Ruth Clinton and Cormac MacDiarmada, well known from bands Landless and Lankum, told David Hennessy about their new project Poor Creature ahead of the release of their debut album.
Poor Creature release their debut album All Smiles Tonight this month, via River Lea Records.
The band is comprised of Ruth Clinton, Cormac MacDiarmada and John Dermody, all three are members of other well known bands (Landless, Lankum and The Jimmy Cake respectively).
Poor Creature will launch the album with an in store gig at London’s Rough Trade East on Monday 14 July.
They will also play Supersonic Festival in August and then the Royal Festival Hall, London on 20 September when they support Lisa O’Neill.
The first single taken from the album was The Whole Town Knows, their reimagining of a track by Philomena Begley and Ray Lynam.
They followed this with the track, Adieu Lovely Erin. And since our chat they have released further singles All Smiles Tonight and Bury Me Not.
Ruth Clinton and Cormac MacDiarmada from the band, who happen to be husband and wife, spoke to The Irish World.
How did Poor Creature come about?
Ruth: “Well, we’re married so we would have been playing music together anyway.
“And then we suddenly had time, more time during COVID, to actually do that because we weren’t going off doing gigs or working or whatever.
“And so that would have been the very start of it.
“Then coming out of lockdown, we decided then that we were going to take it further and record and all of that.
“And then, once we started that process, then it was time to bring John in as well.
“So, yeah, organic.”
Cormac: “Yeah. I think with the amount of time that was, all of a sudden, available with lockdown as well it was kind of like, ‘Oh, let’s do this. Let’s get it done. Let’s kind of seize the moment while the moment is there’.”
Obviously the first single you’ve come out with is The Whole Town Knows, what inspired you to do a new version of that particular song?
Ruth: “I was working on a radio play with an artist that I collaborate with and we wanted to find a country and Irish song for it and one that kind of had a slightly apocalyptic theme, which it doesn’t really, we sort of added that ourselves to be fair.
“I have this lovely vintage synthesizer and there’s a drum machine built into it so it starts with a cha cha cha beat from the drum machine and then Cormac was playing guitar to bounce off that and then it sort of developed from there, so organic.”
Cormac: “And then by the end in the studio, there’s a huge amount of layers added on, the drums and the drum machine is the driving force.
“It’s really hypnotic, a lot of fun.
“That’s why it goes on for so long as well.”
You mentioned apocalyptic there, did that come organically? Did it take on this other theme about climate change or was that your starting point?
I guess I’m asking did it go that way or did you take it that way?
Ruth: “Yeah, I think we took it that way.
“We didn’t plan it to sound like that.”
Cormac: “It just kind of took an extra meaning eventually.”
Ruth: “Yeah, by the end, I suppose not even in the middle, listening back then you kind of realise what you’ve done, but we were just sort of letting it take us wherever it wanted to.”
It’s unrecognisable really from the original song, isn’t it?
What have the reactions been to it?
Ruth: “It doesn’t seem to be a very well known song anyway.
“And I can’t find any other recordings of it.
“Nobody else seems to have done a version apart from Philomena and Ray and us.
“I cannot find beyond the original so I think people don’t know because they don’t really know it.”
“Unless they’re hardcore Philomena fans. Maybe you’ll hear from them in due course, or even Philomena herself..
Ruth: “I hope so, that would be great. I would love that.”
Yeah, it would be nice to hear Philomena’s reaction.
I wanted to talk about the video.
I was wondering about the hands and the feet and the masked men, what is it all about?
Ruth: “I think with the video we’re fairly intuition led, you know the way like David Lynch, when you ask him what his films meant, he would be like the film itself is what it is.
“We’re led by a kind of mood and a feeling.”
Cormac: “Yeah, 100% and I think it kind of allows you to imprint your own ideas what things are and aren’t, because you don’t want to spell things out and it means that things are a bit more personal and there’s a narrative, but it’s not explicit.
“It’s interesting because it’s only after the fact that you have made these connections.
“So when I’m doing the foot thing, I’m starting to jitter and stuff and then I realised that there’s also plants that are doing that in the desert.
“So it’s just like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s cool’.
“That’s not on purpose but it’s there and there’s a connection because there just is always connections.
