The BeerMats: Dublin's folk and ballad legends
The BeerMats began in 1993 in a small bar in Ballyfermot. Founding members Colm Gibbons (lead singer) and Brian Smyth (guitar) played every Thursday night at this small session. This was the beginning of a 31-year love affair with Irish music and travel. Our first breakthrough came a year later when we were asked to play two gigs a week at the Keg Pub on Jervis Street. There we learned our craft and picked up new songs and tunes from passing musicians and guests. Growing up in Ballyfermot was always a great place to get help and advice from other musicians. Groups like the Furey's and Paddy Sweeney were always willing to help us along the way. In 1996 we recorded our first album (Seven Sober Nights) - not that we had many - and started traveling around Europe visiting Irish festivals and the Irish pub scene. We were offered a gig in Switzerland, in one of the biggest pubs we'd ever seen. We made our way to the venue and joined the queue outside. Little did we know that the queue was there to see us. So we performed to a sell-out crowd of 2000 people, and Switzerland became one of the places we've visited most in the last 31 years. We also traveled to the USA for the Ryder Cup, which was one of my highlights of the last few years: four guys from Ballyfermot played the Irish national anthem on a golf course in the middle of Kentucky, surrounded by bagpipe bands and choirs from all over the world. But we made it. Two years later, we returned to the US to headline the Celts on the River Festival in Ohio and the Louisville Irish Festival in Kentucky. We then performed in Canada for the Wounded Warrior Project to improve the lives of millions of army veterans. We raised over 10,000 dollars. Over the last ten years we have traveled to Germany, Spain and the UK. The BeerMats as a band have always been involved with charities in the community and have raised thousands of euros for various causes. We also support local football clubs and have recently been supporting a young man from Clondalkin, Ryan Moore, as he starts his boxing career. To date we have recorded eleven albums by various songwriters including Pete St. John (Rip), Brendan Phelan and Finbar Furey to name but a few. We have also written some of our own songs. Of particular note is "Nancy's Song I CO", which we wrote with Brendan Phelan. When the song was finished, it was still missing something. So we asked St. Mary's Youth Club Ballyfermot to ask the children to accompany the song. That was the missing piece of the puzzle. We continue to travel and are returning to Germany and Switzerland this year for some Irish festivals. We have more Irish festivals coming up soon, where we will be sharing the stage with the Young Wolfe Tones in August. Over the years, the line-up has changed, people leave to pursue other things. It's hard when people leave. You miss them on stage, but you wish them all the best. But that's life. We have two new guys in the line-up, Geoff Kinsella (banjo and mandolin) and Luke Kelly (vocals and guitar), and everything is going great. On St. Patrick's Day 2024, Aaron Dolin (bagpipes and whistles) joined us. In the last two years, the BeerMats have taken on a new line-up, Geoff Kinsella (Banjo / Mandolin) Luke Kelly (guitar / vocals) Aaron Dolan (Pipes/whistles) Brian Smyth (Guitar) Colm Gibbons (whistles / vocals With a new sound on stage and new tunes and songs, we look forward to seeing them again at the Irish Openair