Captain Kennedy – an acoustic/folk/blues seven piece from Northern Ireland – will be featuring in this year’s Dublin City Soul Festival. The band have been playing gigs around Ireland for a few years now but it was in 2009 that they really established their position as a live act, playing such festivals as the Open House Festival in Belfast, where they shared a bill with Steve Earle and Mumford & Sons. They also featured on the Open House Festival live launch on BBC Radio alongside Noah and the Whale.

In 2010 they released their debut album See You When I See You. The album picks up brilliantly where their live sound finishes off, and is a brilliant fusion of genres different from anything else out there. Band members Ciaran Lavery, Stephen McGurk, Laura Kerr, Eamon Lavery, Christopher Molloy, Damien McAlinden and Stephen Kerr play together brilliantly, motivated by what they describe as “Mutual love for honest hard working folk music”.

Vocalist Ciaran Lavery sounds a bit like a cross between Bryan Adams and Bruce Springsteen, his voice is tender, sweet, but definitely not lacking in power. Meanwhile Capitan Kennedy as a whole have all the variety and sheer energy of the E Street Band at their best.

The resulting sound, according to Ciaran, is something like “A house party at around 3am only more in tune”. There is some truth to this. Like Springsteen’s backing group, Captain Kennedy are at their best letting their talent and creativity flow live on stage, and See You When I See You captures this brilliantly. The songs surge in many different directions, with all the spontaneity of a live performance.  The mix of styles is huge. The album moves form rockabilly to blues, from folk to rock, from country to soul, but never loses a certain distinctive quality that define Captain Kennedy. These guys are all great musicians, as well as great performers.

With seven band members, it would be easy for See You When I See You to sound cluttered, or overpowering, but it never does. Lavery’s voice comes through constantly strong, well supported by back backing vocals, guitars, violin and drums. Songs like “Factory Whistle Call”, “Roll Ramona” and “Suppertime” all have certain catchiness about them that will have you listening again and again. The Blues-y “Scratch that Penny” reminds me a bit of Bob Dylan. The poetic lyrics “I’m gonna live off every golden thread, till there’s nothing left to use” really come across as heartfelt and sad, and stand up perfectly with an insanely catchy melody behind them.

Following their big festival gigs in 2009, and the process of recording their album in 2010, Captain Kennedy have spent the last few months spreading the good word about themselves,  and have been dedicating their time to “Meeting some great people all over the country including Dublin, Cavan, Belfast and Derry to name a few”.

At the moment Captain Kennedy are “Working on a lot of new material with a hope to return soon to the recording studio that bit older and wiser”.  Until then you can find them in any small smoky bar doing what they do best, as well as trying out some new things. Captain Kennedy will be playing in Dublin this May as part of the Dublin City Soul Festival, so catch them while you can. It’s only a matter of time before they make it big.

For more information on Captain Kennedy you can visit their website and Myspace.

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