There’s no shortage of great new bands coming out of Ireland right now. Even for a country with a rich musical heritage, the production line is running hot. Right at the front of the queue are Sprints - a band who know how to punch through the post-punk masses with music that demands full attention. With a new EP ‘How Does The Story Go?’, we caught up with vocalist and songwriter Karla Chubb.

The new EP is brilliant. What comes first for you when writing a song - the subject or the music? What do you enjoy writing about? Thank you very much! More often than not, it’s the subject or the feeling of a song. I’ve found that our writing style is constantly evolving, but the one constant is an emotional foundation or a subject that grounds it in something. Often it’s real experiences, feelings or whatever we’re witnessing. An autobiographical approach has been the go-to for our writing and helps keep me honest, accountable and raw.

You’re a band who definitely have things to say in your music. Are big topics and experiences central to what makes a Sprints song? Could you ever see yourself making music without that side to it? I joke that I always feel like I’m living in a state of existential crisis, and perhaps that’s the central theme to all of our material. I find it hard to accept or digest that growing up, getting married, working forever without any real sense of purpose is all there could be to life. To keep myself sane and grounded, I try to use my voice to understand the world around me, fuel a sense of purpose and communicate those struggles, so they don’t boil over inside. At the end of the day, we want to look back and feel like we’ve left a stamp on the world and did something that mattered. Maybe that’s sanctimonious, but I also think it’s the real core of what it means to make art.

Are there many shared musical reference points in the band? What’s the stuff that gets you all excited? 100% - we’re lucky that we all share such similar tastes but are also so open to finding new reference points and discovering new things. I’ve been listening to Colm’s Discover Weekly all week, and it reminds you how much amazing stuff is out there that you don’t get served yourself. Musically and lyrically, we all share the same reference points, and the new material is shaped a lot by the likes of PJ Harvey, Bauhaus, Savages and IDLES. Definitely a bit of LCD Soundsystem in there as well.