On the occasion of their performance at Birmingham’s Supersonic Festival and prior to their performance, we talked with Poor Creature—the collaboration between Landless’ Ruth Clinton and Lankum’s Cormac MacDiarmada and John Dermody following their release of their debut album All Smiles Tonight (July 11th, River Lea Records). Emerging during the COVID period, the project honors their Irish folk roots while shaping them with contemporary elements. In this heartfelt chat with both band members, we explore their creative process, musical influences, and the journey behind their debut.
Welcome to Poor Creature
So, first of all, thank you Ruth, Cormac and John for the interview and I want to welcome you here to Femme Metal Webzine and I want to ask you how are you and how is this period treating you?
Ruth: Very well, thank you. Yeah, I suppose we’re in a quietish period now because the album’s just come out and there was a bit leading up to that and now with a bit of time before we’re actually going away and playing gigs and everything, so some time to work out some
Cormac: …light admin.
Yeah, well, I had the chance to listen to the album and first of all my congratulations for it.
Ruth: Thank you.
Poor Creature and the COVID
I’d like to start with one short question. COVID-19, in a way, had a positive influence for some creators. What do you recall about that period and about creating music during a time when many bands were struggling with the pandemic?
Cormac: I mean, I was just going to say everyone’s situation was just generally during COVID, I think, was so different and we were just lucky enough to be in a house that had the space for all our instruments. So, there’s everything there and we had the time as well and with the space and time to not bother other people in the house because the house is big enough for that. So, yeah, and busy, you know, lots of things to work on.
Creating the debut All Smiles Tonight
I was definitely part of that period too. So I’d also like to ask: how did All Smiles Tonight come together in that environment—working separately, not being able to meet in person, and having to create all the musical parts apart from one another?
Ruth: Well, me and Cormac lived together, so that made that easy. And then when we had a fair bit of the music all ready to go, or our parts were ready, we passed it on to John, who then was able to finish everything. So, it wasn’t, the three of us at least, weren’t all in different places. That would have been really hard.
Cormac: Yeah, most definitely.
John: And I think it was probably kind of the tail end of COVID, it was kind of the end of COVID before, because we were, I mean, we would have rehearsed together and played a live show or two together before we went anywhere near the recordings as well.
And that was kind of important just to be able to play around with stuff and be able to kind of, you know, try different things in the songs and then, you know, go into the studio and figure it out.
The tail end of COVID and the first Poor Creature gig
But definitely, by the time the three of us were able to come together, it was because the whole city and the whole country was back, kind of getting on its way to getting back to some kind of degree of normality. So, we did a benefit gig for our friend’s dog, and we did that one with no rehearsals, and we weren’t really able to hear each other [everybody laughs].
Cormac: But somehow, apparently, it went okay. And then we did. It was to a lot of very enthusiastic folks, in fairness.
Never second guess yourself
Well, that’s also nice because it feels natural and spontaneous. In a way, sometimes not rehearsing can even be better—it makes the music feel more alive and genuine.
Ruth: Yeah, definitely spontaneous.
Cormac: Barriers do be down.
John: I was gonna say, sometimes what you do instinctively is sometimes the best option as well, do you know what I mean?
Cormac: So, but not second-guessing yourself. It’s like, I don’t have time to second-guess myself. I just have to do it.
Exactly. Sometimes if you second-guess yourself, then the result is not what you wanted.
Cormac: Totally. Yeah. If you’re prone to overthinking as well, it can be a bit of a bastard.
The core essence of All Smiles Tonight
Yeah, absolutely. I also know that All Smiles Tonight features some reinterpretations of older songs from the Irish musical tradition. I wanted to ask: how did you choose which songs to include on the album? The repertoire is so extensive, and while I’m not an expert in Irish folk music, I know there’s a lot to draw from.
Ruth: It was pretty gradual, I would say, and organic, I suppose, that a lot, some of them would have been songs we sang individually, ourselves anyway. And then, I suppose, when you’re thinking about songs to work on, you would try and imagine one of those songs in this band, what it might sound like.
And some of them would present themselves as more suitable for the sound than others, I think. But rather than deciding on a particular theme or anything like that. Yeah, I think that, and then ones we just kind of accumulated during lockdown period as well.
John: Okay. And it’s a slightly wider palette than just the Irish folk. I suppose there’s some kind of old American country songs.
Cormac: There’s a country and Irish song.
The core essence of All Smiles Tonight #2
John: There’s a country and Irish song that was written by, like it’s most famously performed by some Irish kind of country and western singers, but it was written by an American, right?
Ruth: I think so. Jamie and Wanda Helms wrote it. And also, me and Cormac play a weekly American old time, so it’s kind of like Appalachian music session. We meet in a pub with friends most Fridays and play there. So we’d often be thinking of songs for that. And then some of them we then steal back for Poor Creature as well.
