Happy Hogmanay!

Well, Gan Ainm had a rollercoaster 2012, with the band going from an acoustic lineup to full folk-rocking, Julian bowing out after a short stint to be replaced by Iggy, and Paul moving on and leaving the band with none of its original members.... a lot of fun was had along the way, and thanks to all of you for sharing that fun with us!

As for 2013... well, it is official - we will be back at Muddy Murphy's for the week of St Patricks day! But before then we have a few more one-off gigs, a new photoshoot and a short stint in a recording studio (finally!)... we also have Gan Ainm apps coming very soon to Apple and Android products, so you can keep abreast of gigs, recordings and news on the go! And how many of you have asked about Gan Ainm t-shirts...? Your wish will be granted at some point in the new year!

So here's to 2012 - it was fun while it lasted! And raise your glass to 2013 - looking likely to be the biggest year Gan Ainm has ever had!

Sláinte mhath!

Partyin' doon fur St. Andrew's Day - brin' it oan!

(translated below for those who need it...)

Sometimes fowk forgit 'at we arenae jist an Irish bain but a celtic ane an' a', an' as sic' we play a whole heap ay Scots graphite loons tay... we e'en wear kilts oan occasion! Sae it's nae surprise 'at we're playin' a St. Andy's day bash (albeit in an Irish pub!!)...

Muddy Murphy's oan Friday 30th November - expect some ay th' usual mince mixed in wi' a boorichie ay Scots tunes tae sin' alang tae!

(translation.....)
Sometimes folk forget that we are not just an Irish band but a celtic one, and as such we play a whole heap of Scots music too... we even wear kilts on occasion! So it's no surprise that we're playing a St. Andrew's Day bash (albeit in an Irish pub!!)...

Muddy Murphy's on Friday 30th November - expect some of the usual stuff mixed in with a bunch of Scots tunes to sing along to!

...and on the river flows...

Thank you to all who came along to our final gig with Paul last weekend... despite some whopping tech problems during setup we persevered and had an absolute blast. 'Twas a tad emotional, saying farewell to the man who to many people IS Gan Ainm, and we must thank former band members Barry and Emer for their guest appearances.

Still, as we sing so often, "Life goes on, and 'round we go"... we were back in the studio last night re-jigging certain songs to accommodate them being sung by Alex, Miles or Eoin, and we're already raring to get back in the saddle! And that saddle just happens to be on the back of this Saturday night, 24th November, at the Prince of Wales in Little India, from 10pm...

We'll keep folkin' around... see you there!

Less Gan Ainm, more Gone Hannon?

At the dawn of the 21st century a small group of people got together and decided to make it their mission to bring Irish traditional music to the people of Singapore... or at least, have a damn good time trying! One of those individuals was a fresh-faced young man named Paul Hannon, and over the last decade he has shepherded Gan Ainm through immeasurable changes of lineup, ever changing set lists and falling in and out of favour with various venue and organisations. It is fair to say that without him Gan Ainm as you know it today would not exist.

2012 and he is not so fresh faced or young (in fact, there are now four members of the band who are younger than him!)... yet he has remained the indomitable spirit and face of the band and the idea of a Gan Ainm without him is unthinkable. Yet that is the very thought we are faced with now....

Gan Ainm are very sad to announce the imminent departure of their "elder statesman"... Paul will be leaving Singapore later this month to visit other areas in South East Asia before heading back to Ireland to pursue a Masters Degree. We all wish him well in his endeavours, and promise to keep his mic stand warm in case he decides to return....

BUT... we do have one last gig with the man himself! This Saturday, 17th November, at Muddy Murphy's... the music starts at 10.30pm, but we will be there from around 9pm to make sure we give Paul a rousing send off. We hope all of our friends, bandmates and fans, past and present, will try to make it down to give a fitting farewell to the man who IS Gan Ainm.....

Great weekend!

Cheers to all who came down to Muddy Murphy's on Friday night... we had a blast, and you were all great, dancing like maniacs Gan Ainm style!

Thanks and congratulations also to Antoine and Stella and all their friends and family... it was an honour to be asked to play for your wedding on Saturday, and despite some teething troubles with the sound we had a folking good time, especially watching you all conga around the band!!!

We're off now for a little while, but look out for a couple of gigs in November... and hopefully some news regarding next years St Pats celebrations!

Sláinte!

Oppa Gan Ainm Style!

Once more, with reeling...

It's been a fun couple of weeks getting the band back up and running with Iggy on the bass! Sadly, however, we will be out of action again throughout October - but there is one more chance to see us before that break! This coming Friday (Sept. 28th) we will be back at Muddy Murphys for their Arthur's Day celebrations... we hope you can make it down for a few jars and a good dose of fun!

If you can't make it, look out for our advance Christmas gigs at the end of November and start of December.... see you soon!

Halfway to St. Patricks Day!

Now that Iggy has been blooded and can be considered a seasoned member of the band (and thanks to all of you who came down last night and gave him such a warm welcome) we are getting ready to celebrate the fact that there will soon be fewer days to wait for next St. Patricks Day than days since the last one...

