The Kates ready to rock West Cork
Formed with a mission to highlight the need for more women in music, exciting West Cork five piece The Kates release their debut single next week.
On first listen, their refreshingly poetic and quite excellent tune ‘All That Talk’ has some DNA of Leonard Cohen in places, woven into beautiful waves of shoegaze fuzz and a dreamy solo/riff in the middle that Billy Corgan would be proud of.
The song comes out on 21 June and will be marked with a launch show in DeBarra's Folk Club, Clonakilty ahead of their upcoming debut EP later this year.
The Kates are Eve Clague, Liz Clark, Mary Beth O’Mahony, Míde Houlihan, and Paula K O’Brien. All five members have played, sang, and written their own music for years, each releasing albums of original work. The five piece have now written a collection of original songs and the resulting ‘Pictures Here Of Dreams’ EP is set for release in September 2024.
Speaking about the new single, writer Míde Houlihan said: “The song is about standing in your own way and feeling bad about it but also not being sure how to improve or address it. It's about feeling a little frustrated with yourself in not being able to keep up with the world and how it moves.”
Five years ago, Paula K O’Brien had the original idea to set up the all-women rock band, specifically for a fundraiser for ovarian cancer charity OvaCare.
Paula explains: “The fundraiser was in memory of my mother Catherine who passed away from ovarian cancer, and she inspired the name.
“She was a feminist who loved to lift other women up. The Kates have been going ever since!”
The premise behind forming The Kates back in 2017 was to showcase the depth and variety of songs by women in a time where it became obvious that radio play and festival slots featuring women were minimal.
Liz Clark adds: “Five years ago, there were very few female led bands, and certainly very few women artists being played on radio and performing at festivals.
“The Kates were born from this, to shine a light on the major contribution women have made to the music industry.”
The 2023 Why Not Her data report highlighted stats on gender disparity in Irish radio and festival lineups so The Kates wanted to do their bit for women in music.
They focused on performing songs written or performed by women, covers by artists like Sharon Van Etten, Orla Gartland, Angel Olsen, Lucy Dacus, Patty Smith, and The Staves.
The Kates soon started gaining interest locally, selling out shows in DeBarra's Clonakilty, St Matthew's Baltimore, and Levis' Ballydehob.
Since forming, The Kates have come to the attention of Irish festivals and are currently booked for Night and Day Festival in Roscommon and the Clonmel Busking Festival this summer.
Eve Clague says: “Selling out local shows is something we absolutely feel so proud of, and we feel so appreciative of the support we get.”
Paula K adds: “It's also a wonderful vehicle to express ourselves in an environment that feels true to us as we are all individually songwriters and singers. We support each other.
“We love that in The Kates band, we are women in our 20s, 30s and 40s, allowing for the sharing of experiences and learning from each other.”
She adds: “The support and encouragement from our local communities has been integral to keep playing and to start writing together as a band. From our first gig in 2017 for the charity OvaCare to our single launch in DeBarras in 2024, we are so proud of how far we've come, and we hope to keep on going.”
The Kates have just completed ‘Pictures Here Of Dreams’, their debut five track EP of original songs, recorded in Wavefield Recording Studio Clonakilty.
The Kates ‘All That Talk’ single launch takes place in DeBarra's Folk Club is on 21 June.
More information and tickets are available at debarra.ie.