Cooks But We're Chefs: 'You can feed off the crowd's energy because they’re so close to you'

Cooks But We’re Chefs are getting ready to bring their dynamic blend of jazz-infused rhythms and high-energy performances to the Cork Jazz Festival this weekend.

The seven-piece band from Dublin fuses elements of house, funk, jazz, soul, and hip-hop in their energetic live shows, which have been praised across Ireland and the UK festival circuits, as well as in sold-out venues throughout the country.

Cooks But We’re Chefs will play Kino in Cork on Friday as part of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival, bringing their signature mix of infectious energy and genre-defying sound to an intimate setting.

READ MORE: 'Combination of vulnerability, strength and passion': The The's Matt Johnson reflects on recording with Sinead O'Connor

READ MORE: Guinness Cork Jazz Festival returns for 46th year with more than 500 artists across 99 venues

Ahead of the show, vocalist Síofra Nolan sat down with the Irish Mirror to talk about the band's love for jazz, their creative process, and why smaller venues hold a special place in their hearts.

“I think the classics cook set,” Síofra shared, chatting about their plans for the Cork Jazz setlist. “Jazz is definitely an undertone, we vary our genres a lot, but underneath everything, there's always that love for jazz, for all of us, jazz is up there with our top genres. And three of us did a degree in jazz, myself, Dougie and Dan, did a degree in jazz performance.

“It'll be nice in the sense that maybe there will be a little bit more room for improvisation and to bring jazzy elements like that into it. I think we'll still have the same Cooks energy.”

Cooks But We’re Chefs have been hailed for their highly energetic shows, having played slots at Electric Picnic, Body & Soul, Bray Jazz Festival, Latitude, Stendhal and main stage shows at Forbidden Fruit and Life Festival. The seven piece have also played sold-out headline shows in Dublin’s Grand Social and Lost Lane and Limerick’s Prima Volta. Síofra shared that the band feel more ‘connected’ to the audience at smaller venues.

“Honestly, I think I can probably speak for a lot of us in Cooks, that the smaller venues, I think we prefer them compared to the large festivals because they are a lot more intimate, you feel a lot more connected. You can feel quite far away. We played a really good stage at All Together Now and played the main stage of Forbidden Fruit as well this summer, which is amazing.

“But I think looking back on say, some of my favourite gigs would have been like Bello Bar and like smaller gigs, or Prima Volta we love as well, at the Record Room, you feel a lot more connected. You can kind of, I suppose, feed off the crowd's energy as well, because they’re so close to you. Really, really looking forward to kind of a smaller gig.”

Cooks But We’re Chefs will be supported by Rachel Mae Hannon, a soulful vocalist, a multi-instrumentalist, a songwriter and a producer from Monaghan but living in Dublin. With a sound described as ‘pop meets neo-soul’, Rachel, who has previously opened up for Cooks, was the perfect voice for the show.

“We did a headline show in the Grand Social there at Christmas time, and we got Rachel on support,” Síofra said. “She's a really good friend of mine as well. She's just amazing, we really, really love her, she's such a gorgeous voice and a lovely person.”

Reflecting on the band's time in the studio, Síofra described it as one of their most creative periods. “What we did was we all lived in Wicklow, in this cottage for a few months. We just jammed, like we just played music, and our sleep schedule went completely lopsided,” the singer shared.

“We were playing music until like five, six in the morning, sleeping to like one in the day, and then just doing it. We played music all day, and it was lovely. I think a lot of our music would come from jams together, or someone would bring an idea that would then kind of come into fruition with them, to full band, and then studio.

“Our last couple of songs we recorded in Black Mountain. Alex Borwick, he's amazing, which was the most beautiful time. You got to stay there and we'd have barbecues at night, we'd all sit down, have a lovely dinner and then just spend the whole day on music. That was a really lovely way to record as well.”

You can catch Cooks But We're Chefs and Rachel Mae Hannon playing on Friday, October 25, at Kino Events House as part of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival.

Sign up to the Irish Mirror's daily newsletter hereand get breaking news and top stories direct to your inbox.