We are Ellie and Louise Macnamara, also known as the band Heathers, ask us anything.

Hi Ellie and Louise!! I posted on your FB yesterday, sorry to keep repeating myself, but I'm Alice and I met you guys at your mini-show in Connecticut! It was an amazing experience, as I am not exaggerating when I say Kingdom is one of my all-time favorite albums!

I painted something (very quickly) this morning just to show my appreciation for you two - http://imgur.com/b7SwZL7 - again, I really love your music and if I didn't have so much work to do I'd've done a better job, and also I would be charging down to NYC right now...

My question: I'm an artist, so I'm always so curious about the decision that goes behind album cover art. Is there a story behind that psychedelic artwork for the (original) Kingdom album? With the... are those raccoons?? Another one: Any plans to come to CT again? ;D

THANK YOU GIRLS

Alice, we totally remember you! Hope you're keeping well. That painting is absolutely beautiful. Thanks so much.

Album artwork… firstly, we're big fans of Sufjan Stevens. We really like his album artwork, so we got in touch with the guy who designed a lot of his album covers. His name is Stephen Halker. He is amazing. And he did the artwork for the original Kingdom. The artwork symbolizes and encapsulates the story and message behind Kingdom. It represents a utopian world that may or may not exist that we are always trying to find and escapism from reality. Those are a mixture between raccoons and foxes. Definitely we'll have to come back to Connecticut soon. We are planning US dates at the moment.

What are some inspirations that have influenced your music.

What is one goal you wish to achieve as musicians?

Awesome music, guys! Keep rocking!

We grew up listening to a lot of Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, and traditional Irish music, with a bit of The Spice Girls and Destiny's Child thrown in there. And apart from that, our brother has been a big influence on us as well. He's a musical genius. And he's introduced us to a lot of bands over the years.

To tour around the world and sing onstage with Beyonce someday. Perhaps play Madison Square Garden. To make people happy.

<3

Hi there! The band I'm in are due to support you next month at Broadcast in Glasgow- just thought I'd let you know how much I'm looking forward to seeing you play! If there's anything you need, drop us a line and we'll do our best to help!

<3

Unfortunately we are not playing in Glasgow, you might have the wrong Heathers (there's another folk group in the UK called The Heathers). Perhaps it's them? We can't wait to get back to Glasgow though!

Deep fried pizza all the way!

Well, I feel silly now! Will be sure to pop along to the next show you play in Scotland!

Don't feel silly! Hopefully see you in Scotland someday!

what'd be your dream tour to do? Favourite gig done so far? aaaaaaaaand favourite tv show at the 'mo?

We'd love to tour around Japan, maybe a worldwide tour with a mixture of Prince, Beyonce, and MIA.

Probably playing a pre-Oscars party in J.J. Abram's Bad Robot productions, with Steven Spielberg starting at us during it. Probably the best moment of our entire lives.

American Horror Story! Jessica Lange for life!

How do you REALLY feel when people call you "THE" Heathers? Be honest.

It's a bit of a pain in the ass. But it seems to happen everywhere we go, we're just going to have to get used to it.

Do you guys plan on returning to Australia?

We've never actually been to Australia, which is terrible. But it's pretty high on the list of places we want to go to. There are so many amazing Australian bands that we love right now, so we can't wait to get over there. We also love the sun! And Home and Away.

Oh for some reason i was under the impression you guys had already visited (damn youtube tricking me) We'd love to have you guys here. Maybe play at one of our festivals?

Definitely. We would love to.

Great performance on VH1 the other day! Did you all get to watch Heathers the musical yet? Are you Broadway fans?

Who are your favorite musicians at the moment? Any new covers in the works?

Lastly, will you be touring in more US states this year? I'm too far from NY!

We're massive Broadway fans. We were brought up on CATS the musical. We're going to see Heathers on Friday night. And we are so so soso excited.

Haim, Disclosure, Foals, Drake, Robyn, Angel Haze, and Chela.

Possibly a Beyonce cover. You never know.

Definitely we will be touring more in the U.S. we are finalizing dates for the summer and autumn time. We can't wait to get out on the road.

Where are you based??

Yes to another Beyonce cover! Halo was great.

I'm from Ohio! I'd love to see a show here or nearby.

We'll definitely be back, we love Ohio, we're planning US dates at the moment.

A few questions. 1.How did you end up with your management? 2. How do you generally pick your suppott acts? 3. Honest thoughts on the Irish music scene? I hear it's very clicky.

Our management helped us with the first big synch placement we were offered. They're a Dublin-based company, and we knew one of the directors from the past. They're lovely.

We like to choose acts that we love. And there needs to be a fit with the show.

I wouldn't have thought that at all? I think the Irish music scene is really thriving at the moment. There's so many great musicians coming out of Ireland. We feel that Irish bands are very supportive of each other, from our experience.

Cool, any unsigned Irish bands that you recommend?

Bad Bones, Le Galaxie, Tvvins, Gypsy Rebel Rabble, Elaine Mai.

What are some of your favorite films?

Stand by Me, The Neverending Story, Shawshank Redemption, Schindler's List, The Lion King, and recently, we saw an amazing french film called The Untouchables. It's so good. And Mean Girls.

What's your favorite Beyoncé song?

Brill!

We could go on for days. Ellie… Drunken Love, Flawless [I woke up like this], Irreplaceable, and Radio.

