ORTHA

That brings me on to the tap dancer Phoebe. What was your inspiration for featuring a tap dancer instead of a drummer? Was that on purpose or was that just an evolution?

Phoebe - We all met at Tutti, a music group that’s been set up for gals, gays and theys - people who are under represented in the music scene. We can all come together to network and chat. I don’t think any one of us set out with the intention to start ORTHA.

Ciara S - It started with having a slot at Women’s Work. Me and Julie put our hands up, people were introducing themselves and Phoebe said she was a tap dancer. In my head I thought, I fucking love that.

Phoebe - This is a weird type of melody and percussion that I bring. We don’t know anyone else who is doing it. You have a lot of Irish heavy dancing and Riverdance elements that’s featured in music and performance. I’m trying to slip nods to Irish dancing where I can as well, but I just get so wrapped up in my favourite style of dance and its moves. Tap lacks opportunities around Belfast. You find beginner ballet classes but there is really a missing opportunity for tap classes in Belfast for anything other than beginner. That meant it was so cool for me to find a space in ORTHA where I could keep performing and keep showing off. I love showing off.

Ciara S - When the only song we had was March Cries Onto April - which is the slowest, saddest song in the world - we thought how is Phoebe going to tap dance to this? So we came up with an intro for Phoebe. We asked her what her favourite step was and then asked her to do it 21 times. It just builds and builds. Everyone is so good, so whenever you’ve found people who are so strong, why would you not show everyone off?

I’ve been looking at other bands like Kamoot and Tilly and the Wall, are you influenced by them? Are you planning to do something like play the drums as well as tap like they do, or do you plan to be a dancing instrument?

Phoebe - I’d never heard of another band doing this. I had only heard of Tilly and the Wall once we became established. I’ve never thought of them as a conscious influence. Any tap I’d seen represented had either been by Linda, my tap teacher growing up, or watching Singing in the Rain and obsessing over that film. Tilly and the Wall, if I remember, are a bit like pop punky/indie pop, whereas I think we are in a different direction. I have no background in drums (my hands don’t move as fast as my feet do!) so I don’t know any technical drum techniques. It’s almost as if simply I’m dancing along to the tunes that the band write, while trying to get a bit more percussive with it. I am really open to playing with different instruments. I sing as well, and went to bodhrán classes, but I don’t know that a traditional drum kit would be on the cards. Never say never though!

It’s so interesting that you don’t play the drums, but your feet do. ORTHA’s lyrics have some fantastic laments. Is the songwriting shared, or is it all written by you Ciara?

Ciara S - For our upcoming headline show we have a song and a poem written by Phoebe. All the other originals are ones that I wrote. I write songs constantly, they are coming out of my arse, and always have been. So I have an archive on all of my devices of years of ramblings that I write. Poems that I grew up with I put the easiest, almost nursery rhyme, beats to. The songs are influenced by trad and Irish dancing and musical theatre. I’ve always sang as well but had a complex about Feis competitions, particularly around being encouraged to speak “proper English” with a slight English accent. I would have sang like that and so I hated the voice I sang in - it wasn’t my voice. Once I figured out how to sing in my own tone and Cadence, my own accent - everything changed. Every poem I’ve ever written can be made into a song and I feel great singing them.

Phoebe - Me coming forward with a poem was only possible because I felt comfortable to do that. The more comfortable we feel as a unit, the more we will start to bring things forward.

Ciara S - Anna was singing a song to me in the car the other day. Julie has a song. We are moving so fast compared to other bands, we didn’t know each other at all and had three weeks before our first performance for Women’s Work. ORTHA has been built on March Cries Onto April.

What was the defining moment when you knew you were onto something unique and interesting?

Ciara S - Five minutes after we played our first song at Women’s Work.

Phoebe - We played a gig last week in Newry and someone said to me that ORTHA has a magic quality. It was really lovely and it hit home - that’s what we’re going for. ORTHA literally means ‘spell or prayer’, or ‘magic’ in Irish, so the fact that’s translating is a reminder that what we are doing is working.

