MacD on Music: Pilosa: The Story Continues

One of the best part of my job is getting to watch bands and artists grow and develop over time. It’s always nice to see people I spoke to before they even had a song out reaching bigger and bigger audiences.

Groups like TRAMP and tessio, long-time mainstays of these pages, are now selling out Whelan’s in Dublin and closing out Stendhal, and there’s more than a few other regulars who I suspect will be reaching similar heights soon enough.

This week, I’m talking to another regular who’s career is on the upswing, James Tomlinson, frontman and guitarist of Pilosa. Pilosa also features Rosa Walsh on bass, Jack Quigg on lead guitar and Ryan Holmes on drums and, on the 22nd of this month, will be playing a headline gig in Cultúrlann Uí Chanán, with support from Corner Shop Prophets, Sheela and The Vandees.

I spoke with James recently to talk about the Derry gig and what the band have been up to in recent months: “We’re really looking forward to the gig because it’ll give us a chance to showcase our most recent two singles ‘Ad Interim’ and ‘Armadillo’. They’re going to be on our second album that we’re writing at the minute.”

I asked how the first album [‘The Runaway Queen’] was doing: “It didn’t get a widespread listen, geographically, but the people that liked it loved it. It got a good reception which gave us confidence for the next one. Our whole thing is about being grounded, really. That’s our band ethos. That’s why we choose to write songs about sloths and armadillos. For me, it’s all about the opposite of having ambitions, which is ironic given we’re writing another album. I like to think of the whole thing as the Antichrist to the grind culture.”

Back to album #2: “The songs are really different this time. They’re a lot darker but also funkier. We’re doing a lot more band writing now, whereas the first album had a bit more of a rotating cast, so I was having to keep things in my head and write things down. Now we’re turning our jams into songs. It’s definitely not me doing the heavy lifting now. A lot of the time, one of the others is sparking something first. I’d say that Jack has a more compositional brain than I do, so he’ll come in with something and all the chords are pre-written and I’ll just have to come up with a melody or an idea for it. It’s great. I’m very lucky. I’m backed by some creative geniuses.”

Speaking about their recent live shows: “Most recently we were at Sandion’s supporting the Vandees. Stendhal was great. We got really lucky. A ton of people arrived out of nowhere when we were playing. We’ve got this new song ‘Lasting Joy’ that we haven’t released yet but it’s been going really well live. Whenever I did the first album, it was only about half way through that I started putting the band together to do gigs, so some of those songs weren’t live songs and I only now realise that. The ones we’re writing now are written for the stage and are about getting people to dance.”

Talking more about Stendhal: “It was probably the biggest crowd we’ve had so far. It was the Woodland stage but you can still pack that. It’s a beautiful stage. It really suited us, the trees and being rooted in nature. That’s number one for me, not just in music but in life.”

Next, James told me the opening acts for the gig: “We actually saw Sheela in the Student’s Union in Belfast. They were amazing and really young too. I was blown away by them. There’s only three of them but they’re a real powerhouse. Everyone on that bill, actually, I’m a huge fan of. The Vandees and Corner Shop Prophets are really fun to watch too. Really fun live sets to get people dancing.”

And that’s it from James and Pilosa. They’ll be playing Cultúrlann Uí Chanán on August 22nd with tickets available on ticketpass.org and on the door for £8 and doors at 8pm.

Now, onto other business. This Friday (15th August) will see some of Derry’s finest young bands taking the stage in the Nerve Centre for the Summer Showcase Sessions. The gig features Sunset Theory, Sensory Overload, the Backroom Bandits, Sick Savannah and Growing pains as well as a special appearance from Sello. Doors are at 6.30 and tickets are £2.50 plus booking fee.

Also, the Museum of Free Derry will be hosting the Moon Tell Me Truth exhibition as part of Féile 2025. The exhibition, curated by the Hands Up Project, is a collection of 60 illustrated poems created by children from Gaza.

Tragically, most of the students featured in the exhibition are now displaced, with their homes and schools destroyed, and at least two are known to have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.

It will be launching this Thursday (14th August) and running until the end of September.

READ MORE: MacD on Music

Finally, time for the socials. The Museum of Free Derry can be found on Facebook and Instagram @museumfreederry, Sunset Theory @sunset_theory_doire, Sensory Overload @sensoryoerload.band, the Backroom Bandits @thebackroombandits, Sick Savannah @sicksavannahband, Growing Pains @gowingpainsband_derry and Pilosa @pilosa_music.