Hard Working Class Cousins

There’s some really dynamite collective nouns out there. Murder of crows aside, there’s a smack of jellyfish, a sleuth of bears, a pounce of cats, an unkindness of ravens and (apparently) an implausibility of gnus. Recently while walking up O’Connell Street I came up with a “depression of junkies”, but now I need one for cousins. Maybe a carafe of cousins? The reason for this is that in the run up to this year’s Hard Working Class Heroes, members of three Dublin based acts on the rise and in this year’s lineup have outed themselves as none other than a carafe of cousins. Chris and Laura Coffey of The Holy Roman Army, Dorothy Cotter aka EleventyFour and Billy Fitzgerald of The Dead Flags, to be precise. All three acts will be performing over the coming days for this year’s festival, and if Dorothy gets her way they might even come up with a weekend of their own. “We often imagine recruiting more family members and staging an event called ‘Quinnfest’, our Granny Quinn would be proud!“

Fresh from playing this year’s Electric Picnic, The Holy Roman Army are Chris and Laura Coffey, a brother and sister from Co. Carlow. They blend samples, synths, vocals and guitar to create music that encompasses electronica, hip-hop, dub, post-rock and shoegaze. The Holy Roman Army’s debut album, ‘How The Light Gets In’ was produced by Stephen Shannon and released in 2009. “Elegant, neatly arranged tunes” The Irish Times

The Dead Flags are Sligo-born pop-punk masters, fronted by Billy Fitzgerald. They write lean, catchy pop songs and their live shows are blisteringly energetic. The Dead Flags debut album ‘Gentlemen’s Club’ was produced by Karl Odlum and released in 2010. “Thrilling slabs of guitar-oriented rock” The Irish Independent

EleventyFour is a solo musical act. Half comedy and all heart, her shows are characterised by her offbeat banter and upbeat songs. EleventyFour will be releasing her debut EP in 2011. “Cute as a button Kimya Dawson like songs” The Irish Times

The Holy Roman Army play the Twisted Pepper on Sat 9th October, The Dead Flags play the Twisted Pepper on Thursday 7th October and EleventyFour plays The Grand Social on Sat 9th October.