It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that Zing

All of our fans are really attractive, intelligent and have very good taste in music,” begins Michelle Fingleton, singer with Portlaoise pioneers Zing.

This is the frontwoman’s first ever Hot Press interview, and while she’s clearly joking around for our benefit, judging from the frantic and ferocious spazz-rock anthems that can be found on their rather fine EP Like A Monster, we’re inclined to believe her. But then, Michelle was always a born performer, and tells us that when she was growing up she’d be the one dancing to Michael Jackson faster than you can say cha-moan-motha-fucka.
“I’ve always wanted to be a singer,” she proffers. “I was one of those kids that was in the school choir and my first memories are dancing and singing to Jacko with my sister. I was also in a blues covers band for a while. I really loved the performing side but being in a blues band wasn’t for me as it wasn’t my kind of music. Once we started Zing I knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do.”
Zing started out life like all of the best groups – in a garage. The three-piece, completed by guitarist Brian and tub-thumper Alan, would often host the notorious Portlaoise Garage Gigs where they basically invited a butt-load of people round to their place for a party as they got blocked and played some songs.
“We first started out in 2006,” the singer recalls. “Myself and Brian met Alan at a party where we were all dancing to the Smashing Pumpkins in someone’s kitchen. Brian and I had been writing songs together and we needed a drummer and Alan just clicked. We first started practising in the garage in my house in Portlaoise and the Garage Gigs evolved from us inviting people over during the summer. At the time we had a lot of friends who used to come out for a bit of a party and we’d play for them. It was a nice time because we had a big extended group of friends that were into the same things. These days they’ve all moved away but it was fun at the time.”
Fun plays a big part in the world of Zing and even though the Garage Gig days are behind them, they still manage to find themselves in some unique situations. Case in point: their show at the Hill of Tara last year as part of the summer solstice festival.
“Oh my God, that was such a mad night,” Michelle laughs. “The festival had the most diverse group of people ever. I met a guy who claimed to be a High King of Ireland. He told me he wanted to bring me into his caravan and tattoo me. It was such a strange, fun experience and they had a big bonfire too. There were no proper toilets and no floodlights so it was complete darkness but it was such a mad time.”
As you might expect with a female-fronted band, since Zing’s unstoppable rise to prominence, a lot of people have commented on Michelle’s gender, while also making some pretty inaccurate comparisons along the way. But she is here to set the record straight, insisting that her band have little in common with the Riot Grrrls and they’re more interested in taking inspiration from Irish bands rather than the Hello Kitty-adorned brood from Olympia.
“We’ve been compared to Sleater-Kinney in the past but I don’t think we’re like that at all," she avers. "When we first started we were really into people like the Smashing Pumpkins, but at the moment we like a lot of Irish bands like Redneck Manifesto. I’m also listening to a lot of mainstream female fronted acts. I don’t know if it’s because I can identify with them or because it’s some weird fetish, but that’s what’s on my stereo at the moment.”
Ambition also plays a big part in the Zing manifesto, and the hotly-tipped trio are currently laying plans for world domination. While nothing is set in concrete, Michelle sees their summer hopefully playing outdoors, making another slab of wax and ditching her sound editing job in favour of a full-time career rocking people’s faces off. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that she gets her wish.
“I’d love to do a festival or two as I think we always sound better in the sunshine,” she teases. “We don’t have a solid schedule of things for the future but I definitely want to record more, maybe play some different places and do this full time. We’ve also got an edgy element to our music and I’d like to take things in a more melodic direction in the future, so watch this space.”

Photos by www.myspace.com/the_art_star