MacD on Music: The rise of Derry’s newest headliners 'Growing Pains'

The music scene in Derry has always been great for young bands, and currently there’s plenty of great up-and-coming groups making waves locally, thanks to the likes of Siege City Promotions and the Nerve Centre.

This week, I’m talking to Growing Pains, who over the last year or so have been making a name for themselves around the city. Now, they’re about to play their first headline gig in the Nerve Centre on March 6th (with support from Intuition, Yours Truly, Solitude and Skins).

I caught up with the band, made up of Aidan Duddy (rhythm guitar/vocals), Marty Campbell (lead guitar and backing vocals), Turlough Hagan (drums) and Sean Gormley (bass), to talk a bit about the group’s story so far:

How did the band first come together?

Aidan: I had the notion to start a band for a while, I had done a few courses in the Nerve Centre where you get put into a band for a week and play a gig at the end of it, and that really boosted my interest in playing live. I then met Marty through a band project in the St. Columb's School of Music and met Sean through school. We all had shared interests in terms of bands we liked and passion for music, so we formed Growing Pains!

Our original drummer Sage Gamble played with us for a year but decided to part ways in January and we now have Turlough Hagan on drums, who was a friend of me and Sean for a few years and luckily happened to be an amazing drummer. 

Who would you say are your biggest musical influences?

Aidan: For me personally, it has to be IDLES. We have played quite a few of their tunes live and I actually played on stage with them in Bristol. I love everything they stand for, and I hope we recreate some of the energy and love that you feel at their live shows, at ours. 

Marty: For me it has to be the Arctic Monkeys. Back in 2023 I’d seen them live in Belfast and that really sparked my interest to be in a band. I would see videos of them online performing when they were teenagers, and it really showed me that it was possible to make it big. 

Turlough: I'd say I was first interested in actually joining a band at the end of summer when I went to see a Nerve Centre gig and I realised how fun it looked to play in one. I had been playing drums on and off for five years prior but never really been interested in band work until that Nerve Centre gig.

It just so happened that two of my friends Sean and Aidan were in one and I was lucky enough to be offered the position as their drummer! I'm really looking forward to playing my first gig with them.

READ MORE: MacD on Music

Sean: When I first joined the band, I listened to death metal bands like Death and jazz fusion bands like Weather Report, so these were my biggest musical influences. However, the band has since introduced me to a wide range of genres, especially experimental ones, which I have come to love. I also believed it was time for me to join a band because I had been playing bass for a significant number of years before so.

Have you got a chance to go into the studio yet? Any plans to release anything any time soon?

We all had some past experience in recording through courses held in the Nerve Centre, but we recently wrote and have begun to record our first single independently. We will be debuting the single at an upcoming gig (so keep an eye out for the announcement!) Our bass player Sean is doing all the technical stuff; he's going to mix the song and help us record it. We can't wait for everyone to hear it! 

What are your aims for the future?

We really just want to continue growing and building on our following, we've been playing for over a year now and the support we have received is amazing.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by GROWING PAINS (@growingpains.derry)

We would also love to play some bigger shows in the future, maybe some support slots and stuff like that. We would love to play at Stendhal Festival too; we put in an application in December, so fingers crossed on that one. 

We would also love to write and record even more singles and hopefully release an EP in the future! 

And that’s it from Growing Pains.

They’re playing the Nerve Centre on March 6th. Tickets are £2.50 and available on the Nerve Centre website or on the door.

Now, onto other business. This Thursday, :Panic :Over and Dark Tropics will be playing a double headliner in Sandino’s with Support from Cora Harkin. Tickets are £8 plus booking fee and can be found at tickettailor.com/events/smashingbuttonsltd. 

Also on Thursday, David James will be playing his biggest headline gig to date when he plays the Millennium Forum. David has, to date, released two studio albums and will be taking the stage with his new backing band, formed last February. Tickets are £26.50 plus booking fee and can be bought at millenniumforum.co.uk/whats-on/david-james. 

Finally, time for the socials. David James can be found on Instagram @david_james_official, Cora Harkin @coraharkinmusic, Dark Tropics @darktropicsmusic, :Panic :Over @panic_over_ and Growing Pains @growingpains.derry.