Earlier this year, this very magazine dubbed genre-straddling indie/folk/pop duo Little Hours one of our Hot For 2015 acts. In the handful of months that followed, things have not only heated up for the Donegal duo, they’re pretty much on fire thanks to a single [‘Tired’] which is enjoying regular rotation on the radio and their adoption into the Sony family with their recent signing to RCA Records. When we caught up with guitarist/backing vocalist Ryan McCloskey he revealed that he and his band-mate [pianist/vocalist John Doherty] are still very much residing at Cloud Nine right now.
“To be honest, it’s still kinda sinking in,” he says. “To think we only started last year and we’ve signed a major record deal is crazy. Even having someone patch us through for interviews is mind-blowing. We’re looking forward to working with RCA, especially when it comes to distribution. They’re our link to tap into the UK. We’ve met the team and they’re unbelievable. Even the progress they’ve made so far on our new tracks has been amazing. They’ve put us in touch with producers in England as well and I think they’ll help us bridge that gap between Ireland and the UK.”
Another sign that Little Hours’ time is now came a few months ago when they were nominated for Irish Song Of The Year for their debut single ‘It’s Still Love’ at the Meteor Choice Awards. In some ways, it was an affirmation that the pair were on the right road.
“I remember getting the email from John and he said we just got nominated for a Meteor Award and I went ‘Shut up!’” he laughs.
“We were sitting around thinking how did that happen? The night itself was amazing. We were backstage after playing and walked past James Vincent McMorrow before he was going out to perform and were pinching each other while watching it all. It was absolutely an affirmation we’re on the right road. The past year couldn’t have gone any better for us. It started off playing Electric Picnic, our first gig, and from that it went on to releasing our [self-titled] EP, the Meteors and the two sold-out shows in the Pepper Cannister. Hopefully it’ll keep going like this.”
With all of this incredible news in the band’s life, we wonder how are they dealing with things? Are they feeling any pressure to live up to the (more than justified) hype?
“We wouldn’t be very anxious people and because everything’s been so positive we haven’t worried. There’s been no shakes along the way and nothing to put us off or think ‘Oh crap, maybe this isn’t going to go the way we want.’ It’s been so good. We’ve always been really calm and just want to show people what we can do.”
On June 26, the duo will show thousands of people exactly what they can do when they support Kodaline at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. For Ryan, who’s currently working on new material, it’s going to be a performance they'll cherish for a long time to come.
“It’s unbelievable we’re supporting Kodaline at Kilmainham,” he beams. “We did a Ruby Sessions with them around Christmas time and it was honestly the most nervous we’ve ever been as we were star struck.To get the support for that is absolutely amazing because we’re already huge fans. We would have settled with shaking hands with them, never mind playing on the same stage and Kilmainham’s such an awesome spot so we’re delighted!
“When I started writing original music around two years ago everyone was so down about the Irish music scene and saying it’s hard to make it here,” he continues. “But now you’ve got Hozier, Kodaline, Hudson Taylor, The Coronas, Delorentos... everyone’s getting signed and it’s all very, very positive. The whole world’s looking at Ireland now and waiting to see what’s going to come out next, so I think it’s important to give everything now while this is happening.”