Entertainment
Friends in The Crossfire hoping for the big time
Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell – tribunegroove@live.ie
Citing Kodaline, Coldplay and U2 as influences, Dublin based five-piece The Crossfire will come to Monroe’s Live this Saturday, December 5.
The band is made up of Seán Buckley (lead vocals), Matt Brady (guitar), Chris Murphy (guitar), Sean Keeley (bass) and drummer Adam Shanahan and their aim is to produce anthemic songs complete with sing-along hooks, pounding drums and melodic guitars.
“We’d been friends long before even the notion of starting a band got into our heads,” Seán says of how they got together. “Slowly, but surely, the ideas started creeping in and we did a few talent shows and Battle of the Bands. It all went really well, we enjoyed it and we thought we’d go for it. It turned out well, we kept going and two years later we’re still here.”
They recently released their debut EP and are relatively new on the live scene. For Seán, it was important to have a bunch of quality songs to play before hitting the road.
“We’d been writing songs together a long time before we started gigging. We wanted to be a band that had a lot of songs and we always prided ourselves on writing on our own songs. By January 2013 we had a batch of songs we really liked.”
Their first release is simply titled EP 1 and it was recorded in Cauldron Studios, just off O’Connell Street in Dublin. The songs were mixed by Phil McGee, who has previously worked with The Script and Kodaline. How did a young unsigned band secure his services?
“The likes of Kodaline are someone we love and the albums are amazing,” Seán says. “I’d known Phil as a producer. It was a chance meeting, we were out in Swords one night, going to see a few friends playing and I spotted him across the room.
“I got one of my friends who kind of knew him to introduce me. I said ‘we love the records you produce, is there any chance we can get you on a track?’ We sent some stuff on and he said ‘let’s do it’.”
Coldplay and U2 are two of the biggest bands in the world, and Kodaline have two sold-out shows in the 3 Arena this December. Citing these groups as influences must be a sign of big ambitions.
“Definitely,” Seán says. “I’ve always liked bands who wear their hearts on their sleeves. I think we’re the same. We just want to be straight out there and say ‘yeah, we want to take this as far as it can go’ and be a big band. That’s what we want, the same as anyone who starts playing guitar at an early age.”
But still, those are big and bold plans. Have they had any interest from big labels?
“We’ve been talking to someone industry people and sending on some tracks, getting some really good feedback from the likes of labels and management companies,” Seán says. “We got picked for Guinness Amplify last year, which actually brought us to Galway. We were on billboards all over Dublin, which was great.”
So far so good. Now have they any plans to release a full-length album?
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
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