Tipperary rock group Charcoal Greys kick off busy year with gig at The Source in Thurles

It’s not many bands can fill an hour on stage with performances of their own original songs, but that is exactly what Tipperary alternative rock group Charcoal Greys will do when they play at The Source Arts Centre in Thurles on Saturday, February 7.

This exciting young five-piece band making waves on the local live music scene with their high octane shows over the past year, will be the headline act at The Source that night.

It will be an opportunity for Charcoal Greys’ fans to see them perform their latest new single – Just Because – shortly before the song’s official release online.

It will be the band’s third single release in less than a year following hot on the heels of their debut song, Sober, released last April and Muddy Shoes, which has amassed around 10,000 streams on Spotify alone since its release last September.

Charcoal Greys guitarist Luke Boland (32) from Grangemockler and lead singer Emily O’Keeffe (20) from Owning near Carrick-on-Suir were excited at the prospect of performing at The Source when The Nationalist met them last week.

“Paradise Conspiracy from Thurles will open the show,” explains Luke. “They have great stage energy and we have played with them before.

“The Source is probably one of the best music venues in the county and it makes a big effort to book in local original acts. So we are really excited.”

The gig will be the launch pad for another hectic year for the Charcoal Greys, who also include bass guitarist Killian Wierczynski from Clonmel, guitarist and vocalist Zach O’Keeffe and his drummer brother Sam O’Keeffe both from Figlash, Carrick-on-Suir. Zach and Sam are first cousins of Emily and Luke.

The group will release two more original songs after Just Because over the next few months culminating in the launch of their debut five-song EP this summer. And in between there will be more live music shows.

Just Because will be released on music platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and You Tube from February 17

Emily wrote the lyrics and it’s the first of her songs to be recorded and released by the band.

“The song is basically about when you meet someone for the first time and you have no idea where it’s going,” she explains.

“You're trying to throw everything you have at the other person without knowing if you are going to get anything back. It's about sacrificing yourself in the hope of getting something,”

The animation student at the Technological University of the Shannon’s Clonmel campus has mixed feelings over the prospect of her song being unveiled to the world.

“When you write something that comes from such a personal place and put it out there you feel vulnerable but also really excited,” she says.

Emily is one of three songwriters in the band. Luke, who is a software engineer, wrote the lyrics to Sober and Muddy Shoes while Zach, a Leaving Cert student at Edmund Rice Secondary School in Carrick, has written one of the group’s upcoming new singles.

Emily believes having three songwriters of differing ages, experiences and perspectives is one of the band’s great strengths and helps them appeal to a wider audience.

While one of the trio will bring the lyrics of their latest song and its basic melody to the band, she explains the finished single is a work of collaboration involving all five members in their practice sessions.

Debut EP

The group recorded Just Because and Muddy Shoes with producer Daniel de Burca at Jejune Recording Studios in Drogheda last summer and also recorded the final two songs that will complete their EP there last October.

Luke says they are debating at the moment whether to produce a vinyl record of the EP alongside the digital version.

It would be a dream come through for the Charcoal Greys to physically hold a vinyl of their first EP and play it on a record player but the cost of producing it and what it will cost to sell will be key to whether they go down this route.

We don't want people to have to pay too much,” he points out.

Meanwhile, if you don’t get to see the Charcoal Greys at The Source on February 7, they will be playing at the Swarm Fest in the Pavilion in Cork just a week later on Valentine’s Night.

The Charcoal Greys in action on stage at Cyprus Avenue in Cork City last October

Cork has become a regular stomping ground for them over the past six months. The band supported The Academic group at the Leeside city’s popular Cyprus Avenue last October and they have also played at the Dali venue on Lavitt’s Quay a number of times.

“We feel Cork has become our home away from home. We have played Dublin more but Cork is a little smaller and more intimate,” says Luke

The band has experienced Dublin’s rock music scene on a number of occasions over the past year.

They played support to Cork band Bowden at the capital’s renowned Whelan’s venue in late October. It was another milestone gig for the south Tipperary band who only played together for the first time at Carrick-on-Suir’s Clancy Brothers Music & Arts Festival just over a year and a half ago.

The Charcoal Greys also played their second gig at another popular Dublin venue – The Soundhouse – at the end of November.

Luke and Emily are really impressed at the thriving music gig culture in Dublin,

“It's amazing to see so many teenagers going to see original live music in Dublin,” says Luke.

Back in Tipperary they are gradually building up a strong fan base based on their local live shows and online videos of their songs uploaded on TikTok and other social media platforms that are particularly popular when they are filmed in the places like Clonmel or Thurles where their fans are from or know well.

A TikTok video of Muddy Shoes they filmed in Thurles attracted 44,000 views.

The band are very appreciative of the support they have received from musicians and gig promoters in Clonmel.

“The community of musicians in Clonmel is so lovely,” says Emily.

“We wouldn't have got as far without the initial help we received from Stephen McGrath, who is a bass player and music teacher who organises a lot of gigs. He is Mr Music in Clonmel.”

She also paid tribute to Dave Hastie, the organiser of the open mic live music sessions in Lonergan’s Pub on Clonmel’s O'Connell Street where they performed some of their first sessions.

The band has also dipped its toes into organising live music events by launching its own promotional entity called Gergesa Promotions with the goal of organising events for new and up-and-coming original music artists and bands.

Their first foray into gig promotion was organising the You’re Making a Scene event at Gleeson’s Pub in Irishtown, Clonmel on October 16 featuring performances from Baby Rat and Small Church as well as the Charcoal Greys, who were delighted with the public turnout to the show.

Luke says he has a new appreciation and understanding of the work, stress and compromise involved in hosting such events since organising You’re Making a Scene and a lot more empathy for the promoters of grassroots music events.

“We hope to organise another event later this spring,” he reveals.

So an interesting and busy year awaits the Charcoal Greys.

Tickets for their show at The Source Arts Centre in Thurles are available from the venue’s website: https://www.thesourceartscentre.ie/ or from https://charcoalgreys.com/ and the band's social media pages.

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