When Chordblossom came into existence, it was always our aim to shine a spotlight on the artists and bands that make up the music scene in Northern Ireland. We’ve been doing it for over ten years now and one of our favourite methods is our Introducing feature.
Put the kettle on, curl up on your sofa and and join us for a quickfire Q&A with some of our favourite new musicians. Who knows, maybe you’ll even discover your new favourite artists.
This iteration of Introducing features the musical talents of VERA who just released their new single ‘Leave Me Alone.
What was the inspiration behind your artist name?
When we formed as a band we went through loads of names to try and find something that felt like us, I actually found some of the names from the rejected pile on my notes app on my phone this week: Sheriff Toner and the Outlaws, Bride’s Side, Sarah and the Page Boys, Locks, Paper Anniversary… we were really going down a wedding theme for some reason, I don’t know why???
In the end we settled on VERA because Veronica is a family name of Sarah’s and we liked the idea that it was connected to us as people rather than being completely random. But, obviously, our group chat will always be called Sheriff Toner and the Outlaws… just imagine the stage outfits!
You’ve just released a new single. How did it come about and what does it mean to you?
Leave Me Alone was one of the first songs we worked on when we started playing together as a band. It’s a wee bundle of frustrated energy about that horrible moment when someone just won’t get the hint that you don’t like them like that. The song is pretty full-on sonically with lots of crazy synth arpeggiators (something which has become a musical obsession of ours) that kind of reflects the overwhelming feeling of too many messages and unwanted attention from someone.
We recorded this song back in August of 2023, it was one of the first things we recorded and we have incredibly fond memories of that session. We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning arguing over drum parts and creating the craziest possible synth sounds and vocal harmonies. At that stage we weren’t sure what this project was going to be, we were just working on some songs in the studio… but after Leave Me Alone we knew we had to be a band. So it’s a special song for us.
It’s also fun to be ragin’.
Have you any more releases or studio time lined up for later in the year?
We have SO much music still to share and we are so excited about all of it! We have one more single coming in 2024 – maybe mid-November… consider this an exclusive announcement!
We have also just been in the studio last month recording another 3 songs that have all been written in the last 3-4 months and we are so excited about how they sound. That was the first time we’ve gotten back into the studio since our first sessions as a band last summer so it was super exciting to hear the development over a year. We’re hoping those 3 songs will come out in the early part of 2025.
There’s more than that too so we’re pretty much going to be pumping loads of singles out for the foreseeable, you can follow us on all the streaming platforms to make sure you catch it all! We’re also going to be playing all the songs I mentioned above at our GIFTED show so come down to hear some new stuff!
Tell us about your song writing process.
Our writing process is pretty quick and pretty non-verbal. Someone tends to have the germ of an idea (be that a chord progression or a single lyric etc) and we just jam it in our rehearsal room for about half an hour non-stop and everyone throws different ideas out and pushes the song in different directions to explore all of our options. We love playing together as a group so much that it’s really important to us to let the songs instinctively find their feet as we play.
We’re also super lucky that Sarah is a pretty amazing top-line writer so she tends to bash out all of the hooks in one 30 minute session! Lots of our favourite songs have come together super quickly like that and when things are feeling good 2 or 3 songs will come in one rehearsal! One significant aspect of our songwriting process is that we’re all very distractible and a bit dopamine-addicted… most of the super productive writing sessions happen when we’re meant to be doing something else like social media content or rehearsing for a show that’s tomorrow… but hey, you can’t be a band without new songs right, so it’s not really procrastination???
Who were your favourite artists/bands growing up? Have your influences changed over time?
We have a whole range of influences and artists we love growing up. Dave was into heavy music, but grew up on Pink Floyd and Madness, Matt is pretty much a walking D’Angelo encyclopaedia, Saz is the cool indie one and I (Darragh) have always loved proper shiny pop – me and my mum used to dance around the living room to Madonna and Britney. Sarah and I also have a shared past with the fine works of Dr Hook.
I think nowadays we all have a pretty wide taste, we have lots of shared loves as a group – particularly for R&B and Jazz Fusion. But having a range of tastes has really helped us as a group, its always really fun to ask the others for album recommendations or listen to each other’s playlists when you want to shake things up.
We made some playlists of our personal inspirations if you’re curious:
What’s been your favourite local release from the last twelve months?
