They sing, they write. . . they're pretty good. Six of Ireland's most promising musicians tell their stories to TONY CLAYTON-LEA

MUGGER DAVE

Aka Simon Noble. Age 28, from Oxford but has lived in Ireland for the past eight years

At the start of 2007, myself and the other band members in Galway bonded over a love of music from our parents' generations – The Kinks, The Beatles, The Zombies. A lot of bands wait to augment a sound that they're happy with, but we wanted to record songs straight away, to try and catch what we had in its infant form, so we put out an EP called Girly Number Onein November 2007.

Initially, we thought that with being a regional band it would be difficult to get noticed – mainly because the majority of the music industry is based in Dublin – but after a while we began to revel in the fact that we were from the west of Ireland. It was actually easier for us to try and make a name for ourselves in Galway, and once we’d done that to approach Dublin.

The collective ambition was always to create music that we enjoyed as much as the records we listened to when we were younger. I was very fortunate to grow up in an era when Britpop kicked in. I was 14, and I thought it was fantastic music; Supergrass and Radiohead are from Oxford, as were Ride and The Candyskins before them. I suppose our main aim is to hope some people will get the same buzz from our songs.

What we’re doing is a work in progress – you give it everything you can, but with the benefit of hindsight you realise that some songs could have been better. Where Mugger Dave are now is that the songs are at a point where we get a real buzz out of playing them live.

The music is guitar-driven, trying to blend ELO/Queen/Kinks-type harmonies with aggressive guitars as well as acoustic, softer moments, while at the same time trying to infiltrate all of it with some memorable melodies.

UP AND COMING

Mugger Dave’s debut album, What’s She Doing Here?, is scheduled for release in October. myspace.com/muggerdave

FIONA MELADY

Thirtysomething, from Kells, Co Meath

I’ve been playing music since I left college, when I joined Turn with my brother Ian, who was the band’s drummer. I made the first album with them, but just before it got released, I left. After Turn, I went to work in a corporate company, but in the back of my mind was to make my own album.

For the past five years or so, I’ve been managing to get by; I’d also do session work with the likes of Gemma Hayes and Paddy Casey, and some production work. After touring with Gemma for a while, I really decided to do my own record. I felt that if I did at least that, then I’d have done something. Not that I‘ve made any great waves, but I’m keeping my head above water, and reminding myself why I’m doing it. I’m a solo artist, independent – I don’t have anyone else pushing me, so you have to keep yourself motivated.

I suppose I didn’t fully realise what it would entail, doing it on my own. Now that I’ve done it, I know what I’m doing, and when I do another album, I’ll know how to do it better. My immediate plans are to record with other people, which will take the pressure off my own shoulders – I don’t feel the need now to have total control.

If I had to put my music into a genre, I’d say it’s pop/rock, but there’s quite a lot of piano in there, so that might bring it into the singer-songwriter style. I didn’t want all the songs to be one particular flavour, but maybe the next album will be a bit more focused. I suppose the first album was a bit of a guessing game as I went along.

UP AND COMING

The Fear I Fearis released through 1db Records. New single, Love in the Movies, is released October 2nd. Fiona Melady supports Damien Dempsey at Rock the Lough, Gormalough, Slane, Co Meath, on August 29th; fionamelady.com

HULK

Aka Thomas Haugh. Age 36, from Dublin

The work is slow but steady – I have two albums out on the Osaka label but I haven’t really gigged too much, although I hope to be doing quite a lot of that in the next year or so.

I exist in cyberspace: there have been plenty of good reviews and I’ve sold records all over the place; I get e-mails from as far afield as Japan and the Basque country. That’s very encouraging because sometimes I feel like nothing’s happening. But then you get these signs out of nowhere. . .

With Hulk, I certainly want to find an audience; it’s very important no matter what you’re doing – even if you’re fairly obscure – to find an audience. It’s an essential part of the equation that makes it all come together. I’ve never been really convinced when I read or hear that artists only write for themselves, and that if people take an interest then it’s a bonus. I think you always have, at some level, an audience in mind when you write – even if it’s just to measure yourself.

I used to be a drummer in The Plague Monkeys but I embraced electronica because it was a way for me to be a part of something without feeling that I had to write songs or find a singer. Since those days I’ve abandoned a lot of the trappings – like dropping programming and the drum stuff – because I didn’t want to lean on the things I knew so well. So the music has become more abstract, more atmospheric. I’m obsessed now with old acoustic instruments – I wouldn’t dream of using synthesisers these days. I still make the same music, but the tools have changed.

The music? It’s totally instrumental and so far has been about atmosphere, creating a world that I hope is magical in some way. It’s a bit like dream pop of the 1980s.

