Cork band Little Known launching new music with gig at Dali 

Centred around the duo of vocalist and guitarist Liam Daly and guitarist Finn Walsh, Little Known are a band that seem destined to be well known. Clearly ambitious, Little Known already have one album under their belt, 2023’s As It Is. But judging by their level of activity and industry this year alone, it feels like a fresh new chapter in the band’s career is now being written.

Walsh is certainly keen to emphasise that, pointing out that it has been a couple of years since the album, as well as highlighting the evolution in their sound from alt rock roots to something more shoegazey. While the initial songwriting responsibility had rested on Daly, it has now become more of a group effort.

“The Billy EP. It feels like a new beginning,” he adds.

The actual origins of the band go back to when Daly, who hails from Carrignavar, and Walsh, who is from Watergrasshill, were in their mid-to-late teens and found themselves in a band together because each of them knew the drummer.

“We used to play in places like Fred’s and YMCA and we used to open for bands like The Love Buzz,” recalls Walsh.

The pair decided to start their own band, going under the name Private Idaho. In 2019, they went to Dublin to record their first single, Pretty Song, which was released in February 2020.

“It’s still our most streamed song, which is funny,” says Walsh, sounding amused. “You can hear the youth on Pretty Song.”

After lockdown, the pair decided to continue playing together and start a proper band.

“We enjoyed what we did when we were younger before lockdown,” explains Walsh. “[Liam] was writing those songs that became our first album. We just wanted to keep going and start something new.”

There’s a good reason why three of their very early songs didn’t make the debut album. By the time they got together proper as Little Known in 2021, maturity was evident in the songwriting. As was their sense of ambition, which led them to invest their money in proper studio recordings.

“We just believed in the music and thought there was a power behind it,” Walsh says of the belief filling the band. “This sounds like a proper band, and we’re becoming a proper band.”

Remarkably, their first gig was in Dublin, at a showcase in the Sound House. Encouraged by how well it went they began playing all the venues around Cork city. In 2023, two of their singles, Listen and Slow Daze, became RTÉ tracks of the week, doing well with radio and Spotify.

During the recording of those sessions, they realised they had enough tracks for an album and duly released As It Is.

2024 was a much quieter year, but it saw them prepare the groundwork for their productivity this year.

“This year it’s been crazy,” declares Walsh, as he outlines an impressive list of achievements, beginning in January with their appearance at Whelan’s Ones to Watch, and includes support slots in Dublin to October Drift and Psychedelic Furs and their first headlining appearance at Cyprus Avenue. The band’s sound has changed, becoming more atmospheric, and the line-up has been filled out by drummer Liam Berry and bassist Chris Kett.

“This year felt like a new start for us. Even though Liam and me had been playing as Little Known for four years, it felt like the start of this year was the beginning of the band,” asserts Walsh.

The Billy EP also reflects the increasing dynamism in the songwriting. “There’s different sounds, there’s different styles completely almost. But it’s still us,” says Walsh proudly.

Little Known launch the Billy EP at Dali on Thursday, October 9.