Cork noise-rock trio Therapy Horse set to debut at Fred Zeppelin's

SOMETHING that’s struck your writer about music in Cork after the last few years has been the openness that the wider community has had to those game enough to pick up an instrument and work away at their craft — outside of those usual parameters of running in well-heeled circles, or the quandaries of founding/finding ground-floor outlets in which to gain practical experience, while finding one’s voice.

As a fellow Cork music nerd and journalist, that openness is not lost on Emily Dollery — as both an already-seasoned veteran of college and community radio in the city, and a Cork School of Music-graduate music teacher, she’s a familiar face to a generation of young music heads, most recently depping on bass with shoegazers Pebbledash on a short Irish tour, to boot.

But as revealed by the sheets of distortion and gripping sense of catharsis embodied by the music of Therapy Horse, a three-piece noise-rock band in which Dollery serves as a creative and sonic catalyst, she’s been studiously honing her craft, including time with MusicGeneration Limerick City mentor Steve Ryan (Tooth/Giveamanakick/Windings), over the past decade or more, before meeting bandmate and guitarist Cormac Donovan O’Neill, also of Pebbledash.

“Myself and Cormac have known each other since, I’d say about 2022, because we met while we were both working in UCC 98.3FM. I think we bonded because we are, in the most affectionate way possible, a very nerdy band. I think we were actually just messing around in the UCC studio, when we were meant to be working, and I had a few songs that I’d messed around with, just a few little demos and scraps for fun, doing a lot of plucking away on the guitar at home.

“He was the first person to kind of listen to them and, likewise, he had a lot of his own ambient stuff. I think we talked about it for a while, ‘hey, let’s just kind of work with some stuff that I’ve written, and y’know, we’ll see where we go from there’.

“And it was around the time that he had just ed Pebbledash himself, so we were using that same practice space, and Eoin Schuck (drummer for both bands) ed us recently. A lot of the songs came about from just jamming together and seeing what flowed… I think that’s why it’s gotten to be this really weird noise-rock thing. It feels like we’re the only people who put up with each other, with, y’know, these really weird interests.”

That process of jamming things out has yielded the bones of a longform set that forms the basis of their live debut at the rock ‘n’ roll stronghold of Fred Zeppelin’s on Saturday, March 22 — a process whose stages of pre-production, rewrites and polish denote a careful foundation laid under all the reverb and ramification.

“I think one thing that really makes the band work, is we’re all a little bit perfectionistic,” Dollery opines. “And it’s funny, I think the way that we play wouldn’t really suggest that. A lot of the songs as they are now would have started as a 20-minute jam, and it could be because I figured out I could make a new noise on my pedalboard or something.

“There was one song that came about from Cormac, his tunings and guitar, because he plays in these insane Sonic Youth tunings. He’s a really unique and interesting guitar player, and even Schuck, as a relatively recent member of the band, I think even his style works so well

“I think we all have this approach of pushing ourselves, like, ‘what can I actually do with this instrument?’ And I feel like that translates into, ‘alright, what can I do with my instrument until I nearly injure myself or break it, and in the following process, mapping out the songs. A lot of them have taken a long time; some of them were jammed a year ago, and we’ve only kind-of figured them out come January, y’know?”

It’s a well-worn trope that Fredz is itself something of a survivor on Cork’s music scene — marking 25 years last year — but Dollery is also effusive in her praise for the red room upstairs on Parliament Street, explaining its role in her own life and those of her bandmates.

“I was a local music nerd after covid. Worn Out [Cork hardcore outfit] was one of the first gigs that I actually saw when covid restrictions were lifted. I definitely spent a lot of time there, especially in my college years, and it has been a breeding ground for a lot of talent. And I know especially because the Cork scene is getting a bit of attention, y’know, even from managers in the UK or on the continent, because of bands like Cliffords and Cardinals, and I think that definitely has to be credited back to Fredz, because you could do just about anything there.

“Ether are, like, athletes, workhorses, y’know, they’ve played Fredz a million times, and they do this really nice mix of grunge and shoegaze.

“Delph is actually a solo noise-rock project spearheaded by Pebbledash’s Fionnbharr.

“I think even the fact that it’s very different from what he’s known for, I suppose, I’m actually really excited to see where it goes. I suppose, because [Fredz is] so varied and it’s also so accessible, it really gives you the range to experiment. And I think that [suits us], because I think we’re pretty weird-sounding.”

Therapy Horse headline at Fred Zeppelin’s on Saturday, March 22, with from Delph and Ether. Doors 9pm, tickets €5 available on eventbrite.ie, or on the door.