UP AND COMING

Rise of a Mystery Tide is on release through Osaka Records. myspace.com/hulkmusic

HERM

Aka Kevin Connelly. Age 30, from Ballinasloe, Co Galway

I used to be in El Diablo, back around seven/eight years ago. That wound up, but about four years ago, I started to focus on Herm.

I’d describe the music as eclectic alt-rock with a pop sensibility and a dark underbelly – there are so many websites around these days that you have you come up with a different genre every time you post a profile. I always tick the following: alternative, indie, pop and rock. I don’t like to narrow my options!

Ambitions? I’m not particularly good for those five-year plans. The only thing I knew was that I had always written and recorded songs. Without even thinking about it, I just spent most of my time involved with music, and I knew whenever anyone asked what I wanted to do – a career-guidance counsellor, perhaps – I wouldn’t even have had to think about it. It consumes pretty much all of my time. I knew I loved it, so I thought I’d just take it a few months at a time and see what happened.

I put out an EP, Rosemary, in 2007, and we promoted that, but it's fair to say I was still learning my trade. When that version of Herm broke up, I started on the latest album, Monsters, as well as looking for people for the band that would last longer in the set-up.

Easy wouldn’t be the word I’d use for the journey so far. It’s a ridiculous career choice, to be honest. At times, it feels like you’re pushing a rock up a hill. If you do a good gig, it’s a great feeling, and if you do a bad one, it’s terrible. That said, the highs make the lows worthwhile.

UP AND COMING

Monstersis on release through Catchy Go Go Records. Herm’s new single, The Year of the Horse(a duet with Nina Hynes) will be released at the end of August. Herm play Whelan’s, Dublin, on August 22nd. herm.tv

RORY GRUBB

Age 25, from east Clare

I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing for over four years now. I started writing songs in college, where I was studying architecture. I wrote about three songs, and thought they were alright. I recorded them in a small studio in Temple Bar, and then I entered a DIT songwriting competition and won it, so that gave me a bit of confidence.

About a year later, I recorded an album, but I didn’t have much of an idea about releasing it and the label didn’t, either, so the album got bit lost. I then quit college, bought my own equipment, went to Canada, where I played in Toronto’s North by North East festival, kind of like Dublin’s Hard Working Class Heroes.

I moved to London to find new experiences and while there I finished my architecture course, but I also started on experimental songwriting and recordings. I spent the winter just gone in a cottage in west Cork, in order to tie the whole project together. I had hundreds of ideas and down there I put them into something that made sense.

My music has been categorised by others as 'new-wave folk', which is something I might almost go for, except I'd also call it 'visual' music. My aim is to try and make good songs, good recordings, play good shows. I feel that my new album, Sketches from the Big Sleep, is good, but not brilliant. It's as much an exercise in production as it is a set of songs. I feel quite ready to dive into the next one. In terms of live shows, I'm slightly more on top of that now.

The last four years have been long and memorable – more or less. I have travelled around a lot and had a lot of experiences, and I don’t really want to stop doing that.

UP AND COMING

Sketches from the Big Sleep is on release through Bright Night Records. rorygrubb.com

CATHERINE IRETON

Age 26, from Limerick but now based in Edinburgh

I’ve been based in Edinburgh almost four years. I used to be in a band called Elephants when I was in UCC and one of the band mates, Michael John McCarthy, moved to Glasgow to try to get into the music scene there.

At one point, he passed on a copy of our album to a friend of Belle and Sebastian’s, Stuart Murdoch. At the time, Stuart was looking for female singers to form a girl group, so I auditioned. He said he’d keep me in mind for various recordings, and then I just took a chance and moved first to Glasgow and then to Edinburgh.

I’m in a duo outfit with Michael John – The Go Away Birds. It’s my first time writing for something like that, to play music and to get involved with the creative side more than the performing. It’s going great so far – we’ve been played on BBC Radio 6, a session on the Marc Riley show.

Outside the day job – I work as an administrator for the Scottish Arts Council. I'm focusing as much as I can on the music. Being involved with Stuart on the God Help the Girlalbum has given me the confidence to do music on my own terms as much as I can. It's been slow, though, especially with God Help the Girl: it was so low-key throughout the whole process and then it took a year for it to be released. The reviews have been great; it's an unusual project but there are no plans to go on tour.

The music of The Go Away Birds is not typical. It's a bit darker at some points, sometimes jazzier, quite delicate. Pop/folk/indie . . . something like that? It's also more personal for me – I'm a lot more emotionally engaged with these songs. It's also quite sparse, unlike God Help the Girl, which has lush orchestral ornamentation.

UP AND COMING

God Help The Girlis on release through Rough Trade. thegoawaybirds.com