Seeing the name Llama Cult on the Trinity Ball lineup, you might not really know what to expect. That’s just what this Dublin-based indie folk band are hoping for. “If the music is speaking for itself, the name stands,” Karl Tuohy, the band’s singer and guitarist, says. The name itself is courtesy of Llama Cult’s bass player, singer, and humbly self-professed “national sex symbol” Donagh Kelly’s love of whimsy. “I liked it because it didn’t remind me of any other band name,” Donagh says. “Set up no expectations for ourselves and then people see us … I think it’s just a bit of fun”.
We sat down with three members of the band ahead of their TBall slot, which they secured last week after winning the popular vote at Trinity Ents’s Battle of the Bands on Wednesday. “The Frames would be our closest influence,” they tell us, also citing Simon & Garfunkel and Neil Young, and “heavier stuff” like Fontaines D.C. and Wunderhorse. Created in 2021 after frontmen Karl and Donagh were first “thrown together” at music school as “the two folky people”, Llama Cult are looking to inject a core folk sensibility into “big bombastic jams”. At the heart of their tunes are folk sound and songwriting craft, which the now five-piece band builds on “layer by layer” to generate something, they say, “that feels like our own sound”. “It’s kind of a unique thing right now in the Dublin scene,” their lead guitarist, Eoin Roebuck, says, “… to have that kind of folk core to a band where songwriting comes first, always.”
He recalls the first time he saw Karl and Donagh perform: “I remember the first day of our second year we got told that the first years were putting on a gig,” he says, speaking of his early years as a music student at DCU. “We all went down to check it out and the band was called Llama Cult and I thought, ‘What are these guys doing?’. And I saw the set and it was crazy, it was wild, Karl possibly destroying the guitar, Donagh was doing manifestations and salutations with the crowd. It was one of those things where the name fully suits the band and you can’t really explain why.”
The electric energy Llama Cult bring to their gigs, they say, comes in large part from the close bond between their members. Karl and Donagh first met and began playing with each other in 2018 or 2019 — “when we were kids”, Donagh says. “It’s funny to know someone musically that way,” he pauses. “We basically have full faith in each other on stage,” Karl adds, “it’s completely locked in, where I can predict exactly what he’s gonna do, five minutes before he does it.”
The band has grown since Karl and Donagh’s initial duo, with Eoin on guitar, Norah Stevens playing violin and Daniel Dennehy on drums. “The vibe when you’re with the band, you’ll be buzzing about it for weeks,” Karl says. “When the five of us come together there’s a spark,” Donagh agrees. “We do have that freedom, we have that trust really in each other … if one person puts a foot out of place, everyone else will catch them”. This freedom for them means that “we’re always pushing ourselves energy-wise”. “When we get on stage it’s just always a different thing and always something new comes out,” Donagh says. He notes the band’s “ability to improvise and to construct arrangements very on the spot”, drawing on several of its members’ jazz backgrounds; at the same time, Karl describes the “huge effort put into the tunes”: “it gives you the freedom to go a bit mad on the stage. I kind of end up going a bit feral,” he laughs. “Foaming at the mouth, like!” Donagh affirms.
The band’s powerful stage presence and catchy tunes are what won Llama Cult their TBall place at Battle of the Bands, and they’re preparing to bring the same energy on the night of the ball. “We’re going to go for the heavy ones. We’re going to go all out again,” Karl tells us. “High octane, high energy. Just give people something to dance to.”
Having released their first songs — recorded in Donagh’s bedroom — in 2021, this summer is set to be a big one for Llama Cult. “We’re lined up to do a full revival this summer, with TBall as our teeing-off point,” Karl says. “Over the last year or so, we’ve been working on heaps of music.” The band is due to release several new singles in June and its first EP later that month, which will be gigged over the summer and available on major streaming platforms. You’ll also, of course, be able to catch them on April 10th at TBall — they will certainly be an act not to miss.
Llama Cult’s singles “Western Side”, “The Great Wall of Montreal”, and “The Chance” are currently available on major streaming platforms including Spotify and Apple Music. You can also follow them on Instagram at @thetruellamacult.
