The new faces of Irish pop sit down for a chat...*Walking On Cars* are midway through a boozy brunch. Mexican beer and ceviche flies across the table the band are crammed round, five sets of sunglasses shielding their eyes from the Texan glare. We're in a country where everything comes plus-sized - all things considered, it's a world away from the Irish town of Dingle (population 1,500) where they originate.
Their Emerald Isle roots haven't been forgotten during their time at SXSW, as tomorrow they're playing an event known as the 'Full Irish Breakfast' - a topic that leads to an heated discussion of what a full Irish as opposed to full English actually is, with lead guitarist Dan Devane concluding that "it's like an English, but without any of the veg." Whatever it is, one is apparently handed out to every early riser that makes it into the pub, with the added bonus of seeing all the Irish acts gracing the festival this year over a hash brown.
The Walking on Cars you see on stage are all thunderous guitar riffs, amped-up vocals and booming drums - yet Paul Flannery's grandparents would much rather they covered some classic Irish folk songs. "My nan's always like, why don't you play some fucking Irish tunes? She's always asking me to play Christy Moore records!" he laughs. "Oh I never ask my family for criticism or anything," reveals pianist Sorcha Durham. "There's certain opinions you'd appreciate over others..." she jokes.
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While the Kerry town they call home is now known for the success of its alumni, previously its main attraction had been in the form of a pet dolphin named Fungie. "He's been there since the '80s. It's weird to have just one on its own," explains Paul. "He's super interactive... if you go out there he'll come and swim with you."
From these small town beginnings the indie-pop quintet have been on a sharp rise, since forming four years ago. Dan, Sorcha, Paul (bass guitar), Patrick Sheehy (vocals) and Evan Hadnett (drums) first met in the school playground, bonding over a shared interest in surfing. Then came the natural progression to jamming together. Armed with the desire to write, the method they chose was a fairly unconventional one; locking themselves away in a cottage on the Peninsula, cut off from internet and phone reception. "We literally just started writing as many songs as we could", says Pat.
"We had a gig planned so we had a month to write 10 tunes and perform them. Looking back it was a bit ridiculous... But that's how we worked, we set another gig and wrote more tunes and scrapped the shitter ones and wrote some better ones, well, that we thought were at the time but probably weren't..."
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"Our first gigs were absolutely terrible!" confides Dan, shaking his head. From headlining the town youth café to maxing out venues all over the country, the band now bring their polished brand of modern indie to impressively sized crowds, including the legendary Olympia Theatre - a venue that helped launch the careers of Blur and Snow Patrol. The anthemic, cinematic nature of the latter is a constant source of comparison for the Irish five-piece, so it seemed a good fit for them to work with Snow Patrol producer Tom McFall while at Grouse Lodge Studios.
The residential recording rooms, favoured by Michael Jackson and nestled in the magical Irish Midlands, birthed highly-anticipated debut EP 'Catch Me If You Can', which garnered repeat plays and solid chart approval. Shortly afterward came EPs 'As We Fly South' and last summer's 'Hand in Hand' that built on the seeds they'd sown.
Despite such a highly polished, hook-driven sound, the writing process isn't always total plain sailing for the five. "We tend to argue a lot in the writing room," grins Pat. Though Pat sees this as a positive. "It makes our sound, it's a weird thing. It's this melting point situation where it just works. It's not even just the musicality... it's the structure of the songs where we differ." With their debut album in the bag ("it's 90% done" - Pat), it's the titling that'll presumably be their biggest bugbear. "We're really bad at naming songs..." Paul admits. "Every time we write a new song, we just call it 'The New Song', until we have to write another song and then that becomes 'The New Song'" he finishes.
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But now, they've a summer of touring with James Bay and headline shows to look forward to, though bigger doesn't always mean better for them. "There are the intimate gigs where people are a lot quieter and the softer, where the gentler moments in the songs are quite bare. I actually love those moments," says Sorcha. "Then when you're out playing a bigger gig to 2,000 people it's just constant noise and just a different atmosphere, I think. It's a different show. The intimate ones are way more intense."
Yet it's not always plain sailing on stage ("We played a gig one time and Pat hit me in the face with his guitar!", says Evan, before Paul recounting a time he fell off the stage), and SXSW hasn't been without its technical issues. "Yesterday, just before our set the lads realised the power supply for their pedal boards was the wrong one," Sorcha says. After hightailing it in a cab to the nearest guitar store, Dan snapped up the one he needed and made it back just in time for the lights to go on.
Their confidence in the forthcoming LP, however, comes from a slightly unusual place. "When you get home and you're in the shower and start singing the songs, that's when you know..." Dan finishes with a wink.
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'Catch Me If You Can' is out in July on Virgin. Head *here* to find out where they're on tour next.
Words: *Felicity Martin*
Photography: *Isaac Solomon*
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