About Me
Rory was born in Kilcar, Co. Donegal just before Christmas 1978. His father was a huge fan of the blues legend Rory Gallagher and unwittingly named his son after him, a move that has caused a few headaches since but could have been much, much worse had he chosen Liam or Noel.
Rory became involved in music from a very early age and made his stage debut age 4 playing 'Eye of the tiger' on the drums at the 1983 Killybegs festival, Rory then played around home in his early teens with Grunge/Rock bands such as Aftermath and BULB with his cousins and friends, He even released a low budget album of original songs at the age of 18 called '20th Century' which picked up some local radio play and got 'Album of the week' on the Larry Gogan show on 2FM. He also twice reached the final of the 2FM national young songwriter competition in the 1990's.
However, in the millennium year, he joined with childhood friend (and Bulb-man) Michael O’Donnell and annual Donegal holidayer John McIntyre, and formed The Revs. Within their first year together, they had played over 200 gigs across Ireland and won a Hot Press sponsored band competition. With Rory on lead vocals and bass, John on guitars and vocals and Michael on drums and percussion, their star rose at an extraordinary pace. Summer of 2001 saw their track ‘Wired to the Moon’ become the teenage anthem of the summer. The single went on to sell over 10,000 copies. The follow on single, a cover of the Vapours ‘Turning Japanese’ became a radio anthem for the Irish soccer team, who had just qualified for the World Cup. Suddenly The Revs were stomping the stage at Oxegen having become overnight teen idols. Their debut album Sonic Tonic in 2002 was a No. 5 chart hit, selling over 20,000 copies. The Revs went on to win the 2002 Meteor Music Award for Best Newcomers, beating both Damien Rice and Gemma Hayes, a fact that still makes them cringe.
Shirking off the ‘one hit wonder’ tag with confidence, they followed with the 2003 album Suck, which debuted at No. 3 in the charts, reaching platinum sales and spawning the hit track Death of A DJ. The Revs were voted third best Irish band of 2003 in the Hot Press Readers Poll, beaten only by U2 and The Frames. They played Slane Castle, Reading, Leeds, Oxegen for 3 years in a row, toured the US, Australia, Europe and the UK. Death of a DJ was voted record of the week in Kerrang!, was splashed all over MTV2 and broke the Top 20 in Australia. They opened for bands like Muse, Counting Crows, The Libertines, The Kaiser Chiefs and The Hives. The Revs 3rd album simply titled 'THE REVS' (recorded in the Cardigans studio in Malmo, Sweden) released in the winter of 2005 was a commercial disaster for the band, only reaching 29 in the Irish album charts and selling only 2000 copies despite being the most critically acclaimed work they had ever done, It got 9 out of 10 in Hotpress and a song on a compilation CD on the front of Rolling Stone magazine! not to mention getting 2 songs into the Hollywood blockbuster 'P.S. I love you'.
One of the most striking things about The Revs was that they achieved all of this without one cent of financial backing from a major record label. Everything the band made performing and selling records and merchandise was invested back into the band. After six years however, having sprinted out of the starting blocks in what they suddenly realised was a marathon race, the lack of clear direction and financial support took its toll. Going through three managers in six years, being unable to shake the ‘teen pop band’ label and generally losing their energy, the three decided to split. For Rory the fun was well and truly over. The momentum and buzz had died and in stepping back, he realised that he didn’t want to spend the next ten years becoming just another ‘nearly made it’ musician, sitting in the back room of a Dublin pub, telling anyone who would listen ‘how it could have been’.
One of the last shows The Revs performed was at a music festival in Lanzarote on The Canary Islands. After the gig, Rory met a young Scottish lass named Cara, fell in love and when The Revs finally came to a close, he moved with her to the tiny village of Uga, where they now live. Having escaped the rain, the music business and the nay-sayers, in his first six months of island living, Rory had written fifteen new songs. Paying the rent and the Sol beer bills gigging in a venue called Buddy’s in the nearby town of Puerto del Carmen, Rory embraced the easy pace of his new life - walks on the volcanic mountains, swimming in the ocean, revitalising the soul after years of running.
Buddy Records first offspring was Rory’s debut album release God Bless The Big Bang on August 15th 2008. The album was recorded in Kuesgen Studios in Haldern in Germany, where the studio owner Klaus Dieter Kuesgen was an old Revs friend and fellow Beatles fan. The studio has played host to many international acts including Mercury Rev and The Divine Comedy. Rory produced the album himself, enjoying the freedom of being able make independent decisions. He also plays nearly all the instruments on the album, out of financial pragmatism rather than egotistical nonsense. The one other musician on the album is his father, who provides a free of charge performance on pedal steel guitar.Rory spent August 2008 gigging across Ireland to help launch the album GOD BLESS THE BIG BANG. It recieved some great press reaction with Hotpress magazine hailing it as 'Triumphant' **** and getting Album of the week in the Sunday World, the Anglo Celt and on Today FM. The single "Raindancer" was also a radio favourite for the whole rainy summer of 2008!Rory released the single 'The Oxygen is not pure' to radio in October 2008 supported by an Irish University tour. In Novemeber Rory headed to New York City for a gig in the Village and to take part in the NYC marathon. December 2008 saw Rory supporting Britpop legends 'Ocean Colour Scene' in Dublin and Belfast. Rory is going to Barcelona in March 2009 to record 2 new songs which will be released with 'Waterfall' to radio in May 2009. watch this space
