Meet the artists tipped for success on this year's RTÉ 2FM Rising list...
Growing up in Galway, the four members of NewDad knew that their hometown was something of a contradiction. On one hand, it's a small and picturesque city with a close-knit community where forming a band and spending all your time making music is a great way to pass the time. On the other, that smallness brings its own problems; what do you do when you have played the two local venues enough times to know every inch of the stage and dodgy toilet set-up?
"It can be hard to break out because it's such a comfortable place that people don't want to leave," reasons Julie Dawson, who fronts the band alongside Áindle O'Beirn, Sean O'Dowd, and Fiachra Parslow. "If you grow up here you have to get out eventually." Now is NewDad's time to break out.
NewDad formed while still at school in Galway and thank a random band name generator for their unusual moniker. None of the band have kids, sure, but NewDad certainly beats the other contenders: Seth Rogen's Beard and Pants 2. Plus, Dads do like them. "I think we remind them of bands from their youth," Julie says. "It's a great stamp of approval."
Having initially felt isolated as a new Irish band, the success of friends and fellow countrymen Fontaines DC and The Murder Capital forged a path for the band and in early 2020 they recruited Sean O'Dowd on bass, having existed as three piece prior to that point. Initially getting together because Julie "hates playing and singing on my own," the band have grown more and more serious about what they do and when lockdown hit they decided to move in together in order to write and record as much as possible.
Find out more about this year's RTÉ 2FM Rising list here.
