Fresh Re

Liam Payne has thrown his weight and influence behind a young Irish band that became a Youtube sensation last year.

The young singers were then known as Fresh Era and achieved over a million views on their Youtube video during it’s first week online, after music fans found themselves gushing over the cover of Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love.’

Robert Scanlon, Ashlee Scanlon, Daryl Bengo, Cian Francois and Harrison Dodo all from Celbridge in Co Kildare hit the big time almost a year ago and found themselves being invited to perform on chat shows in Ireland and worldwide, after they became an internet sensation.

Now they’ve won over One Direction singer Liam Payne and he shared a link to the video tonight, along with the caption:

fresh re

“Take a look at this video on YouTube really great cover would love to see these guys on a stage one day”

The band replied to him saying:

“@Real_Liam_Payne Thanks a lot Liam!! …. Maybe a collab is due ;) Lool ”

Fans of Liam are already loving the clip and one commented on the Youtube video posting:

“I came because of Liam, I stayed because it was amazing. :)”

Another commented:

liam payne 2

“they are incredible, I like! Liam Payne :) you are his hero!”

A third said:

“JAJAJA love this! xxxx Amazing voice boys!:) xoxoxooxxo love Liam xxx-”

Have a watch of the video and let us know what you think of the young wannabes in the comments section below…. - Unreality TV

REMEMBER THESE TWO youngsters from Kildare singing Rihanna?

Last October, 11-year-old Robert Scanlon and 16-year-old Harrison Dhodo from Celbridge went viral with this rather amazing video of themselves singing We Found Love.
It got international attention, with coverage on CBS News among other international sites.
Well, Robert and Harrison are now part of a five-person group, Fresh Re. They describe themselves as “the hottest new young band in Ireland”:

Source: Imgur
Their debut single Young just came out. Oh, and it’s now at the top of the iTunes R&B chart…
… just above a little number called Blurred Lines.
Here’s the video for Young: - The Daily Edge

