Hot Press talks to Dublin indie group Runway Lights

Setting up as a simple studio-based two piece, it wasn't long before more recruits were added and their final 5 piece line up was nailed down.

Dónal O'Sullivan, Paul Higgins, Louise O'Hanlon, Ronan Parker, Shane O’Neill create music that on one hand holds a loving lullaby at its heart, on another, works in just the right amount of darker undertones.

Meticulously arranged with a unique and almost haunting vocal providing a face to the music (one I heard being compared to that of Alanis Morrisette at their first gig just last month) there’s something about their sound that original about their sound that compels you in.

Hot Press had a chat with vocalist Louise to hear about where they came from, how they've honed their sound in such a short space of time and whether we can hold tight for future gigs.

You guys are still gooey-in-the-middle-new - you’ve only played one gig so far - so it’s pretty likely that not many people will have heard you or know what you sound like. How would you describe it to them?

Yeah, we’re only babes! What do we sound like?! There’s a question! I suppose we sound very new-wavey, kinda post-rock. We like to lull people into false senses of security and then BAM! Random guitar solo or something! I'd like to say don't expect anything, just come along to listen to nice things! There's lots of guitars, obviously a female vocalist - I get to scream a lot, that’s fun! And super therapeutic, it’s great!

We’ve only played one gig so far but it was amazing! We got to share the stage with some stellar acts (Road Wives, Let's Set Sail and Dreaming of Jupiter are all unbelievable bands) which was mind-blowing for our first gig.

So what have you been up to besides that? How had you been preparing for your first gig and what was going on behind the scenes?

Well, we were doing an awful lot of practicing. Because we are so new and we were sharing the stage with such well established bands we wanted to make sure we were super tight for our first outing.
We’ve also recorded a couple of demos - we’re working on about 4 or 5 at the minute! The most complete at the moment is called ‘Broad Strokes’ - it’s still a demo but we’re pretty proud of it. It is still a bit rough, but for something rough it’s pretty good I like to think.
But, that's basically it, we’ve just been working away - writing and writing and writing! Recording as many vocal tracks as I can record before I pass out!

Deep breaths! With all the recording going on, does this mean there might be plans for a full release coming up?

Well, it’s definitely something that is sort of in the works I guess, but, as I said we are BRAND NEW, we’re still babies right now. We’re still in the process of setting ourselves up and essentially letting people know that we exist! So as soon as we have a bit more footing we’ll start thinking more about that - we’re already in talks about setting up a few more gigs and stuff so hopefully it won’t be too long. As soon as we know, you guys will know!

Even listening to 'Broad Strokes', you sound more accomplished than others might expect.

I am very very proud of what me and the guys have been coming up with lately. We’ve been doing pretty good work I think. Like I said, Broad Strokes is still a demo, we recorded it ourselves, but in terms of demos it’s pretty decent!

You were saying that you have been in talks for some more gigs coming up for the rest of the year, is there anything you can tell us about?

Well we’re playing Tuesday night in The Workmans Club and we will be playing an acoustic gig in Crow Bar on August 10th. The rest are secret for now - surprises! You gotta give the people something to look forward to, keep some mystery! We can’t be letting it all out at once we’d give the people a heart attack!

Where can we keep an eye on to find out when they're announced, and everything else we might need to know about Runway Lights?

You’ve got the usuals - Facebook, our page only new but we're adding to it! We have a Twitter….. We haven't set up an Instagram yet, but we will do that as soon as we are better looking! But I don't know when that will be….. and also you can find the demo for Broad Strokes up on Soundcloud.

Runway Lights play in The Workman's Club this Tuesday July 25th as part of The New / / Original Club.