The year of the Cathy

Finally, the near-perfect demos that were the stuff of wonderment within Ireland’s A&R community have finally metamorphosed into a fully fledged album. In short, it’s finally time for Cathy Davey to be unleashed onto the listening world.

At the moment, Davey is gearing up for her first proper bout of promotional work ahead of the release of Something Ilk. Although a relative newcomer, she takes to the prospect with plenty of relish and surprisingly few nerves. As we sit in the Today FM offices, ahead of the recording of her first Pet Sounds session, I ask Davey whether she is finding the press a chore yet.
“Put it this way, I’d rather be in bed,” she offers with a laugh. “It’s alright, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. I thought I wouldn’t be able to hear words properly or not be able to talk with words in succession like normal people.”
So she hasn’t yet arrived at the point where she’s getting bored talking about herself?
“Yeah…you don’t want to be saying the same thing all the time, but then again you only have a certain amount of answers,” she muses.
As Davey readies herself to record in the Today FM studio, it is striking to see how she approaches the performance with such confidence and aplomb. With bassist Simon Jones (ex-The Verve, pop pickers!) and keyboardist Diane Gutkind in tow, the performance itself is startling. Effectively showcasing the effortlessness with which she approaches her craft, it soon becomes apparent that her endearingly quirky voice is her true trump card.
With that in mind, it strikes me as odd that Davey didn’t take to the live circuit to become a word-of-mouth favourite. Instead, Cathy has spent the months after signing her lucrative deal with EMI writing and recording at home, away from the glare of the local music scene. Apart from a few appearances on Autamata’s stage, Davey has played a mere handful of Irish shows.
I ask her if she feels she’s subject to criticism for this.
“What, because I haven’t ‘paid my dues’?” she says, her eyes rolling.
Ouch. Seems this might not be quite the first time she’s heard this.
‘My thing is recording,” she says, wearily. “I’ve been recording at home. I’ve put everything that other people have put into going to bars and gigging and seeing bands, I’ve put that energy into recording, and that’s how I’ve paid my dues. I have done singer-songwriter nights, and I’ve toured my ass off in the dingiest clubs in the UK. My band is over there and it’s cheaper to do it over there.”
It all sounds vaguely similar to the case of Davey’s EMI stablemates The Thrills, who were subjected to something of a critical roasting because they deemed it appropriate to jumpstart their careers outside of Ireland.
“Yeah, like they didn’t grow up in town, drinking in Whelan’s,” she muses. “I can sense the sentiment, although I haven’t physically heard any one say anything. I can see why people would be like, ‘What’s wrong with Ireland?’ No doubt the same will be said about me.”
For some bands, wanting success outside of Ireland seems to be verboten, I argue.
“I’ve heard that already about me,” she agrees. “(Mimicking) ‘She’s got a big record deal and she’s shite…she thinks she’s great’. Yeah I got a deal, but it doesn’t make my record any better. It doesn’t guarantee success. It means I could get dropped next year. They could build me up one year and then go, ‘Ha ha, you’re down again’, the next. What the fuck does it matter at the end of the day? Dublin is quite a hard place to be in that sense…if someone is doing well, people seem to get jealous. I haven’t heard anything yet, not to my face…but then again my album isn’t out yet.”
If anything, the sometimes cut-throat nature of the Irish music scene has taught her a few valuable lessons.
“I think it’s the nature of the beast,” she concludes. “Doing music is such a personal thing. If you see someone that you think you’re better than, and they’re getting up the ladder, it’s such a personal insult. You have to protect yourself by saying they’re shit…in a way, that’s your shield. I’ve done the same…believe me, I’m not above it all. Having had stuff said about me, I wouldn’t do it again. I would always think twice before I shoot someone down before I heard them.”
Still, it’s doubtful that Davey will have to worry about the ‘build-them-up-knock-‘em-down’ tendencies of the music industry anytime soon. Already, the A&R fever that ensued after Davey passed around a handful of demo tapes has become the stuff of legend.
“I was really surprised because I hadn’t played, and all (the labels) had were these tapes,” she says with a little awe. “It was almost like a secret that was being passed around.”
It must have been pretty surreal, knowing that something big was about to happen, career-wise…
“It was only real for 90% of it,” she recalls. “Basically, there were a few companies in the running who were genuine and they wanted to be true to their word. It was all really exciting for me because I felt I was actually going to get an album out, which is all that mattered. I still could have gotten the album out without a deal.”
She seems mindful of the ‘emperor’s-new-clothes’ potential in such a situation.
“The more good things that are said about something that no-one has heard, the worse people will be let down when they hear it,” she reasons.
You would think that, with the ink drying on said record deal, the pressure to deliver an appropriate opus would be immense.
“No more so than anyone else would,” she says. “It didn’t add pressure, the only pressure added was from within, but everyone goes through that. As for people thinking I came and had three songs and got signed and never played gigs, it’s bollocks and it’s not the way it works. Any artist knows that’s not the way things happen.”
While Something Ilk is a resoundingly mellow work, Davey has taken it upon herself to return to her rock roots.
“At the moment, I’m trying to listen to The Concretes,” she informs me. “I’m also listening to The Beach Boys, Billy Childish and the Pixies ’cos I recently saw them in London. I bought some AC/DC, and I’m going back to Guns n’ Roses. Because I’ve been listening to mellow stuff of late, I’m forgetting my roots. I have to get back to the rock if only for the silliness factor, and get away from the whimsical stuff. I need a bit of Hendrix!”
Ah-ha…Davey may be an exalted figure within the hallowed portals of Today FM, but it seems that, like every Irish teenager worth their salt, she went through her obligatory hard rock phase.
“I was in Bruxelles a lot,” she recalls with a laugh. “I was into Guns n’ Roses, but then I got into An Emotional Fish, Revelino and Something Happens.”
Amazingly, ardent rock fandom didn’t come naturally to young Davey.
“I was into what my friends were into, just so we would have something in common,” she admits. “Sounds awful, but I was like a headless chicken and I had no idea. I wasn’t drawn to anything at all which is why I spent so much time on my own writing songs.
“I got into the rock stuff that way, and I got into dance music and baggy through friends when I was 13. Then friends introduced me to live music and I sort of got into that of my own accord. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I discovered there were things about music you could like on your own, not because your friends like it.”
Davey’s first gig, she recalls, “was probably An Emotional Fish. I wanted to go to Metallica but my mum was too scared I’d brain damage myself! I think I saw An Emotional Fish with The Stunning on St. Stephen’s Green.”
With that, it’s time for her to be interviewed by Tom Dunne, and she takes to the interview with the ease and naturalness of a hardened veteran. The good news? She’s just as accomplished, if not more so, at her live performances. Hers is the sound of the new dawn, and Ireland couldn’t wish for a better sound on the alarm clock…

