Escaping the first signs of winter on a chilly Thursday afternoon, we caught up with the affable Ellie and Louise MacNamara, collectively known as Heathers for a fireside chat in the Library Bar of the Central Hotel, Dublin. Since the release of their critically acclaimed album ‘Kingdom’ in 2012, the duo have been in great demand. In the last year they have engaged in a multitude of projects such as a tour with Maria Doyle Kennedy, a major publishing deal with Universal worldwide, tours in Europe and America as well as finding time to write for other artists. The girls happily shared some of their experiences and successes of the last twelve months.
‘Kingdom’, Heathers’ second studio recording of tightly knit, harmonic rock and pop songs, is gradually being launched worldwide. Ellie and Louise have just returned from a US tour where the album will be released next year. “It does feel like a long time for us too. Before it was released [in Ireland] we were sitting on the album for the guts of a year, but in the meantime we’ve been going abroad releasing it everywhere. We’re going to be releasing it in the US in the coming months,” Louise told Goldenplec.
“We just released ‘Kingdom’ in Canada and our first single in Germany. It’s exciting and fresh,” Ellie added.
It must be difficult to approach every country with the same enthusiasm and energy that they had the first time in Ireland? “Audiences are different everywhere we go and getting to travel is obviously amazing. It’s fun and exciting. I think at the same time, in order to keep everything fresh for us we’ve revamped the live set. There will be a good few changes to the live set in the Academy. I always look forward to playing with the full band,” Louise said.
Remember When, the leading track from their debut album, was famously used on a Fáilte Ireland advertisement. Signing a publishing deal with Universal Worldwide means that Heathers’ music has been featured on all kinds of coveted primetime television shows and adverts around the world. “People at Universal heard the album after we recorded it and signed a publishing deal with us,” Ellie explained. They have placed our songs on advertisements and shows such as 90210 in the States and Master Chef and X-Factor in the UK. We often get tweets from people telling us where they’ve heard our songs. The other side of the deal is that we get to write for other artists.”
“We haven’t had much time to do that in the last two months because of touring,” Louise said, “but it’s an ongoing thing”.
Frequent travel is part of their job specification, it is an element which the girls enjoy and both mention as a perk. Sampling local cuisines while on tour is also something which is flagged as a highlight. “Yeah,” Louise said. “We are big fans of food, so everywhere we go we need to try something that’s specific to the area. In Ottawa, what’s specific to them is this thing…[looks at Ellie] Otter or Beaver Tails?”
“Beaver,” Ellie confirms.
“Yeah, Beaver Tails. It’s not actually Beaver Tails. It’s like a flattened doughnut thing, but when we played our gig there they just kept telling us we had to try Beaver Tails and we hadn’t a clue what they were talking about. [laughs] We were also in New York, Boston, Connecticut and Pittsburgh. New York was amazing.”
“I adored Toronto,” Ellie said. “It’s very chilled, everyone’s so nice and there’s lots to do there. Montreal was great and they speak French there which is really cool.”
This summer, before commencing their US tour, the Heathers received an invitation from Maria Doyle Kennedy to join her on her Irish tour. “She’s an absolutely amazing woman and we really look up to her,” Ellie said.
“We played South Wind Blows in RTÉ with Philip King last year and she was playing it too so we met her there. We got on really well and she suggested doing something together. Someone started organising it and we had a row of dates in the summer. We don’t play acoustically much anymore so it was nice to go back to our roots for that one. Playing shows with her every night was great,” Louise said.
“The places we played in were really cool. Big, old houses and hotels such as Ballymaloe in Cork, the food was amazing [laughs] and Mount Juliet in Kilkenny. It was great because we hadn’t really done anything like that before,” Ellie said.
Last year, Kingdom was shortlisted for the Choice Music Award. It was an exciting year for the prize, with a wealth of talent on the list; Cast of Cheers, Two Door Cinema Club, Delorentos and Damien Dempsey to name a select few. “There wasn’t one act on that list that didn’t deserve to win. Especially with the Delerentos (last year’s winner) they’ve been working so hard and they really deserved it,” Louise said.
“Yeah, everyone performed two or three songs. We’re always so busy and so are all the other Irish bands with touring or writing so it was one of those nights where we got to spend time with some of the other bands and meet other musicians. We all have so much in common it’s great to hang out,” Ellie said.
It has just been revealed that the Choice Music nominees for 2014 will be revealed on the 8th of January. The rumour mill has already started churning and as previous nominees Heathers had a few suggestions for who might make this year’s list.
“Enemies,” Ellie volunteered. “They are amazing. We got to collaborate with them on a track on their album.”
“I’d say Kodaline will be on there this year,” Louise said.
“Oh yeah, and Little Green Cars. There’s just so much good music coming out of Ireland at the moment. I mean this person hasn’t released an album yet but I can’t stop listening to Hozier’s Take Me To Church. I wanted to get a ticket to the Pepper Canister gig but it was totally sold out,” Ellie said.
When asked which Irish acts they would be keen to collaborate with if the opportunity arose, Louise was quick to respond. “Ellie and I are massive fans of pop and dance music, so we would love to work with Le Galaxie. It’s that kind of direction we’re probably headed in as well.”
In keeping with this potential line of advancement it is also interesting to learn that Heathers have an ongoing working relationship with David Guetta’s team. “Last September, Brian our manager, was contacted by David Guetta’s people who asked would we be interested in writing for his next project. It’s a constant thing. We’re back and forth with him all the time. With that project, it hasn’t happened yet but it’s an ongoing relationship,” Louise said.
There is a new album in the works; “We are hoping to record the album this time next year,” Ellie said.
“We’re doing SXSW in Texas. We’ll be concentrating on America, as well as Germany and some other places. Plus writing and recording,” Louise added.
This side of Christmas the duo have the two headline Irish dates in the Academy, Dublin and Cyprus Avenue, Cork as well as a few days in Vienna. Heathers are showing no signs of slowing down and 2014 is set to be equally as busy and successful a year as 2013 was for this talented pair.
Heathers will play two headline shows with a full band in Cyprus Avenue, Cork and in the Academy, Dublin. 27th and 28th November respectively. For more information and ticket sales see www.ticketmaster.ie