MADAM’S LAST DISCOVERY

Up and coming Belfast rock squad Madam's Last Discovery has released their first EP, The World’s End. I chatted with the lads on Zoom to find out more about their story.

How are you guys doing? You have been very busy lately.

Flinn: We've sort of been non-stop since we started off. “Orange Juice” came right at the start of the year and the same day it was out, we were down in Whelan's playing Ones to Watch, which was really good fun. It's fast paced, but it's good fun. Our first EP The World’s End, we recorded back in November, just as the year ended, and we got the masters back a few days ago and it sounds amazing. So we're buzzing together now.

At the time of this chat taking place, you have just released “The Message”, so let’s start talking about The World’s End through the story of that song.

Darragh: “The Message” is one of the first songs we wrote back in 2022. The sound has definitely evolved since then, but it's still one of the ones that we've played every show, so it felt important to have it on there. 

Flinn: Even when we first started as a band, the whole idea of our first EP was it would be called The Message, and the artwork would be an envelope or something. Obviously, it hasn't progressed that way, but for this EP, I think it had to be on it, since it's a tune that has stuck with us from the first gig that we've played up until now. No other song has really made it that far, but it's evolved. Fion joined the band in 2023. He came in, had all these ideas with the track. He's sadly not here today, but it’s not the same song it was. That also shows how we've changed with our influences and gigging experience, and also playing together as a band over the years. That track’s growing up with us.

The EP’s title, The World's End, feels appropriate for such chaotic times…

Flinn: A lot of people are feeling like it's such a weird period of time to be alive. Even watching the news is hard to do because it's all doom and gloom. It's such a volatile period. The EP is named after the movie The World's End, which is in the Cornetto trilogy. We had a song from our first gig that I called “The World's End” and they all hated it, so we kicked that off the set. I still wanted to name the EP after that, because I love that movie. It's all 90s music and it's about a pub crawl. It's a great movie. Everybody should go watch it. But it now has this new meaning that we didn’t mean it to have, which happens with Madams’ stuff. 

Nathan: It still works this way. It's not necessarily wrong. I can't speak too much for Flynn’s writing, but I feel like a lot of it is internal chaos and feeling as if things are too much. I feel like that reflects quite well in the name.

Darragh: Although it wasn't meant to turn into this meaning, it's also a good thing that it has, because it brings a lot of attention to what's going on there as well. 

I love that film. You had also sampled Plan 9 From Outer Space on “Orange Juice”. Would you say you’re huge film buffs?

Nathan: Not really. The reason that sample came about was because Flynn was looking for a sample that was so old that it wasn't under copyright, so he could use it for making an intro track. I suppose, in a weird way, the movie thing has continued with the name of the EP.

Flynn: It's weird. That whole monologue at the start sounds like something's ending. It's worked out. We've put that at the end of the EP as well, to tie it all together.

Nathan: I'd say none of us are major film buffs.

Flynn: I like the Fast and Furious movies. [all laugh.] At first you are getting it a bit rough, but 5 to 8 are great.

There is a real goldmine in old movies in terms of potential sample materials.

Darragh: Absolutely.

Flynn: We're coming into an age now where the copyright is starting to wear off. A few movies like the original Mickey Mouse and stuff came off copyright because it's been more than 70 years. I feel like there's a lot of art to come out of that even the next decade, just revamping loads of old art.

If you were to pick two tracks from The World’s End, one easiest and one hardest to create, which two would you pick, and why?

Flynn: “The Message” was probably the quickest we recorded. We got in at about 12 and we were done by 8. We had time to play, make dinner, play a game of poker, which I won by the way. Nathan came even, but I won most of the money, and yeah, it was very enjoyable. We were like, “This sounds great!”, and we still had time for experimenting and stuff.

Darragh: One of the harder ones that we've done would be “Molotov”. We've been working on that song for probably about two years, and it's had so many different iterations. We originally just wanted to play it live, but we just decided that this was one of those songs that had to be put down, because we could add so much to it. When it got to the day, we started adding different parts and we even got an alien pipes player to put a part on it, which changed the whole vibe of it as well. That's definitely one of the songs that was a wee bit harder in this sense. That changed so much compared to what it was originally when we first wrote it.

Nathan: “Champagne” as well. I know it's not part of the EP, but it was the first one that we did with our producer, Darragh Tibbs. It was a complete change in sound and in recording method. With him, there’s a way and a routine. He worked out how he mixes Flynn's vocals and how he wants to layer our guitars and how he wants to do things. That was probably a very tedious recording process, because it was him figuring out the blueprint as to how to do our music from now on. 

Flinn: “Orange Juice” was another one that was a bit easier. We all went and played a game of Uno, and Nathan did all the guitar parts. We came back, we're like, “Oh, can we help?”, and he's like, “No, I've done everything. You have been pissing around and I've just done all the work.”

What would your expectations be from 2026?

Flinn: I think the next stage is playing live as much as possible. Hopefully we’ll get back over to England and then hit the festivals. We'll get more music out by the end of the year. That's the plan at the moment. We're coming to Dublin on April 15th, and we want to be down in Dublin a lot more. That’s an up and coming scene. We did two gigs there recently and we’re getting to meet so many new people and all.

Nathan: We want to play to more audiences that aren't Belfast. We want to go down south, and we like the possibilities of other things as well. We'll have to see how that works out. We're looking to record again at the end of the year and get as much out there as possible.

The World’s End is out now.

Words: Deniz Ekim Tilif