Louise: XO and Jealous.

Have you seen the screenplay to Star Wars 7 in the J.J. Abram's house? Or just anything that interested you and was out of the ordinary?

Yeah, we actually saw some models from Star Wars lying around the place. Like a lot of the starships and stuff. It was very cool.

Sounds like a cool place to visit. Thanks for the reply!

No problemo! <3

Where do you stand on the whole Burrito debate?

What exactly is the burrito debate?

All we know is they're delish-dish.

for the best burrito: there's a place in Dublin called Boojum. They're unreal.

We agree, it's the best place.

Favourite venue in the world to play?

The Academy in Dublin, Prinzenbar in Hamburg, Hotel Cafe in L.A., and of course, J.J. Abram's house.

What's the best thing about Ireland that you miss while touring?

Oh my god. Brown bread, Barry's tea, Tayto crisps, our cat Hobbes, pints of Guinness in Grogans, Sunday roast.

Oh my gosh I love you gals! Your new album has more elements in it. Do y'all ever worry about becoming less "raw" than your more stripped-down, acoustic first album? Please come to DC I'll give you all my moneys!

Awwww. We'll definitely have to come to DC soon!

I don't think it's something we worry about too much. It's important for us to keep challenging ourselves, and to keep things fresh for us. I think our music is always changing, we listen to so many different types of music, which filters in. And we will never stray away from Heathers. It's important to us to stay true to ourselves.

How do you decide the songs and order of your set lists?

It is always a tricky thing. A pain in the neck.

We try to choose songs that flow well into the next song. And we also have to be aware of what kind of mood each song is going to bring to the show, and of course bloody guitar changes. The bane of my life.

What are some of your favorite restaurants to visit when you visit NYC?

Oh. Best question ever.

Tacqueria on the Lower East side. We're constantly craving this place. In fact, we got some delish margaritas there last night. Spice Garden, we went there the other night and the food was unreal.

I know these necessarily aren't restaurants, but we're pretty obsessed with the cupcakes here. Magnolia bakery, Sprinkles [we went to Sprinkles, this place has a cupcake ATM that we visited yesterday], Melissa's cupcakes.

Finally… four dollar margaritas in Blockheads. Can't beat it!

Do either one of you have any interesting hobbies?

One of my favorite things to do (Louise) is sit down on the couch, turn on the TV, watch a bit of Grand Designs, or A Place in the Sun, and drink tea. Other than that, I used to box a bit. But got too many black eyes, and couldn't do TV shows because they would ask me if Ellie punched me in the face.

For me, Ellie: I like to cook. I like to read. Long walks on the beach. And I like to play basketball from time to time.

What inspired your name? Silly question I know...

The movie Heathers. We're big fans. Fact of the day: there's actually a Heather MacNamara in the film.

Hello! I just listened to Forget Me Knots for the first time and really enjoyed it. What should I listen to next?

Thanks so much!

Give Lions, Tigers, Bears a listen and let us know what you think.

Ooh, you linked it and everything! I loved it, and then I watched your Summertime Sadness cover and loved that too!

Ah thank you so much!

Hello ladies! Thanks for coming to reddit. I made this for you! Link

Oh wow!

You're amazing. Thank you so much.

We love it!!

Hello, will you come to Brno some day?

Yes, definitely! We would love to go there. We're on our way right now ;)

Awesome. Buying my tickets just now!

Ah brill see you there :)

Did/Do you ever get comparisons to Tegan & Sara purely because your twins? Especially around your first album because it was acoustic?

all the time. Not so much anymore but we used to a lot. I definitely think it's the twin thing. And they're great though, we love their latest album.

Hello, thanks for doing AMA! A while ago, when I was visiting my father, who lives in Dublin, I've heard your song ''I Remember When'' from CD he had. As expected, I constantly requested replaying during road trips and instantly became obsessed with finding out the name of the band and song. Eventually I did, and I just wanted to thank you for the song and nostalgic memories. Don't stop recording, sisters! Also, could you please upload more youtube videos?

Awww thank you so much.

<3

Yes, definitely more YouTube videos to come!

What's a band you have been listening that others may not have heard of? I need to keep up with the cool kids.

Chela, she's Australian and she's incredible. We recently saw her at SXSW and she has the most amazing dance moves, and plays some great electronic music.

Hi Ellie! Hi Louise! I traveled to Ireland back in 2008 to meet up with some distant relatives and help fill in my family tree. I spent two days in Dublin. Would you say that the chances we walked past one another were around 95%, or more like 99%?

Keep being awesome, please and thanks.

Definitely 99%. You're always bound to bump into someone you know in Dublin, and even more likely to bump into someone you don't know.

Hooray! I can now say with approximate certainty that I very nearly met you both!

woo!

I have to thank you from the bottom of my heart [for a really weird reason]! I have this ongoing list of bands with names that are references to 80s movies [Save Ferris, Ludo, Atreyu, The Fratellis, Say Anything, etc. Let me know if you have any others in mind!] and I now have the honor of adding your name to that list.

So congrats on that, and also on your album, which I just bought on iTunes. I'm really loving it.

Amazing. You have great taste in music. Thanks so much and hope you like the album.

And you can add Au Revoir Simone to the list!

If you HAD to punch either Beyoncé or Lady Gaga in the face, who would you choose and why?

I'd rather punch myself in the face because I love them both far too much! (Ellie)

I choose peace!!!!