Hot Press meets Sisters

Although Niall Burns, Andrew Flood and Aoife Power grew up together in Limerick, it wasn’t until they moved to London that the school-friends, all aged 24, fi nally formed a band. Not that that was their grand plan…

“We'd all been friends for years and just started playing for fun,” explains Niall (guitar/vocals). “It happened by accident."

He continues: “I was playing music with a different band in Dublin. We came here together, and that didn’t work out. So I was kind of in London with no band – and no friends. Andrew came over on a break from college. Aoife followed, and we just started playing. Andrew was meant to go back to UCD. We kind of bullied him into staying.”

Together just over a year, the trio have been making waves on London’s indie scene under the moniker Sisters. “We were called Sleepers for a little while,” Niall explains. “I was reading that book by Lorenzo Carcaterra at the time. We realised there had already been a band called Sleeper. We changed it to Sisters, because we liked the sound of it. Obviously we’re not related. People seem to comment on the name. Actually, some people think it’s a bit weird. We think it’s funny.”

Sisters play guitar-driven ‘80s and ‘90s inspired alt-rock/ noise-pop, inspired by such acts as Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth and Pixies. The UK music press has coined an intriguing term for their sound, one they're not quite sure about.

“We played this gig ages ago and the promoter described us as ‘Dream Grunge’,” Niall laughs. “Which we thought was pretty funny. And we put it up on a website. And people have taken it, like, really seriously. We see a lot of reviews and blogs commenting about our Dream Grunge. It was only for a joke. I suppose it kind of does work.

“Our sound is grungy. And yes, there’s an element of dreamy of vocals in it. What are we going for? I don’t know. We never set out to sound like anything. We never said, ‘Oh, we want to sound like this’. It just happened naturally, I think.”

They haven’t yet scored a big deal, though they supported up-and-coming UK act Big Deal on a short tour. Sisters’ debut single ‘Clearhead’ was released on Gravy Records last summer. Their second release ‘Hush, Hush’ features some stunning boy/girl harmonies and came out on independent label Just Off Pop last December.

“We all write the songs,” explains bassist Aoife. “We work a few different ways. Sometimes me or Niall will have a little motif. We’ll go over it in the studio. Or someone will have a song at home. Andrew’s included but obviously it’s easier for me and Niall, because we’re playing guitars. It works best when we’re in the studio, and have a little idea. We make a jingle, and see where it goes.”

How would she describe their themes? “Oh, loads of different things,” she says. “Just whatever’s going on in life.”

Sisters are confident 2014 is going to be a busy and productive year. After all, 2013 turned out that way and they'd made no plans at all…

“We didn’t have a clue what we were doing,” Niall admits. “We had no major ambitions. And all this stuff happened without us really thinking about it. It’s probably the best way. I know this year we have another three singles lined up. And we’ll hopefully be recording an album. There’ll also be a couple of tours in between. We’d love to play Ireland. I’m sure it will happen at some stage.”