Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

Formed in 2023 Housemates are part of a rising wave of heavy, alternative rock bands in Galway. Describing themselves as post-grunge, the three-piece has honed a gritty and emphatic catalogue of music over the past year, culminating in the release of debut EP Cutting Teeth? earlier this month.

Next Thursday, February 5, they play the upstairs of the Róisín Dubh alongside Joe Maxi, in what will be a first ticketed headliner for Housemates. At the time of writing, those tickets are almost gone.

And it is a landmark moment for frontman Fionn McNally, who arrived in Galway from Dublin a couple of years ago.

“I moved to Galway halfway through my final year of college, much to my friends’ and everyone around me’s displeasure,” he says. “I took a bit of time, worked on some tunes by myself and said, okay, I need to get a band together for this.

“I actually was in an outdoor shop, Booley [on Eglington St]. There was a fella there who just looked like he played instruments, to put it that way. Long, shaggy hair. I asked him did he play anything and he said bits and pieces.”

Though he didn’t end up becoming a fixture of the band himself, Fabio in Booley put McNally in touch with Dylan Rowland, who became Housemates’ drummer. Bass player Felix O’Neill is the final piece in a core lineup of three.

That chance encounter went smoothly, but McNally did not find everything easy as he made efforts to ingrain himself in a music scene away from home.

Some gigs were there – like nights in The Ol’ 55 with promoter DJ Green – but others evaded him. “To be dead honest, I found it incredibly insular and actually really hard to break into,” he says.

“Finally, after about seven or eight months, we managed to break into the Róisín. Maybe it was just a thing of knowing what the avenue to work towards to get into playing the Róisín was. Everybody kind of holds it as the mecca of music in Galway, which it pretty much is.

Pictured: Housemates…debut EP followed by gig at the Róisín Dubh.