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Eager to get off the “hamster wheel” of local gigs, Bell X1 spent last year touring the US (four times), including appearances on Lettermanand Conan O’Brien. Frontman Paul Noonan tells Jim Carrollabout the band’s broadened horizons and their first album as a three-piece

PAUL NOONAN could probably chart his working life through interviews in hotel bars like this one. Every couple of years, Bell X1 release a new album – and every couple of years, Noonan takes a seat in a bar like this one, faces a gallery of tape-recorders and starts answering questions again. The location may change, but the dance steps remain the same.