SUBSOUNDS
YOUTH MUSIC FESTIVAL
The SubSounds Youth Music Festival is a day of family fun and a celebration of young musicians. SubSounds is a youth music collective for young people aged 14-18 based in Tallaght. Since 2004 it has worked with musicians from around South Dublin County, mentoring them in the composition, arrangement, performance and recording of original music.
This festival is a partnership between SubSounds and Music Generation MEP's from South Dublin County, Kildare, Fingal, Meath, Dublin City, and Wicklow. The festival is youth led and youth centred, and will feature performances by participants of projects from these six counties.
We're delighted to be able to feature Daire Heffernan a former SubSounds participant as our main headliner on the day.
RTE JR. AT SUBSOUNDS
MUSIC FESTIVAL 2023
CAKE, the ultimate podcast for young arts and culture enthusiasts came along to our first ever SubSounds Youth Music Festival, and took the time to chat to some of our performers and some of the amazing team behind the festival.
They did a great job and the episode gives a great behind the scenes look at what it was like to be involved!
WHO did YOU HEAR 2023:
Daire Heffernan is an exciting new singer-songwriter from Dublin and based in Belfast. Her music is equal parts indie rock and dream pop and is influenced by artists including Phoebe Bridgers, beabadoobee, and Cocteau Twins.
In early 2022, she released her debut single, the guitar heavy 'Skeletons', shortly followed by the more delicate 'Midwest Emo', showcasing the singers' songwriting versatility. "Heffernan's cocktail of shoegaze, electro, country and indie is a potent one" - Garry Baylon, The Goo Magazine.
These songs would later feature on her EP 'Wasters' which was released in late June, coinciding with a debut headline show to a sold out crowd upstairs in Whelans (120 capacity). Since its release, 'Wasters' has received widespread critical praise in Ireland featuring in outlets including Hot Press, Nialler9, GoldenPlec, and The Thin Air. The songs have also gathered considerable radio play with the eponymous 'Wasters' being named Dan Hegarty's track of the week on RTÉ 2FM. “The songs are incredibly strong, and sound
well placed alongside the best that artists like Nadine Shah, PJ Harvey, and Aoife Nessa Francis have brought us over the years” - Dan Hegarty, RTÉ 2FM.
Heffernan continues to develop her sound and live show. She has performed a live session for RTÉ 2FM in the famous Studio 8 and in November 2022, she played a headline show in the Workman’s Cellar promoted by Foggy Notions as well as a debut headline show in Belfast. Excitement has been building for the singer with Gemma Bradley of BBC Across The Line describing her as a "Future Headliner".
Her latest single ‘Harry’ was released on March 1st and was named 'Track of the Week' on RTÉ 2FM. The song showcases a new side to her music with 90s inspired guitar melodies and a cinematic atmosphere.
Hi! We are Cohorts, a new and upcoming Dublin based Alternative Rock band composed of El Fortune, Jamie Tobin, Claudia Preston, and Evan Garry. In our music, we are heavily inspired by the life around us. Taking in all the good and bad influences and captivating that into a unique sound that is also relatable and nostalgic to our listeners. We also have a distinctive fusion of styles musically but even appearance wise, separating us as individuals on stage but moulding us together perfectly as a band because we are just so gorgeous! We hope to leave a dent in music history one day and hopefully inspire others with our music.
Despite being a relatively new band, we have known each other for years. We all met while attending a music programme in Rua Red called Subsounds. This course has helped us as a band. Working with other musicians, getting inspiration from the students and the mentors, and having the experience of recording and performing in the best spots in Dublin.
Our band's debut Single, "I Need You," will be released on May 27th of this year. We are very excited for this track to be released as we put a lot of late nights, lots of love, sweat and tears into it. Debuting the song at a showcase in Rua Red last Christmas, we feel like It’s a great depiction of us as a band starting out. Our next project will be to work on recording our first EP.
Florence Rd. are an emerging Alt-Rock band from Bray.
The band have been getting quite the name for themselves, gigging in popular venues in Dublin, Bray and beyond. The band kicked off 2023 with their headline gig in Fibber Magees in February.
The response they received was incredible, landing them their Biggest gig supporting for 'The Academic' in the Olympia theatre in March.
With almost 100,000 listens on Spotify, Florence Rd. are only getting started. You don’t want to miss their set at SubSounds Youth Music Festival on the 24th of June.
Joseph Ryder is a Dublin based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and performer. With influences ranging from Phoebe Bridgers and Elliott Smith to Amy Winehouse and Frank Ocean, his sound is sure to be enjoyed by many.
From an extremely early age Joseph has been musically inclined, starting piano lessons at just 6 years old. Growing up Joseph took any chance he could get to perform, from open mics to musical theatre. He began writing and recording music at the early age of 13 and at 16 years old he released his debut single ‘Saturday’.