ADORE

Lara Minchin & Naoise Jordan Cavanagh (Adore)

words: Matthew Madigan

Adore has been categorised into a lot of different genres since forming in 2022. Sometimes it can be hard to pinpoint what genre a band falls into. How would you describe Adore, and where would you put yourselves genre-wise?

(Lara) I’d say we're within the realm of melodic Garage Rock, with some New Wave influences.  

(Naoise) Quite poppy, too. It's very poppy, in a way.  But then for songs like “Sweet Keith”, which is one of our noisier songs, that’s us nodding the hat to Gilla Band and bands like that. 

Speaking of Gilla Band, I know you've worked with Daniel Fox on some of your recorded material. How did that collaboration come about, and how does working with him influence Adore’s sound? 

(Naoise) I recorded with Dan with my old bands before COVID, and I knew him through one of my lecturers in BIMM.  I think he had just done the Silverbacks record at that point. So, I had an awareness of who he was, and obviously, I’m a massive Gilla Band fan.  He’s very easy to work with, very easygoing. And, I think in the last few years he's become more confident as a producer. In the beginning, he was kind of hands-off, and he just let the band do its thing, but now, he's not afraid to suggest things, and he's got a lot of cool ideas in the studio, as you can imagine. 

A lot of people’s musical tastes develop through their parents or whatever they're exposed to growing up. Was there someone who introduced you to Garage Rock, or was it just something that you discovered and developed as you got older? 

(Naoise) My family have always been really into music.  My mum is still a bit of a goth! The Smiths and The Cure are her favourite bands.  So she’d be a big influence in terms of '80s post-punk. And then my dad would be into a lot heavier stuff like Queens of the Stone Age and Nirvana.  I had an uncle who’d be blaring Bob Dylan and Neil Young from his room all the time. It wasn't necessarily a musical household, but a lot of music was playing all the time. 

(Lara) Yeah, mine was the same.  My mum was always listening to disco, soul and the blues, and then Led Zeppelin. So there was never really a moment without it.  And then when I was a teenager, and I was very angry, I started getting into hardcore punk, and then my older brother guided me in the right direction.  Neither of our parents were musicians, and we're not playing the genres that our parents listened to. Adore is a mix of lots of genres that came together.

I read that “Stay Free Old Stranger” was written by you, Lara, when you were 16. Do you still connect with the themes of older songs, and how has this relationship changed as you've grown older, especially when you're playing live? Does it still feel real to you? 

(Lara) Yeah, it always feels real. I think we carry our teenage selves with us everywhere we go, and we have to look after them. Stay Free Old Stranger, Fragile, those two were definitely written around that time of my life. I think the songs that you write when you're very young are very honest. I said exactly what I thought. And music was the only way I was able to do that. I was very quiet and shy and a real people pleaser. So it was my one outlet for saying all the things that I knew people wouldn't want to hear. I think now it's really great as well, because some of the situations I wrote about in those songs are so distant now, and I can look back and reflect on them. Sometimes you think back on your teenage self, and you get embarrassed, but you have to have empathy for your past self. I love seeing teenage girls at the front of our shows, singing the songs, because that’s exactly who it’s for. And it makes me really happy to see them be able to have some sort of cathartic release from the situation I was also in.

Is there a song in your catalogue that you feel best represents Adore? And what about that track makes it stand out?

(Naoise) I think “Sweet Keith” would be my favourite song to play live.  But, like with any band, we are constantly developing and changing.  So, at any point, our newest song will represent us best. We have two new songs that we started writing with Ben and Callum that are really cool. Having that extra guitar really freed us up to do more things and obviously made the sound bigger. Ben has a very distinctive style, and Callum is a very distinctive bass player.  We've got a new song called “Overgrown”; that one, for me, would best represent the style that we're going towards. 

(Lara) With the new lineup, we have a lot more room for new textures. Callum and Ben are so good, and when we were writing that song in the room, it was so much fun. It's the most free I've ever felt when writing, and everything just kind of clicked, and everything was very intuitive.  That song is a glimpse into the development of our sound. 

You've joined Big Scary Monsters, which is obviously a significant step for the band. How has your experience been with the label so far? And what made them feel like the right fit for Adore? 

(Lara) They are a very lovely company. They're a small boutique label.  Kev, who runs it, is really gorgeous, very calm, and very interested in the band. I think they only get people who they really like. And Josie as well, who works with Big Scary Monsters, is an absolute gem, and they're very hands-off with the story and the image of the band. They want it to be exactly how you want it. They’re very helpful, and just a very, very lovely company. We wanted a vinyl release as well, and that was part of the deal, so that was important to us.  

Is there an Irish artist or band that you think deserves more recognition at the moment? Whom should our readers be listening to?

(Naoise) There are definitely lots of people who we need to be listening to. I'm living in Cork at the moment, and there are really great bands there. Aaron from Cardinals has got another band called AC Bergermann; they’re really cool. Another band from Cork would be Pebbledash; they're really cool. 

(Lara) The Number Ones are fabulous as well; I listen to them a lot. Okay. They have a cult following; you can just look at someone and know that they'll be into The Number Ones! 

Looking back on everything since 2022, was there a moment that made you realise that Adore was becoming something bigger than you initially expected? 

(Naoise) We played Electric Picnic, and that was our second ever gig, and we played the Trailer Park! I don't know why they picked us; I think someone got fired! I've been playing in bands for years, and we never left Ireland. So, very quickly and very casually, we started playing in London and travelling the UK, and then we played in Rotterdam at one point. So I think for me, in terms of the live aspect, it was playing abroad so early on; that was really cool. 

(Lara) We played two gigs in quick succession in Paris at Supersonic, and La Mécanique and the one in La Mécanique was in this dingy basement that smelled like eggs, and it was a fantastic crowd. It was a really great gig.  I remember playing the intros to songs and seeing people recognise them, and that was really special. My mum was actually there; she was at the back of the room, and she started noticing people catching on to the songs. That was really special because it was nice to know that the modern world is so connected; that people in France can hear us. I mean, we didn't try to promote in France, so it was nice to know it naturally happened. 

I'll leave you with this: what's next for Adore?  Are there any plans for upcoming releases?  Are there any projects or live dates that you are particularly excited about? 

(Lara) There's a collab track coming out in November, but I don't know how much of that I'm allowed to say. And then look to springtime for more music. Wink, wink.