She's a Beauty

It’s late February. All the employees, schoolchildren and even third-level students have now settled back into their everyday schedules. Now that the weather is finally getting milder and the snow is gone, we’re all prepared to step outside and head into town for a few drinks, some cool music and a bit of craic. A night in Captain America’s to see new, up-and-coming band, She’s a Beauty was an excellent way to forget about all the trials and tribulations of the day.

She’s a Beauty was one of two live acts in Captain’s Live in Grafton Street on Tuesday, February 8th. They came on around 11pm following singer, Fiona Dunkin. When they arrived on stage, the venue was still full of loud banter, wind-down chat and shouted drink orders. However, as they began their first song, “Beautiful Unknown”, a gradual silence filled the room. The dense chat in Captain’s Live became almost non-existent, which I believe was initial curiosity about the band’s different style of music. The curiosity of the crowd turned into fascination by their talent and even the group of people hidden away behind a corner peered around to listen to She’s a Beauty. After their first song, lead guitarist, Robert, introduced them and even bribed the audience with free songs and T-shirts if they added the band on Facebook.

The area closest to the stage was completely taken up by a crowd that was certainly not there to chat while music played in the background. But what were possibly more astounding were those who simply did just come for a chat but constantly stopped to listen to the band. They received immense applause after every song and they ended with “Rizla Blues” and encouraged the audience to catch them at their next appearance in April.

All four members hail from Maynooth and they formed early in 2010 after jamming at a party and realising there might be something there; and there certainly was. They then decided to focus solely on their music and after a few days of song writing in Sligo, they came up with an original set of songs. In Captain’s Live, they played ‘rock of all sorts’ including original songs, “Broken Bottles”, “Copy and Paste” and “Jazz Talk”. They also covered Artic Monkeys song, “Do Me a Favour” superbly. Their set displayed each members talents at different times, making them a genuinely talented music band, instead of some of the ‘bands’ we see so much of nowadays, with one good singer/lead guitarist accompanied by some backup musicians .

She’s a Beauty definitely has an individual sound to them, difficult to compare to anything else. There is a vague underlying sound similar to English band, The Hoosiers with a slight reminder of Snow Patrol in the slower songs, mixed with half a dozen other sounds. It was clear to see the passion in their performance, when lead singer, Cathal swung his head in time to the music with such intensity, it seemed independent from his body. For a new band, their chemistry and talent is impressive and the reaction from the audience in Captain’s proved that.

They are now equipped with a versatile set of different moods, styles, and genres, and the band is ready for bigger and better challenges. They have now honed their live set and intend to spend this year expanding their fan base as much as possible through live gigs at top quality venues as well as taking full advantage of the benefits of social networking. The band is soon to release their debut EP, which will illustrate what She’s a Beauty is truly capable of.

Follow She’s a Beauty on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/shesabeauty.irl - Jenny Darmody