Belfast rock trio Dea Matrona on building a global fanbase online, and impressing The Eagles along the way
The band play a live-streamed gig for Ulster Bank from the Limelight on December 15

By Christopher Jones Commercial Writer
13:33, 14 DEC 2020 Link

Dea Matrona will broadcast a live gig in partnership with Ulster Bank from the Limelight on December 15th

We’ve all missed out on live music this year, but the pandemic has come at a particularly bad time for Belfast trio Dea Matrona.

The retro rock band – Orlaith Forsythe (20) alongside sisters Mollie (21) and Mamie (17) McGinn – have been busking in Belfast city centre since 2016, and videos of their stunning performances of classic songs by The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Cream and many more have gone viral on numerous occasions since.

Such is their rise to fame that the band managed to sell out their first ever headline gig in January this year at the Black Box. They soon booked another one at the Limelight for April... and we all know what happened next.

Dea Matrona will broadcast a live gig in partnership with Ulster Bank from the Limelight on December 15th

Speaking to Belfast Live, Orlaith said: “Obviously, we were very annoyed that things had to be cancelled, but everybody is in the same boat. Things are going to come back eventually and we can't wait until we can get going again.”

There’s some consolation for the band and their legion of fans in the meantime, however, as Ulster Bank has partnered with them to support a full live-streamed gig from the Limelight on Tuesday, December 15, in aid of Ulster Bank's charity partner The Trussell Trust and its network of 22 NI food banks.

The 40-minute gig will see the band play a mixture of classic covers and original material like their punky recent single Make You My Star, which has been compared to 70s stars Joan Jett and Suzi Quatro.

The online gig will be broadcast on the Belfast Live Facebook page free of charge, with fans invited to make a small donation to the Trussell Trust.

“We're all very excited about it,” said singer and guitarist Orlaith. “It's always been a real ambition of ours to play in the Limelight because it is such a great venue in Belfast. We feel like it's a good achievement to be able to play there.”

Drummer Mamie is still at school but Orlaith and bassist Mollie are full-time musicians, so instead of gigging they have kept busy with writing and recording original songs remotely, busking when possible and doing the odd online gig.

Orlaith points out, too, that events like next week’s are a perfect way for the band’s burgeoning fanbase to see them live.

“I've noticed a lot of people watching our live streams that are from Brazil, Portugal, Colombia, America, Canada – places like that,” she added. “So it's really great that they can actually watch it online.”

With their vintage dress sense and musical diet of classic rock, blues and country, Dea Matrona could be seen as throwbacks playing the music of their grandparents’ generation.

But they are a thoroughly modern phenomenon too – Orlaith tells me that her love for the 20th century greats came not from their parents or grandparents, but from digging around online when she was 15 or 16. Soon, she was learning Jimmy Page’s Led Zeppelin solos off by heart.

“Me and Mollie got into it at the same time, so we've grown up with it together,” she added. “Music doesn’t really have an age limit.”

And, of course, they have built their fanbase not just by playing live, but also by reaching people all across the world through social media.

The late Jack Bruce’s family shared a video of the band playing a rip-roaring version of Crossroads – a blues standard made famous by his band Cream in the 1960s – on his Facebook page, prompting long-time fans to compliment the band’s playing. “You managed to bring a tear of joy to this 68-year-old’s eyes,” said one.

Meanwhile, Eagles guitarist Don Felder left a comment under a video of the band playing his band’s classic Hotel California: "Pretty damn good girls. You got it!!!"

Dea Matrona: Orlaith Forsythe (left), Mollie McGinn and Mamie McGinn

“We go busking and we don't really set out to get any sort of reaction from these people,” Orlaith said, “so to hear that they found out about us playing these songs on the internet and then enjoying them and commenting, it means an awful lot. It makes us want to do what we do even more.”

Hopefully next year will bring them plenty of opportunities to do just that – Covid permitting, the band plan to go on tour around Ireland and the UK.

After that, maybe it will be time to pay all of those far-flung fans a visit.

Catch Dea Matrona live on the Belfast Live Facebook page at 8pm on Tuesday December 15.