They might be only in their early twenties but Galway outfit NewDad have a sound reminiscent of at least four decades ago.

Cochteau Twins, the Cure and Pixies are the bands they cite as their biggest influences at the launch of their debut album at Zhivago, a place they would inhabit for inspiration on breaks from school at ‘the Jes’.

Lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Julie Dawson from Knocknacarra and drummer Fiachra Parslow from Caherlistrane have known each other since they were four as they went to the same primary school.

Guitarist Sean O’Dowd from Salthill was in the year above them at the ‘Jes’ while their new bassist Cara Joshi they met at their base of two years in London, but she has impeccable Irish roots in Kiltimagh in Mayo and in Limerick. She replaced the original Galway bassist Áindle O’Beirn in 2022.

They first got together as a band as they didn’t want to do their Leaving Cert music project alone.

Julie spent three weeks studying arts and human rights only to leave to work in the Palas Cinema to save up money for recording.

Things really took off during the lockdown when they released two EPs, Waves in 2021 and Banshee in 2022 which boast millions of streams and led to sold out shows both here and the UK.

The debut, Madra, is their first since they signed to Atlantic Records and was mixed by Irish producer Chris Ryan, who they reached out to because of his work with Just Mustard, a five-piece band from Dundalk that inspired them after they played support for the Cure in 2019.

“We were playing together for seven years but it was only when we saw Just Mustard that we started to take it seriously. If they could do it, why couldn’t we?” explain Fiachra.

Caption: Galway band NewDad performing at the launch of the band’s new album ‘Madra’ at Zhivago on Shop Street. Photo: Brian Harding.

Full story and pictures in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.