Tastemaker

A trait I admire? ‘Manners. I love it when people are polite to staff in shops and restaurants’ – singer Niamh Farrell

The vocalist with indie-rock band HamsandwicH finds Karen O’s joy in performance inspiring and would like Kate Bush at her dinner party

Niamh Farrell, vocalist with indie-rock band HamsandwicH: ‘Just to try be yourself as much as possible. We all worry about how other people perceive us, but we should also remember we have no control over what they think.’ Picture: Ruth Medjber

“You’ve got to change that name,” was Bono’s advice when HamsandwicH first emerged as one of Ireland’s most promising new indie-rock bands. Two decades later, the Meath group’s insistence on doing things their own way has been fully vindicated.

HamsandwicH’s CV includes four acclaimed albums, a Choice Music Prize nomination, various international festival appearances and performing for President Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin.

Vocalist Niamh Farrell originally comes from the Dublin suburb of ...