Hailing from opposite ends of Ireland and based in Carlow/Laois, 79Cortinaz is collaboration between singer/guitarist Gala Hutton and bassist Cormac Strain with Thom McDermott on extra guitar and Mike Hayden on drums.

With their shattering guitar noise distilled with haunting vocal melodies, it took the band just under a year to independently release their debut single ‘Deirdre’s Song’ in late August 2004. The single spent a month in the Irish charts peaking at number 18. 2fm’s Cormac Battle declared the band ‘the best thing to come out of Ireland in years’. They were Tom Dunne’s (Today FM) Petsounds Artist of the Week in September 2004 - October saw 2fm inviting 79Cortinaz into their studios for a ‘Session’, which was aired in November and repeated again in January 2005. In February 2005, the RTE Guide hailed the quartet as one of the “hot properties of 2005″.

79Cortinaz are currently finishing their debut album which was recorded in June 2006 and produced by punk pioneer and founding member/ex drummer of The Damned, Rat Scabies.

The band have been compared to a mixture of the Pixies and the Thrills, enjoy night-time airplay on Irish radio and their stellar live performances have proved true the recent media buzz about the band.