Shadowplay - Acoustic
Shadowplay are confirmed to play the Acoustic Garden stage at Le Cheile Festival 2012 on Sunday 5th August.
Formed in May 2010, Shadowplay are fast becoming recognised as one of Ireland’s most creative and accomplished bands. The band members, from Donegal, Ardee and Dublin, are all recent music graduates from around the country who came together in their final year at NUI Maynooth.
In the past year, Shadowplay have shared the bill with such notable names as Bobby Kimball (TOTO), The Coronas, Altan, Mundy, The Stunning, The Undertones, The Saw Doctors, The Four of Us, Mick Flannery and Royseven and also have played performances on various major radio stations such as Radio Nova, Today FM, LMFM and Newstalk. A testament to their ability to entertain and enthuse a crowd was their selection by The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show to be taken to Austria as the Ski Trip band for a week, playing to a crowd of 500 for each of 5 nights, varying their sets and playing one evening with The Saw Doctors in Badhofgastein.
The end of the week saw their first mainstream radio appearance playing their first single, Words, live on the Ian Demspey Show. Words, described by Hot Press as ‘an acoustic ballad that calls to mind Fleetwood Mac at their mid-70s Rumours-era high point’, shot to number eight in the Irish rock charts on its first day of release.
A five date ticketed tour with former lead singer of Toto, Bobby Kimball, was completed in July, comprising of a setlist containing Toto tracks and original Shadowplay music.
“I love this band, we’re going to have a lot of fun doing this tour in Ireland”. – Bobby Kimball
The tour saw critically acclaimed performances in The Sugar Club, Galway, Dolan’s in Limerick, The Clarence in Sligo and to a sell out crowd of over 7,500 while headlining the Buncrana Music Festival.
On Saturday 10 December 2011, Shadowplay were chosen out of forty-eight bands as the winners of the Summit Bandslam Music Award 2011. The prizes include an EP produced in Phonic Studios over 4 days by music legend ‘Conor O’Farrell Brady’(Guitarist with The Commitments, Sinead O’Connor, Toots and The Maytals, Jerry Fish and more.), EP cover artwork designed by Steve Averill of U2 fame, performances at Vantastival and Indiependence Festivals in 2012, a live session and for FM104’s Open Mic with Ruairi Carroll, a live session and EP promotion on Dublin City FM and finally a special EP launch night at The Summit Inn, Howth co. Dublin.
“We would not be here if it wasn’t for the amount of people who have supported us at the gigs and with everything else we’ve done over the last two years. We’re forever in your debt!” – Shadowplay
In February 2012, Shadowplay were chosen out of almost 1,000 bands as the winners of the Hot Press Lift Off Competition. The prizes include the funding of an album by Shamrock Solutions and distribution from Universal Records among many other things.
“The competition really was fierce,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes said. “There are so many great artists and bands in Ireland right now, across every genre of contemporary music. When it came down to the final shortlist of ten in particular, there were very, very difficult decisions to be made. But there is a wonderful freshness and originality about what Shadowplay do. They have the musicianship, the songs, the attitude and most of all the potential to become huge. Winning this competition is a really huge step in that direction. I think we can expect great things from them.”
http://shadowplayofficial.com/