“You always make connections in between things.”
Ruth: “Yeah, just feeling it out. And I suppose at this point it’s nice to get to set kind of a visual tone for the band because it’s early days and for the music and to explore that as well.”
All Smiles Tonight, is that something along the same theme or where did that come from as a title for the album?
Ruth: “That’s the title of one of the songs on it. It’s another old country song.
“Although Philomena Begley also did record it but we didn’t hear it from her first, but it is a well known song.
“It’s an interesting one.
“There’s sort of an undertone of kind of sorrow but putting on a brave face, trying to be resilient, I suppose.”
It fits in with climate issues as we might be smiling for now..
Ruth: “Yeah, it’s hard to escape the feeling of dread but we’re not all doom and gloom, we have fun with the videos.”
Cormac: “That’s the thing. We have fun with the music as well.
“It’s extremely, extremely playful.”
Tell us about where Adieu Lovely Eireann, the second single, came from..
Ruth: “I learned that from a really brilliant singer from Drogheda called Donal Maguire.
“He would have lived in the UK for a number of years but he’s back now.
“I learned it from him and he learned it from Robert Cinnamond.
“It’s an old ballad sheet and it’s a story about a group of people in Belfast who forged bank notes but they were caught and they were transported to Australia.
“But it was a true story and then there was ballad sheets about it, but the only recording that exists from the archives would be this Robert Cinnamond recording so Donal got it from that, and I got it from him.”
There’s a big theme on the record about loss and separation.
It ties all the songs together pretty much..
Ruth: “Yeah, but it was subconscious.
“Only retrospectively, when we looked back and we were like, ‘Is there anything that has come up multiple times?’
“And that that was it, but it was never an intention.”
Cormac: “No, I think we’re also just drawn to sad songs as well.”
Another theme is the every day and the fantastical and them sitting beside each other, is that something you had in mind making the album?
Ruth: “No. Again, no.
“That’s just, I suppose, when you think about some Irish songs, some traditional songs, that is just sort of part of them.
“I suppose with that, I was thinking about willyo, the last song on the album where it’s very supernatural story but it’s kind of told in a very matter of fact way.
“You know, there’s no hyperbole or it’s not trying to be scary.
“It’s just like, ‘And then the ghost was outside our window’.”
Cormac: “’I am the Ghost’.”
Ruth: “And, ‘I’m the ghost’.
“And it’s just really very matter of fact so I guess that’s what I mean. It’s just taken as normal: Yeah, of course there’s the ghost outside. Obviously.
“I was excited about the song Hicks Farewell because we got to play with our good friend, Rick Epping.
“He’s on that one which is really special.
“He’s an amazing musician from California but he lives in Sligo and he plays concertina and harmonica at the same time which is just incredibly impressive and he’s like a wealth of knowledge.”
Cormac: “And he’s very generous with his knowledge as well.”
Ruth: “He’s a very generous living legend so the fact that he was up for playing on the song was very nice for us.”
Cormac: “He’s got this amazing low end kind of husky voice as well so he’s singing harmony in the song as well and it just sits below perfectly for me.”
Breathing new life into old music is very much in the ethos of both Landless and Lankum and now Poor Creature, isn’t it? That’s very much what you’re about, isn’t it?
Ruth: “I guess it’s not so much new life as kind of filtering those songs through current sensibilities and imbuing them with something of the spirit of now, of the time rather than it being new because obviously they’re always being renewed with every singer that sings them.”
Cormac: “Yeah, you just borrow them.”
Ruth: “Yeah, exactly we’re minding them for now.”
There’s a great movement at the moment, isn’t there with people like Mary Wallopers doing a similar thing..
Cormac: “There’s amazing energy in general, it’s really cool.”
Ruth: “It is and it’s been going for a while.
“We would have been all playing around Dublin over 10 years ago together so it’s nice that people are still at it.”
How would you describe the new band’s ethos because it seems like a good marriage of Landless and Lankum? Is it as simple as that?
Cormac: “I think it would be hard to put words on these things because it is very organic.”
Ruth: “For me I guess it’s getting to develop still coming from the same kind of background repertoire but getting to take it in different directions than I would with Landless.
“Even just playing instruments for us would be different.
