LISA BUTLER, a musician from Carlow town, never really saw herself as a singer. But then she was persuaded by her friend and fellow musician Eoin Ó Meachair to front his new trad band.

'Lisa didn't realise how well she could sing,' Eoin, all scraggy hair and enthusiasm, smiles. 'Everyone else had to tell her.'

Eoin and Lisa have known each other for years, having swam in the same trad pools around the county, playing sessions and generally getting more experience.

'There's a musical circuit in Carlow,' Lisa says. 'We're all connected where Teach Dolmain is the main venue.'

The pair have now teamed up with three others, Paddy Tutty, Derek Morrissey and Colm Ó Caoimh, to form Caladh Nua, a band that puts some slightly modern twists on traditional sounds.

Though they only formed over the summer, by September they were ready to record a new album in the acclaimed Grouse Studios in Westmeath.

Indeed, they were so focused on what they wanted their album to sound like that the whole shebang was done and dusted in less than three days.

Grouse Studios, where Michael Jackson once recorded, was chosen by their well established manager, Benny McCarthy, because it was the best in Ireland. Recorded by Ivan O'Shea, he of In Tua Nua fame, the album features traditional pieces but other tracks have guitar and there are songs from the likes of folk hero Richard Thompson.

'We really knew what we wanted and eitherways, it would have been really expensive to stay for longer,' Eoin explains. 'After we formed, our main objective was to get the album recorded and now that we've done that, the world's our oyster,' Eoin beams. 'We're on the scene, like musical mercenaries.'

The name of the newly minted album is Happy Days and for the five of them, the next few months or even years may prove to be filled with them. Caladh Nua, the band's name, translates roughly as 'safe haven' and stems from a previous band that Eoin had played in. 'We like to think that our band, Caladh Nua, is a safe place where people can come together to play,' he says. Both musicians are practically drenched in music with Lisa, in particular, coming from a musical family. Mammy

Butler, Mary, is a singer, father Derek is a sound engineer and singer, while brother Eric is an up-and-coming singer/songerwriter.

Lisa started playing music in Gaelscoil in Carlow and went on to study music in Dundalk IT. After those years, she travelled the world gigging and generally living life. Lisa decided to settle down somewhat and is now studying a degree that would qualify her to teach so she's now trying to juggle her new band with her studies.

Eoin, at 37, is the oldest member of Caladh Nua, and if he hasn't been around the block, then he's certainly been around the world.

With his former band, he claims that they 'did the pub circuit, weddings, anything,' but it was a trip to China that really opened Eoin's eyes to the possible pitfalls of the gigging musician.

He went to Shanghai with Lisa's brother, Eric, and Nadia Crooke, a Spanish native who fell in love with all things Irish.

'Being in Shanghai was the only time I ever spent Christmas away from home,' he remembers. 'It was horrible being stuck in an Irish themed pub on Christmas day.'

God bless him, but he's serious about being miserable in an exotic location, surrounded by free alcohol for the festive season.

'A lot of the gigs abroad can come from the promotion and sale of alcohol,' Lisa says. 'But there's a huge interest in general in Irish music abroad.'

'Drink is a work hazard. You have to switch off sometimes because if you don't, you won't last,' Eoin says of the international pub/gigging sessions.

'You could become famous but you certainly won't last,'

Three years ago, Eoin found himself in Trinidad on St Patrick's Day where 'Bob Marley is seriously big', while one of Lisa's favourite gigging memories is of her stint in Gabon, beside the Congo.

Their current line-up has played only a handful of gigs as an ensemble, including the Copenhagen Irish Festival, where they appeared on the bill alongside such names as Steve Cooney and Dermot Byrne. And coming up in the new year, they'll jet off to a showcase gig, organised and promoted by Culture Ireland, in New York city.

'They hand-pick who's going to go so hopefully we'll get something good out of it,' Eoin says. For the coming year, they'll embark on a proper tour for the first time and both are clearly excited about it. Their big break could potentially come from their appearance at the New York showcase gigs which promoters from all around the States will attend.

'It's every musician's dream to record an album and tour it so we want to take it as far as we can,' Eoin explains. 'If we get onto the festival circuit [in America] then it gets serious. You're getting into the big gigs and the big names, that's the level we're aiming for. Am I scaring you, Lisa?'

Lisa grins broadly and replies, 'not at all!"