Up and coming bands play gigs, do interviews where they extol the massive influence Bowie has had on their lives and how they want to make it big and tour America all while they glaze behind you to the mirror to fix their angular haircut or to-scraggly-to-be-natural hair. So when someone says to you “I really wanna play every county in Ireland!” and with such playful eagerness you sit up and take notice. Comprising of two bezzie mates Meabh and Megan they have combined a love of techno with the added spice of rap to create something, which stands out from the normal swathe of Irish bands.

Meabh and Megan are an odd mix. Meabh has spent many a month over the past few years in Berlin soaking up the avant garde lifestyle that city uniquely has to offer. She learnt how to MC and get into German rap there among other things. Megan on the other hand is still in school. In fact our interview was delayed so that Megan could finish supervised study! However as it is in all such cases it was a love of music and mutual friends that brought them together. They met each other at a friend’s club in Waterford. “Our eyes met across a crowded room and we knew that it was meant to be!” jokes Megan on that fateful night. So a few weeks later in June just past they met up, found out they both loved the same music and so in Megan’s bedroom over Alex Gopher’s Motorcycle Clutch they decided to join forces and unleash You’re Only Massive on the country.

So what are they like? Well think Chicks on Speed without the pretentiousness. Add in some rap and a bit of techno with some girly charm and there you have it. Since June they have toured relentlessly and although they havn’t yet made it to every county in Ireland (I’m still dubious about Longford) they have garnered a lot of praise for their tongue in cheek style and music. “ we don’t have the knowledge to sound like a proper group” Megan explains, “I don’t really know how to mix properly so it [our sound] just sounds like this out of necessity”. Nevertheless as a band live they seamlessly and flirtatiously rap over their favorite vinyls. Justice’s Phantom becomes a saucy, slinky number while Alex Gopher is transformed into the whimsical ‘SugarShake The Cool Away’. It seems all so odd. It shouldn’t work but somehow it does and it has taken them around the country to Hard Working Class Heroes, Kilkenny, Dublin Fringe and em, Navan. “That was a really weird gig” Megan giggles “Girls were coming up to us afterwards and going ‘that was the best fun we ever had!’”

This all seems quite a lot for such a budding band, especially when Megan is busy preparing for the Leaving Cert. How does it all work? “Its kind of really hard actually” Megan tells me “not that it affects school really but in terms of playing gigs”. A recent gig in Limerick on a school night resulted in Meabh roping in a friend to take the reigns for that show. So nothing will stop this band. A possible brief pause coming up to the exams will be followed by a massive burst of shows around the country. Gigs-a-plenty will occur. “We really like playing shitty little towns” Meabh eagerly tells me. So watch out Longford.

You’re Only Massive may not be the most professional band out there. They may not think much about what they are doing or care about how they are perceived but as they rap in SugarShake The Cool Away “I’m tearing it up/Get ready to rave/Right here/Right now” it’s all fun and games to Megan and Meabh. So catch them the next time they hit, um, Ballina.

Conor O'Neill is a winetaster and former Buenos Airen, studying History and Politics in Trinity.
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