For Babyrat playing All Together Now is "a dream come true"

From attendees to artists, playing at All Together Now is a ‘dream come true’ for this young band

Formed in 2024, Babyrat have been impressing punk rockers and pop lovers alike at festivals across the country this year. 

They were ripped from their native Cork and shipped to Waterford where their ‘bitch pop’ sound was lauded as one of the best sets of Friday, at All Together Now.

The Waterford News & Star spoke to frontwoman Zoe Callanan and guitarist Jamie Kierans who said playing at All Together Now, “is a dream come true".

The pair attended the festival last year and fell in love with the atmosphere on the Curraghmore Estate. 

Jamie said: “It’s where I experienced the most joy and warmth. Everytime you bump into someone, they’re the kindest person you’ve met.”

It was this experience that allowed them to dare to dream that one day, it could be them up on stage. 

As Jamie put it: “It’s really easy to dream of doing the artist thing because you see artists you love doing it and you know what it feels like to be at a gig here.”

Perhaps going to other performances inspired the band, but their set was unlike any other at the festival. 

Their sound is utterly unique with scathing lyrics delivered with a smile and wink from Zoe who is clearly having so much fun on stage. 

She told the News & Star: “I couldn’t get over it, I kept smiling to myself ear to ear. The crowd was amazing, everyone was so up for dancing and up for singing and that’s what we’re all about - community and love. It was so special.” 

The band describe their music as ‘power pop’, which is “pop music wearing rock clothes”, according to Zoe. 

She explained that the band take a lot of inspiration from Paramore. They’ve been likened to Blondie.

Songs like ‘Talk Talk’ capture female rage and Zoe can go from belting out lyrics to whispering into the mic within a breath. 

You never quite know what's coming next with this band and dancing in the crowd whilst screaming their lyrics is a form of catharsis that everyone can partake in but, judging from their set at All Together Now, is most keenly applauded by other young women.

Their songwriting process begins with Jamie and Zoe writing the song together on an acoustic guitar and they bring that to the other band members. 

Zoe told Waterford News & Star: “Everyone has their own stamp on every song, which is very important to us. Sometimes I’ll write a bit of Stevie’s drums, and he’ll recommend a melody for me, and I’ll sing Jamie’s guitar line.” 

“How the songs start is different, but they all get put into a room - there’s no such thing as writing for your own part, everyone writes for everyone’s part," she said.

The band said the act they were most excited to see at the festival were their fellow Corkonians, Gurriers. 

“What’s so cool about Gurriers is that they’re a band that everyone really roots for," said Jamie.

"They played the Road to Nowhere stage last year and there was a great crowd and now they’re playing the main stage.”