R&b
Despite only releasing their debut single ‘flowers-fire’ a little over two years ago, Limerick-based trio Kingfishr have already ticked off a whole bunch of achievements from their bucket list.
From supporting the likes of George Ezra, Dermot Kennedy, and The Coronas, selling out both their UK and Irish tours in February and announcing that they are set to play Glastonbury this summer; it’s been all go for the band, made up of college friends Eddie, McGoo and Fitz.
“A whirlwind is probably the accurate description,” Eddie smiles when asked how the past few months have been, “I’m not sure if we’ll ever come to terms with where we are or what we’ve done. “The Olympia has always been on our list, so to sell out two nights there is immense” he adds, referencing Dublin’s iconic theatre. “We knew if we could make it there we’d consider the band a success”.
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The trio first met in 2017 whilst studying engineering at University of Limerick. Fitz and Eddie lived together while studying, and McGoo would often tip along to the house and use songwriting and performing as a way of escaping the library. Days before their final Masters exams kicked off in 2022, they release ‘flowers-fire’, under a band name which came from the bird which lives on the River Boro in Eddie’s native Wexford.
“We were going to release ‘Eyes Don’t Lie’ and we had that ready before we finished college so we decided to pause things for a little while before exams and everything took over,” Fitz explains of choosing the track as the band’s introduction. “We hung onto it, figured ourselves out and by the time we got down to record we’d written a few more songs and ‘flowers-fire’ was the best thing we could put out that summed up who we are so we decided to run with that”.
“We had been messing around with a heap of ideas, and because it was very early days we were trying anything and everything,” Eddie adds of their creative process at the time, and the decision to bank a collection of songs rather than throwing their first creation into the ether. “When we started releasing things all the bands around us told us not to worry about the first release, very likely to be a flop as we had no audience or fanbase so when that didn’t happen and we got a bit of a reaction there was definitely an ‘oh fuck, the next one had better be noteworthy too’” he notes, “but it’s all in your head. The longer this goes on the longer we copped you just need to go with your gut”.
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Since ‘flowers-fire’, the band nine singles, as well as a host of live recordings, reworkings and a re-release of ‘flowers-fire’ in collaboration with pianist Jamie Duffy. Each of their standalone singles have racked up streams in the millions, and when last week they announced an additional Irish and UK tour, tickets were quickly snatched up, with many venues adding a second night to meet demand.
“We’re nowhere near the top of our game yet,” McGoo notes, when asked when he first considered the band a success, “we’re still learning and figuring things out so we’re not even close to the peak of songwriting or musically where we want to be. We aren’t wondering about whether a song will be a hit or a success, it’s just about pushing ourselves creatively to where we want to be”.
“We’re just taking it day by day,” Fitz admits of what it’s like being in the centre of the excitement and adoration the band has generated. “It’s great obviously to have the attention and the opportunities to play but we’re really focusing on writing the songs, recording the songs, releasing the songs and then the reward is getting to play the gigs; we’re really close to the people around us so we get excited when the festivals and shows come in but we’re not focused on what they are, where they are or when they are”.
As for their songwriting, it’s a well established process of Eddie writin the majority of the lyrics (“I was standing in the shower this morning and a song popped into my head” he laughs) whilst Fitz and McGoo throw around ideas for instrumentation. It all takes place in McGoo’s family home in Tipperary, and important landmark for the band, especially when they diaries get busy and they need somewhere to decompress. “We’re on a bit of a journey and we’re definitely still getting used to it,” McGoo – perhaps understandably – before saying: “there are certain things which I really didn’t expect to play such a big role in the band so relationships change but when we do come back to the farmhouse and recalibrate, we get back to where we started, or close to it anyway”.
“We’ve come a long way from the shed out the back of the college house, breaking the place up,” Fitz smiles; “We’d be mad to think that this was all going to happen but we’re delighted it did”.
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Catch Kingfishr supporting Tom Walker on his huge nationwide tour this Spring, including London’s eventim Apollo on May 7th.
Words: Cailean Coffey
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