“We would have a synth-ier sound than either band so I guess it’s getting to lean into those interests in a new direction and then obviously John brings all his experience with the Jimmy Cake, and then all of the music that you would have grown up listening to, just millions of influences.
“Of course we’re both coming from the Landless/ Lankum thing but it’s our whole personalities.”
I just have to make sure.. Landless and Lankum are not going anywhere, right?
Cormac: “Oh no, not at all.”
Ruth: “No danger of that.”
Cormac: “No danger of that.”
Obviously you’re coming to London. You’re doing Royal Festival Hall in September but before that, you do in store with Rough Trade, are you looking forward to those things?
Cormac: “Yeah, very much so.
“It’s gonna be nice to get a run of shows as well because I think at the moment it’s been just kind of one show here and there so you don’t really get to get a rhythm going.
“You don’t really get that lovely thing of playing things consecutively that it falls into place in specific kind of micro ways so it’ll be great.”
Ruth: “And we’ll be doing a little UK tour in September.”
Obviously you’ve played over here with your respective bands, has it always been a good experience coming over to the UK? Or what’s the vibe when you come over to an audience here?
Ruth: “Yeah, your (Lankum) London gigs are amazing.”
Cormac: “They’re home shows at this point. Some of them are like, ‘Am I in Dublin?’ in terms of enthusiasm. It’s kind of incredible.”
“And then even when we’re over there, I look at who else is playing and it’s just like, ‘Oh, I’d love to see that, I’d love to see that too- It’s shame it’s today.”
How much have you actually got to play together as Poor Creature?
Obviously there’s Whelans in Dublin but you’ve done other bits and pieces, I assume..
Cormac: “We have, we’ve done some really cool gigs like we supported No Spill Blood in Whelans two years ago.
“They’re an amazing Irish metal band.”
Ruth: “We played in Kilkenny, we played All Together Now. We played in Cork.
“We’ve been around in kind of low level way but we’re ready now to go for it.”
What have been your highlights of your time in music up to now?
Cormac: “Oh God, pinch me moments.
“There’s been so many.”
Ruth: “Massive Attack?”
Cormac: “Yeah, yeah, getting to play with Massive Attack, and then seeing that, being so close to something that big and that kind of really, really cool.
“There’s just really nice getting joy in getting to go to places and see other bands play.
“We were playing at Big Ears festival there in the states a couple of weeks ago and I just got to see loads of deadly bands and loads of deadly music because we were there for the whole thing.
“And it’s such an amazing thing when that happens because you come back full of full of ideas and full of energy but those are always the best things for me.”
What about you, Ruth?
Ruth: “I’ve such a bad memory but we had a lovely gig there last autumn in Brussels where Landless were playing but Lankum were headlining and there was also Scottish guy, Harry Gorski-Brown and William, our friend Natalia was playing, and there was more.
“That was really, really nice.
“The thing that I’m most looking forward to is Landless are getting to support Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares which are like heroes of ours.
“It’s this Bulgarian women’s choir and they’re just unbelievable.
“We’ve been obsessed with for years and we’re getting to support them in the Concert Hall in Ireland. That will be a pinch me moment, I think.”
Cormac: “That will be very cool.”
Tell me about Massive Attack, how was that?
Cormac: “It was massive, no pun intended.”
Back to the album, you must be excited to be getting it out..
Ruth: “It’s really nice to put it out with River Lea and to have the same label because we’re pals with John Francis Flynn and Ye Vagabonds so it’s nice company to be in.”
Cormac: “And we know everyone working on it from Lankum and Rough Trade and they’re just deadly.
“It’s been great to work with them and really easy.”
Have you already started thinking of the next album, has the collecting of material started in early stages for album number two?
Cormac: “I think always, it’s just always making noises and making tunes, and getting that stuff down in some kind of form.
“There’s always ideas there basically. Behind every idea, there’s another 20 other ideas.”
Bury Me Not is out now.
The album All Smiles Tonight is out on River Lea Records on 11 July.
Poor Creature play instore at Rough Trade East in London on 14 July, Supersonic Festival on 31 August and they support Lisa O’Neill at Royal Festival Hall on 20 September.
For more information, search Poor Creature on social media.
