Here, there and everywhere

The bond between twin sisters Ellie and Louise MacNamara is plain to see. It seems pointless to even ask if they ever have any trouble working together. In the several years they've been performing as Heathers, it's pretty clear they've managed to maintain a relationship as pure as their sound.

Despite a relatively low key set-up (they operate with two voices and one guitar), the sister act slotted in perfectly alongside the heavyweights of Irish rock on the live circuit. However, it was only when Fáilte Ireland chose their song – flighty folk-rock ballad 'Remember When' – for their national advertising campaign that people started giving their gorgeous debut record the attention it so long deserved.
The album in question, Here, Not There, was recorded while both girls prepped for their Leaving Cert. exams. What's it like looking back on those days now?
Their eyes meet and they giggle.
"We wrote that when we were like 17," Ellie laughs. "It was a completely different time in our lives. Some of the stuff that we wrote about… obviously it's relevant because it was relevant then. However, there's a big gap between what happened then and where we are now. It feels really weird sometimes singing them. But at the same time, we're both proud of the album and shocked at how well it's doing at the moment."
Louise butts in; "But there are some songs on that album that we can't stand, like we can not play anymore because we cringe!"
A prime time appearance on The Late Late Show back in April did much to boost the profile of Heathers. Does being recognised on the street get a bit trippy?
"Completely!" Louise says. "I mean, I never would have thought we'd even be in the charts. It's really weird, I've been walking down Grafton Street and twice it's happened where buskers have been playing and they'll see me walking down the street and then they'll start to play 'Remember When', that's pretty cool!
'But it's still really odd, like recently at the Arthur's Day launch, there were points where we had to get in photographs with Snow Patrol and Paolo Nutini and loads of photographers being all in your face. It was kind of awkward because we're not used to that!"
After forming in Louise's bedroom, the duo cut their teeth with American tours in support of stateside trio Ghost Mice in 2008 and 2009.
"We didn't play many venues or pubs because we weren't 21," Louise remembers, "we played a lot of house shows, all ages spaces, art galleries – it was a real mix. Every night we stayed in the promoter's house and we made a lot of friends. It wasn't like play a gig, then go back to your hotel, it was kind of like… what would you say?"
She looks to her sister to complete her sentence, something they do often; "We got to see more of it," Ellie adds. "Over two summers we basically covered the whole of America!"
Their next two summers will be put to use working on the follow-up to Here, Not There, which they plan to record next year.
"What we're writing now is different, or at least it feels different," Ellie tells me.
"We both play piano," Louise adds. "Ellie's going to do a bit of piano and maybe percussion and strings and stuff like that, I think we definitely want to experiment more and we've already started messing around with more instruments."
Ellie finishes another of her sister's sentences; "…but we're looking forward to writing new stuff after all this calms down, completely."