Navan venues to host two Irish talents

Two big names on the Irish music scene at present - Mundy and Declan O"Rourke - both perform gigs in Navan this coming week. Mundy is due to release his brand new album, 'Strawberry Blood" in April and is touring the country before the release, including bringing a performance to Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, on Tuesday next, 24th February. Recorded at Grouse Lodge in Westmeath and the Cauldron, Dublin with Joe Chester, Mundy and his band laid down 14 new originals. He has also uploaded a studio report to YouTube, which includes two songs as a work in progress: the ballad 'Head Over Heels" plus another track, which is still without a title even though he wrote it nearly ten years ago! On Friday night, 27th February, Declan O"Rourke is playing the Backroom Sessions at The Lantern. Declan O"Rourke is an Irish recording artist who began his career on the Dublin singer-songwriter circuit in 2000. Declan released his debut album under a small, independent Irish record label in 2004. Entitled 'Since Kyabram" (a reference to his adolescent years spent in Australia where he was given his first guitar by a priest in the provincial Victorian town Kyabram) it went straight in at fifth position in the Irish charts. It very soon achieved Gold, Platinum and then double-Platinum status. Even now, almost four years after its release, it continues to sell steadily. Declan"s songs have gained him much interest both here and abroad with a number of the industry"s top names. Earlier this year, when asked by Q Magazine which song from the past twenty years he most wishes he"d written, Paul Weller chose 'Galileo," a song from Since Kyabram. Last year, Declan released his long-awaited second album, 'Big, Bad, Beautiful World," which reached fourth position in the Irish charts. 'Big, Bad, Beautiful World" has been critically acclaimed. In 2006, he supported Snow Patrol on their European tour, where he played Wembley Stadium and the Odyssey Arena among others. He has also toured in England and mainland Europe, supporting such notable names as Paul Weller, The Cardigans, Paulo Nuttini, Paul Brady, The Beautiful South, Nizlopi, while appearing on the same bills as Bob Dylan, Planxty and, in Spring 2009, Nancy Griffith. Doors in the Lantern are at 9pm with Eugene Donegan in support.