Donegal musicians go down a treat at St Patrick’s weekend festival in Germany

Letterkenny musicians recently had the opportunity to shine at the St Patrick’s weekend festivities in Rudolstadt, Germany.

Local bands The Soggy Bottom Boys and Bellows and Beats, as well as musicians John Muldowney, Cathal Mac Fhloinn, Domnhall Mac Fhionnlaoich and Grace Nugent from band The Ephades were all invited to represent Letterkenny’s impressive music scene. They were part of a delegation which included local councillors Jimmy Kavanagh, Donal Coyle and Gerry McMonagle, who all made the long but worthwhile journey to Rudolstadt over the weekend.

Rudolstadt is located in the mountainous east German region of Thuringia and has been twinned with Letterkenny since 2018. The towns share a similar population size and great friendships and connections have been established over the years.

The official twinning is down to Letterkenny man Karol Kerrane, who has been living in Rudolstadt for over a decade. He runs the Letterkenny Irish Pub in the town, which was a hub for many lively festivities over the weekend, as was the Town Hall in the centre of Rudolstadt.

As the town was awash with green to welcome Donegal friends, the Letterkenny music scene was on full display and received an enthusiastic response from festival goers.

READ NEXT: In pictures: Letterkenny delegation embraced by locals in twin town Rudolstadt

The Soggy Bottom Boys, a three-piece band from Letterkenny, told DonegalLive they felt “honoured” to represent their home county over the weekend.

Aaron Coleman, the band’s lead singer, said: “It was so nice. You didn’t really know what to expect, but it was amazing. The stage was incredible, the actual Town Hall itself was gorgeous. The people were great too, there were so many people.”

Guitarist Matthew Melia agreed: “We felt so welcomed. Everyone was genuinely happy to have us there. The vibes in the bar were class, all the staff were loving it.”

Ciaran McBrearty, who plays keys and bass guitar in the band, said: “Everyone was so smiley. There were just good vibes all round. I think outside of Ireland in general, people tend to care about St Patrick’s Day.”

This year was the band’s first outing to Rudolstadt and they said they would “without a doubt” love to return.

“Even if we weren’t playing, we’d come over here anyway for the craic,” said Matthew. “They were really interested in music here and really cared about celebrating St Patrick’s Day. They put in so much effort in getting us over, and everything was thought of.”

The Soggy Bottom Boys describe their sound as an eclectic mix of classic rock covers from the 1960s to 1980s, but they aim to be more varied than most cover bands.

“It’s quite fun when we go to learn new music,” says Aaron. “It’s like ‘oh, we haven’t heard this in a pub before’. That’s half the reason we’ll do a song - just because it’s fun.”

The band finished both their sets at the Rudolstadt Town Hall with Video Killed the Radio Star, recorded in 1979 by The Buggles. The hit is still a crowd pleaser and The Soggy Bottom Boys use a vocal pedal when performing it, which acts as a unique “party piece”.

“It’s always in the back pocket,” said Aaron. “It’s always the last or second last song that we play because usually we play it and there’s nothing to really top it.”

READ NEXT: Hanna Hats of Donegal gains a superfan - in Germany!

“Our favourite songs to play are probably the slower ones,” said Ciaran. “We had a few gigs that were really quiet, there might not be many people about, but a couple of them are some of our favourite gigs because people are actually listening.

He added: “The councillors looked after us so well, as did everyone in Karol’s pub.”

“The last night in Rudolstadt was a lot quieter than previous nights and it was just class, we were just jamming in the pubs with all the other musicians, everyone just coming up and doing tunes,” said Matthew.

The Soggy Bottom Boys performed their last gig under that name in Rudolstadt. They will now be going forward with a new name - Bootleg.

Although they’ll be performing under a new identity, Aaron, Ciaran and Matthew will still keep their signature sound going strong.