In a dark rehearsal space in Cork, the band\u2019s frontwoman, lyricist, and guitarist Iona Lynch is seated on the ground, next to trumpet player and bassist Gavin Dawkins, lead guitarist Harry Menton, and keyboard player Locon O\u2019Toole. Together they\u2019re enthusiastic, informed, and passionate. Whether the topic is Cork\u2019s music scene or sexism in the music industry, they come with opinions based on real-life experiences.<\/p>\n
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Just a few years ago, Cliffords were a band finding their feet. Now, they\u2019re signed to the record label Soil to the Sun (part of Sony Music), and are being praised across the global music press. But they haven\u2019t forgotten that they were once young musicians playing Fred Zeppelins on Parliament St and looking up to local acts like The Love Buzz, Pretty Happy, Elaine Malone, and p\u00f4t-pot.<\/p>\n
Back then, the notion of getting signed to a record label didn\u2019t cross their minds, says Lynch: \u201cOur plan was, we\u2019ll keep playing gigs, and then we\u2019ll play Dublin, and then maybe one day we\u2019ll move to London, and we\u2019ll find the Fred Zeppelins of London, and we\u2019ll just keep playing gigs there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, younger bands see getting signed as a possibility, she says: \u201cI think the industry is noticing Cork as an option. When I\u2019ve talked to younger bands about it, I\u2019m like, \u2018it\u2019s all there for you, you just need to work hard and trust each other and do something that you believe in\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n But as much as things change, some things remain the same in the music industry. One of those things is sexism. Cork is a very supportive music scene, Lynch says, but she has spoken with other women and non-binary people in Irish bands about a music culture where there is a sense they don\u2019t belong at the table. Where they are \u201calways having to go above and beyond to feel like you\u2019re meant to be there\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhich I think is changing a lot more with the younger scene,\u201d she says, [Cliffords are still in their 20s]. \u201cI think there\u2019s a lot less tolerance for that.\u201d<\/p>\n Female artists can face scrutiny that their male peers don\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very lucky that I\u2019m very confident and sure of myself, and that the lads [in Cliffords] are very nice people and not assholes,\u201d says Lynch.<\/p>\n \u201cBut if you weren\u2019t confident and sure of yourself and driven, but equally as talented, I think it\u2019s very easy for you to fall through the cracks. Because you\u2019re not seeing yourself; the door is not open for you when it\u2019s open for so many lads who can just waltz in and think they\u2019re class.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s been told about a \u2018narrative\u2019 around her among some men in the wider music scene.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the narrative is \u2018oh God, she loves herself\u2026 she wants all the attention away from the lads,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s this whole narrative built up… which I just think is crazy. They don\u2019t know me \u2014 they don\u2019t know the lads. The lads don\u2019t want to talk most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n She and the rest of the band laugh as she says this \u2014 particularly as band member Harry Menton has stayed mostly quiet during the interview.<\/p>\n Lynch knows that as the person fronting Cliffords, she\u2019ll get the most attention.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I\u2019m a woman, and because I\u2019m an outspoken woman about these issues, what I get the most is \u2018will she just shut up and get over it\u2019, and \u2018it\u2019s not an issue\u2019,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t mind people saying stuff, because I don\u2019t believe them, and I know that the good people in the music scene and the music industry don\u2019t believe that.<\/p>\n \n A lot of weird, egotistical men seem to be threatened by a girl having confidence in herself. Art that\u2019s made for women and for queer people is not taken as seriously as art that\u2019s made for men.<\/span>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019ve seen is the difference in how some people will talk to the lads and be like \u2018you are an artist, the way that you play guitar is this and this and this\u2019. And then when they talk to me, it\u2019s often \u2018you\u2019re so lucky and gifted\u2019. As if it\u2019s this thing you were born with and you didn\u2019t work for.<\/p>\n \u201cMale musicians always seem to have this journey of hard work that they\u2019ve put into it for years, and that\u2019s much more respected. When you write music for women or tell a female experience, it\u2019s often seen as more emotional, less serious, less artistic.\u201d<\/p>\n The band members witness how differently Lynch can be treated.<\/p>\n \u201cWe three lads see it at the merch desk\u201d says O\u2019Toole. \u201cWe can see the way that [some people] will talk to Iona, compared to the way that they talk to us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOr touch,\u201d says Lynch. \u201cThere\u2019s a big thing with hugging and being incredibly touchy in a way that is not technically assault. Which they do to me and not the lads.\u201d<\/p>\n Her band members nod.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, they wouldn\u2019t do it,\u201d says O\u2019Toole.<\/p>\n![\"music](\"http:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/cms_media\/module_img\/10192\/5096340_13_articleinlinemobile_Indie_20Group_20Cliffords_20at_20their_20rehearsal_20studio_20in_20Cork-5958.jpg\" "\\"music")
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