Esmeralda Road
Esmeralda Road are a 5 piece Indie-Jazz band from Belfast. Formed in 2022 as Moonboot, the band cut their teeth playing any venue that would have them throwing parties as their school days drew to a close and playing their early indie-funk material. Starting as a three piece when life-long friends Aodhan Moran (Drums) and Charlie Magill (Vocals) met Josh Vance (Keys) drinking in a popular underage drinking spot. Bonding over their love of the east-london indie jazz scene and garage music, they decided to work on a few songs Charlie had demo'd over the 2020 lockdown and put on Soundcloud. This turned into the first of MoonBoot's releases To U, Feel and Until I'm Gone. Moonboot swelled to a maximum of members 7 at the end of 2023 incorporating a revolving door of saxophone players and Trumpeter Tony Cowan. The band settled in their current form as a 5 piece with Ben Murray on lead guitar and Calvin Wells on Bass and a guest saxophone spot occupied by Zacc McLoughlin.
After selling out shows in Belfast by word of mouth including the Belfast Empire, Charlie and Aodhan moved to London to attend music college. This saw the act start to play in London, playing multiple shows in Camden before the rename and later Notting Hill, building to a sold out show in Soho. Charlie became disillusioned with London and dropped out of University and moved back to Belfast to start working full time with the band.
The band won the 2023 NI Music Prize for their debut single 'To U' and were awarded a trophy in the prestigious Ulster Hall in Belfast. Days later, the bands socials were deleted by Meta for apparently infringing on the copyright of the MoonBoot name and had to start their online presence from scratch. The band renamed 'Esmeralda Road' after the street they lived in London and started again.
The band released 'I Think' in March 2024 which showcased a more mature sound for the band. It gained popularity from a smart Tiktok campaign and suddenly the band found themselves in endless industry meetings with labels, managers and agents. Becoming frustrated with these monotonous discourse of the music industry the band doubled down and focused on creating music. The band joined Brògeal on an Irish tour in the spring of 2024 becoming good friends with the Scotsmen before going on to support Liam Gallagher on his stadium Irish dates in Limerick and Belfast. Late 2024 saw the band play in Dublin, London, Glasgow and Leeds whilst releasing singles 'Esmeralda' and '7 Tune'. They took home the 2024 NI Music Prize for single 'I Think' which has amassed over 200,000 streams at the time of writing. Still independent, Esmeralda Road are staring down 2025 with a debut EP and UK/IE tour for the Spring.