Like a swallowtail butterfly, David Geraghty has been slowly and steadily unfolding his wings as a solo artist. His first album, ‘Kill Your Darlings’ saw the light of day almost 20 years ago. Until then, since the mid-1990s, he had been in bands, “with a collective song-writing ethos”. No-one was credited individually. His first ‘real’ band was Juniper, founded by a group of secondary school students in Co Kildare that included Damien Rice. Geraghty was a friend and joined them around 1995. At that time, record contracts for unproven bands were not completely unheard of and Juniper signed a six-album deal with Polygram in 1997. Having earlier released two EPs, they recorded two singles that entered the Irish Top 20. However, disagreements with the record company over the choice of songs caused Rice (who went on to have a glowing solo career as a major singer-songwriter and folk artist) to quit. The rest of Juniper – David Geraghty (guitar, vocals, keys, percussion, banjo, piano, harmonica), Paul Noonan (lead vocals, guitar, percussion, keys), and Dominic Phillips (bass, vocals) – rebranded themselves as Bell X1 in 1999. And they remain the core members to this day, operating as a (song-writing) team, with additional musicians joining for gigs and recordings.
Bell X1 has maintained a successful presence in Ireland and continues to do so. A multi-platinum selling Indie band with ‘a huge status’ in Ireland, they are also quite popular internationally, especially in the UK and the US. Partly as their music was used as a soundtrack for emotionally charged scenes in popular TV series such as Grey’s Anatomy and The OC. Bell X1 was the first-ever Irish act to headline at Malahide Castle (Co Dublin). It performs at festivals, including Electric Picnic, and large venues across Ireland, including sold-out slots at Croke Park supporting Ed Sheeran in 2015. Intermittently, they sometimes accepted invitations to act as the opening act for massive global bands such as U2, Tori Amos, Hall and Oates. It says on their website that they “treat these megastar opening slots as exclusive, landmark events rather than a regular touring habit”. Over the past 27 years, Bell X1 has released eight studio albums. Six were nominated for major awards (Best Irish Band/Album/Live Performance). The ninth album, Good Bones, was recorded this spring in upstate New York. A first single has been released, ‘But First, Love’. When the full album will be available is as yet unknown.
The name Bell X1 was inspired by a 1979 book, ‘The Right Stuff’ by Tom Wolfe, which features the Bell X-1 – the historic aircraft that broke the sound barrier in 1947. David Geraghty: “We were looking for a band name at the time, and I think we just kind of went, let’s go with that, it’s kind of cool.” And slightly eccentric, with a technical ‘vibe’ (like naming a band U2 after an American reconnaissance aircraft). It also rhymes with how Bell X1 has navigated its career. Musically, it has often reinvented itself, like the art rock bands of old, experimenting with styles, techniques, accessibility.
Geraghty’s individual journey was equally eclectic and impulsive. His first two solo albums, ‘Kill Your Darlings’ (2007) and ‘The Victory Dance’ (2009), were recorded under his own name, beautifully accompanied by his vocalist wife, Clare Finglass. Then he switched gears. “After two albums, I moved away from music under my own name. It felt like the right thing to do but in hindsight, I’m kind of sorry I did. Later, I released Inherit (2014) and Monomania (2019) under a different moniker, Join me in the Pines,” he explains during an online interview in June. The next day he will be playing an almost sold-out Live at the Marquee gig in Cork City with Bell X1, which will also play headline gigs at Iveagh Gardens (Dublin) and the Big Top (part of the Galway International Arts Festival) on July 11 and 18. “Expect soaring melodies, sharp lyrics and unmistakable chemistry,” says the festival blurb.
Geraghty has solo gigs lined up in West Cork, Ballincollig, Clonmel, Donegal and at Electric Picnic on August 27. He is due to release his fifth solo album on September 18. As himself. Fittingly so. David Geraghty and music go back a long way. “It’s how my parents met. My dad and a few buddies were in a ballad group. He played banjo and bass guitar. Around the time of the folk revival (Dylan covers and The Mammas and The Papas) they tried to jump on the bandwagon and needed a singer. My mum answered the ad. The rest is history.” He grew up with two siblings in Leixlip (Kildare); the only one that went into music. “It was obvious from a very young age that this guy was not gonna do anything else. Dad taught me guitar chords and my mum printed out lyrics. I was listening to people like Springsteen. I always had an ear for a strong melody and good lyrics. When I was very young, I was really wild. I would have broken space and time if someone had given me Red Bull. Borderline! But aged 12, 13 I calmed down and when we had a family sing-song I’d usually be asked to do something.”
He has a wonderful voice, intense and emotional but suffers from nerves when performing. “I do, actually. I think I took on board the admonishments to “sit down, behave, be quiet” that I heard for years. It had a psychological effect. Lots of self-doubt. After COVID, I had to throw myself into playing music live. Feeling the fear, doing it anyway. Now I’m really glad I did. Especially with the new album coming up.” It is called Komorebi. “A Japanese word describing sunlight leaking through trees. I envisage the forest clearing as nature’s little stage, waiting for something to happen, whether wildlife or human.” He laughs. “I asked ChatGPT, What should I do as a nervous performer? Just for the crack, I wasn’t expecting any insightful human response. But there was one interesting comment: “Your performance during the gig and the song you’re singing might be exactly what somebody in the audience needs at that moment.” And I went, Jesus, you know what, I never even thought about this. I’m so busy trying to prove something to myself. I never asked, “How is this benefiting somebody else?”
David Geraghty performs:
July 2 – Connolly’s of Leap; July 3 – The White Horse, Ballincollig;
July 9 – Clonmel Junction Festival ;
August 27 – Electric Picnic.
