In the music industry, some measures of success are more tangible than others. Although Pillow Queens have already garnered more career highlights than most – including lauded albums, US chat show appearances, sold-out shows and high-profile support slots – they tell me it’s hard to top the surreal sight of President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina having a serious bop to their music at an Áras an Uachtaráin garden party last summer.

“It was incredible,” recalls bassist/guitarist Sarah Corcoran, who makes up one quarter of the band currently gathered around a table in the Hot Press office. “We were like, ‘This will be a bit of fun, playing the President’s house.’ But we didn’t even really think they would watch the show. Everyone was in their afternoon tea dresses, and it was a proper sit-down affair – so we were like, ‘They’re going to hate us…’

“But as soon as we started playing, Sabina was the first one to stand up and start rocking out,” she laughs. “And [feminist and LGBTQ+ activist] Ailbhe Smyth had her crutch up in the air!”

“My parents came, which was so nice,” adds lead guitarist Cathy McGuinness. “My folks are supportive about everything, but there’s things like that where you’re like, ‘This will definitely impress them!’”

It was just a few months after that presidential dance-off that Pillow Queens – also made up of lead vocalist Pamela Connolly and drummer Rachel Lyons – decamped to the rural wilds of Co. Down, to begin work on their eagerly anticipated third album, Name Your Sorrow.

Following 2020’s In Waiting and 2022’s Leave The Light On – both of which scored Choice Music Prize nominations for Irish Album of the Year – the new LP finds the band, now eight years in operation, moving into a bold new space, sonically and lyrically. The opening track, ‘February 8th’, immediately introduces us to a band who have grown, as Sarah describes, “more mature as musicians."

“We were very certain about that being the opening track, because we wanted to announce this as a completely new piece of work,” she resumes. “We want this album to be received differently – because we made it differently, and we feel differently.”

One notable difference between Name Your Sorrow and their previous records is the involvement of Collin Pastore, a Nashville-based producer known for his work with Lucy Dacus and her supergroup, boygenius.

“We loved the production on Lucy Dacus’s records, so we kept referencing her – specifically her Historian album – when we’d speak to producers,” Sarah explains. “Eventually, we got on a call with Collin, who actually worked on that album. We were like, ‘Let’s just go to the source!’”

“And he was very excited about it,” Rachel adds. “He came back with a response to every song.”

Pillow Queens had previously opened for another boygenius member, Phoebe Bridgers, in Glasgow in 2022.

“That was amazing,” Pamela enthuses. “We get to open for a lot of really cool acts, but her fans in particular are so dedicated, and excited for everyone involved in her show. We had them in the palm of our hands – and it’s very rare that you find that when you’re a support act.”

They were also brought onstage at the end of Phoebe’s own set – though Cathy nearly missed it, after going for a wander and leaving her phone charging in the green room.

“We were Instagram messaging Cathy’s partner being like, ‘Please! Get Cathy to her phone!’” Sarah laughs. “But yeah – we went on stage for the last song, and sang along and played air-guitar with Phoebe Bridgers…”

It’s not clear whether Collin, who worked on both of boygenius’ EPs, had heard about those famous air-guitar skills – but he was obviously impressed by Pillow Queens, given the fact that he agreed to fly all the way from Nashville to join them at Analogue Catalogue Studios, located a good 25-minute spin out from Newry.

“It was, overall, one of my favourite recording experiences,” Pamela tells me. “It just felt so good and easy.”

“We could set up the laptop and be watching a match while doing guitar takes,” Sarah smiles. “That was the vibe of the whole recording session. It might be an intimidating idea, working with a producer you admire. But working with Collin – he was immediately like, ‘Amazing! Who’s playing? What sport is it? Woo! Go on the girls in green!’”

 

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The new album also finds the band opting for a style of songwriting that is, as Pamela explains, “less cryptic, and a little bit more straightforward” – making for a heavier, but ultimately more cathartic, project.

“Not to say our previous albums were super happy, but we were maybe less willing to show ourselves, and go through it, on those albums,” she resumes. “With this one, it’s more upfront. It’s reflecting a particularly hard time, that you’re just riding through.

“It’s hard to put everything on the table, to be listened to,” she adds. “But in other ways, it’s kind of easier, because you’re going down less roads to get to your point. You don’t have to think of too many analogies...”

One thing that certainly wasn’t cryptic was their recent response to Leo Varadkar’s resignation announcement. “Off you fuck,” they wrote on social media – retweeting a post the former Taoiseach had shared back in 2021, in which he claimed that he’d “love to see” Pillow Queens play at an upcoming LGBTQ+ youth event.

“We were like, ‘You’ve obviously never listened to our music if you think it’s for you at all!’” Sarah reflects now. “If anything, it’s the total opposite, for so many reasons.