Something Ilk is out now on EMI

HOW HAVE OTHER IRISH ACTS FARED ON MAJOR LABELS?

Halite

When former Therapy? drummer Graham Hopkins decided to front his own rock outfit, Warner Music Ireland was a natural choice for Halite (formerly Hopper). Not only was pal David Kitt on the Warner Roster; he could also count his good friends in the Red Hot Chili Peppers as labelmates. Earlier this year, after the release of Head On, Hopkins split from the label following the departure of his A&R manager Janet Kingston. At the moment, Halite (who are now a foursome) are shopping for a new label deal.

Snow Patrol

Although regarded by some as relative newcomers, Snow Patrol have actually been toiling for several years, and were signed to English indie label Jeepster in 1999. According to frontman Gary Lightbody, both band and label didn’t quite see eye to eye. When shopping for a new label in 2003, they found an unlikely spiritual home at Polydor, within the Universal Group. Upon signing, Snow Patrol released the accomplished and more polished album Final Straw, and both the comparisons to Coldplay and critical plaudits soon flooded the camp. Needless to say, commercial success soon followed.

The Thrills

Formerly known as the Cheating Housewives (or before that, The Legal Eagles or Freelance), the Fox-rockers were dropped by Dublin indie label Supremo in 2001, without so much as an EP release. Close to packing it in, they resolved to carry on and launched into five or six days of rehearsing and writing a week. The fruits of their labours brought them to the attention of Alan Cullivan, who left Lakota Records to manage the band. Although it looked like Rough Trade records would emerge triumphant in the A&R race, The Thrills eventually signed to Virgin, a label from the EMI Group. As we all know, a Mercury nomination, a support slot with the Stones and world domination ensued.

Paddy Casey

Paddy Casey’s debut album, Amen (So Be It), released on Sony Records in 1999, went double platinum upon its release, shooting the young singer-songwriter into the stratosphere. Shortly after the release of his debut however, Casey embarked on a self-imposed exile of sorts. Four years later, Casey’s second album Living emerged and went straight to Number One in the Irish album charts. With the help of Sony, Casey has re-established himself as a major musical force to be reckoned with, and upcoming later this year are two sold-out live shows at the Olympia.