With openness flowing and teaching us more about the Irish music scene, we sat down with Chasing Abbey and had one of the best interviews of 2023 so far. Telling us more about their new single Lie and small-town life, we see the Glastonbury dream simmer through rather inspiringly.
We appreciate you having a quick chat with us today Ro, Bee and Teddy C. Firstly, hello and how are you all? Second, where in the world are you based as we speak?
Chasing Abbey: Hey guys! We are very good thank you! We are based in the midlands of Ireland, a small town called Tullamore. We all grew up here together!
Please tell us all about your new release Lie and the vision behind it.
Chasing Abbey: Lie is a really special song for us, it started out as a voice note in a WhatsApp group and went through a long and sometimes testing journey to where it is now. Teddy sent a voice note of the hook into our WhatsApp group chat one evening and we all knew it was a really strong hook.
We knew we had to build the song around that part and we went through a lot of different versions and ideas before we finally settled on what it is now. It was challenging to make such a simple hook into a full song but sometimes in music, the most simple pieces are the most powerful.
How/where did you all connect and form the band?
Chasing Abbey: We grew up together in a small town in the midlands of Ireland. We went to the same school and all come from musical backgrounds. We actually started out playing traditional Irish music together in different projects and groups in school and continued to play Irish and folk music together after finishing school. In 2016 the 3 of us got together and decided to give music a shot, but we really wanted it to be something original and not regurgitated. When we started out, there was no one in Ireland doing what we were doing and that was really the driving force behind us making dance/pop music, we wanted to shake up the scene here and create something unique and original.
If you could play at any festival in the world, where would it be and why?
Chasing Abbey: Headline Glastonbury. That’s the pinnacle for us. If we achieved that we could say we achieved our dream completely.
What was the experience like supporting Enrique Iglesias, The Chainsmokers and Rita Ora?
Chasing Abbey: It was an incredible experience to be up close and personal with these international superstars. It was an absolute honor to share the stage with them. We learned so much from their performances and took a little bit from each of them for our own show going forward. It’s so inspiring to watch artists at the top of their game perform, it definitely gave us an insight into a high-level performance that is really valuable.
What is your local music scene looking like and which venues do you find have the best artists?
Chasing Abbey: The music scene in our town is quite small in terms of our genre but traditional music is very popular here. It’s definitely a huge part of Irish culture to head down to the local pub and have an impromptu music session. Everyone joins in and contributes, be it singing, playing an instrument or even just telling a story or yarn. Sometimes the atmosphere created would rival the best festival atmosphere!! You find incredible artists there.
Last, when you close your eyes and imagine your happy place, what does it look like?
Chasing Abbey: Backstage, the show sold out, the rumble of the crowd as you’re about to walk out and then the massive roar when you eventually do. You can’t beat that feeling.
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Listen up on Spotify.
Interviewed by Llewelyn Screen
