Rory and the Island

Rory and The Island has had 10 top 40 songs in the Irish iTunes rock charts, with "Jimmy's Winning Matches" breaking through to the actual overall Irish top 10 in October 2012. Lead singer Rory Gallagher was the bass player and lead vocalist with Irish Indie/Pop/Punk group 'The Revs' from 2000 to 2007.

Rory and The Island
Rory and The Island
Rory and The Island, Live Performance
Background information
OriginDonegal, Ireland
Years active2008–present
Associated actsThe Revs
Websiteroryandtheisland.com
Members
  • Rory Gallagher
  • Albert Serrano

Background

In his time with The Revs they released numerous hit radio singles and 3 Albums; Sonictonic in 2002 (no. 5 Irish Charts), Suck in 2003 (no. 3 Irish Charts) and The Revs in 2005 (no. 26 Irish Charts). The Revs played the Oxegen (Irelands biggest annual music festival) Main Stage 4 times, Slane Castle, toured the USA, Australia (where they had a top 30 hit with "Death of a DJ") the UK and Europe and supported the Kaiser Chiefs, Foo fighters, Muse and many others. The band picked up 2 meteors, hotpress and BBC awards, a single of the month with Kerrang!, MTV2 coverage and an average of 300 gigs/public appearances per year... it all flew at a rapid pace. However, in late 2006 it all came to an end as the public interest in the band had died.

To present day

In 2008, Rory released his official solo debut album "God Bless the big bang". It received a positive reaction with Hotpress magazine[1] declaring it "a Triumphant return" giving it 4 out of 5 stars, it also received album of the week from Today FM, The Sunday World and BBC Ulster. Rory released 2 singles from the Album and did 2 short tours of Ireland.[2] However he had since become resident musician in Charlies Bar Lanzarote and found it difficult to go and play in front of 50 people in small venues around Ireland losing all his money on Petrol and Hotels when there were already 150 Irish people coming into Charlies bar in Lanzarote every night of the week.

In 2010 Rory recorded some new original material with legendary Irish trad player Sharon Shannon (also a reworking of The Pogues classic "Fiesta" with Shane MacGowan), out of these sessions Rory had recorded a comedy demo song called "Ryanair Blues", it was leaked to Irish Radio and became a surprise online hit. It was then that Rory started releasing his new material under the name "RORY AND THE ISLAND" as it was a confusing using his birthname Rory Gallagher as many people would show up expecting a tribute to the Cork/ Donegal Blues Legend!

The second album, "Auntie Depressant and Uncle Hope" (2012) also received acclaim from Hot Press Magazine,[3] summarising it as 'a compelling suite of songs'. The album was recorded in various locations around the Spanish island of Lanzarote.

Rory wrote the music for Irish Boxer Jason Quigley's debut pro fight in Las Vegas, "Make Way for the Fighting Irish"[4] in July 2014, Quigley now uses this as his Arena entrance theme song.

In Oct 2014 Rory played a sold out show to 550 people in the Opium rooms[5] (The Village) in Dublin City, After this show Rory played "The Academy"[6] venue in Dublin which holds 1000 people, supported by Eoin Glackin.

In 2015 Rory and The Island went on tour again, this time in Germany playing to sell out crowds.[7]

Their latest album, Watching the sun going down, was released in July 2016.

Rory and the Island gigged 6 nights a week at The Island Bar in Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, which was voted the No.1 Live Music Bar on Trip Advisor for 5 years running. (2013 - 2018). [8]

Following the sale of the bar, Rory and the Island are now playing in venues around the U.K. and Ireland and have gigs lined up in New York City and Germany for 2019.

Discography

Singles
  • Waterfall (2008)
  • Rain Dancer (2008)
  • Ryanair Blues (2010)
  • Colours (2011)
  • Champagne Lifestyle on Coca Cola Wages (2011)
  • The Battle to stay positive (2011)
  • Jimmy Selling Watches / Overground Artist (2011)
  • Boys in Green (2012)
  • Jimmy's Winning Matches (2012) No.11 in the Irish Charts[9]
  • Ballad of Mad Dog Coll (2013)
  • Week of Alcohol (2014)
  • Sometimes you shouldn't follow your heart (2014)
  • Belfast (2014)
  • Peace and Love and Ringo Starr (2015)[10]

Albums
  • God Bless the Big Bang (2008)- (rory)
  • Auntie Depressant and Uncle Hope (2012)[11]
  • Dingo Rush (2013)[12]
  • Watching the sun going down (2016)

PREVIOUS:

  • 20th Century (released under the name Rory Gallagher) – (1997)
  • SonicTonic (THE REVS) – 2002
  • Suck (THE REVS) – 2003
  • Revs The Revs – 2005
gollark: Ah, but without virtualization, that is the real challenge.
gollark: I'm sure you can make it work somehow.
gollark: Install Gentoo and Arch on the same system.
gollark: Turns out that `this-is.cool` is an available domain.
gollark: I mean, a domain is a domain.

References
  1. "Reaction to 'God Bless the Big Bang' Album release". Hotpress Magazine.
  2. "Two short tours of Ireland". Hot Press Magazine.
  3. "Sunny Solo for Former Revs Star". Hot Press.
  4. "Make way for the fighting Irish" – via YouTube.
  5. "Opium Rooms gig". Dublin Concerts.
  6. "The Academy". Golden Plec.
  7. "Rory and The Island on tour in Germany" – via YouTube.
  8. "Trip Advisor". Trip Advisor.
  9. "Chart Track". Top40-Charts. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  10. "Peace and Love and Ringo Starr". Hot Press Magazine.
  11. "Auntie Depressant and Uncle Hope". Tuam Herald.
  12. "Dingo Rush Release". Donegal News.
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