Product DescriptionAn Irish Progressive Rock Band? Surely Not! Almost certainly Ireland s only progressive rock band, DEAD HEROES CLUB offer us 21st century prog-rock.
The band, hailing from Derry in the north of Ireland, wear their influences firmly on their sleeve and yet manage to achieve an original and inventive approach to their music. Beyond the prog-rock tag, however, the band describe themselves as belonging to the song for song's sake category of music, and it becomes clear from the first listen that Dead Heroes Club place a lot of emphasis on melody and try to deliver melody with passion and power through all the various moods and shades that their music offers. The words too are a leading component of the band s compositional make up, and in a sense Dead Heroes Club s new album A Time of Shadow could be described as a lyrical album - the song The Centre Cannot Hold , for example, was inspired by Irish poet and mystic W.B. Yeats. The songs are grounded in reality, dealing with issues or themes that reflect the world today rather than being flights of fantasy.
The band members have come together from various corners of the musical past with one thing in common, the love of experimental and progressive music. Composing music under the philosophy of let the music lead the way, Dead Heroes Club have a lot in common with the progressive rock giants of the past, and yet the music feels modern and fresh. The origins of Dead Heroes Club lie in the words of many long dead conversations around the year 2004 between guitarist Gerry McGerigal, vocalist Liam Campbell and drummer Mickey Gallagher all of who were playing in various other bands at the time and feeling frustrated with the lack of musical adventure in the moribund waters of mainstream rock and pop. Each felt a need to break free from this stagnation and write and perform songs that could stir the imagination.
Having agreed to get together for a few jams (the prerequisite for membership - a need to break out of tired old rock clichés and experiment with songs and music) the three founder members eventually find likeminded souls in bass player Wilson Graham and keyboards man Chris Norby.
The initial rehearsals involved the band knocking out covers of classic prog-rock songs such as Time by Pink Floyd and Squonk by Genesis. But as was always the plan, soon original material begins to dominate proceedings.
Quite quickly the boys realise that they had enough material for an album and decide to set about recording the songs. The first eponymously titled album was well received by critcs and fans alike and the album paved the way for Dead Heroes Club first steps into the world of progressive rock.
The idea for the cover of the debut album came quite quickly after deciding upon the name of the band, with each member choosing some of their personal dead heroes from the past. Dead Heroes Club play a series of successful gigs around Ireland and the UK and continue to write for a second release.
Track Listings (6) - Disc #1