Oof that’s a tough call, there’s been loads of stuff we love. Really into George Houston’s album but we’ll talk about him later so maybe choose something else…. ‘Welcome To The House Of I Don’t Know’ by Gareth Dunlop is very sick, loads of great songs and gorgeous sounds on that record.
Singles-wise there’s so much to pick from. Chubby Cat just can’t miss, ‘Oh Honey’ is a fabulous bop; our mates Esmeralda Road released ‘I Think’ this year which is an unbelievable song; and Eve Belle has just released an EP called ‘Sad City, Baby!’ with a song ‘Milo’ on it which is a stunning piece of writing and we love a country influence; aaannnd Alpha Twin’s ‘Choke’ is a massive tune! If we had to pick just one maybe ‘I Think’ but please please please don’t make us pick, we want all of them and more!
If you weren’t a musician, what line of work would we find you in?
We reckon Sarah would be an actress who spends most of her free time in humongous yachts and with big-spending and tight-bodied men.
Darragh would become one of those really successful but equally unhappy business-types, using his skills in logistics and meticulous mindset to further line the pockets of people he doesn’t even like.
Dave would be likely to turn his random little facts and info snippets into an incredibly unsuccessful career as a history teacher.
Finally, Matt would starve to death.
If you could collaborate with one artist or band from NI, who would it be and why?
We recently got to support the amazing George Houston at his headline show for Late Night Art in the Black Box. His whole set was amazing, he was funny and engaging and his songs are amazing. It was also a bit of a full circle moment for us because one of the earliest gigs we played together was supporting George Houston in the Green Room of the Black Box nearly two years ago. It was before Matt had even joined the band and we actually invited him to that show to see if he wanted to start playing with us. So it feels like George is also part of our wee VERA story.
We’d love to write together some time maybe, he’s such a talented storyteller and performer we think it would be great!
It is intensely difficult to be successful in the music industry. What does NI need to do to invest in/develop to boost your chances?
Yeah, it’s super tough at the minute. I mean obviously it would be great if DSPs would allow artists to keep more than a miniscule shred of their profits, would be great if all venues let artists keep their merch income, would be great if there was enough left of ticket sales for artists to be able to tour without making a loss but maybe those aren’t NI specific!
Here’s a weird one for NI but I think it really makes an impact… good late night public transport would make a massive difference. In NI we’re really lucky with a wealth of fabulous artists and I really believe we have an engaged audience who are excited about new artists. But if doors for the gig is at 8:30PM, headline plays 10:45-12PM (which is a pretty common occurrence) but the last bus to get home is at 11:30PM and you’d need 7 working-days notice to get a taxi then why are we surprised when local gigs aren’t selling out?
It was great to see late licences and stuff coming to Belfast but without reliable and safe late-night public transport our gig scene is going to stay stunted. Not the most glamorous thing but it matters.
What does success look like for you?
Success is drinking a bottle from a renowned winery, draped in tailored finery, and finding one’s self in a 5* restaurant where you’re a diner-to-be.
Or is it? Why be boring when you can be rad and cool. We live by a life-affirming motto:
“Good Music, good food, and good company”, that’s all you need for a happy life with a little bit of spice.
We would love to be playing this music that we are so passionate about on the biggest stages in the world, and to share it with as many people as will listen, because we feel they need to hear it!
We want to share our souls with the masses, and we pour them into each song. Success would be for you to listen and feel something, and then maybe tell ur pals.
We could settle for each other; we just won’t x
You’re going out on tour and can have anything you want on your rider, what would we find on yours?
What have you got? We’ll take it. We’ll take it all, and then we’ll take the things that we didn’t ask for that other people leave behind. Have you got any money? Please?
That being said, we love lovely food and we would definitely include a board of delicious and nutritious cheeses, paired with a selection of sweet and savoury chutneys.
If we could also get a group therapy session and perhaps a massage each, that would be so sick.
Also please bring crippies, lots and lots of crippies x
Where and when can we next catch you live?
We are playing the Belfast Empire on Thursday 17th October 2024 supporting In Case Of Fire. Lord Jane and Franklin are also on the bill – tickets here. After this we’re going to take a little bit of writing time at the end of this year. We still have some bits in the works though so keep an eye on all of our socials to make sure you catch when gigs get announced
If you enjoyed this feature and fancy discovering some more new artists, we suggest you jump on over to our archive of Introducing pieces.
If you are a band or musician based in Northern Ireland interested in taking part in our Introducing feature, we recommend submitting new music to us via our Contact page and if we enjoy it, you’ll no doubt hear from us.