Opinion
15 Mar 11

Happy Nuala Year

Forget Suede and Pulp, the reunion on everyone’s lips is that of The Nualas, who are back with new member Maria Tecce. But will they be doing Glasto?

We’ve had The Runaways and The Go-Gos, Bananarama and The Bangles, The Spice Girls, Sugababes and Girls Aloud, but the greatest girl group of all time hails from Ireland. Nope, not B*Witched, but the three lovely ladies who epitomise feminine beauty and rock ‘n roll excess – oh yes, ladies and gentlemen, The Nualas are back!

Like many a girl group, The Nualas have had some changes in the line-up. Joining Nuala and Nuala (more properly known as Anne Gildea and Sue Collins) is a Nuala who in another life goes by the name of Maria Tecce.
Maria Tecce? The Italian-American jazz cabaret singer? The woman whose show was described as “a total striptease without removing so much as a shoe”? That Maria Tecce? Yup, that’s the one. The real question is how the hell that happened. Quite by chance, says Tecce.
“I was having a conversation with Anne Gildea and she asked me who I knew who could do this because they wanted to do The Nualas again. I thought about it. ‘Who do I know who can sing? Who is an actor? Who can do comedy?’ The only people I could think of were no longer in Ireland, so I called her back and said, ‘If you’re stuck I can help you out, but let me keep thinking’. Then we went over to Sue’s house and had a cup of tea and we just laughed for an hour and after that it was just done.”
Granted, it sounds like an odd fit, but one which may well turn out to be a piece of inspired lunacy – the juxtaposition between Tecce’s stage persona and The Nualas is one with a rich vein of inherent comedy.
“We did think that,” Tecce nods. “But I love seeing people outside whatever genre or role you’d normally see them in. It’s exciting for me as a performer to go into those places. For me it’s like an acting part except that I’m singing. I think that was one of the things that attracted Anne and Sue – I’m musical but I’m also an actress.”
Maria Tecce is elegance personified. The Nualas? Well, not so much.
“The Nualas are like a force. There’s three women up on stage who have glasses and these dresses they think are so glamorous and shiny red shoes and diamante, and they think they are just the shit! You’re playing these women who think they’re absolutely fantastically gorgeous and glamorous but they keep getting it wrong. At the end of the day, they’re muckers!” she laughs. “My Nuala will grow and change. At the moment she’s like ‘easy-trad’ Nuala. She’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she’s always sincere. She wants to be elegant but she’s a mucker like the rest of them.”
This is Tecce’s first foray into comedy, a move she describes as both “exciting and terrifying.”
“I knew I was in excellent hands. Anne and Sue have funny bones. I’m in awe of them as writers. It’s exciting because I’ve been doing my thing, whatever that is, the jazz and acting, for about seven or eight years but in the last year and a half or so I find what I’m really moving towards is collaborations with other people. That’s really buzzing me – the idea that you can take all the resources you have and pool them to create something.”
The new show comprises both old favourites such as ‘Chicken Shoes’ and ‘Bridget The Nun’ as well as new songs, says Tecce.
“We’ve been writing since December so we have a lot of new material. But we’ll be doing Nuala classics. They’re just great, funny, witty, articulate songs.”
During their seven years together The Nualas received rave reviews, racked up six sell-out Edinburgh shows and garnered a lot of devoted fans.
“I bounced it off a few people, and not one of them, not once did their face not light up – ‘Oh The Nualas!’ There’s a lot of affection for them and I think they have a universal appeal that’s charming. Because they get it wrong a lot, they’re endearing. They so desperately believe, they want to be singers and they think they’re wonderful pop stars and they love it. I think that’s what makes them so endearing.”
Tecce’s solo singing career has gone from strength to strength. Last year she released her third album, Viva, and is currently working on songs for a new one which she hopes to record towards the end of the year. Given this, will she be able to devote herself to The Nualas long-term?
“There’ll be a happy co-existence between the two of them. Some of my own shows I’ve got booked up to July, but I’m up to my neck in Nuala at the moment. It’s a wonderful place to be!”