Yep, 17th September will see us take to the stage at Muddy Murphys, and we hope you will join us there... it is a Monday, but with us starting at 8pm you don't have to worry about being out too late on a school night!

(To be incredibly pedantic, the strict halfway mark between St. Patricks Days is midnight between September 15th and 16th, as at that point it has been 182 days since March 17th and another 182 days until the next one (not including leap years), but we will take the 6 month watershed for its symbolic value...!)

Meet the newbie!

Julian is now settled in Hong Kong, and we wish him well... but how about the rest of the band? Where are we at? And what about you lot? When can you expect to see us play again...?

Well, let's waste no time in introducing the new boy... hailing from Belfast, this young man (yes, the average age of the band just dropped) is a dab hand at playing celtic tunes on the 6-string guitar as well as a solid bassist - which makes him perfect to fit into the shoes of our last Belfast-born, 6-stringer-celtic-playing bass player! And what incredibly appropriate Irish / celtic sounding name does this lad go by? Please welcome... Ignacio Calumarte!

Well, yes... he's half-Spanish, so maybe we'll get some more Mediterranean flavour to a few tunes! For the moment, though, we've all been in the rehearsal studio getting back up to speed on your old favourites - and I can say that Iggy is fitting right in! So you can expect more of the same - but slightly different - next time you see us...

...and when will that be? Well, how about you come down to Prince of Wales, 101 Dunlop Street, to see Iggy in his official band debut on Friday September 14th!

We'll see you soon!

Farewell gig... this coming Saturday!

It is with sadness that we announce the imminent departure of Julian O'Connell, our bass player. His professionalism and level head (not to mention his talent!) played a huge part in getting the full-band up and running earlier this year, and he will be sorely missed. We wish him and the family well in Hong Kong.... and look forward to him booking us a tour there next year!! (hint, hint)

Initially it looked like we would not get an official final gig with Julian as all our dates were incompatible... but fortune favours fools like us and thanks to the last minute cancellation of a band at Prince of Wales, Little India, we now have the perfect opportunity to give Julian a rousing send-off!

We also bid farewell to our official photographer, who is moving to Dubai. Lisa did such a fantastic job of making us all look so good that people often don't even recognise us in the flesh!! You can see her work plastered all over this site, including the one of Julian to the left. We wish her, Barry and the kids all the best, and hope to be playing in Dubai's Irish Village for them sometime soon! (again - hint, hint)

So... we will be back with a new bassist later in the year, but don't miss the opportunity to come down and see this lineup of Gan Ainm - the original full-band lineup - one last time!

Prince of Wales, 101 Dunlop Street, Little India
Saturday 30th June from 10pm
Be there or be an equilateral rectangle.

And now for something completely different...

We all love playing music together, but there is more to us than simply being Singapore's #1 Celtic band! There is even more to us than drinking copious amounts of alcohol!

Next week The Stage Club of Singapore presents Bram Stoker's Dracula at the DBS Arts Centre. What has that got to do with Gan Ainm, I hear you ask? Well, the incidental music has been written and recorded by our guitarist, Miles McLean, and Dracula is being played by none other than Alexander Gow, our fiddle and mandola player! That's him as you have never seen him before in the picture to the right...

Some of you may know that Alex's background is in theatre, but this will be his first time acting on stage in over 10 years! He has now mastered speaking with his fangs, and alongside the rest of the talented cast he is raring to go...

The show is on from 23rd-26th May and tickets are available at SISTIC (click here to go direct to event).

We hope a few of you can make it down to see another side of our band members... we are not just one-trick ponies, we do have some bite! (Groan!)

We wish some weekends would never end...

(l) On stage at PoW; (r) dancers at Muddy Murphy's

What a great weekend that was... thanks to all of you who came down, drank like fish, danced like maniacs and generally had a grand old time!

If anyone has any photos or videos of either gig, we would love you to share them with us. You can email them to ganainm.sg@gmail.com or post them on our Facebook page.

We'll be taking a break for a few weeks, but watch out for us back in July... see you then!

The Boys Are Back In Town!

Have you missed us? We've missed you! Hard to believe it hasn't even been a full two months since St. Patrick's, yet so much has been going on since then. We may have seen a few of you at gigs by other bands we are variously part of... or maybe at the theatre production Paul recently directed... or maybe just down the pub for a pint! But this will be the first time you will have seen the seven of us back together again, and we are looking forward to having a right old knees up with you all!

This weekend we have two opportunities to folk you up! The first (Saturday 12th, 10pm) is at the Prince of Wales in Little India and is somewhat dangerously sponsored by Jagermusic, so be prepared for many, many Jagerbombs. The second (Sunday 13th, 6pm) is back down at the scene of our big week two months back, Muddy Murphy's. Two fantastic venues, so it should be one hell of a weekend!

We must thank those kind fellas at Jagermeister and PacBev for their support - so please "like" their Facebook page at  http://www.facebook.com/Jagermeister.SG !!!

