The Headline Act : Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves

Considering their father was one of the formative figures in Ireland’s fledgling rock scene, it is probably no surprise that singing and songwriting sisters Jessie & Layla ended up in the music business.

The man they called Dad was none other than the late Bob Collins, a lifelong music addict, a floor manager in RTE who became a director of programmes like Anything Goes. Indeed, he was very involved in some of Irish rock’s formative visual moments, making videos for The Blades, The Boomtown Rats and Thin Lizzy.
“At that time, people didn’t really know what videos for songs were, so he was pretty pioneering in that sense”, Layla reflects.
“He was a massive music lover and really interested in cutting edge music,” recalls Jessie. “He always spoke about music and always tried to teach us about music by making us listen to certain harmonies and stuff. He was just obsessed and we both picked up on that obsession.”
“He was in a band himself,” Layla recalls. “They converted an old London cab and drove all the way over to Greece, where they played Beatles’ covers all summer.”
The sisters had something of an unusual upbringing, particularly during their infant years, as Jessie explains: “Our parents decided to set up an alternative lifestyle, leaving Dublin, moving to Wicklow, building a house, leaving all modern things behind and trying to live in a very utopian way. So they built a house without really knowing how to build a house and had quite a strange time of it. Mum had three kids under four and no washing machine, so it really was back to basics. We had a stairway from a double decker bus to get upstairs. It was really makeshift, and the idea didn’t last because it was a bit too crazy.”
Having survived the hippy-ish Wicklow years, the girls developed their love affair with music in a far more conventional abode. They had a few abortive attempts at starting bands, before cutting their teeth as live performers in The International Bar, playing alongside the likes of Mundy, Paddy Casey et al.
“That’s where we learned our trade, really,” admits Layla.
However, just when things seemed to be finally taking off, their burgeoning careers were put on hold for a time, when Layla was diagnosed with mystery illness ME.
“The worst part of it is that nobody can tell you why you have it, how long you’ll have it for or what you can do about it,” Layla sighs. “You’re left swinging in the wind, and you really have to rely on yourself and your character to get through it and not go crazy, wondering what’s going on and when it is going to finish. It’s quite scary to get something and no-one can tell you anything about it.
“But I always believed that I would get better: there was just no question that I wouldn’t. And I was lucky that I could continue to write songs, even when I was ill. That was my lifeline to being part of the world: I was very lucky in that sense.”
Thankfully, Layla made a full recovery and the duo haven’t looked back since. They started recording with a Dublin based producer Liam Mulvaney, who together with Jimmy Eadie (David Kitt), helped to shape the combination of magical harmonies, sixties psychedelia, folky charm, pop hooks and new millennial electronica that makes up Kinetic.
They initially felt it would take three months to record the album, but a year later they were still finishing it.
“It was such a relief, such a sense of achievement to see it sitting there in the shop,” Layla smiles. “People don’t have any idea how much grief, strife and fun went into it. We had a great time recording it but the end part, finishing the mixes and mastering, is so hard because you’re just dying for the album to get out there.”
Considering the usual familial strife that goes alongside working together, I wondered how the duo approach the songwriting process.
“We both write individually and bring the songs to each other,” Jessie notes. “We work like two individuals, who just happen to play together. We’re the first judge of each other’s work, and if we pass each other’s tests, we usually know it’s alright.”

Kinetic by Jessie & Layla is out now, distributed by RMG Chart.