“In our first music video, we have a hand-drawn picture of him as a rat,” she adds – a reference to his infamous campaign at the time, encouraging the public to report people they suspected of being ‘welfare cheats’. “Basically like, ‘You are the worst person in the entire world…’”

“Yeah… Not great!” Cathy concurs. “Not a great leader. Obviously I hope he’s not unwell or anything like that, but on a political level… Jesus Christ is all I can say.”

Pillow Queens by Miguel Ruiz

Have they come across that much – politicians trying to align themselves with a band to appear ‘young and hip’ by association?

“We’ve been in rooms where we’ve obviously turned away from them, when they’re approaching us,” Cathy reveals. “I actually can’t fake it!”

“We’ve run away from photocalls and stuff, because we’re like, ‘We can’t be seen shaking hands – this doesn’t align with us at all,’” Sarah agrees. “But you wouldn’t tar everyone with the same brush. There’s certain people who are working really hard for the arts, and doing their best, so you’d be happy to chat to those. But for the most part, you don’t want to be aligning with Fine Gael…”

“Eoin Ó Broin came to the Christmas Merchy Market, and bought artists’ records – and wasn’t there for a photo op or anything,” Cathy adds. “He’s just a nice guy who actually cares about housing… Which is wild!”

They were also proud to see their fellow Irish acts take a stand and boycott this year’s edition of SXSW in Austin, Texas, in protest against the involvement of the US Army and major defence contractors in the famous showcase festival – which Pillow Queens had previously played themselves.

“It was incredible to see Irish artists being trailblazers for that,” Sarah reflects. “They were some of the first to speak out and boycott, and they made an impression internationally.

“It must have been a tough decision to make – not morally, but logistically, because you’re reliant on funding. Obviously you’re so grateful for that funding, like we were when we got it, but when you look at some of the other funders at the festival, you’re like, ‘I can’t align myself with that, at all.’”

In November, Pillow Queens performed alongside SOAK, Saint Sister and other acts at a Belfast gig in solidarity with, and in aid of, the people of Palestine. But as Cathy points out, it’s upsetting that such actions are “left to musicians and artists – and the people that are at the table, in the conversation, aren’t stepping up to the plate.”

“Even as an artist, you can feel like you don’t really have a voice at all,” Pamela remarks. “But if all you can do is raise money for the people of Gaza, then that’s all you can do – and it’s all you should do.”

Pillow Queens by Miguel Ruiz

When it comes to the Irish music scene in general, Pamela reckons we’re currently in “a good moment”, especially compared to when she first started gigging.

“I came from a pay-to-play era in the Irish music scene,” she elaborates. “While there were some amazing musicians, it was being taken advantage of, and you couldn’t really move forward. It didn’t have the spark that it has now, and has had for the last eight years or so, where people are able to come up and thrive. I remember when we started Pillow Queens, we got paid – and I was like, ‘Wh-what? This is crazy!’ I hadn’t experienced that, and I’d been gigging for ages.”

“The first time we got paid it was €80, and we were absolutely delighted,” Sarah laughs.

“How did we spend our money?” Cathy asks her.

Sarah shrugs: “Pints, I would say?”

But Sarah also points out that, although it’s easier now to build up an online fanbase from your bedroom, it can be hard to make the leap from there to playing in front of a live crowd.

“There used to be nights you could play, like Retro Revival [in the now-closed Sweeney’s in Dublin] or open-mic nights,” she says. “I don’t see that anymore. Also, people in Ireland are struggling. So the last thing they probably want to do when they’re getting home at the end of a work day is be creative, or try to make it as an artist. Or they don’t have anywhere to live! And that’s across the board. Even though we would be seen as a successful band, we’re still like that as well. It’s still barely liveable.”

Which is all the more shocking when you consider that Pillow Queens are currently gearing up for their own headline show at Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens this summer. As their biggest gig to date, it’s another major milestone for a band who’ve been tirelessly putting in the hard graft since forming in 2016.

Sarah turns to her bandmates.

“I don’t know about you guys, but when we started the band, was that your idea of what we were aiming for?” she says of the Iveagh Gardens gig. “I couldn’t even have imagined playing for that many people in a venue like that.”

“I never dreamed that big,” Cathy reflects.

“We were probably afraid to,” Sarah resumes. “When the idea of Vicar Street was first presented to us, we were like, ‘Yeah right, as if!’ And then that happened, and sold out, twice. Then they said, ‘Well, the next step is the Iveagh Gardens.’ And we were like, ‘Is it? I thought maybe three Vicar Streets?’

“But we’re very excited about it,” she continues. “And we’re putting together a show for it.”

“It’s going to be deadly,” Cathy concludes. “We’ve got a very exciting summer ahead, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten in my head. I’m scared to dream even bigger.”

• Name Your Sorrow is out now – listen/purchase here. Pillow Queens headline the Iveagh Gardens, Dublin on July 13, and support Snow Patrol at Thomond Park in Limerick on July 12.