Lavengro’s new single looks set to be a summer smash

The catchy tune, which was released on March 22 and which is currently available to order, now looks set to become a summer anthem for 2019, having already catching the ear of radio stations and DJs.

Having already charted on the Official iTunes Charts and the Top 50 Shazam Charts, Lavengro are set to move up a gear with ‘Live For the Weekend’ which has received airplay on RTE2FM, BBC Radio Ulster and Today FM.

The new single looks set to build on their previous singles ‘Think’ and ‘Take the Fall’, which brought the Derry lads a legion of new fans and gathered acclaim from critics and other musicians.

Lavengro consists of lead vocalist Gareth Barrow (23) from Top of the Hill, Emmet McDaid (22) from Creggan, guitarist Dave Healy and his twin brother, drummer James Healy (22) from the Bogside, and Jack Kyle (23) from Galliagh on keyboards and synth.

Since forming back in 2015, their unique funky-electro pop sound has taken Ireland by storm and drawn crowds at festivals such as Electric Picnic, Sea Sessions and Bloom in the Park. Their energetic live performances led to support slots alongside Hudson Taylor.

Guitarist Dave said he is delighted with the buzz the new single is creating.

Describing how it came about, he told the Journal: “We were in the middle of recording an EP and we had four songs but we were a bit iffy about the fourth song. We were just sitting there putting down ideas and that’s literally how the song came about, we banged that out in a matter of minutes. We were surprised after we wrote it - we all looked at each other and said ‘that’s a banger’.

The release of the single will be followed by a music video for the song, and Dave said there is a lot of excitement around the reception even in advance of that. “The radio stations are snapping it up and we’re buzzing for that so when it is released hopefully it will be heard by more people and will travel. The response has been brilliant. Our last song ‘Think’ has always had a great response down south. It was being played by all the main radio stations, and it was just climbing and climbing. I remember seeing it on iTunes charts and our song was number 71. We were buzzing with that and we got a tour after that.”

In fact, it has since emerged that ‘Think’ was the most requested and most played song of the year on one national radio station.

Describing how Lavengro came into being, Dave said that while they all knew each other, the band began to take shape while they were students at the North West Regional College.

“We had started a few bands together. Gareth had gone to pursue an opportunity with Louis Walsh’ band Hometown and then when he came back to Derry we all decided we will start a band and write our own songs.

Lavengro have gone on to develop a rather distinctive, fresh and alternative pop sound, and the Derry men have achieved their aim to develop their own sound and craft tunes that people would recognise, backed up with energetic live performances.

So much so in fact that Lavengro emerged triumphant from among the 48 bands competing over several weeks at the all-Ireland Whelan’s Battle of the Bands competition in Dublin back in July 2016.

“We try to make a write a song that makes someone turn around and go ‘that’s that tune...’. With the last song sometimes I went back to house parties and people would be playing the song and I just kept my mouth shut,” laughs Dave. “I knew from then the song is going to do well.”

And that success is already being replicated with ‘Live for the Weekend’. “I am getting sent videos from people I know and saying they just heard the song in Foyleside or the Richmond Centre.”

The song is so good that is anticipated it will reach way beyond Ireland in the coming months and could become a club staple across Europe and possibly beyond this summer, which Dave said would be dream. In the meantime the band are getting busy in the studio. “We have another three songs to finish for the EP in the recording studio, two of which will be singles,” Dave said, adding that this will occupy the band right up until the end of June. After that the band may look at live gigs.

Lavengro’s combined talents and work ethic has seen them earn their place within the new grass roots music revival sweeping across Ireland at the minute, with a diverse ensemble of new bands and artists creating something a Renaissance that is making its mark across the world.

“It’s brilliant,” Dave said. “There’s a whole lot of bands who have a real modern sound, like Wild Youth, who are brilliant, and the music scene generally in Ireland now is brilliant, with stuff that everybody could listen to, and we are glad to be a part of it.”

Lavengro’s Live for the Weekend is now available to pre-order on iTunes, GooglePlay and Spotify via www.distrokid.com

For more details and to follow Lavengro see: Instagram at www.instagram.com/lavengro.official, Facebook: www.facebook.com/lavengro, Twitter: @lavengrOfficial and Snapchat: LavengrOfficial or check out their website at: www.lavengroband.com