The Academic
The Academic | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Mullingar, Westmeath, Ireland |
Genres | Indie rock |
Years active | 2013 | –present
Labels |
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Website |
theacademic |
Members |
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The Academic are an indie rock band from Westmeath, Ireland formed at the end of 2013 while all members were in school together. It currently consists of Craig Fitzgerald, Dean Gavin, and brothers Matthew and Stephen Murtagh. Their debut studio album, Tales from the Backseat was released in January 2018 and entered the Official Irish Charts at number one.
History
Forming together while the band were in their early teens towards the end of 2013, the bands consists of lead singer and guitarist Craig Fitzgerald, Dean Gavin on drums, and brothers Matthew and Stephen Murtagh on guitar and bass, respectively.
With only one EP released, which was released in October 2015, the band sold out their first show at Dublin's 1500 capacity Vicar Street, such was the reaction that the 'Loose Friends' EP had. In January 2016, the band were selected by Ireland's national radio broadcaster, RTE 2FM to represent the country at Eurosonic Festival in Groningen resulting in numerous festival bookings and radio airplay across Europe that year.
The band garnered further media interest with the release of "Bear Claws" in July 2017, an anthemic track similar in style to the music of The Strokes.[1][2][3] The track received further attention after the premiere of their first of a kind "live looper" music video for the track. The video, which was performed live on a Facebook video stream, utilized the delay in the stream to create a musical loop, to which they gradually added vocals and instruments. It was a viral hit and reached over 1 million views on YouTube in 48 hours. [4]
On 26 October 2017, the band announced that their debut LP, Tales from the Backseat, would be released on 12 January 2018.[5]
On 12 January 2018, Tales from the Backseat was released to critical acclaim, and went straight to No.1 in the Official Irish album chart. [6][7]
On 20th July 2018, The Academic performed their biggest headline show at Iveagh Gardens, Dublin to 5000 people before announcing a US, European, UK and Ireland tour for the autumn of 2018
Members
The Academic currently consists of:
- Craig Fitzgerald (lead vocals and guitar)
- Matthew Murtagh (guitar)
- Stephen Murtagh (bass)
- Dean Gavin (drums)
Discography
Singles
- "Different" (2015)
- "Mixtape 2003" (2016)
- "Bear Claws" (2017)
- "Permanent Vacation" (2017)
- "Why Can't We Be Friends?" (2017)
- "Fake ID" (2018)
Albums
- Loose Friends (EP, October 2015)
- Tales from the Backseat (LP, January 2018)
References
- ↑ O'Connor, Roisin (6 September 2017). "New music to listen to this week: The Academic". The Independent. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
- ↑ Rossignol, Derrick (6 July 2017). "Premiere: The Academic's 'Bear Claws' Is Anthemic With An Indie Edge". Uproxx. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
- ↑ Murray, Robin (7 July 2017). "Premiere: The Academic - 'Bear Claws'". Clash. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
- ↑ Koerber, Brian (10 October 2017). "Here's how a band used Facebook Live's delay to create a one-of-a-kind song". Mashable. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
- ↑ The Academic [@TheAcademic] (26 October 2017). "ALBUM ANNOUNCEMENT" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 November 2017 – via Twitter.
- ↑ "Top 100 Artist Album, Week Ending 19 January 2018". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
- ↑ "IRMA – Irish Charts". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
External links