Maud of all she surveys

Last year’s Arthur’s Day saw Dublin/New York/London collective Maud In Cahoots support the mighty Snow Patrol at the Guinness Hop Store. Their appearance at this prestigious headliner was part of their prize for winning the Our Thursdays contest. It also included a single release with Universal Music among other goodies.

“It was absolutely amazing,” says Maud Reardon of that memorable evening in Dublin “It was something that we never anticipated. The fact it all happened by chance made it all the more enjoyable.”
The band, which also includes Maud’s sister, Zoe, are originally from Monkstown south Dublin but had been based in New York at the time and according to Maude had no intention of entering the competition, as she explains.
“We’d been back to Dublin in May of last year and Hot Press had given us a nice review of a gig we had played. I made contact with Olaf Tyaransen and he drew my attention to the Arthur’s Day showcase. He suggested we put ourselves forward.”

However, she admits that she was initially unenthusiastic about the idea of entering a competition. “I would have been the most sceptical about doing that type of thing in the past and I was the most reluctant to do it. But my sister Zoe said, ‘they’re just gigs, we’ve nothing to lose and we might get through’. Anyway, long story short, we got through and won and I’m really glad now that we did it .The fact that it was a live band competition appealed to me and also the fact that it was judged by a panel of industry professionals - people from Universal, MTV and Hot Press made it a lot more credible.”
As well as performing with her band, Maud also got the chance to duet with Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody at the band’s secret gig later on that evening at the Odeon. Introducing her by singing a few lines from Stevie Wonder’s ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ Lightbody said she was “fantastic” and described the Cahoots as one of the best bands around..
“Oh that was incredible,” she beams. “I think we were lucky in so many ways. It was the first time Guinness had done something like that and it gave us such a great platform. We’ve had continued support form Diageo and from Snow Patrol.”
Their well-received single release ‘Push Me Under’ showcased their quirky, syncopated pop with classical leanings. The two sisters remain the core of the band but they supplement the line-up with session musicians for both live work and recording.

“Our background is in classical music,” explains Maud. “My father is a playwright and actor. When I finished European studies in Trinity, I decided to get out of Dublin .We went to New York on a whim. That was in summer of 2007 which is when I started writing. Zoë came out shortly after and that’s when Cahoots started. As soon as I had the songs written I starting booking shows. Our first ever gig was in October 2009. The band came about organically - I had a piano player and we brought in a drummer. We lived in the Lower East side and played around in all these funky venues. Then we went to Texas for South X Southwest 2010 and we’ve since played Philadelphia. We did support for The Antlers at the Academy and one or two others and we did Electric Picnic last year too

The band is currently in the studio with producer Max Heyes, who has collaborated with Primal Scream, Doves and Paul Weller among others “We’re really excited to be working with him,” Maude enthuses. “He really is getting the best out of us in the studio. And we have Damon Minchella from Ocean Colour Scene playing bass on the record and Martin Duffy from Primal Scream playing keys! It’s crazy!
“We moved to London from New York back in January and we’ve been doing shows here and have also been back to New York for some shows. Unfortunately, we haven’t made it home for many concerts this year. But we were at Castlepalooza and will be back again for Arthur’s Day on the 22nd of September. A four track EP should be ready by mid September. We haven’t set a release date yet but we will launch it in London, in New York and of course back home when it’s ready to go.”