More power to these girls
Wyvern Lingo are still blazing a trail in the male-dominated indie scene.. and they want more females to do the same
Is Ireland ready for a girlband? Wicklow act Wyvern Lingo are unconvinced but that isn’t stopping the talented trio from shaking up the landscape of the predominantly male Irish indie music scene.
To date there has only been a handful of all female Irish acts, these include pop bands The
Nolans and B*witched and more recently September Girls and Saint Sister.
“Even The Corrs had Jim,” laughs Karen Cowley, who has been making music with Caoimhe Barry and Saoirse Duane, all 26, since their teens.
“There’s a lot of guys in bands out there. We’re in a band totally by accident, we became friends in school, we went to an all girls school (Loretto Bray) and for us it was just a normal thing to do.
“I’m more and more realising that there aren’t that many women in bands. The indie Irish scene is great and we’ve got acts like Saint Sister and Loah, really stand out women but on the radio it’s always the guys.
“It’s something that annoys us. It does seem to be a boys club in the more mainstream market.”
Cowley (inset) notes that there is a slow shift happening in the industry but there is a lot more that can be done to nurture female talent.
“Certainly the Longitude line up is way more balanced which is cool. I think everyone has to make more of an effort when it comes to festivals.
“We also need to encourage girls in school to play more. We went to visit our old school recently and found there and isn’t one band in the school now, there used to be loads.
“Maybe it’s not trendy anymore but I like to think we’ll inspire younger people to play, regardless of gender.
“Sometimes I think men or more marketable,
I honestly think it comes down to that.”
The singer adds: “Our friend is doing documentary on us at the moment and she said she took some footage of us last summer and the most interesting thing was when she asked us ‘Is Ireland ready for a girlband?
“We don’t know, because it’s not just those in charge of booking us, it’s the public as well have to want to go to our shows and hear us on the radio.”
Wyvern Lingo have been honing their craft for the last decade and are today releasing their debut self-titled offering, the follow up to 2016’s Letter To Willow EP.
A unique sound Cowley describes their album as an alternative pop influenced by rock and R&B, “our harmonies are very influenced by R&B, 90s big singers like En Vogue.”
“We started recording about a year ago so it’s great to get it out. Mostly it was recorded in Hellfire in the Dublin mountains and then we went up to Donegal to Caoimhe’s auntie’s house to record the vocals and then we finished bits in London. The recording process is fun but for us it’s all about gigging. “We are a live band, we’re so excited to play it and travel and be on the road. We’ve a great crew and we just have the craic.”
Cowley said the band experimented with bringing in session musicians a few years ago but found they work better as a trio.
“We have such a close relationship, it’s weird vibe thing if there is someone else. That just made us get better and use various technology and figure out how to problem solve because we only have six hands.”
Signed to record label Rubyworks alongside pal Hozier, (right) who they have toured with, Wyvern Lingo are gearing up for a busy 2018, kicking off with their soldout show in the Button Factory tonight before a free instore at Tower Records on Harcourt St at 5.30pm.
“The gig sold out over a month ago that was incredible, a really good feeling and we’ve also announced our next Dublin gig which is the Academy in September.
“Then we’re off on tour of the country, UK and Germany.”
Heavily influenced by American music, the ladies are
‘Sometimes I think men or more marketable, I honestly think it comes down to that’
“absolutely chomping at the bit to gig over there.
“We’ve got a good few American friends online and they’re always saying ‘you guys would do so well over here’, we’d just love to go to where that music is from and travel around and meet people. I just think there is a great calibre of music over there, we’d love to experience it.” Cowley says partying on the road will have to be curtailed as they strive to be the best they can be with each gig.
“We have tried to up the game, we’re never really satisfied with our performances we’re always trying to up our game.
“(The US) standard of vocal and performance is always so much better than a lot of the European counterparts, we’ve been trying to be physically better singers.
“On tour we try and stay pretty healthy, and stay on top of it.
There’s always a supply of honey and lemon and being careful. We’ve been lucky, we’ve never had anyone too sick to play yet.”
It’s not just feminism that is on the band’s agenda these days as Wyvern Lingo are also passionate about ethical clothing.
“We all have a big influence in fashion and lately we are trying to be a bit more conscious about it. It’s the most wasteful industry in the world, and then there’s the child labour, slave labour and unfair wages,” says Cowley.
“We got new merchandise and t-shirts that were sourced ethically. We don’t want to be pests to the world.”