THE STRYPES are four Cavan teens who play blues and r’n’b with a cocksure swagger and energy not seen in Ireland since Van Morrison and Them tore up club stages in Belfast.
Maybe it’s an Ulster thing? More likely it’s something else. Whatever, these Breffni County bluesmen have it, and Galway audiences are in for a treat when they play the Seapoint Ballroom, Salthill for a ‘Róisín Dubh presents...’ show on Saturday December 6 at 8pm.
The band - Ross Farrelly (lead vocals/harmonica ), Josh McClorey (lead guitar/vocals ), Pete O’Hanlon (bass guitar/harmonica ), and Evan Walsh (drums ) - cite Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, The Yardbirds, the Rolling Stones, and Dr Feelgood as inspirations - music they discovered through their parents’ record collections.
“We inherited their love of the music,” Evan told me when I interviewed the band last year. “It was what was always around. Our parents would say ‘Have you ever heard this?’ On family days out they would play Chuck Berry, Dave Edmunds, or Elvis Costello in the car. They were also into the Stones and Dr Feelgood.”
The Strypes count Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller among their fans, while Elton John said: “They play music like The Rolling Stones used to. They’re like a breath of fresh air.”
Tickets are available at www.roisindubh.net, the Ticket Desk at OMG Zhivago, Shop Street, and The Róisín Dubh.
