crisis, like the one here in the States, was sparked in large part by the crash of an exponentially inflated real estate market, underpinned by rampant and unchecked speculation.

Below, Paul Noonan interprets his lyrics in relation to the bust in Ireland. Ideas and images that mirror much of the sentiment of the Occupy Wall Street protests in the U.S. - and now with movements appearing in London, Rome and South Korea - all over the world.



"There was a swagger to the players in the property boom [in Ireland] - the developers and bankers - they seemed to think they were pioneers of some kind and somehow co-opted the integrity of the Irish who built America."Let's build up tall into the sky, we can sit on those beams and smile/Like those boys who built New York City /Oh look, a funeral, a carnival

"The way things got built here during the boom was insane - there were never going to be enough people or businesses to fill them, but that wasn't the point.It was about building things and flipping them, as prices kept rising. Until the bubble burst.When it did, it left a landscape scarred with ghost estates, half finished developments in the middle of nowhere."Let's build all this shit no-one's ever gonna buy /When we come round we'll blame the sugar high /They'll just sit there like monuments /Plastic flappin in the wind /Like a flag

The ruling party that dragged us through all this, Fianna Fail, used to host a fundraising event at an annual horseracing meeting in Galway, where the bankers and developers would hang with the political leaders of the day. It was where many a back was scratched, you can imagine.

I like to think of the scene in Donnie Brasco, where Lefty is explaining the connections between the gangstersHe's a friend of mine, a friend of yours, a friend of ours /like not so wiseguys

Finally, when the shit hits the fan and someone has to pay, it's always the little guy.

Free to those who can afford it, very dear to those who can't.

BELL X1 FALL US TOUR DATES:
11/1 Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theatre
11/2 San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Shop
11/3 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
11/5 Seattle WA @ Chop Suey
11/7 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
11/9 Austin, TX @ The Parish
11/11 Atlanta, GA @ Smith's Olde Bar
11/12 Nashville, TN @ 3rd & Lindsley
11/13 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
11/16 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge
11/18 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's
11/19 Boston, MA Brighton @ Music Hall
11/21 Annapolis, MD @ Rams Head On-Stage