Music
05 Mar 09

Heathers, The Avalanche effect, Abam and Arcada live at Eamonn Doran's, Dublin

Somewhere in this town, you can haggle yourself four quality bands for a fiver.

Sometimes it all comes down to numbers. Louise and Ellie McNamara are two awkward 18-year-olds with one acoustic guitar and absolutely zero rock star airs and graces. In short, the last thing you should be throwing at a restless Saturday night crowd in Eamonn Doran’s. Following three collections of angry blokes with amps, twin sister act Heathers stripped it right down to unpolluted honesty and unprocessed talent. And somehow, it works.
Having harvested a dedicated following at home and in the US in 2008, these girls are doing something truly different (and doing it well) with a mix of vigorous guitar riffs and intricate harmonies. As they blitz through their unique brand of melodic trad-pop, you get the feeling that you’re witnessing something very special.
In the space of their short set (debut album Here Not There is only 26 minutes long) they manage to successfully run Beyoncé’s ‘If I Were A Boy’ into their own ‘Honey, Please’ and cleverly deliver scorned love song ‘Margie’ as gaeilge.
Of course the teen angst is there, but Heathers’ lyrics have power and resonance, and when they sing words like ‘Remember when we thought we’d known each other all our lives?’ it’s clear that the connection between sisters is hugely important. Ellie’s eyes are locked on Louise all the while and songs like the delicate ‘Hush Hush’ and the ballsy ‘Moose’ would work no other way.
Earlier, on the same stage, giddy Dublin trio ABAM pulled out a stomping performance with a positively symphonic arsenal of angry (and secretly catchy) post-punk tunes. Fresh blood for the Dublin alt-rock scene.
Ultimately, the most important part of my Saturday night was the affirmation that somewhere in this town, you can haggle yourself four quality bands for a fiver. For less than the price of a pint, I was treated to a total of 15 performers (16 if you count the hooded dancer who briefly invaded ABAM’s set Happy Mondays-style), and down right decent ones at that. These numbers, I can handle.