A Band You Should Know: NewDad

NewDad are a band from Galway that prove my theory that Ireland is the best country in the world. 

They have the best beer, the best whiskey and the best voices. There is nothing else that matters. The first NewDad song I listened to very much gave me Wolf Alice vibes, which I hope for the band would only be considered as the highest praise. That’s not to say lead singer Julie Dawson sings without originality, her voice hypnotising you in a way I haven’t heard for a long time. Their songs capture the grappling existential angst of youth in my favourite way - upbeat instrumental but depressing lyrics. Especially in I Don’t Recognise You, a song about watching someone you love lose their way. Their debut album Madra, Irish for Dog, released back in January, has slowly but surely found its way as a steady rotation within my playlists after I realised this was the band that had opened for Fontaine D.C.’s latest tour. NewDad have found a winning formula that have seen them go from playing small Irish towns to being able to do the band full time. A feat every bit impressive considering they have only just hit their twenties. It was a pleasure to catch up with Julie ahead of what I can only imagine to be a wild ride ahead. 

Hey Julie, thanks for jumping on so early in the morning.

Hiya, no worries. What time is it there?

It’s 7pm.

Oh woah weird. I always forget time zones exist. 

Yeah so weird hey. I’ll jump straight in. With the writing process, are you the sole lyric writer? 

Yeah, yeah when it comes to the lyrics I do most of the writing. There’s a few songs on Madra that I wrote with Justin Parker and we’ve been working together more and more. Traditionally we play all together as a band and then I add the lyrics on top. 

How often do you come together to play and practise, is it an everyday thing? 

It depends. In the summer it was less because we were just on the road so much but usually it's about three times a week. 

And in a dedicated studio? 

Yeah at Brixton Hill Studios. It’s a fifteen minute walk from us so it’s super handy. 

And is NewDad a full time gig yet?

It is yeah. At times some of us had part time jobs as well but when it’s so busy it’s pretty hard to find anyone who will hire you when we’re away every other week. But yeah full time now which is great - that’s the dream. 

Yeah that’s amazing.  You guys all live in London now too right? 

Yeah, we moved here about three years ago. Which is bizarre, time goes by really quickly in London. 

Is that something you felt you had to do to take your career to the next level? You couldn’t stay in Ireland? 

It’s definitely changing. It’s not even necessarily that we had to move to London but that we had to leave Galway. We could’ve moved to Dublin but it was the same price and there’s literally nowhere to live there anyway. Cut out the middleman and went straight to London. Plus a lot of the people we were working with lived in London as well. We’re just trying to get as much experience as possible and immerse ourselves in this industry so London has way more opportunities. So yeah, we didn’t have to but we’d been in Galway our whole lives. 

What is the Galway music scene? Is it supportive for upcoming bands? 

Yeah it really is. That extends to all of Ireland. Every band and artist really looks out for each other. 

It seems like that.

It is so cool seeing how Irish artists are getting a lot of recognition now as well. It’s really validating. There has always been brilliant music in Ireland but thanks to bands like Fontaines, people are starting to pay attention. The music scene, even since I have left, has blossomed. Every other day I’m hearing about a new band that is putting on amazing shows. 

Are there some bands we should know? 

If you haven’t heard of Cardinals - they’re amazing. They are kind of like trad rock doing really cool stuff. I love Kynsy. 

Cool, I’m going to check these out, thank you. And going back to that supportive scene in Ireland - what was it like coming under the wings of Fontaines D.C., because obviously they are huge now. 

I know wow, and so deserved but it’s mad. It’s been a while since an Irish artist has had that much international impact. It’s so cool because it’s not music you hear everyday, it’s such a unique sound and to see so many people resonating with it, is amazing. Bands like that make us feel like we had a shot at this in the first place. We saw Just Mustard who are amazingly open for The Cure in Dublin. We were all there together looking at one another being like these guys are from Dundalk, which is a very small town in Ireland, opening for one of the best bands in the world. To be able to see yourself in other artists is so cool because it can feel very much out of reach otherwise. 

And you’ve played Glastonbury this year which is just an incredible stage. What was that like? I can’t imagine there is a bigger festival to play other than Coachella? 

Yeah we have never played a show that scale. Our slot was 2pm on a Sunday so we just knew everyone would be absolutely fucked because it was the last day. We just thought no one would be there. But when we walked out to see how full the tent was, it was so surreal. It was one of those moments that were a little bit out of body like I can’t believe this is actually happening. It was definitely my favourite show of the summer. It was so fun. The crowd was so great.

That is such an achievement. Now that you have started playing Glasto/ bigger crowds - have you noticed if you like the more intimate shows or bigger crowds more? 

That’s actually hard. It really varies. Even though you might get a bigger pay off for playing to a bigger crowd when they are really responsive, that's an amazing feeling but it’s much easier to connect when the crowd is literally right there. That’s when it gets a bit more personable. It can be very daunting when you are up there in front of lots of people, you don’t know what to say or do, just winging it but when it’s smaller it’s a little bit more free form. 

If you could go wherever you wanted and achieve whatever you wanted with this band what does that look like for you? 

Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. The fact that we are going to Japan is crazy. We go to China first and then onto Japan. 

You sold out those shows didn’t you? 

Yeah. Yeah I have always wanted to go to Japan. But I don’t know, get some good experience touring and to just be able to do our own thing. Finish the second record - that’s probably the next goal to tick off. 

Is there a release date you’re working towards? 

We have music ready but we still need to record it. The songs themselves are really great and it's fun figuring out what it sounds like because we don’t think it will be like Madra, it’ll be its own thing. 

Exciting. And is touring still fun? I feel like with bands I’ve interviewed there’s a point where you switch over and the novelty goes. 

I don’t mind travelling. The only time it is really hard is when you’ve had three shows in a row which is super tiring and then getting up for stupidly early flights to get to the next spot. That’s when you’re like nope I just want to go home. You kind of go a little manic when you’re that tired which makes it even more fun. 

That’s a good way to look at it. Are there any plans to do the mission to Australia? 

Not yet, it always seems like it’s one of the last stops that bands hit. I would love to. Anyone that I know who has been loves it, especially the Irish they fucking love Australia. 

It goes both ways though. 

No plans yet, but hopefully something will happen where we can shoot off.