How Limerick band Kingfishr went from doing music out of boredom to supporting Bruce Springsteen

And their tale comes with a wonderful promotional opportunity for fans – with two tickets to see their show live going up for grabs.

Eddie (vocals, guitar), McGoo (banjo), and Fitz (bass) met while studying engineering at University of Limerick in 2017, but they did not start the band until 2021.

Eddie explained: “We all started making music essentially out of boredom, we were sitting around the house for 12 hours a day, we were supposed to be studying for our masters when in reality we were actually sitting around playing PlayStation or write songs. I think something good came out of Covid, if there’s anything to come out of it, for us, it was the band.”

After college, as their songs became more and more successful, the trio decided to quit their jobs and dedicate their efforts to music.

It has been a bit of a roller coaster of a ride, but we’re having a great time doing it… it’s been a short space of time, but it’s been a seriously fun space of time

Eddie said: “We got engineering jobs and then pretty soon after that we quit to pursue music. So pretty nerve-racking time I guess in a lot of ways.”

Fitz added: “It kind of just took off from there and never stopped. It has been a bit of a roller coaster of a ride, but we’re having a great time doing it.”

“Yes it’s been a short space of time, but it’s been a seriously fun space of time. It’s been hard too.”

When they made the decision, the three young men could not image that in 2023 they would have supported established musicians including world-famous rock legend Bruce Springsteen at BST. During the summer they also had support slots for George Ezra’s UK/ Ireland tour as well as Dermot Kennedy’s Limerick shows at Thomond Park & in Dublin at Marlay Park. Alongside this were a run of festival dates that included Electric Picnic, Neighbourhood Weekender, Live At Leeds, Latitude, All Points East, Sea Sessions & Indiependence.

October 2023 then saw the Kingfishr embark on their first Irish tour, playing six sold out dates in Ireland, with one extra added and still to be played at Limerick’s Milk Market in December due to phenomenal demand.

Fitz described their first Ireland tour as “possibly one of the best weeks of our lives” and the band said to be “incredibly excited” for what is about to come.

“We’re very excited. Touring is something new but it’s something we very much enjoy,” Fitz said.

The Irish indie-folk band also found out the hard and physically demanding part of touring, but they said that nothing can overshadow the beauty of such experience.

Eddie said: “It’s funny how much travel takes the toll on you, like sitting in a bus or sitting in a van, for six or eight hours.

“But nothing that takes the shine off the whole thing, for people to be spending money to come see us, to actually care about the tunes, or that have found something in them, or just singing along.”

We’ve gone beyond anything we ever even let ourselves dream of, I think we’re all very very proud of that achievement and I suppose we’ll keep going and see how far we can get

“To see the movement on tickets and the amount of people who resonated with the songs it’s just amazing,” he added.

The Kingfishr has recently announced their first UK tour as well as two dates in Dublin in 2024, and they could not be happier as trio is about to turn their biggest dream into reality.

Fitz said: “The initial thing when we started was just have something on Spotify that we can show out grandkids and be proud of. I think the dream beyond dreams was the Olympia Theatre and now that we’re doing two [gigs there] is pretty insane.

“We’ve gone beyond anything we ever even let ourselves dream of, I think we’re all very very proud of that achievement and I suppose we’ll keep going and see how far we can get.”

In November 2023, the band released their first EP ‘Live From Doonan’ containing live, stripped back versions of singles ‘Headlands’, ‘Caroline’, ‘Anyway’ and ‘Heart In The Water.’

The EP was recorded at Mcgoo’s homeplace, a house built in Doonane, Ireland during the 1840’s. It is also the very place where all of the band’s songs to date were written.

Speaking on the release of the EP, the band said: “We recorded these tracks in the kitchen at home. It felt about as true as we could possibly make it. No fluff, no tricks, just the three of us sat in the kitchen playing them back to back, with plenty of tea in between takes. Improper, heartfelt bits and pieces, very much like ourselves.”

This month they have also released their eight single ‘Vancouver’, which followed Flowers-Fire, Eyes Don’t Lie, Heart In The Water, Anyway, Headlands, Caroline and Flowers-Fire (Feat. Jamie Duffy). Their singles combined have racked up over 4 million streams on Spotify and three of these tracks were recently performed on The Independent’s live music session Music Box.

The band’s 2024 dates include: King Tut’s (Glasgow) on Thursday February 15, The Wardrobe (Leeds) on Friday February 16, Deaf Institute (Manchester) on Saturday February 17, Clwb Ifor Bach (Cardiff) on Monday February 19, Hare and Hounds (Birmingham) on Tuesday February 20, Lafayette (London) on Thursday February 22 and Olympia Theatre (Dublin) on Thursday March 21 and Friday March 22.

Kingfishr will play a sold-out gig ‘Live at the Big Top’ in Limerick’s Milk Market on Saturday, December 9. Fancy heading along? Click here to be in with a chance to win a pair of tickets.