DUBLIN

2003 -

Gavin Glass lost his musical cherry with "harmless" Irish pop band Suddenly Smyth back in 1996. At this stage Glass was primarily a lead guitar player/songwriter, learning to play from his Mom¹s Beatles records and his Dad¹s Willie Nelson collection. Suddenly Smyth went on to release two top thirty singles, win the prestigious Paddy Expo Band Competition and play over one hundred dates around Irish venues. Glass had been eyeballing Dublin "virtuoso" rock band Roche at this time, having secured the gig, a week later Glass found himself on stage at the Montreux jazz festival with Roche, who at this time were being chased by several American Record companies. The "deal" never happened and front man Brian Roche decided to call it a day. After a two year hibernation, which saw Glass learn Piano and any other instrument that was at hand Glass & Roche began writing and recording again and reformed the band under the name "Gramophone". Within a month of cutting a three-track demo in Westland Studios the band were signed to a small European label. The band went on to Germany to record an album and spent a year there recording and touring. The band got to play some high-profile gigs including the 2000 World Music Awards after show party and the Jordan Team Grand Prix Party in Monte Carlo, which saw Eddie Jordan sit in on drums for the bands encore. Having completed the album the band relocated to Dublin to begin rehearsing for a tour and prepare for release of the album. Three weeks after arriving home the band got news that their record label was in financial and legal hot water. So began a yearlong battle to retrieve album masters and be released from the contract. It was during this time that Glass built up a recording studio in his home in Killiney and began record production work for many singer songwriters around Dublin and produced several 2FM Fanning Sessions. Gramophone¹s record company had gone bust, the band was falling apart, but Glass had a bunch of songs/ideas sitting in his hard drive waiting to get outŠ.. In December 2003, Glass started messing around with the idea of singing the songs himself and before long an album of material was recorded with Glass on production, singing and playing practically all the instruments himself. The album was recorded in Gav¹s home studio in Killiney, however he managed to escape the usual pitfalls associated with home recording and produced a very rich and expressive sounding record. From the collection of musicians who helped Gav finish the album a band "The Holy Shakers" were put together to help produce the record live. The band features Bob Maguire on Bass (Divebomb), Cion O¹Callaghan on Drums (ex Mundy), Cormac Curran (The Maladies) sharing piano & guitar duties with Gav. The Shaker gigs have built up a reputation as "anything goes", with various well known musicians such as The Dublin Gospel Ensemble, Matt Lunson, Miriaim Ingram & many others often joining the band on-stage for exciting & impromptu jam sessions. Gavin Glass & The Holy Shakers, debut album "I¹d like the world to teach me to sing" is set for a release September 2004, "A record about break-ups, make-ups, rock & roll bands, redemption, life & death and all the other stuff that is expected from a songwriter¹s first album.The music draws on a range of diverse influences from the Country-Soul of Americana pioneers The Band, to the melodic electro-rock of Radiohead. In March of this year Gavin Glass & The Holy Shakers had an opportunity to play with one of their musical heroes Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen¹s E-Street band in the Voodoo Lounge. An instant friendship was struck up- between Glass and the 62 year old Clemons. In April Gav got the opportunity to record two new songs with Clarence which will feature on the Holy Shakers follow up album, "Fight or Flight?" The debut single "Big Shoes" released in May of this year has received critical acclaim and was play-listed on 2fm, (making single of the week on the Fanning Show) and many other regional radio stations. The Band are currently in the middle of an Irish Tour which will see The Holy Shakers play over 30 dates this summer around Ireland and are releasing their second single "Days are no better" on the 20th of September. Biography taken from the Official Gavin Glass Website 2005 - Release of 'Skinny Girlfriend' single [12 August] 2007 - Release of 'Older Than My Years' single as an internet download [03 August] - Release of 'Gavin Glass & The Holy Shakers' album [28 September] - Release of 'Ooh La La' single 2008 - Release of 'Rag Doll' single [07 March] 2010 - Release of 'Just Like Rome' single [23 April] - Release of 'Myna Birds' album [28 May] - Release of 'Bleed' single [20 August]