Rory and The Island | |
|---|---|
 Rory and The Island, Live Performance | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | County Donegal, Ireland |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Members |
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| Website | roryandtheisland |
Rory and The Island has had 10 top 40 songs in the Irish iTunes rock charts, with "Jimmy's Winning Matches" breaking through to the actual overall Irish top 10 in October 2012. Lead singer Rory Gallagher was the bass player and lead vocalist with Irish Indie/Pop/Punk group 'The Revs' from 2000 to 2007.
In his time with The Revs they released numerous hit radio singles and 3 Albums; Sonictonic in 2002 (no. 5 Irish Charts), Suck in 2003 (no. 3 Irish Charts) and The Revs in 2005 (no. 26 Irish Charts). The Revs played the Oxegen (Irelands biggest annual music festival) Main Stage 4 times, Slane Castle, toured the United States, Australia (where they had a top 30 hit with "Death of a DJ") the UK and Europe and supported the Kaiser Chiefs, Foo fighters, Muse and many others. The band picked up two Meteors, Hot Press and BBC awards, a single of the month with Kerrang! , MTV2 coverage and an average of 300 gigs/public appearances per year... it all flew at a rapid pace. However, in late 2006 it all came to an end as the public interest in the band had died.
In 2008, Rory released his official solo debut album "God Bless the Big Bang". It received a positive reaction, with Hot Press magazine [1] declaring it "a Triumphant return", giving it 4 out of 5 stars. It also received album of the week from Today FM, The Sunday World and BBC Radio Ulster. Rory released 2 singles from the album and did two short tours of Ireland. [2] However, he had since become the resident musician in Charlie's Bar in Lanzarote and he found it difficult to go and play in front of 50 people in small venues around Ireland, losing all his money on petrol and hotels when there were already 150 Irish people coming into Charlie's Bar in Lanzarote every night of the week.
In 2010, Rory recorded some new original material with well-known Irish trad player Sharon Shannon (also a reworking of The Pogues classic "Fiesta" with Shane MacGowan); out of these sessions Rory had recorded a comedy demo song called "Ryanair Blues". It was leaked to Irish radio and became a surprise online hit. It was then that Rory started releasing his new material under the name "RORY AND THE ISLAND" as it was a confusing using his birthname Rory Gallagher as many people would show up expecting a tribute to the Cork/ Donegal Blues Legend!
The second album, "Auntie Depressant and Uncle Hope" (2012), also received acclaim from Hot Press magazine, [3] which summarised it as 'a compelling suite of songs'. The album was recorded in various locations around the Spanish island of Lanzarote.
Rory wrote the music for Irish boxer Jason Quigley's debut pro fight in Las Vegas, "Make Way for the Fighting Irish", [4] in July 2014. Quigley now uses this as his arena entrance theme song.
In Oct 2014, Rory played a sold out show to 550 people in the Opium Rooms [5] (The Village) in Dublin. After this show, Rory played "The Academy" [6] venue in Dublin, which holds 1,000 people, supported by Eoin Glackin.
In 2015, Rory and The Island went on tour again in Germany. [7]
The third official studio album, "Watching the sun going down", was released in July 2016.
Rory and the Island gigged six nights a week at The Island Bar in Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, which was voted the No.1 Live Music Bar on Trip Advisor for five years running. (2013 - 2018). [8]
Following the sale of the bar, Rory and the Island played in numerous venues around Great Britain, Ireland, New York, Las Vegas and Germany.
In 2020, Rory and his wife Cara decided to open a new live music venue in Edinburgh in Scotland. However, after paying a large sum for the lease and redecorating, the bar never made it to its official opening night of 20 March 2020 due to the global pandemic.
Rory then began live Facebook broadcasting during the pandemic to a huge response, and charted 3 top 20 singles on iTunes during this period.
This led to sold out shows in cities such as Belfast, Dublin, London, and even a guest slot on the BBC from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2021. Rory signed with new Irish indie label "Voices of the Sea" to release his album : "Centre Falls Apart", plus a follow up EP "Centre Comes Together" in 2022, Both receiving huge critical acclaim and heavy rotation on spotify and RTÉ.
In 2023, Rory and his wife Cara Gallagher opened "Rory's Corner Bar" in Puerto Del Carmen, Lanzarote, and "BAR 13" in Edinburgh, two new live music bars.
Rory is now owner and resident musician in The Irish Viking Bar in Puerto Del Carmen, Lanzarote.
In 2025, Rory and his wife Cara Gallagher also opened a vibrant new music venue in Puerto Del Carmen, Lanzarote - Rory's Live Lounge, [9] where he now performs live shows five nights a week.
May 2025 saw Rory release another catchy summer anthem, 'Playa Grande'. [10]
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