Oz’s Mama Kin Spender for two Galway shows
Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell – [email protected]
Playing songs that combine the raw power of rock ‘n’ roll with a knack for melody, Mama Kin Spender play the city’s Black Gate on Saturday, September 15 and Clifden Arts Festival on Sunday, September 16. The band is made up of Australian duo Danielle Caruana and Tommy Spender.
Roots and folk singer Danielle has released solo work under the name Mama Kin, while Tommy has collaborated with the massively successful Belgian-born, Australian-based multi-instrumentalist Gotye.
After 18 years of friendship, the two decided it was time to combine their talents.
“I think it was because we were both in a similar sort of rut,” Danielle says. “We were both disenchanted, to be honest. We had our own solo careers, and we were talking about what was important to us and what was less important, and balancing all that.”
The result of their collaboration is the impressive and soulful album, Golden Magnetic, with brooding guitars, primal drums and howling harmonies, illuminated by a backing choir. Mama Kin Spender called on a local choir to join them in studio in Melbourne while making this album, and this is something they’ve incorporated into their tours as well.
“Where possible, we engage local choirs,” Danielle says from her home in Perth. “In Clonakilty right now, there’s a choir learning our material. When we get to Cork, we’ll be performing with the Voices of Clon. This stitches a bit more meaning into it, while we still really enjoying performing as a duo,” she says of the shows.
Although Tommy and Danielle have a long-standing friendship, getting into the same room can be tricky.
“I live on the west coast of Australia, and he lives on the east coast – and Australia’s a little bigger than Ireland, as you might know!” Danielle says. “So, it was quite the tyranny of distance. We decided to join this thing called the ‘I Heart Songwriting’ club. It was created by a woman in Australia, and she puts 10 songwriters together for 10 weeks.
“Basically, for the course of 10 weeks, you are given a word-prompt every week,” she continues. “You have to write a song within an hour, and all 10 artists put that song up on to a platform and the other nine artists critique it. Tommy and I joined this online group and by the end of the 10 weeks we had 20 new songwriting ideas.”
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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