Carol Keogh

Carol Keogh has written and performed with a variety of bands and been involved in a number of musical projects since 1995. More recently she has blossomed as a solo songwriter, lately arranging and performing with her band of accomplished and intuitive musicians, The City Fathers. Her diverse career stretches back to The Plague Monkeys who released two albums and two EPs throughout the late 90′s until their split on the eve of the new millennium.

Towards the end of The Plague Monkeys, Keogh began collaborating with nascent producer and multi-instrumentalist Ken McHugh, who had also been working with a young songwriter called Cathy Davey. ‘My Sanctuary’, the largely instrumental debut album from McHugh’s Autamata project, as it came to be titled, featured contributions from both Keogh and Davey, notably Keogh’s on ‘Out of This’, which was later used in the movie ‘Tara Road’, and Davey’s on the single ‘Jellyman’. Keogh went on to co-write several songs on the follow-up album ‘Short Stories’, including the song of a Dublin Christmas, ‘Liberty Bell’, which was subsequently covered by the Dublin Gospel Choir. Throughout this period, Autamata performed live extensively with an augmented band line-up, taking in shows nationally, in Eastern Europe and at the famed Austin City Limits festival in Austin, Texas.

The run of Keogh’s involvement in Autamata saw out the end of The Plague Monkeys and, after a two-year hiatus, the formation of The Tycho Brahe, in 2002. The Tychos were slow to (re)form but their debut album ‘This Is’ was synthesised quickly. It was a dynamic four years in Keogh’s memory, during which a second (double) album was released, ‘Love Life’. In live performance, the trio was augmented by rhythm section Dara ‘Dip’ Higgins on bass and John Dermody on drums, as well as cellist Kim Porcelli, until The Tychos took their final bow in 2006.

Since then Keogh has been working on her solo career and has assembled a band of fine backing musicians in The City Fathers. In 2012 recording funds were raised through a successful crowdsourcing campaign on the Irish service FundIt.ie. The debut album by Carol Keogh and The City Fathers is currently in pre-production under the working title 'Mongrel City' and is expected to be delivered in early 2014.

http://carolkeogh.ie/links/