Well, interesting. I mean, I really like Appalachian folk music. It’s one of the most interesting ones. I mean, there is also a wide palette because they get also influences from American country itself. So it’s also a different aspect on how to approach it in a way.
Ruth: True. And then some of the songs would come over here and go back there and come back and they get different versions come up and exchange.
It isn’t just folk…
Yeah, what I also really liked is that the album isn’t just folk—it has elements of alternative sounds, some drone, and even touches that feel quite psychedelic. I was pleasantly surprised, because usually when you think about Irish music, you immediately think of straight folk. But when I listened to the album, I felt something else, something broader and more experimental, and that was a really good surprise.
John: I think we’re all waiting for each other to speak there. There’s a pretty healthy scene, I guess, in Ireland with a lot of kind of interesting stuff happening.
And a lot of kind of, you know, a lot of different people working in slightly different genres. But they’ll be doing shows together and playing kind of all-dayers together and all that kind of stuff. And we’d all have a fairly broad sort of set of musical interests as well.
I kind of grew up on punk rock and Cormac would have done similar. And we’d both be into a lot of kind of psyche stuff, a lot of sort of ecstatic trance-y kind of, you know, kraut rock and into kind of doom and metal as well. So we’d sort of have that.
“so there’s a shared palette to an extent there”…
I won’t speak for Ruth because I know she can probably speak to that herself. But yeah, me and Cormac obviously grew up together, so there’s a shared palette to an extent there. And obviously, I’ll hand over to the guys. But yeah, we’re definitely a product of our environments and our influences.
Cormac: Definitely. We’re kind of split-rocking as well. Growing up as well, there was a lot of gigs on all the time and there was loads of good stuff happening in the city centre, a lot of small spaces and doing really cool things. So yeah, there was always something on.
Some upcoming names in the growing Irish scene
John just mentioned the ferment in the Irish scene. If I were to ask which names I should check out or remember, which bands from this new scene would you recommend?
Cormac: John Francis Flynn is amazing. Who else? There’s so much.
John: I mean, an artist called Katie Kim, who’s involved with Oxen, which is a sort of Blancombe adjacent. They’re fabulous. Kay, he’s incredible. There’s a really good band called No Spill Blood, who are kind of really heavy three-piece. They’re signed to a Finnish label called Svart.
Ruth: There’s a band called Annapalindrome, who are excellent. Amazing, yeah.
The CONNCERT festival
John: There’s some really cool stuff coming out of our second city, which is Cork. The Bonk are pretty awesome. What’s it called, Pop Pop?
Ruth: It’s a festival that is only in its second year now, but it’s called the CONNCERT [more information can be found here on their official Instagram]. And if you just look at the lineup for that, for last year and this year, that would give you 16 excellent Irish bands. It’s so good.
Supersonic Festival #1
I will make sure to check it out. I’m really curious.
Cormac: It’s cool, actually. There’s a festival we’re playing in called Supersonic in Birmingham in a month or two, and there’s a bunch of bands going over and a bunch of different heads playing and stuff, so it’s nice. Yeah, actually the band that’s their brother is in Rún.
Yeah, I know them. Well, between us, I just interviewed them a couple of weeks ago, so.
Cormac: No way! Yeah, yeah. That’s gas. Well, there you go. Yeah, the daddy. That’s our brother.
Poor Creature partecipating at Supersonic Festival
Congratulations! You just mentioned the Supersonic Festival in Birmingham—what are you most looking forward to about that performance?
Ruth: I think getting to be surrounded by musicians that you really admire and would be so excited to see the whole lineup is a treat, a real treat and rare.
Cormac: It really is. Like, it’s that thing of where, that lovely thing where you’re kind of deciding which show to go to, which kind of bands to see, because they’re all deadly rather than a couple being okay or a couple being good. You know what I mean? It’s like everything is worth everything is worth checking out at a bare minimum.
Supersonic Festival #3
John: Yes, it’s one of the best curated festivals out there really, isn’t it?
Yeah, that’s great to hear. I read that the lineup there is really impressive—I saw Cinder Well on the bill, and of course you as well. There are so many up-and-coming acts worth checking out for sure.
Cormac: Totally.
John: Thanks for Richard Dawson, who is one of the greatest living songwriters of our time.
Ellen Arkbro…
Yeah, absolutely agree with you. But I wanted to ask you, you know, which role played Ellen Arkbro and the old records of Warp Records on All Smiles Tonight?
Ruth: I adore Ellen Arkbro. I love her. Though, I can’t cast her role.
Cormac: It was what role was it? Oh, I don’t know.