Ciara C - I’m someone who joined the band later. The girls needed strings for the Black Box gig. I played Women’s Work but in a Greek pop-rock band, with Dorothea who is so class. It wasn’t until I heard ORTHA, watching these guys and thinking “ I should’ve been in that, that’s right up my street.” Dorothea brought out an element of my guitar playing that I was really pushing for. But ORTHA is linked to Irish folk roots, and I wanted to do my music with other people. I want to do this music with other people. So I messaged in to offer to play strings, and two weeks later, I’m in.

Ciara S - I don’t know if you’ve ever heard Ciara’s solo stuff but it is gorgeous, you should look it up. Hearing Ciara’s solo stuff and then getting in touch with her, we knew we needed her.

Ciara C - Everything got pulled together from there. A definitive moment was trying to rewrite and rearrange songs. We wanted another March Cries Onto April, so we had to be realistic and realise we had to keep moving forward instead of looking back.

Ciara S - It’s always around 3 weeks between gigs. We were always agreeing to gigs and we didn’t have sets. Sometimes, we agree to hour long sets and then we have to pull 7 songs out of our hole, and we do!

Phoebe - Grab all your opportunities you can get. Be brave.

Julie - There have been a few defining moments for me; the early practices are when I realised we were doing something cool. And with the dance, we tapped into real potential (pardon the pun). Then with Ciara C helping rewrite the song, and then Anna coming in. Without even hesitating, Anna just jumped in and is playing so beautifully.

Ciara S - Singing with ORTHA is a joy. Every practice we do, I leave elated.

Phoebe - We love a bit of a jam and an improv too. We are all excelling at that, challenging themselves and we are getting so much better at it.

Ciara C - Now that Anna is here, it feels like our foundations are steadier to move forward and be solid as a trad folk band.

What do you do other than music to nurture your creativity and inspiration?

Phoebe - I’m a very creative person, but not in your typical ways. I go to a lot of gigs and

write them up, taking photos and things. I also put together a zine from local creators and raised money for Sudan and Palestine. I’m planning another one for the Rainbow Project. I like to be out and about in the creative community and, as I said, had no intention of joining a band. I was just out in the middle of all the creativity. Reading, listening to music, a lot of writing, I’m a very creative person at my core. I basically do everything creative - nothing to do with numbers or science thank you!

Julie - I have to say that music is definitely the main source of creativity for me. I don’t really write prose. I tried when I was younger but I was shit! I will dabble in arts and crafts but it’s more like little hyper fixations and hobbies - I’ve tons of arts and crafts projects I’ve started and not finished, Music is the one thing in my life that I've actually stuck by and that I will stick at, start to finish. If I write a song, that’s the one creative thing that will keep me interested and engaged. I’ve been loving that in my other band Julie Julie, I get to write. In ORTHA, I’m here and whatever Ciara S comes up with, I’m happily here for the ride. That we have our own input is great for creativity. My stuff is quite different from what we do here and I love that. I love different genres and different styles. Why not the bodhrán? Tomorrow it could be something else. You never know.

Anna - Mainly, I nurture my creativity through music and always really have done. I do art now and again and, working in Belfast Met, I’ll do a bit of art with some of our students. My daughter is really arty and we do a lot of arty things together. We make jewellery a lot - she’s my bestie and we do everything together. Music, drawing and jewellery.

Ciara S - Creativity is a necessity above all else. I am not about being out in the community. I don’t like going out and doing things with other people. So this has been really challenging for me, to work with other people as usually I’m doing it in my house on my own. Anything to fill the time, or sit and focus on and enjoy doing. There’s creativity in everything: cooking, writing, making music, art. Anything I think of, I’ll try and do it. There are so many hours in the day and they need to be filled with something better than sitting around. It’s a necessity thing and I obviously love it so much. I have to do it to keep myself right, as therapy. My brain won’t let me just sit and watch tv.

Ciara C - I think I’m with everyone else. Music is the main outlet and music is the main creative thing I’m good at. It’s something that I find really easy to go off on and I use it to express so much. But in order to be creative musically, traveling is a really great thing. Listening to music from different places… It's a universal language. There’s no real barrier. I think sometimes people feel like there are barriers because it might not their genre or they think it’s shite because they associate it with something e.g. girls’ music or music for older people, but in music it’s not so much about genre but about textures and colours and finding out how art overlaps in itself, and how many different things are linked to other things. It’s really important.

