A Special Time

This week’s photo challenge of the Daily Post is about something that was surprising ‘the road taken’. The first thing that came into my mind reading this topic was one of my trips to Ireland a little while ago. One day walking around Ireland’s capital, Dublin, I suddenly came across a huge group of people surrounding a smaller group of people making incredible music. As I really enjoyed what I heard I stopped by and had a proper look. The band that was giving a free acoustic session was Keywest, a British-Irish rock band from Dublin.

In 2009 Andrew Kavanagh (vocals) and Andrew Glover (rhythm guitar, keys) founded the band and started playing smaller concerts in Pubs. Later on James Lock (lead guitar), Sam Marder (bass) and Harry Sullivan (drums) joined the due to make the band complete. In order to get a fan-base, the band started to give free concerts on the Shop Street in Galway as well as the Grafton Street in Dublin. In 2012 they released their debut album ‘The Message’ and signed a contract with Peer Music. The songs on the album are based on actual experiences of the band members and reached triple-platinum in Ireland. Furthermore, the band is one of the most played bands on the Irish radio. In 2014, the band released the ‘Electric Love EP’ via their own label ‘Sonic Releam’ records, with the single ‘Electric Love’, which went straight to number one in the Irish charts. Another EP, ‘All My Mistakes’, was released in early 2015, followed by their second studio album ‘Joyland’ in late 2015 which went straight at number two in the Official Irish Charts and rose to number one later on. Additionally, the band was awarded as best Irish street artist 2015.

It is everytime very exciting to see if the band is playing one of their acoustic sets when I’m in Dublin and it was a special time seeing and hearing them live! The sound of the band in total and especially the unique voice of the singer make them absolutely interesting and recognisable, adding a magical or mystical touch. Their songs are very emotional and I like how they turn them into acoustic pieces! Additionally, I think it is great if bands have the courage and take their time to play live on the street and engage with their fans. Many bands seem to forget where or how they started after they got famous…