The Rye
An experience with the Rye is not one to be easily forgotten. Expect rhythm-driven banjo riffs, funky bass, stomping beats all accompanied by Kevin Melly’s growling vocals. In their own words, they are “a rowdy bunch” who pull no punches when it comes to getting a crowd rocking. They have been the highlight of the Salty Dog Stage at the Electric Picnic for the last couple of years, playing out the end of the festival each year and giving the festival goers a great excuse to keep on dancing to the wee hours.
Mike Farragher of the Irish Voice puts it thus: “The Rye play, in their words, ‘savage driven ceoil.’ They throw together modern rock melodies into a stew of expert traditional playing, turn-on-a-dime chops rarely seen outside a lower Manhattan jazz club, and an irreverence that ties the whole package together in a rowdy, exuberant bow!”
With hints of bluegrass, rock, traditonal, ska. blues and a twang of folk, the Rye appeal to people across the board and never fail to have the crowd roaring for more. In fact they have become the stuff of legends since their now famos 2 hour encore at the Electric Picnic in 2008.
The Rye have extensive gigging experience, playing hundreds of gigs since the band formed in 2005. These gigs include the Life Festival, Knockanstockan, Ballyshannon Folk Festival, Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots Festival and the Electric Picnic and many more. They have played support to many well-known names in the industry including Alabama 3, Delorentos, The Pale and Mary Couglan. They have toured Holland and Germany and several times, including an open air gig for the St.Patrick’s Day Celebrations in Munich in front of 15,000 people.
The Rye are:
Cian”Murder-face” Mulligan on 5 string banjo and electric guitar
Barry Wallace bass and tenor banjo
Kevin Melly on vocals and acoustic guitar
Des Harrington on drums and harmonica
The Rye perform at The Glasshouse, Swan Point. Thursday Oct 27th 9.00pm