Fresh Ré are an Irish urban band hailing from Celbridge, Co. Kildare. The group skyrocketed to fame after two of their members, singer Robert and rapper Harrison, uploaded a cover of Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’ to Facebook. After the video went viral, the group was expanded with Robert’s sister Ashlee as well as musicians Daryl and Cian. The youngsters’ perfect mix of pop and hip hop is loved by the likes Robbie Williams and Liam Payne, even garnering them two appearances on the Late Late Show and a sold out headline gig. InDublin chats to Fresh Ré ahead of their show on August 23rd in the Academy 2.
Thanks for chatting with us at InDublin. How did Fresh Ré start?
Cian: We’re all from the same town. The rest of the group are from the same estate and I live about ten minutes away from them. We’re all friends.
Daryl: Me, Ashlee and Harrison all knew each other. We all did music together and Cian hopped in on a few tracks as well.
Harrison: I saw Ashlee one day and I knew she could sing. I said, ‘Ashlee, we’re going to do a song and you’re going to sing in it.’ She said, ‘Really?’ I said, ‘Yeah!’ She said ‘Yeah, I’ll do it!’ Then we made a song called ‘Summertime’.
Daryl: Back then, I used to rap.
Cian: Then there was the talent show, and Rob wasn’t even in it. That’s just how we started. Basically it was me, Harrison, Ashlee and Daryl. It was just a school talent show, just local. We were practicing and Rob starts singing along and it sounded great. Harrison did a cover with Rob and put it on Facebook. It went viral on Facebook, then went viral on YouTube, and that’s how we started. It went big straight away because of that video. It was a real blessing.
Is it difficult to balance school and music?
Cian: Me and Harrison finished school last year. We were in sixth year when the band started out. We had our Leaving Cert last year and that was really difficult. We were so excited, the hype was so big at that stage. One week we’re just normal people going to school, doing whatever – the next week there’s millions of views on our video and people asking for photos. It was so different than the week before. It was very hard to concentrate in sixth year, like when Harrison and Rob went on stage with Robbie Williams in the Aviva.
Harrison: I’m pretty sure I failed my maths exam. I did the show that night, the next morning I had my maths exam. I couldn’t even think about maths that day, I was just thinking about the night before.
Cian: It’s just one of those things where you had to kind of do your best with both.
Daryl: As a band, it started booming just as they finished school. All these festivals started reeling in and we were just going through sixth year. It was hard, but you kind of had to balance it. It’s something that had to be done. Right now I’m finished my Leaving Cert. I’m finished school and I don’t regret it because now all I’m doing is Fresh Ré.
Harrison: Rob’s going into second year. It must be so hard for him to balance it, with all the study!
fresh-re-1.jpgWhat was it like to perform at the Aviva with Robbie Williams?
Harrison: Every time I do something like that, my mind blanks out. I don’t remember what I did on stage. At every show something comes over me and it’s just like ‘Whatever happens, happens.’ I look back on pictures and say, ‘Oh, I did do that!’ Plus the lights were shining and I couldn’t see. I hate watching the video.
Daryl: When you actually think about it, you’re on stage in front of 60,000 people. It was a cover of ‘We Found Love’ and they knew the song. Can you imagine 60,000 voices singing along to what you’re singing? I think that’s just incredible.
Cian: I remember Robbie met these two at the Late Late Show and was kind enough to ask Harrison and Rob on and everything. He was kind enough to have me, Daryl and Ashlee in the crowd. We were watching Harrison and Rob on it, and that moment to me was amazing. Ashlee was crying, the crowd was singing along, it was amazing.
Ashlee: It was so overwhelming to see Rob up there.
Would you ever sign to a record label?
Everyone: Yes.
Cian: There’s people like Macklemore that are doing it independently. There are a lot of artists that make it so big doing it independently, but in Ireland it’s so much harder. We do have our families and everything here, but it’s so hard to break through.
Daryl: It’s gotten to the stage where we know what’s going in behind the scenes in music, like getting gigs and how it actually works. I’m on YouTube all the time looking at artists like The 1975, or anyone outside of Ireland. They have Sony that are right there, but here you have MCD and they don’t just do music.
Cian: In fairness we have made contacts since we’ve started. RTÉ have been very good to us. All of these radio stations are a great help, but it’s still not enough. We feel that if we get signed and go over to America or something it’ll really give us a push or a boost. I think definitely a record label is what we’re looking for at the moment.
Daryl: Outside Ireland.
What was performing on the Late Late Show like?
Harrison: I was still learning guitar then, and it was my first time doing guitar in front of a live crowd. It’d have been nerve racking to mess up. I’m pretty sure I did mess up! Yeah, it was nerve racking.
Cian: Ryan Tubridy’s a legend. We were on the Late Late Toy Show in the same week in 2012. It was so good because everyone watches the Toy Show.
Daryl: I remember when I was a kid I used to watch it. Looking at all the toys, I thought it’d be massive. The setup was so cool, all the children were so happy.
Rob: It was my first time actually being in front of a big crowd, so I was nervous.
Harrison: You looked like Alfalfa from Little Rascals with that cow’s lick.
Rob: And you picked out that bow tie for me.
Harrison: That was a good bow tie! But the Late Late Toy Show was brilliant.
fresh-re-2.jpgWhat’s your favourite place to gig at in Dublin?
Cian: Maybe the Academy. We supported Original Rudeboys there. It was one of our first gigs together as a band.
Ashlee: We had our first headline show there, and now we have another one.
Cian: Personally I like outdoor festivals. The setup in Iveagh Gardens is great. It’s just a really nice environment. That was a lovely place to gig.
Daryl: We have performed in Dublin, but most shows we’ve done are festivals just on the outskirts. We haven’t really been around here, where we know. We know of the big festivals but we haven’t really got the chance to do that yet.
Cian: Festival season is definitely my favourite season.
You’re all from Kildare. Do you think Dublin is much different to home?
Cian: Kildare is the countryside, so definitely.
Ashlee: The fashion is different. People are definitely more expressive in Dublin.
Daryl: It’s not that we chose not to hang around where we were when we were younger, but we were always in the city centre. If we were outside our estate, we’d be in town. Whether it was doing nothing, or shopping, we were there. We got used to the whole expressiveness of everyone. We saw different styles every day. I won’t say it grew on me because we were always interested in fashion, but you just notice the difference between Dublin and home. When we’re in Celbridge it’s one style, one style only. You have to dress that way. People like us just don’t care.
Ashlee: I like standing out.
Harrison: I really appreciate people who stand out, people who say, ‘I do me.’ I give them so much respect for that, because that’s hard.
Daryl: If something is the way it is and you can’t be any different, it’s hard when you’re looked at like a badass or when people say ‘Who the hell is that guy?’ It’s hard for anybody to be happy to stand out that way, so for anybody that does do it, fair play.
fresh-re-3.jpgWhat are your plans for the next year?
Ashlee: We’re going on tour with the Original Rude Boys on July 11th.
Cian: They’re doing an all-Ireland tour for a full week so we’re really excited for it.
Ashlee: We also have a headline gig in the Academy 2 on August 23rd.
Daryl: We are really, really looking to get signed this year as well.
Cian: Last year was our year to learn and to grow, and this year we feel like we’re more ready.
Daryl: You’ll never know when you’re ready until you do it.
Cian: That’s why I think this year definitely would be great.
Daryl: We’re told all the time that there are bands out there who’ve been around for five or ten years who aren’t signed, but I don’t really think it works like that. I don’t think it works like that. If you think if you want to do it, you will.
Harrison: Our age is something that we have to take advantage of right now. I was 16 when I started and I’m 18 now. Rob was 11 and now he’s 13, so time is against us. Things need to move faster.
Cian: We’re working on a few deals at the moment, so hopefully soon we’ll get it.
Are you contemplating recording an EP, or maybe even an album?
Daryl: When we are prepared for an album.
Cian: I don’t know if it’s right to put out an album without backing management.
Daryl: Yeah, we’d have to get signed if we were to do that. We’d need a team if we had a proper album going out. We have ‘Young’ officially released, and we have loads of originals with potential. These songs have the potential to be so good, so why would we release them just like that?
Harrison: Young did well. At this stage in the day we have to thank everyone who helped us with that. An album is just so much bigger, though.
Cian: Two years of hard work and material and emotion.
Daryl: It’s like a diary.
Cian: We’d want to have a label backing us. We’d want the world to see us. - InDublin

