Conor Buckley

Conor was born in Ireland in 1978 the second of three children to two hardworking parents and as a young boy was always a dreamer,he showed an aptitude in sports and was only slightly interested in music.
Aged 12 he got his first guitar and aged 13 he saw Rory Gallagher play and this would start his life long infatuation with the blues.When asked what type of guitar style he wanted to play he would respond emphatically the blues.
As soon as he learned a few chords he began to write songs and at aged seventeen he did his first demo with Paul Thomas who was highly regarded in Dublin music for his work with bands such as Whipping Boy and from then Conor began to take music and songwriting seriously and began to play in a college band and write the songs for his first album Violent Dawn and he was carrying most of these songs with him when he arrived in Prague Czech Republic in 2001, where he met Colin Stuart who had worked closely with one of Buckleys favourite songwriters Kirsty Mc Coll.
Violent Dawn Conors first album was recorded in Feb 2002 over a two week peroid and songs from this album have been widely bootlegged since then,songs such as Loaded Gun had a good deal of influence on modern guitar playing certainly Buckleys vamping and use of distortion were groundbreaking at that time
The following years would be a steep learning curve there was no major release of Violent Dawn,many bands wouldnt let him on the bill as a support artist. such was the explosive nature of his live performances
He played widely across Prague in those early years often without amplification in tiny bars for people who didnt speak English and eventually resorted to teaching English when he couldnt make a living from music.
These were the years which shaped Buckley as a live performer as he often had to play his own songs in front of hostile audiences.
He played with some of the finest musicans in the world in these years ,he would say the best ones always had their instrument in the pawnshop!, most notably he was special guest with underground band Psi Vojaci and learned a lot by watching the musicians who were around the city and performing at that time and Praha in the years following the velvet revolution was a melting pot of musicans from countries all over the world.
Due to physical health problems he returned to Ireland in 2005 where he had played little and would often protest he knew nothing about the Irish music scene and the truth be told he was mostly better than the local acts,he returned to college for a while and took his teaching qualification as it was clear he couldnt play his songs for the students forever!
He returned to studio from 2007 to begin recording his Opus After The Flood and in 2008 he had the distinction of playing on Old Town Square for St Patricks Day in Prague and managed to secure some time in Barrandov to work with Ivo Heger one of the top producers in the Czech Republic. After The Flood went on indepedent release in 2009.
Conor Buckley is not just a musician, he is also a writer a teacher and a producer in his own right,you hear all sorts of stories about Conor Buckley that he has seven fingers on his left hand had 17wives or cant tune a guitar but they were the same stories that were told about all the great musicans and all Conors recordings are live.Conor Buckley is 30years old