Ruth: Maybe it’s, I don’t know. It’s hard to say. I suppose you think so, seep in subconsciously. Like I’ve played pipe organ since I was a teenager. So would have that association with drone music in that sense.
And then obviously there’s a connection with Irish instruments and drones and everything. But so maybe it’s just validating to hear an album like Ellen Arkbro‘s, which is so minimal and very confident and extremely immersive and simple. But I don’t know how much it has to do with what we actually made consciously.
I listened to one of her albums and found it really fascinating. In a way, it felt like being transported into another dimension while listening—it’s hard to put into words.
Ruth: Actually, it’s just a sensation in a way. Yeah, it’s so immersive. I suppose every time you listen to it, you hear tiny little different subtleties that you didn’t hear the last time. I find.
….and Warp Records = Poor Creature
Yeah, that’s true. I agree.
John: And… I appreciate the Warp Records reference. I don’t know that we’re consciously trying to channel…
Cormac: Did I maybe say something in an interview about it?
I don’t know, I really didn’t read any of your interviews—it just came from my own impression and knowledge.
Ruth: Oh, amazing. I thought you’d read that I said I liked Daryl and Narc, bro. Yeah, okay. Right.
Cormac: I thought, yeah, same. That’s cool. Early Warp is a massive influence, I’d say, on me and John. Like, Autechre, where my first realisation that noise is rhythm as far as that goes. And it does a huge degree of intricacies behind beats that you can kind of make bloom. And yeah, it kind of blew my mind.
Same with Aphex Twin. I think I was 16 kind of seeing the most insane videos on MTV. And it just blew my mind. Absolutely blew my mind. Because I just hadn’t really engaged with dance music or electronic music, because I wasn’t drawn to it. But then when I heard that, it was this entire world that completely opened up.
The good ol’ days with MTV
Those were the nice time with MTV. I gotta give it.
John: Yeah. Yeah, Chill Out Town. That was the one, wasn’t it?
Yeah, absolutely. I’m a child of the ’90s, so I basically grew up with MTV. Musically speaking, I got my prime dose of inspiration from all the programs they aired. So yeah, I completely agree with you, in a way. But yeah, unfortunately, those times are gone in a way. And it’s sad.
John: I remember seeing an hour long special on Shorter To Think on MTV, like around the time Pony Express Records came out. They were basically featuring you know, like bands on Discord Records and stuff like that. And Headliner’s Ball had, you know, plenty of good stuff on it.
It’s a very different time now. Yeah. Oh, good.Now we’re all old and giving up on how things are and how they used to be better. Brilliant [everybody laughing].
Approaching to music today
Yeah, there is a sort of nostalgia, you know, speaking about it, because I still remember going to the record shop and buying the CD single. So we are talking around half of the 90s. And there was still some fascination with it. Now it’s, yeah, okay, there is the vinyl, but mostly it’s digital and you cannot touch it.
Cormac: You can’t have it at home, in a way. That’s how I feel about it. Yeah, it’s so funny, because it’s like, while at the same time, I love the fact that I can go on Bandcamp as soon as I hear anything that I’m remotely interested in.
And within 30 seconds, I have it, I’ve downloaded it, I’ve bought it, and I’m listening to it. And I know that it’s contributing directly to the artist as well. So I do love that as well.
But you’re totally right. You really do miss the physicality and the kind of like the focused engagement with this thing. Yeah, absolutely. You have to divert attention solely to this.
Approaching to music today #2
Ruth: Yeah, people in general just listen to too much stuff now. And you don’t have that same thing of like, this is the album you bought this month or whatever, and you’re going to listen to it obsessively. And only, it’s just the whole world at your fingertips too much. Yeah.
John: Most of my favourite records, I didn’t like them initially, it took time. And you’d have to sit with it a bunch. And then once you sort of get a handle on it and it opens up for you, then you get to listen to it for years, because it’s just continually paying off. Like, if you’re not forced to kind of, you know, well, I bought this and I paid for it. I don’t have any other ones that are new. So I have to listen to this one. And you kind of, yeah, you lose that a little bit.
Future plans for Poor Creature
So, we talked about the Supersonic Festival earlier—after that show, do you have any plans for a tour on the European mainland?
Ruth: Nothing yet, but we really want to. I don’t know. I hope so, yeah.
John: We, yeah, we have a small tour in the UK in September. Yes. Some Irish show in October, November again. But yeah, we would certainly really like to get to Europe. So we’ll probably just, we’ll ask our booker to start reaching out, I think.
Thanks so much for joining me for the interview tonight. I hope I managed to cover everything, and I hope you enjoyed it. I really appreciate your time and insights—thank you again.
Ruth, Cormac & John: Absolutely. Well, thank you.