The young five piece from Co Kildare shot to fame when when their cover of Rihanna’s “We Found Love” was viewed by millions on YouTube.
Fresh Re are a young five piece band from Celbridge, Co Kildare. They got together after two of their members Robert Scanlon and Harrison Dhodo covered Rihanna’s “We Found Love” which was viewed by millions on YouTube.

The two band members were invited on stage at The Aviva with Robbie Williams to perform their cover back in June 2013. We caught up with guitarist and singer Cian Francois to get the low down.

How did you get started?

Before that video went up we were in the band doing a talent show. Rob wasn’t actually in it at all. We were practicing in the cabin and Rob started singing along and Harrison thought he had a great voice. So he did that video with Rob, that went viral and then we brought Rob into the group.

How have things taken off for you since then?

It’s been brilliant. At the moment we’re working on a record deal, so that’s the main thing for us. Working on an album as well is something that we need to do, but I guess that will come after we get signed, I guess.

What’s been the best experience for you so far?

There’s been so much. I guess one of the main things for me was headlining our own show. Just to see all the people who came to see us. We sold our first one out, that was amazing. Another was seeing Harrison and Rob with Robbie Williams in the Aviva.

How did they end up on stage with Robbie?

Ryan Tubridy asked Harris and Rob on to the Late Late Show, because he wanted to talk about that video. So we all went, but it was just them two that went on. That same night Robbie Williams was on as well, so he met Harris and Rob. They performed for Robbie backstage and he loved them so he said ‘When I come back and do my tour here, I’ll have you on stage with me.’ We all thought he was just joking, but he actually did. He threw in free tickets for the rest of the band so it was just brilliant.

Where would you like to see yourself in a years time?

In a years time I’d like to see us signed and in America, definitely.

Who are your main influences?

We have so many influences. I’d say the 1975. We’re kind of going in that direction with the guitars. Then Kendrick Lamar influences Harrison in terms of rapping.