What are your plans for ORTHA? How do you see it evolving?

Ciara S - Our plans for ORTHA are whatever’s our next gig. It’s all very short term plan-wise, we are always focusing on what is coming up next. Getting to the next practice and seeing how it goes.

Phoebe - Something I’m working on in my personal life that I very much apply to ORTHA is to take each day as it comes, and try not to stress too much. I’m loving that being in the band is nice and chill and we can focus on each opportunity as it comes.

Ciara S - We met each other seven months ago and it feels like a lifetime. I’ve never spent so much quality time with any other human being in my life. I love to do things on my own, I love the craic, but I love doing creative stuff in isolation as it’s like therapy for me. We’ve come so far in seven months. It feels like years.

Julie - We have a folder and a document about what we think ORTHA is, not a manifesto, but an ethos of what defines ORTHA and what direction we want to go in. There is a sense of identity. That is also one way of having some sort of direction going forward, but we have been so lucky and grateful. Everything has lined up so fast for us.

Ciara S - One thing at a time. We all have ambitions, but at the same time we let the flow take us.

Ciara C - the one thing everyone does well is authenticity. And in any sort of art, authenticity is the hardest thing to do. You can’t learn it. And if you are learning it, you’re doing it wrong. We are friends at the core as well.

Phoebe - Arguably, the most important thing is friendship.

What are your biggest musical influences - who or what inspires you to create?

Julie - As Phoebe said, we have a playlist, and anything that we like within our own music taste, or anything we think that is so ORTHA and it’s the kind of sound that we can bring to ORTHA, we put it there. It’s been very interesting to see that yes, there have been some influences like Sinead O’Connor like are obvious and make sense. There have been others that have been incorporated that are more outside of the box. And then I myself can’t help but bring in some French songs, as there is a whole genre in Brittany that has Celtic roots. The language is almost the French version of Gaeilge. There are a few bands in France that are influenced by that. One of them, Matmatah, is super famous. It’s good to get that in the playlist so we can do something like that someday. Everyone brings their own influences and Anna has more of a harder background in terms of metal etc, so there really is a bit of everything.

Anna - I want to bring a bit of punk and metal influence to ORTHA. Even something subtle. I was in a thrash metal band playing violin before I had my daughter. I got my first fiddle at 7, there are so many different influences. My biggest trad influence is Bessie Donnelly. I want to bring more influences and see where it goes.

Phoebe - I like a bit of experimental noise, and I think that would be great to introduce - sonic elements and electronic stuff. Keep it interesting!

Ciara C - There are no limits to what we bring to ORTHA. We don’t really like to say ‘this is the type of music we play’, because it’ll be different in a couple of months. We will be like ‘PSYCHE!’ And then change.

Your rise across Belfast has been really exciting to watch. Even though you’ve been together only 7 months, do you have any advice for people who are thinking about starting?

Ciara S - If there is an opportunity, grab her with both hands, run and don’t look back.

Ciara C - Communicate from the get-go otherwise you may become stagnant and then you may lose your creativity. Just be open to ideas and let things happen. Don’t stop yourself, Don’t create limits on your creativity. Let everything flow, even if it’s not a bit of you, you might find that it actually is, or could be.

Phoebe - Reach out too. There are so many people out there who are dying to give people. Opportunities, and people we’ve met have been very friendly in the Belfast scene. Even this space that we are practising in now, Gatehouse Studio, was a last minute get. Matty McIvor who runs the space has been so lovely. The more connections you make, the easier things can feel. Remember that people want to lift you up, especially if you have something you want to learn about. It’s a very Irish thing to be like “Don’t do too well for yourself” but also don’t do eff all. It’s trying to find that balance.

Julie - With the local environment of creativity, other people know what it feels like to start out and especially those that are older than us and have done this for longer. They know what it’s like from the get-go. They don’t see you as competition, they want to pick you up under their wings. So if the wing’s there…hop on.

Ciara C - Like The Rescuers Down Under

Upcoming gigs:

12th sept - Empire Belfast, supporting Lonesome George

26 September Glasgow supporting Ispíní na hÉireann