GERMANY: IRISH-FRONTED GERMAN ROCK BAND REAMONN PREPARE THEIR ASSAULT ON THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING MARKET AFTER GREAT GERMAN SUCCESS

Record ID: 634573

  • Title: GERMANY: IRISH-FRONTED GERMAN ROCK BAND REAMONN PREPARE THEIR ASSAULT ON THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING MARKET AFTER GREAT GERMAN SUCCESS
  • Date: 15th March 2002
  • Summary: SOUNDBITE (English) REA GARVEY (LEAD SINGER OF REAMONN) IS SAYING: "And I realised, if I was going to stay in Ireland it was going to be very difficult and having played in Germany before hand with another band, an Irish band, in every pub and club I suppose, I realised that the German people, they have a great sense for music, a great love of music. They love to enjoy music, they love to, you know, experience new music. And I just believed like, you know, with the experience I had, I should come here and it was definitely the right decision."
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: FRANKFURT, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVAXUQ2AVSIXU6TKTVPDRXKO9PZ
  • Story Text: Reamonn are one of the freshest new bands on the German music scene. The five musicians originally formed the band after answering an ad in a local newspaper placed by the Irish lead singer Rea. Within a year they had achieved platinum sales with their debut album 'Tuesday' and had scored a number one hit with the energetic single 'Supergirl' the most-played radio single of 2000. The band who have just released their second album 'Dream no 7', have enjoyed immense success in central Europe, but now their sights are set on making a mark on the English-speaking market. Reuters caught up with them in Frankfurt, at a benefit concert to raise money for their charity 'Saving An Angel'.
    Reamonn is without doubt one of the most original new bands on the German music scene. Very much fans of strong lyrics, the five-man band achieved overnight success with the release of their hit single 'Supergirl' from their debut album 'Tuesday'. The album instantly created a solid fan base and expectations that lead singer Rea agrees piled on the pressure when creating the second album.
    I think there is a lot of pressure when making the second album. We had the luck that we had written a lot of material for the first album, so we had something to fall back on. But nevertheless, we didn't want to get old music out and say, come on let's record this and then write some new stuff for the third album. I think sixty per cent of the material for this album was newly written. But I have noticed in the band, that writing is never a problem, we write one after another."
    And despite doing over three-hundred concerts in Europe to promote both albums, the band has even found time to organise it's own charity 'Saving An Angel', which raises money to help children in need. Funds from the charity have been used to help fund cancer treatment for children in Russia and the band even covered Falco's classic 'Jeanny' with German rapper Xavier Naidoo to help raise funds for victims of sexual abuse as Rea explains.
    For Reamonn, the charity is very important and it makes a difference. We saw ourselves in Minsk what this money did for the cancer hospital there. We also saw with 'Dunkelziffer e.V' (sexual abuse charity), how the promotion from the single 'Jeanny' helped victims, many victims. We are very proud of this.
    Of course, there is one other factor that sets Reamonn apart from other German bands; it is fronted by a guy from County Kerry Ireland, who has found a home from home in the music scene of Germany as he himself explains.
    And I realised, if I was going to stay in Ireland it was going to be very difficult and having played in Germany before hand with another band, an Irish band, in every pub and club I suppose, I realised that the German people , they have a great sense for music, a great love of music. They love to enjoy music, they love to, you know, experience new music. And I just believed like, you know, with the experience I had, I should come here and it was definitely the right decision Now that the band has consolidated its position within the German music scene and the whirlwind of album promotion is finally slowing down, their eyes are now turning to the English speaking market as Rea explains.
    I think a lot of it happened because of like the success in Germany happened too quickly and Germany is a massive country and we dedicated ourselves to the people who supported us here you know. Time is now becoming a bit relaxed, we've done over three-hundred concerts in Germany and Austria and Switzerland and we've been to Russia and countries like that where we were automatically successful, you know, Holland and Sweden. And now we're kind of looking at ok, if we are successful there, why aren't we successful here and you know, the obvious answer is because we were never there, you know we never went there, or we never played there. So we are very anxious and we are looking forward to going to England, going to Ireland as well.
    I'm looking forward to going home and letting the guys experience the music scene there you know and America, Japan, these are all places we want to go and the beauty of music is you get a chance to go there.
    So as Reamonn make plans to conquer the world, they are also making plans to record their third, as yet untitled, album which should be in the shops this coming autumn.
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