Brendan Larrissey of Island Eddy tells Lisa Regan about their new self titled album and their up and coming gigs in the new year.

Tell me more about how the band came about?

Island Eddy was formed after a gig one night in Kinvara with myself, Jim McKee and Martin Gavin. The night went really well and as myself and Jim were living in the area we kept bumping into one another. We sat down, had a chat and thought forming a band out of Kinvara, which is noted for its many musicians and artists, would be a great idea. Myself and Brian have known each other for years and have played many gigs around the country and I was always a huge fan of the fiddle flute combination. Between Jim's original songs and exploring new and old material from Irish composers we decided that recording an album and putting Island Eddy together was the way forward for the four of us.

A new year and a new album, what is the musical style of this album?

I suppose you could file it under contemporary trad. The tunes are centered around a combination of fiddle and flute with backing from guitar, cello and bodhran. Some tunes are originally compositioned from myself and Brian while others are from some by favourite composers.

All Jim's songs are original and you could say that they are modern day Irish songs. This first album of ours is a snap snot of that material and we are always on the look out for new material for album number two.

How do you find performing in Galway?

Performing in Galway for us is really like a local gig. Our launch gig in December 2007 in the Róisín Dubh was the bands first performance in Galway and it was a brilliant night and judging by the reaction we got everyone really enjoyed the band.

How does performing in Galway differ from other performances?

Playing a concert in Galway is always great and different because the people in Galway always enjoy live gigs and it's a young and vibrant city with such brilliant musicians based here.

What have you been up to until now?

Well this Island Eddy project actually started as far back as March 2007. People don't realise it takes such an effort to bring it all together. I always like to do things right so getting the studio, engineer, material, sleeve notes, management, launch etc? in place took until December 2007 but it was all worth it in the end.

What are your plans for the year ahead?

It is going to be a busy 2008 for Island Eddy. Our immediate plan for the New Year is to concentrate on getting radio play and interviews both locally and nationally and also as much TV work as possible. We have ear marked March 2008 for a nationwide tour and we are hoping to get the Late Late Show in early March and the tour to follow (Galway Town Hall 16 March 2008). Our manager, Tracy Crawford, is concentrating on the festival circuit here in Ireland and also some festivals in Europe and the USA. We would love to release one of the songs as a single and possibly a video, which would bring us to a wider and more varied audience. Basically the main plan for 2008 is to get the band out there and well known across the country and further a field.

How did you get involved in the business?

I been playing music since I was seven years old and immediately became fascinated with Irish traditional music. I quickly moved from the tin whistle to the fiddle and was very keen to listen and explore all the different fiddle styles that we have. In 1985 I moved to Galway for a year and even back then it was an amazing place for music especially traditional. In 1987 I won the Senior All Ireland Fiddle Championship and basically it went from there.