Clonmel World Music is bringing a top UK Roots band to a Tipperary venue

Clonmel World Music is delighted to welcome one of the best UK Roots bands back to Raheen House Hotel, Clonmel. This great band are on a short Irish tour, to promote their latest album “Feet First”

Rob Heron and the Tea Pad Orchestra are one of the hardest working bands in the UK roots circuit, with thousands of touring miles under their belts. They have earned themselves a sizeable fan base in the UK, Europe and beyond. Based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, they play their own brand of Western Swing, Blues, Gypsy Jazz and Country, or “North Eastern Swing” as they've coined it.

They will play at Raheen House on Thursday April 3.Doors open at 7pm.

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Their style is more eclectic than most, influenced by early 20th century American music, with the addition of “razor-sharp” solos, great arrangements and original songs; their music harks back to a golden age whilst staying perfectly modern. Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra don’t care what genre you choose to put them in – western swing, country blues, ragtime hokum or whatever else– as long as you understand that they’re 100% sincere and 100% immersed in this stuff. This is no lazy pastiche, no dressing up box. They live and breathe this music and want you to get immersed with them.

The songs are penned by Tom Cronin and Rob Heron, who is a crazy fool for country music and a full time dandy-cowboy !! The dynamic band features Rob Heron (lead vocals and guitar) Ben Fitzgerald (guitar), Tom Cronin (mandolin, harmonica), Colin Nicholson (accordion).

Their debut album, ‘Money Isn't Everything’, caused a sensation when it was released in 2012, winning a host of rave reviews – many of them 5-star. Their second album, "Talk About The Weather" (released July 7th 2014) also gathered some notable radio play and reviews. Their third album “Something Blue” was released in 2016, and was critically acclaimed. “Soul Of the City” was released in 2019 and the bands 5th album, The Party’s Over” was released in 2022. The upcoming album “Feet First” was recorded in just two days at Lightning Recorders in Berlin, Germany. The studio is well known for producing authentic analogue recordings, live in the room, and straight- to-tape. This ‘capturing of a musical moment’ can really be heard in the new Tea Pad Orchestra record. The addition of Ben Powling on saxophone has also elevated the band’s sound into a new and exciting era! After a decade of honing their craft, they have never sounded so good!

Across the six wonderful albums, the band have constantly added new flavours to their sound: Heron in particular is a vinyl obsessive, always fired up about some new passion – calypso or boogaloo or whatever this week brings – and that eclecticism feeds into their songs, with the new album adding gospel and rockabilly to the Tea Pad palette.

They've had a lot of RTE radio plays over the last few years as well as playing almost every important BBC live session going, and most of the major UK festivals, selling out the Spiegeltent at Edinburgh Jazz festival and they also played a 10pm Sat night slot in the BBC tent at Edinburgh fringe festival.

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The band are constantly on the road and they play in all corners of the UK, Ireland, Holland, Belgium and Germany each year before heading back to the UK for lots of festivals from June to September, for festivals like Glastonbury, Cambridge, Bestival, Wilderness and Towersey Folk Festival. This is a hard working band, and the amount of time they spend on the road is reflected in the “musical tightness” of the band and the extremely polished live shows. They’ve done support tours for big-name Americana outfits such as Pokey LaFarge, The Dead South, and Sierra Ferrell, released music on German label Migraine Records.

Doors for the gig will open at 7pm. There will be no support act, and the band will start at 8pm prompt. Tickets are available now ; online on www.clonmelworldmusic.com