{"id":235720,"date":"2025-12-16T12:47:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/235720\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T12:47:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:47:17","slug":"a-song-made-in-20-minutes-that-started-as-a-joke-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/235720\/","title":{"rendered":"A song made in 20 minutes that started \u2018as a joke\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

They\u2019ve travelled the highways and by-ways of Ireland<\/a>, Britain, the Continent, the US and beyond in 2025, but one thing\u2019s for certain: Kingfishr, or at least their guitarist Eoin \u201cFitz\u201d Fitzgibbon, will get a hero\u2019s welcome when he arrives home in Killeagh this Christmas<\/a>. <\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t a statue of Fitzgibbon erected in his native village in east Cork<\/a> yet, but surely it\u2019s only a matter of time. They have, however, given the sign for the P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chinn\u00e9ide a new lick of paint. \u201cYeah,\u201d nods Fitzgibbon bashfully, \u201cthey\u2019re fairly proud down there.\u201d <\/p>\n

The success of Kingfishr\u2019s song Killeagh, written \u201cas a joke\u201d about the parish\u2019s hurling team and \u201cthrown together in 20 minutes\u201d, has been just one high point in the biggest year of the folk trio\u2019s lives. The song, with lyrics like \u201cThey\u2019d go rarin\u2019 and tearin\u2019 and fightin\u2019 for love \/ For the land they call Killeagh and the Lord up above\u201d and a soaring singalong chorus, quickly became an anthem. <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember thinking that it was the cleanest thing we\u2019d written,\u201d concedes frontman Keogh, from a hotel lobby in \u201cthe sticks of America\u201d, where the band are on tour when we speak. \u201cIt was as bare-boned as possible and was still a song that had a really good story. Ultimately that\u2019s what all this stuff is; it\u2019s just stories, no matter who the musician is. And maybe we\u2019ve tapped into that.\u201d <\/p>\n

The three friends, hailing from Wexford (Keogh), Tipperary (banjo player Eoghan \u201cMcGoo\u201d McGrath) and Cork (Fitzgibbon) met while studying hardware engineering at UL. They began playing music together during the pandemic, as a way to break up the drudgery of the study-gaming-sleep cycle during lockdowns, but have cultivated a phenomenally loyal fan base in a short space of time.<\/p>\n

They still have a wide-eyed wonderment about it all, too; \u201cit\u2019s absolutely scandalous\u201d has become Keogh\u2019s go-to catchphrase to describe the constant snowballing of their success, including their debut album Halcyon (released in August) hitting number one in Ireland and breaking the Top 10 in the UK album charts. <\/p>\n

Their gigs at Dublin\u2019s Fairview Park in June and Electric Picnic in August were tipping points, they all agree, in a year that has been filled with hard-to-fathom moments. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur front-of-house sound engineer hates working with us because our crowds are too loud,\u201d says McGrath, laughing. \u201cWhen we sang Killeagh we couldn\u2019t continue the show because the crowd were just screaming and screaming.\u201d A sound-level meter \u201cclocked 127 decibels, which is the sound of a jet engine\u201d, he adds. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat just blew my socks off; I\u2019d never experienced anything like that. So moments like that do allow you to reflect. We\u2019ve got a couple of days off at Christmas, and it\u2019ll probably hit us all like a truck \u2013 but we\u2019ll be back in shape come January.\u201d <\/p>\n

They are looking forward to a break at Christmas, when they will return to their respective hometowns to catch up with their families, friends and girlfriends. <\/p>\n

\"KingfishrKingfishr lead singer Eddie Keogh and fellow band members on the main stage at Electric Picnic. Photograph: Alan Betson <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be the lads coming home from Australia for Christmas,\u201d jokes Fitzgibbon. \u201cWe\u2019ll be them fellahs in the pub on Christmas Eve now, with the big heads on us. We\u2019ll live a normal life for a couple days, and see how that works out.\u201d <\/p>\n

Being away from home so much, says Keogh, has given him a new understanding of Christmas. \u201cAnd it\u2019s amazing; the band has done so much in terms of the family,\u201d he says. \u201cWe all have people that fell out, and aunts and uncles that aren\u2019t talking. But now there\u2019s all these WhatsApp group chats saying \u2018Oh, we\u2019ll go to the gig,\u2019 and now they\u2019re all back talking.\u201d He smiles broadly. \u201cThat\u2019s probably the thing I\u2019m most proud of about the band \u2013 that it\u2019s done so much in terms of steadying the waters.\u201d <\/p>\n

As for next year? Considering everything that has happened over the last 12 months, 2026 is looking particularly dazzling for Kingfishr, with their biggest headline gigs yet scheduled for next summer. Album number two is also already in the works. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, it\u2019s scandalous what\u2019s going on,\u201d he says, as his bandmates nod in agreement. \u201cWe\u2019re trying our best not to take it for granted or let it become normal. I find myself some days waking up and thinking that this is real life, but clearly it isn\u2019t. You go to bed in North Carolina, you wake up in Pittsburgh, and you\u2019re ringing the lads at home, and they\u2019re like, \u2018I\u2019m in work here. I\u2019ll call you back later\u2019, and you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh yeah.\u2019 So this is all a complete dream.\u201d He shakes his head again. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd as for 2026, who knows? I haven\u2019t a clue. We just have to keep writing and telling the stories that matter to us, I guess.\u201d <\/p>\n

Kingfishr play the 3Arena, Dublin on December 18th and 19th, and Dublin\u2019s Malahide Castle and St Anne\u2019s Park next June. See kingfishr.ie<\/a> for full listings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They\u2019ve travelled the highways and by-ways of Ireland, Britain, the Continent, the US and beyond in 2025, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[26778,16838,1877,18,11985,117,19,17,105619,111890],"class_list":{"0":"post-235720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-3arena","9":"tag-christmas","10":"tag-cork","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-electric-picnic","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-it-s-christmas-magazine","17":"tag-kingfisher"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115729324624232045","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}