Dublin’s newest indiepop futurestars Magazines just dropped today their lush new single ‘Pink and Blue’. We caught up with frontwoman Catherine Leahy for a chinwag …
Tell us about Magazines
I’ve always been obsessed with music, and have always wanted to perform and be in a band. I used to write songs alone in my room. I did that for literal years. But then about two years ago I met the lads through mutual friends, and it all sort of just fell into place. We pretty much immediately started writing together and rehearsing. We had our first gig pretty quickly after we started rehearsing too. We all have quite similar music tastes, which helps. We draw a lot of inspiration from bands and artists like Wolf Alice, The Japanese House, The Cure, Clairo, and Smashing Pumpkins. So it’s definitely a mixed bag. But it works for us.
Tell us about Pink and Blue
We wrote Pink and Blue a couple of months ago now. Before quarantine and lockdown even started. Then we recorded it with our friend Adam of Flaked Studios. Writing songs is sort of like a stream of consciousness, I find. It’s usually only after I’ve written a song that I can sort of sit down and think about what it means to me. I used to struggle with my confidence a lot, which played a part in the band then too because I was always embarrassed to show new songs, and even more embarrassed to get on stage and perform them. I was embarrassed because I didn’t really think I fit the part of “front woman of a band”. It took me a long time to realise that being in a band doesn’t mean you have to be one thing. Like, I’m a person, and just like anybody else, am multifaceted. Which seems like pretty basic knowledge, but it took me a long time to figure that out. So I guess Pink and Blue is just about that narrative I had going on in my head.
What artists are you most excited about/inspired by at the moment?
We are all big fans of the Irish music scene at the minute. There are some really cool bands coming out of Ireland at the minute, like Soda Blonde, NewDad, and milk. We also really love Beabadoobee’s debut album at the moment, but she isn’t exactly a new artist.
What are your top 3 lockdown tips
I think it’s most important to keep your mind buzzing. I spent the first few weeks of lockdown just glued to my laptop, on YouTube. Not very healthy. So my word isn’t exactly gospel. But I would say try do something creative every day. Try exercise every day. And make sure you’re reaching out to friends and family. Get a good symbiotic relationship going.
If you could publish a magazine, who would be on the cover?
Probably Robert Smith. Not that he’d ever be on any publication I’d written!
LOUD WOMEN 