Poor Creature

History is a chronological timeline, often misinterpreted and disputed. Rooted in landscape and geography, people and moments, it thrives on contradiction: victors and losers, mythology and reality. Within that landscape, songs are arguably subject to even more contrasts. Songs that have existed for centuries can seem immutable and anchored to time. A new generation of Irish musicians are keen to acknowledge that musical legacy, while re-imagining the songs within a contemporary context. Poor Creature are one such, a trio comprised of Ruth Clinton, Cormac MacDiarmada and John Dermody. All three are members of other bands (Landless and Lankum respectively) who have built a large following on re-interpreting songs from the past. They formed during lockdown and the original line-up was initially just Ruth and Cormac. "Ruth and I had played together a lot before and then lockdown hit. Suddenly we had a load of time at home with a room full of instruments, so it started from there," says Cormac. The decision was also not a conscious one, adds Ruth: "We never said: 'let's start a band' it was more 'let's arrange this song' and see what happens." Price includes a 50p venue levy