Strange Brew has kicked off a free showcase for emerging artists on Thursday nights at Róisín Dubh, Galway. Ahead of their show at the venue on 7 March, we asked Irish five-piece Siúcra the BIG questions . . .
We need your consent to load this Spotify contentWe use Spotify to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Formed during the height of the Covid-19 lockdowns, Siúcra are friends from the same bubble who decided to keep playing music together, realising their love of B.B. King and Britney Spears in the same breath. The Bog Project and monotypes have already played the Strange Brew night, with Sarah Brookfield set to play on 14 March.
"Galway has always been a hotbed for musical talent, and with these Thursday nights, Strange Brew and the Róisín Dubh aim to create a space where emerging artists can thrive," says Gugai, founder of Strange Brew.
Tell us three things about yourself . . .
None of us knew how to drive in our salad days as a group but we've played in five different countries (and possibly another country soon if Murph buys the plane tickets to Amsterdam). We have the Siúcra-Mobile now, thank you, Diarmuid. We’re a Galway band but only two of us are actually from Galway. The rest of us are blow-ins from Donegal, Kilkenny and Mayo. CMAT said we do a great cover of I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby.
How would you describe your music?
Ophelia: A musical pick n’ mix of folk, rock, blues, shoegaze and a spoonful of Irish trad. I’ve been writing pretty much as long as I can remember but always coined them as "poems" as I didn’t think I could sing. Queue the summer post-Covid when we could hang out in little groups: myself, Diar and Ben found ourselves in a social bubble, with a kindred love of the usual suspects: The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, and so on. Started jamming songs with Murph (and a few bottles of Dada), got a few gigs in our local The Dáil Bar, then one evening, I played/mumbled the lads a new song I wrote. They began playing along and elevated it a million percent. Flash-forward two years later, and we have Shaughs and Tiernan in the family too, who slay the rhythm section. They are so much fun to watch play.
Ben: We have an EP coming out now in a month or two and having paid for the recording by gigging relentlessly up and down the Wild Atlantic Way the last two years, we really want it to capture just who we are as a band, as people, the many influences we share and don't share, appreciate and considerate, the ambition and promise to do what we all really want to again, playing songs we wrote and arranged, on bigger, saucier stages and bigger recordings.
Who are your musical inspirations?
Tiernan: IDLES, Led Zeppelin, MF DOOM.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
Murph: Vyvienne Long in The Set, Kilkenny.
What was the first record you ever bought?
Tiernan: Eminem - Relapse, which I returned the next day for 21st Century Breakdown by Green Day.
What’s your favourite song right now?
Ben: Cowboy Song - Thin Lizzy. Tis’ the season for Weshterns.
Favourite lyric of all time?
Ophelia: I could pick any of the lyrics from New Slang by The Shins but if I had to choose… "turn me back into the pet I was when we met, I was happier then with no mindset".
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Diarmuid: This Must Be The Place - Talking Heads.
Where can people find your music/more information?
Our first two singles Travellin’ Song and Anxiety are on Spotify and YouTube, with our next single Roll Over is due to release in March and our first EP in May. We’re also fairly active on the social meedjs: @siucraband on Instagram and on Facebook. We also play our first headline gig in Whelan’s of Dublin on the 6 July if you’re around for a boogie.
Alan Corr
