Bluegrass on menu at Monroe’s from diverse Lands End

The Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell

With members from Ireland, England and Germany, Lands End are a six-piece bluegrass outfit who play Monroe’s Live this Friday, June 14th. The band met last April at Sore Fingers, an annual bluegrass workshop in Oxfordshire in the south-east of England. Part of the week-long workshop involved forming a ‘scratch band’, and that led to Lands End being formed.

“A scratch band is something you do for fun on the Thursday night,” says lead singer and guitarist Hubert Murray. “You put your name down, and then they delegate everyone. They try and get a banjo player, a guitarist and a singer in every band.

“I knew Bruno [Pichler, dobro] from doing open mic nights in London. We all came together at Sore Fingers, and we heard each other play in the jams that were going on. Richie [Foley], the mandolin player, came over to me. We did the Thursday night scratch band slot and got a great response.”

Lands End’s line up is completed by Paddy Kiernan (banjo), Sam Rose (double bass) and Sam Draper (fiddle).  A few weeks after forming, Lands End had their first festival slot at the Didmarton Bluegrass festival.

“The organisers of Sore Fingers run it,” explains Hubert. “It’s one of the biggest bluegrass festivals in England.  They really liked it, said there was a great vibe and feel, something different. We said we’d try and get a few more gigs, and it all lifted off then. One thing led to another and we’ve been gigging ever since.”

Originally hailing from Williamstown in Galway, Hubert Murray is currently living in London. But geographically, Lands End are a diverse bunch.

“We’re all over the place!” laughs Hubert. “Richie is in Cork, Paddy the banjo player is in Dublin, there are two of us based in London, and there’s another fella from Gloucestershire.”

Lands End have just released their debut EP, The Border Sessions, which was recorded in Bruno Pichler’s family home in Bavaria.

“Bruno has a recording studio in his basement,” says Hubert. “He and his brother had it for fun. They had all these old mics that were very, very good.

“We all flew over to Germany, and it was recorded over a few days in January. It was right in the middle of the Bavarian Alps, some spot.  Once we had that all done, Bruno took over the mixing of it. We got it mastered then by a friend in Bath.”

Although he is well used to playing live, being in the studio was initially daunting for Hubert.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.