The Belfast band Girls Names is getting ready to release their second LP, The New Life, coming out on Slumberland Records February 26th. The group was started in January 2009 when friends Cathal Cully and Neil Brogan formed a band to support the US noise-pop act Wavves at a show in Belfast. The two had never been in a band before, and Brogan had never played drums, but that didn’t seem to stop the duo as later that year they recorded a demo for the song “Cold Hands, Warm Heart”. The song caught the ear of Captured Tracks’ founder Mike Sniper, who agreed to release a record as soon as the band had enough material. Cully and Brogan next recruited Claire Miskimmin to play bass, and in true DIY fashion she had to learn to play the instrument before heading out on tour with the group. Girls Names has since released EPs for Captured Tracks and Tough Love, the 2011 LP Dead To Me for Slumberland Records, as well as a number of singles and split singles for the labels. For The New Life the band has added guitarist and keyboardist Philip Quinn of Charles Hurts. You can stream The New Life sampler from Slumberland Records here:
