Larry live on Facebook
When Joey Edwards and his girlfriend Aoife Ward get behind the mics on Friday at 8pm for Larry’s on-line gig for An Táin Arts Centres Facebook page, it will be the first time in over a year that they have played for an audience.
‘Our last gig was in January 2020,’ says Joey.
Along with drummer David Noonan they make up Larry, but this gig just features two thirds of the band as Joey and Aoife are in a bubble together, which allows them perform the latest in the series of on-line gigs for An Táin.
Up until now, they had eschewed doing on-line gigs but after some of their friends did ones for An Táin, they are now looking forward to playing to a live audience - even if that audience is watching them from the comfort of their own homes.
‘It’s been a long time since we did a show and that was with the full band,’ says Joey.
They are looking forward to it as it gives them something to focus on,
‘It’s good to have a deadline, something to work towards.’
That’s not to say they haven’t been busy during lockdown.
‘We’ve been writing new songs, demoing and trying out new material.’
Friday night’s gig will see them playing a mix of new songs, some material from their album recorded in Chicago, as well as some covers by bands that inspire them,
Like many other bands, their plans for 2020 were interrupted by the pandemic and lockdown ended their plans to go on tour.
‘We had put a record, The Full Bosco, out the year before but hadn’t played further afield than around Ireland. We had stuff planned for the UK and the Netherlands but it didn’t happen.’
Lockdown also interrupted their plans for recording as they weren’t able to get into the studio but that didn’t stop them from working on new material.
Looking forward to Friday night’s gig, Joey says ‘It will be a bit of craic and when you see your friends doing it, it gets you excited.’
Larry are also one of the bands featured in the ‘Songs in the Quay of Life’ series recorded at The Spirit Store, which also saw Joe plying his trade as a sound engineer.