Artist description Irreverent, Energetic, Raucous, Humorous, Rambunctious, Intense, Fun, Fiery, Freewheeling, Street-Smart, Sentimental, Bittersweet, Boisterous, Rollicking, Rousing, Rowdy, Thuggish, Visceral, Earnest, Cynical/Sarcastic, Brooding timbre

Music Style A unique band from Dublin with eclectic influences e.g Irish Folk, Blues, R&B, Jazz, African, Latin etc.

Musical Influences Neil Young, Tommy Potts, Miles Davis, Mrs. Crotty, John Coletrane, Ali Farka Toure,John Lee Hooker, The Beatles.

Similar Artists Nobody

Artist History WhirlyGig or ‘the Sex Pistols of Trad’, as they like to be known, are the new Godfathers of Irish Music. These exciting newcomers breathe fresh life onto the jaded Dublin scene with new Irish music the sophistication and maturity of which belies their relative youth, and sails effortlessly from subtle, intricate, brittle introspection to pure theatre and wild, searing intensity. Whenever a new band comes on to the scene the first question invariably asked is ‘who do they sound like?’ or ‘ what kind of music is it?’ and most bands, and most Irish bands in particular, are happy to fall easily into some PR person’s sub-genre, or ape whatever it is that NME or MTV are hyping at that point in time, WhirlyGig prefer to do things according to their own style. The central figure behind the wheel of this fast-speeding wanderley wagon (but we robbed the bands name off Fortycoats’ back!) is one Liam Donohoe, of Cavan, but now based in Dublin, and WhirlyGig was born when he and the original members namely, Paddy Lawless, Brendan O’Sullivan, and brothers Eugene and Declan Quinn, all accomplished musicians and performers in their own right, decided they wanted more from their trad, pop, rock and jazz and world music roots than was out there at the time. Consequently the music of WhirlyGig can not be pigeonholed, or ascribed to one single influence or archetype. Where many are happy to slavishly follow what’s happening elsewhere, WhirlyGig have accomplished that one thing that sets the true musical visonaries apart, pure originality. From their first album simply entitled ‘WhirlyGig’ to the recently released followup ‘In Bed With WhirlyGig’, a definitive new voice and style has emerged, admitting to everything, conceding nothing. Now the wider music world is taking notice that these lads are coming round your neighbourhood any time soon, to raise hell with some hair- raising tunes and their passionate, raw songs. According to the Irish Times, WhirlyGig play ‘music that’s captivating..magnificent musicianship..manic and yet measured in all the right places” and Hot Press think that our live set is full of “power and intensity”. So why don’t you come to the next couple of shows and see for yourself! The New CD In October 2000, they launched their debut CD on Ochre Records, ‘In Bed With WhirlyGig’ at Dublin’s Vicar St. venue. The lucky punters who attended that night are still talking about the feast of the senses served up by ‘all the lads’. For an average WhirlyGig performance encompasses a portion of pure cabaret, generous helpings of virtuoso musicianship, large dollops of good humour and lashings of unabashed raw talent. Mmmm finger-lickin’ good! With an average age of just 21, Whirlygig have a similar age profile to some other popular all male Irish groups. But there the similarity ends :) Instead of relying on the usual retinue of makeup artists, hairdressers, Swedish producers and boob jobs to con the kids out of their money, WhirlyGig try nothing on other than pure musical talent.(In any case Liamo has actually got bigger tits than Britney Spears, but it’s not something he tends to boast about :) In Bed With WhirlyGig showcases a batch of striking original songs written by singer Liam Donohoe, and the multi-instrumental compositional and arrangement talents of guitarist/drummer/vocalist Paddy Lawless, fiddle-player/vocalist Brendan O’Sullivan, Eugene Quinn on banjo/mandolin/vocals and Declan Quinn on flutes/low whistles/tin whistles/vocals/keyboards. On this record the lads are joined also by a plethora of talent from Dublin’s live acoustic music scene, most notably long-time collaborators Brian Fleming on percussion and Conal Early on guitar, Mick Kinsella on harmonica, Sven Buic and Ginger O’Keeffe on Double Bass and Tanya Lowe on vocals.

Group Members LIAM DONOHOE ‘don CavanLiamo’ (vocals, guitar, bodhran, percussion) DECLAN QUINN ‘ the Badger’ (flute, low whistles, whistles, inexpensive keyboard, vocals) EUGENE QUINN ‘the Egg’ (banjo, mandolin, vocals) EOGHAN SCOTT (guitar, vocals) TOMAS O’BRIAIN ‘the Wren’ (box accordion, low whistle) PADDY LAWLESS ‘the Monkey’ (drums, guitar, vocals) MARTIN O’KEEFFE ‘Ginger’ (Double Bass)

Instruments Vocals, Guitar, Low Whistles, Flute, Banjo, Mandolin, Fiddle, Cello, Box Accordion, Double Bass, Bodhran, Bones, Drums.

Albums (2) In Bed With WhirlyGig.WhirlyGig.

Press Reviews According to the Irish Times,'In Bed With WhirlyGig' is “worth sampling...spanning Zen Buddhist calm and Pogueish mania.. “ and we “hit the ground running…with a melee of rakish tunes, murderously paced, and the odd reflective song thrown into the mix for maximum impact”. The Sunday Tribune said that there were ‘great moments’, ‘neat lyrics’ and ‘banjo, though sparse, was quite brilliant’. But really we’d rather that you listen to our work with an open mind, or come to one of our shows for the real Whirly experience!

Additional Info For CD's please email us at whirly@indigo.ie. We can ship to anywhere in the World!

Location Dublin - Ireland

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