New hit song for Tullamore trio following global record deal

Chasing Abbey on driving for international success and a new 'trad house' genre

Tullamore band Chasing Abbey recently signed a global record deal with Warner Music following the release of their new hit song, 'Oh My Johnny' (Banks of the Roses) which is the group's biggest career highlight to date.

Chasing Abbey is made up of Ted Conway aka Teddy C, Jonathan Byrne aka Johnny Bee and aka Ronan Bell aka Outro.

Speaking about the significance of the new record deal, Jonathan said: “It was a big thing for us because we've signed with Spinning Records, Warner Music. Spinning Records are the biggest dance label in the world. To do it with a blended sound of like house music and traditional Irish music is a thing that we're massively proud of because we're getting to bring a taste of Irish music to a whole new audience.”

“It just really gives us a platform to build on for the future and just to bring Chasing Abbey to the next level.”

“We grew up as trad musicians, playing with our families in various trad bands over the years. To now be able to bring that musicianship to a Chasing Abbey style of production and rework these timeless Irish songs without any sampling is a dream. We can’t wait to pioneer this brand-new genre that we’re calling ‘trad house' whereby we play all the trad instruments you hear in the tracks, mixed with house dance beats.”

When the dance pop trio first teased a 30-second clip of their new track on TikTok in May, it quickly went viral, racking up millions of views. It was number 1 on the Irish Soundcloud Chart, number 1 on the Irish YouTube Trending Chart and has received eight million views on TikTok and three million views on Instagram. The track is a reimagining of an 18th century Irish folk song ‘Banks Of The Roses’ and sets warm vocals to an intoxicating house beat.

Ted spoke about how the inspiration behind the new song came from a recent family event. “My granny turned a hundred years old and we went to the Brewery Tap in Tullamore and we had a music session. We were playing loads of trad tunes that we've been playing all my life really and one of the songs that was played was Banks of the Roses and we noted on the night that it’s a really good tune.”

He added that they were in the studio a few days later and they made a dance beat and sang 'Banks of the Roses' over it and thought it worked well. “I sang the Banks of Roses over this dance beat, and then we just put it up on TikTok and it just exploded and it went from there.”

“We couldn't believe the reaction to it. We never would've thought that putting trad with dance music would be so desirable and something that people wanted so much.”

Johnny added: “On Friday evening we were sitting number one on the Irish iTunes chart, number 10 in Australia, number 16 in America, and I think it was like 24 in the UK and 30 in Sweden. That was mind blowing.”

“I think it's the first time we've seen our music in some proper international charts so it was pretty exciting Friday evening watching how they were going up and down,” said Ronan.

The group’s music has become hugely popular on TikTok, often going viral on the social platform and Ted said the power of TikTok is “amazing.” “It always surprises us when you have a song that connects on TikTok.”

Ted explained that music fans “engage in a different way on TikTok.” “They engage in a way where they become fans and they stay connected for the whole journey then. For musicians and artists, TikTok is just so powerful and it's one of those things where you just have to find your voice on it, get onto it and put the work in.

“It can be very difficult because it's a lot of work and sometimes you put up a video and you get 500 views. You're only one video away from a million views, so you just have to keep going.”

According to Ted, the major career highlight of the band’s career to date was being signed to Warner Music. Other highlights include selling out the Olympia theatre in Dublin and performing a closing set at Longitude Festival. “We're probably in our strongest position yet now with the way things have gone for us.”

He also said that it would be a “dream come true” to some day perform a sold-out headline show in the 3Arena. Chasing Abbey has previously played support on two occasions at the prominent music venue.

The band would also love to collaborate on a track with Hozier or Dermot Kennedy in the future.

Ted explained that it was challenging at times coming from a small town. “We never really played music anywhere else other than the Midlands for a long time and when we started to play in different places it was very different for us.”

“I think there's a lot of talent in these small towns even just look at Tullamore, you've Ruaile Buaile, you’ve Jig Jam, ourselves, you’ve so many really talented artists and it's good to see all of us performing at a good level.”

Speaking about how their music has evolved over the years into what they’re now describing as 'trad house,' Johnny said: “We always wanted to kind of amalgamate the two genres, I think deep down but we didn't really realise it because even in our first ever release, ‘That Good Thing,’ there's actually banjo in that song as well. We did have it there in the beginning, but we just didn't realise what we were actually wanting to achieve.”

Ted said that the group is “very driven” for international success and that their biggest goal is to have a hit international song.

The trio have more new trad house songs 'ready to go' and are looking forward to releasing them in the near future. Ronan said: “We've been playing them at our last couple of shows and there's great reactions to them and huge energy off them live so we're really looking forward to getting those out. We'll probably start putting those on TikTok as well to let the people hear them.”

Ted believes that the reason the 'trad house' music is popular is because it's different. “It's what people want because I think there's just been a little bit too much of the same over the past few years and that little change, like an Irish melody is so different to a standard pop melody.

“I think that 'trad house' has such a big future because the Irish melodies are just so engaging. If you hear a really good Irish melody, you have to listen to it and I think in 'Oh My Johnny', that's kind of a perfect example, that melody is so strong.”

“It's good to be able to pass these songs on to our generation who probably would never hear these songs but because they're being reimagined with house music, they're able to experience these songs and just enjoy how brilliant they really are.”

The Offaly band has had good support from friends and family following their huge success. Johnny said that their loved ones are “over the moon” for them. “They've seen everything we've been through and how hard we've worked to get to where we are so they are very proud and just happy we're being rewarded for the work we've put in.”

Some of the band's songs such as 'Lie', 'Talk To Me' and 'That Good Thing' have received huge radio play which Ted said is the “best feeling in the world.”

“You can't beat it anytime you hear your song on the radio, especially, if you just catch it naturally. If you just sit into the car and you turn on the radio and you're on the radio, it's just amazing. It's a very surreal kind of feeling and you feel very proud and just can't believe (it).”

'Oh My Johnny' (Banks of the Roses) is now available on all streaming platforms and Chasing Abbey will play at Hoolie In The Hills music festival on Saturday, August 5 in Upperchurch, Co. Tipperary, E41 YX40. Saturday tickets for the festival cost €36 and weekend tickets cost €56 and can be purchased from Eventbrite.