Gig to launch debut album from talented trio The Whileaways

Get three gifted vocalists singing in harmony and you have The Whileaways, who launch their self-titled debut album in Róisín Dubh this Sunday, May 19. The band is made up Noriana Kennedy, Nicola Joyce and Noelie McDonnell, who joined forces when Noriana was looking for musicians to join her on a tour of Australia and New Zealand.

“I was promoting Ebb ‘n’ Flow, my solo CD,” Noriana says. “Nic and Noelie are good friends and great musicians. We hadn’t formally played together but we had played in sessions around Galway. “I booked flights and we all went out there. Really, that’s where it started. The music clicked. Nic sang a few songs, Noelie sang a few, and it emerged that it wasn’t just a thing of my own. So we decided to form a band, a collaboration really.

“After four months touring in New Zealand and Australia we pit-stopped in Japan. We had a lot of Saki drank! We wanted to keep the band going, there was something special there. And the vibe onstage is great, how we work together.”

The word about the newly formed trio spread among folk promoters, and The Whileaways were offered another tour abroad. That offer set the wheels in motion for their debut album.

“During the time in Australia, we got asked to do a tour in Germany,” says Noriana. “A promoter from there saw we were playing as a trio and invited us to Germany. Once that tour was booked, we knew we had to have a CD prepared for it. It gave us a deadline to get the material together, to write the songs and record.”

To make the album,The Whileaways took a road less travelled. Rather than going to a regular studio, the trio went to the home of their friends Larry and Olivia, who live in a log cabin just outside Tuam.

“We spent three weekends there,” Noriana says. “Another mate of Noelie’s, who’s an engineer, brought his gear down and basically converted the living room into a recording studio, and one of the side offices into a control room. We took over, and Larry would cook us dinner in between takes!”

The romantic notion of recording in a log cabin translates into a warmth that runs through the whole album. Being in a friend’s house also added a relaxed atmosphere to the making of the record.

“It helped the whole music to flow, and we enjoyed the process, which I think is key,” says Noriana. “I’ve come out of studios and not enjoyed it, which is reflected in the music. I think the good vibes of the experience are in the CD.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.