Fresh Re play Dublin’s Academy 2 on August 23. Tickets, priced €10, are on sale now. - Irish Mirror

Kildare band Fresh Ré are barely out of school but they are already mega online and they are determined to push on to even bigger things

The funny thing about viral videos and being a smash on the internet is that, despite all those who try to make it happen and all those who claim to have it all figured out, you just don’t know what’s going to catch on. There’s no formula.
So when a grainy hand-held video of two young lads from Celbridge, Co Kildare doing their version of Rihanna and Calvin Harris’s We Found Love crept online – first on to Facebook, then You Tube – no one was expecting it to rack up a couple of million views. Least of all the lads themselves.
The boys in question were 16-year-old Harrison Dodo, who played guitar and rapped. Accompanying him on vocals was Robert Scanlon, aged just 11 when the video was made. Together they are two-fifths of a band called Fresh Ré, alongside Scanlon’s older sister Ashlee and fellow Celbridge natives Cian Francois and Daryl Bengo. The latter trio couldn’t make band practice one particular Saturday afternoon, so the other two started messing about and made the video on Harrison’s iPod. The two-minute clip took on a life of its own, born of its off-the-cuff charm and, in an era of pristinely polished pop stars, that rare sense of raw talent on show.
On the strength of the video, the two boys soon found themselves performing on The Late Late Show. Also guesting on the show was Robbie Williams, in town before a show at the Aviva Stadium, and he was impressed enough by what he heard to make the pair an offer.
“Robbie saw us doing our soundcheck and he was like, ‘I might get you to play on my tour’,” says Robert Scanlon. “We thought he was just saying it to be nice, but then my dad told us, and the next day we were actually going to the Aviva. I used to be so shy at singing, like in the video where I have my head down and all. Then to perform in front of 60,000 people was crazy.”
While Scanlon and Dodo were on stage, Daryl Bengo, Ashlee Scanlon and Cian Francois were in the audience. Seeing their band-mates perform to such a huge audience made them all the more eager to push themselves and the band to bigger and better things.
“Even though I wasn’t on that stage, I still got that feeling like, ‘Jesus, we’ve got the chance to do this’,” says Bengo. “We didn’t see it like, ‘Oh my god, this is happening’. It was kind of like, ‘Oh my god, make it happen’.”
They continued to post more covers to You Tube, but now as a full band. With no label behind them, they relied on their social-media presence to spread the word. They bagged the opening slot on a tour with the Original Rude Boys, played half-time at Croke Park during last weekend’s hurling semi-final between Kilkenny and Limerick, and have a sold-out show at the Academy 2 (originally lined up for later this month, but now rescheduled to October 4th). Their hard work is paying off.
As of this summer, all members of the group are finished with school for the moment, with the exception of Scanlon, who is 13. With no studies to worry about, they are keen to work more on their own songwriting, something they are obviously passionate about. But, with only one original single, Young, released so far, this has perhaps been overshadowed by their cover versions.
“Because we put so much effort into our originals, we don’t want to let them just go to waste,” says Bengo. “If you come and see us live, you’ll see that actually most of our set is originals now,” adds Francois.
The Academy show is perhaps more important than those stadium slots. While tour supports are all well and good, nothing compares to headlining their own show, knowing everyone is there to see them.
“The Academy isn’t the biggest show we’ve done in terms of people, but it’s not always the quantity that makes the show good,” says Francois.
Ashlee jumps in. “I think it’s just that those people are paying to see you – that’s mad.”
“And to see everyone cue up for your show is just incredible,” adds Francois. “I remember looking out at the crowd and everyone having a good time. It’s amazing. It really is.”
It’d be ridiculous to judge a band such as Fresh Ré at this stage in their careers. They’re barely out of school, they’ve released one song of their own, they’re still “unsigned” – though they are showing how little that phrase can mean in 2014. For a group of teenagers, they are remarkably focused, professional and ambitious. For now, their plan is simply to keep on keeping on; play the shows as they come up, keep working on their material, and take every chance they get to spread the word.
“All these things are like stepping stones. The thing about us is, even before the band started, we’ve always had that vision of living that kind of a lifestyle and I guess we never limited ourselves,” says Francois.
“Consistency is very important, that’s one thing,” adds Bengo. “You just have to keep doing what you’re doing. I don’t like looking at stuff like, ‘we’ve got the Academy, that’s all we’re focused on right now’. I don’t really look at it like that. Every day we try to make it sound better than yesterday.”
Fresh Ré’s sold-out show at the Academy, Dublin, is rescheduled to October 4th. All tickets are valid for the new date - The Irish Times