Cheers all, and see you over the weekend!

And.... relax!

To all of you who came down and danced, sang along, cheered - thank you! That was a week that won't be forgotten in a hurry!

Muddy's had it's best ever night (on 17th itself), and as for the band? Well, we were simultaneously pumped up and yet humbled by your enthusiasm and support. A couple of technical hiccups aside, we loved every second, and the reaction we got on Saturday in particular was simply amazing!

To the many friends of the band who were there, it was great to see you... to the many, many more strangers that were there, consider yourselves friends* now! And to those who didn't make it......? Well, there will always be another year...

And lastly, let us not forget a mention for the tireless staff at Muddy's, without whom the week would not have been so well lubricated!!!!!




*New friends - if you want more info on future gigs or anything else band-related you can get it in many ways: add your email address into the box at the top right of this page for website updates; add Gan Ainm as a friend on Facebook; join the Gan Ainm group on Facebook; follow the band on Twitter

Happy St. Pat's!

Wherever you are in the world, we hope you are raising your glass with us as we say....

Sláinte!

It's 3.15am and we are all heading home for some shut-eye... before making our way back to Muddy Murphy's again in the afternoon for the full-on St. Pat's celebrations!

See you there.....!

Two down, five to go!

Last weekend we had a great time - thanks to all of you who came down and danced, drank, shucked, etc., etc..... let's hope the hangovers have cleared by now!

After two evenings relaxing (or more likely pampering the WAGS as an advance apology for upcoming absenteeism!) the band are raring to go - so if you haven't managed to catch Gan Ainm at Muddy Murphy's for St. Patrick's Week yet you have 5 days left!!

See you soon....

We're ready - are you?!

Well, the band are just about to hit the rehearsal studio for the last time before the craziness that is going to be St. Patrick's week....

We have one final pre-Paddy's gig tomorrow night at The Prince of Wales in Little India, where you'll get to hear some new material for the first time, and then it's off to Muddy Murphy's for twenty-one sets at seven gigs over a nine day period... plenty of opportunity to come down and rock out with Singapore's biggest craic dealers!!!

Check out all the times on our gig list -  Sláinte!

Gan Ainm at the Grammy's...?

L: Greta playing with Gan Ainm, circa 2005
R: Singing with Picture Book (Patrick Clarke Photography 2011)

Well, no - not quite... but it was a pleasant surprise to hear that the bands former fiddler, Greta Svabo Bech, was at last months awards. Now singing with hotly tipped Liverpool act Picture Book, she was also the featured vocalist on "Raise Your Weapon", a track by Canadian artist Deadmau5 that was nominated this year for Best Dance Recording.

All in Gan Ainm wish her well - she's come a long way from the shy teen that had to share a stage with three loud blokes six years ago! And why not check out her website, gretasvabobech.com, and see what she has been up to....

Next gig - Friday 2nd March at PoW Little India

***Gig update - change in start time***

Please note that the 26th February gig at Muddy Murphy's will be starting at the earlier time of 5pm - see you there!

Debut Gig for the New Lads... this Sunday!

So you've seen the photo's, and heard us banging on about the new line-up.... you're probably wondering when you get to actually hear us play!! Well, we have plenty of gigs coming up with St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, but the first opportunity will be this Sunday, 26th February, when we take to the stage at Muddy Murphy's.... We will be playing a couple of sets starting around 6pm, and we would love to see you all there to celebrate our re-birth day!

For other gigs coming up, check out our gig list... or for regular email updates, enter your details in the box to the right of your screen (on smartphones scroll down and click "View web version" first).

See you soon!

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The new bio for our all new 7-piece line-up!!!!

Hi all! We said we would have some news for you for St. Patrick's, and here it is... we have been working hard in the rehearsal studio to put together our new expanded line-up, for the first time taking us into "full band" territory! So who are the newbies? Well, Eoin has been an unofficial band member for the last year, Julian has stood in for Miles on a few occasions, and although Justin hasn't officially played out with us yet regular gig-goers may recognise him as a fellow audience member. So, now we are seven... and below, for the first time, is our new official bio! Pictures will follow soon, and check out the gig guide link (above) for when and where you can catch us!


Biography
Over the last ten years Gan Ainm (Gaelic for “No Name”) have established themselves as Singapore’s number 1 Celtic Band. With an extensive repertoire of Irish traditional and contemporary folk music, mixed with a dash of Scots songs and Celtic-influenced American pieces, the band have entertained audiences at bars, clubs and functions throughout Singapore and South East Asia.

Originally started as a small acoustic group, the line-up of Gan Ainm has changed over the years to their current 7-piece folk-rock incarnation. The band are: Paul Hannon (vocals / bodhran); Alexander Gow (violin / electric mandola / vocals); Neville Smith (whistles / flute / electric bagpipes /sax); Miles McLean (guitar / bass / vocals); Eoin Ó Muimhneacháin (squeezebox / vocals); Julian O’Connell (bass / guitar / vocals); and Justin La Spina (drums).