Colm Hearty’s passion for music knows no bounds and for over 30 years he has worked as a musician in the UK and Ireland with bands specialising in weddings, corporate functions, and specialised events.
An experienced guitarist, vocalist and bassist, Colm has long supported and mentored young and aspiring musicians from his local community and has successfully guided these talented musicians into amateur youth bands to experience playing in leading concert venues e.g. Waterfront Hall, Belfast, and many local music venues.
Colm has a lifetime playing with his musical family and more recently has enjoyed mentoring and playing alongside his son and daughter, in their family band Copper-fast, in local and community festivals and events.
It was over 20 years ago when Colm first met Allison McGrath, when he lived in Rostrevor, Co. Down. Colm had his own home recording studio and worked alongside Alison in the creation of some of the songs on her much-acclaimed debut album, ’Overboard’.
Colm relocated to Co Donegal in 2008 to live near his family and recently returned to Belfast. Living in Donegal for over 15 years Colm trained as a counsellor, but continued to enjoy the local music scene there, playing in anything from a 10-piece band to duo work, covering all genres from Blues to Trad and continued to record and play corporate functions and weddings across the island. Having reconnected with Allison
since his return, Colm has re-joined her band Soulantics, playing bass for live shows.
Joe Hearty is a student of music technology/sound engineering at SERC, Bangor, Co Down. Joe first displayed a passion for music, and particularly the drums, from a young age. He would beat anything he could whenever he heard music, using spoons, sticks, or anything he could find that enabled him to create a beat.
Joe’s Dad Colm, armed him with a set of drumsticks and a few cushions to mimic a drum kit and bought him his first real kit when he was 5 years old. The rest is history. Joe is currently studying for his drum exams with Rock School.
Joe first played live drums, opening with Copper Fast for Allison at the Guinness International Blues on the Bay Festival when he was 6 years old. Now 18 years old Joe has developed an eclectic taste for all genres of music from Hip Hop to
Rap and the Classics of Soul and Rock, Joe is known to quickly pick up the beat for any type of music.
Joe lived in Co Donegal for 15 years and studied fiddle at the acclaimed O’Donell School of Traditional Irish Music with accomplished Irish traditional guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, Kevin O’Donnell since he was 8 years of age. Joe also studied Ceili drums and played drums with the All-Ireland award-winning Donegal
Town Marching Band. He is also a keen pianist and is studying through the Rock School.
Brian Willoughby has played lead guitar with progressive folk/rock band Strawbs,
Beatles protégée Mary Hopkin, American rockabilly artist Nanci Griffith,
gold-album-winning Punk Rockers The Monks, British icon Joe Brown,
Kenyan international entertainer Roger Whittaker, Scottish pop star Jim Diamond
and TV and Film comedy team Monty Python.
Brian and his wife, American singer-songwriter Cathryn Craig, have released seven albums of their own material and they co-wrote ''Alices Song'',- a BBC Radio Highlight of the Year, which was also recorded by Strawbs and adopted by The National Autistic Society as their theme tune for Autism Awareness.
The Telegraph named the duo as its ''Folk Gig Pick'' of the year and
Folking.com nominated Cathryn and Brian in their “Best Duo” category.
Brian recently released ''Twiddly Bits'' featuring nineteen of his instrumental compositions on electric and acoustic guitar.
Brian has recorded lead Guitar and Cathryn Craig has recorded Backing vocals on Allison's 3rd Album ''Redirect This Affect'' due for release Sept 2024
Comments