MacD on Music: Another Tale Of Two Columns

This has certainly been a summer of great songs. The new releases have been coming thick and fast and show no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

This week, I’m going to be talking to two artists with songs out either end of this month.

First up is The Ephades, the Donegal-based band made up of Grace Murphy (vocals and rhythm guitar), Kyle Warner (lead guitar), Grace Nugent (bass) and Cahir Doyle (drums).

The band have so far played in venues such as our very own 7Twenty and An Grainán Theatre and have recently released their third single, ‘Giving Out’. I caught up with them to talk about their career to date and the new song:

How did the band first come together?

The band came together around two years ago when Grace M and Grace N met Cahir and Kyle through their love of music and desire to start a band.

Who would you say are your main musical influences?

We’re always being influenced by current music as well as music we heard growing up, we love taking inspiration from what we like the sound of when writing music.

Tell me a bit about your new song?

‘Giving Out’ has been with us for nearly as long as we’ve been a band, it’s a very special song to us and we’re really proud of how it turned out. We can’t wait to play it at upcoming shows.

What's the reception been like for your releases so far?

We think that so far the reception for our released songs have been undoubtedly positive which is really nice to see, especially with something you put a lot of passion into. I think people just like hearing local music that they can sing along to.

What would you say have been some highlights so far for the band?

Every gig seems to be better than the last so it’s difficult to choose a favourite, but playing in the 7Twenty bar with Telezura and The Marra for our first gig in Derry was a great experience. Getting to travel down to Dublin and Belfast to play is such an honour as a band too. I think recording music is one of our favourite things to do, it brings out our creative best and seeing the finished product is always a highlight too.

Have you got anything lined up you want to talk about?

Well, our new song has been out about a week now but we’d love it if people reading this wouldn’t mind giving it a listen, we can assure you that you’ll love it. We’re playing Oakfest on the 7th of September with an amazing line-up of other acts and you can follow our socials @the.ephades to keep up with more shows and announcements.

TRAMP

Also this week, I spoke to Siânna Ní Laithbheartaigh, the singer/ guitarist of TRAMP ahead of the release of their new single ‘The Birds (Lowered Suspension)’ on the 23rd of this month.

The single is from their much-anticipated upcoming EP that will be released in October. The single will be the group’s second release this year, following ‘Postcard From Poland’ in June, which was released on Bandcamp to help raise money to help the family of Nour Alsaqqa escape from the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Speaking about the ‘The Birds (Lowered Suspension)’, Siânna tells me “It’s a relief to have it finished more than anything.

“We were so proud of it but it’s been on a computer somewhere for about two years.

“To get it finished up has been amazing.

“We’ve heard it now so many times in the past month we actually don’t know if sounds good any more. It’s probably one of the more fun ones in the live set and it’s the beginning of the step away from the two songs we have out, which are very polished.

“They were beautifully produced and recorded but this is the first step that will show the world what our live set is like.

“Coming up to October, we’re going to have our first physical vinyl and CDs. I’m so delighted that we’ll actually have some physical object in our hands that’ll be like ‘This is what we’ve been spending all our time on!’, so it’ll be available to buy and hold physically in October.”

And that’s it for another week. The Ephades’ new single ‘Giving Out’ is available now on all good streaming platforms. They can be found on Instagram @the.ephades.

TRAMP’s new single ‘The Birds (Lowered Suspension)’ is out on August 23rd. They can be found on Instagram @thisistramp.