Rock around the block with Bitch Falcon

The much-hyped Bitch Falcon swoop into Cork for an innovative music and arts festival based around two of the city’s streets, writes Eoghan O’Sullivan

BITCH Falcon haven’t released any physical music yet, only have a handful of songs up online alongside some live performances on YouTube, but are one of the most talked about bands in the country, and one of the standout names of Quarter Block Party on North Main and South Main Streets in Cork next weekend.

A straight-up rock trio, they wield their instruments like weapons, crashing drums barely holding things together on the likes of ‘TMJ’ and ‘Breed’ as singer Lizzie Fitzpatrick snarls her way through proceedings.

They’ve built their reputation on a ferocious live show that has seen them slay the festival circuit and Other Voices, blowing the likes of Gavin James and Gaz Coombes out of the Dingle water on the opening episode of the 14th season.

So apart from the most badass band name in recent times, what’s Bitch Falcon’s secret? Well...

“We just didn’t have our shit together. We still don’t,” says Fitzpatrick.

They wanted to write more songs than the three currently available on Spotify and Soundcloud. They’ve written over 20 in about four months but the hype has simply been too much to keep up with.

“To be honest, the whole way through has been kind of like playing catch-up because you’re playing a few gigs, getting lots of really good responses at the gigs, and we only had like three songs. We’d play for 15 minutes and people were like, ‘Oh yeah do you wanna play another gig?’ And we always wanted to go for it and we probably weren’t strict enough with ourselves to say no and wait till we have more stuff written,” says Fitzpatrick.

Completed by Naomi Macleod and drummer Nigel Kenny, Bitch Falcon have been going only a couple years. “I think we’ve been lucky. A lot of people are called us a very hypey band and that’s been in our favour because it would get people in the door,” says Fitzpatrick.

Was it a conscious effort to create a buzz? “Not at all,” says Macleod. We just really went with it with all our gigs. We had a troupe of Lizzie’s dancing friends who still come to all the gigs, they were a great kind of hype creator.

“Yeah, you call them the crowd fluffer, they fluff up the crowd, get them to stop standing in the back nodding their heads. It just worked out very well for us.

“And then we were like, actually it’s great we can maybe pat ourselves on the back in a way that, our live show is interesting enough that people will get out and see us.

“That’s what helped us in the long run,”says Fitzpatrick.

So as they prepare to get back to practising, should we expect their Quarter Block Party show, coming a week after they support the Strypes at the Olympia, to be full of brand new tunes? “No, we told you, we don’t have our shit together!” Fitzpatrick laughs. Maybe that’s the secret.

Bitch Falcon play BDSM on North Main Street on Saturday, February 6, as part of Quarter Block Party