JavaShrine

Donal Cox – Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica

Donal’s guitar playing began at the age of eleven having been influenced to pick up the guitar by his father, but didn’t really amount to much until the music scene in the early nineties started to break. Vocals were something that came a little more natural to Donal as a result from singing right through his early school years and so development in this area came more easily. However, he certainly didn’t have the type of voice that a lot of mainstream artists at that time had in the grunge/rock scene, which at the time was his main influence. This would prove to be the early evidence that perhaps this wasn’t the exact style of music he was meant to play. Putting down the electric guitar and concentrating more so on the acoustic side of things from a song writing point of view was the breakthrough in his music. Most recently adding the harmonica to his repertoire he continues to try and further his musical career

Gary Day – Vocals, Guitar, Trumpet, Mandolin

Gary started his musical career at age 8. After fluttering with the recorder, piano and violin, Gary started trumpet lessons aged 10, which he still plays. Coming from a very musical background Gary luckily inherited a great ear for music from his father, and often sat in on their band practices picking up chords and riffs from his father and the rest of the band, which would later prove invaluable use in the writing of his own songs. At 16, Gary left to study music at the Technical College in Bangor. This was the first best move for him as he was adamant that music would be his carer. Playing and learning from some of Ireland’s best, this was definitely a productive move. Three years later Gary qualified in his course and continued to push forward with the band.

Pete Day - Vocals, Drums, Percussion, Trumpet, Guitar

Pete has always been interested in music from an early age. He began in primary school with the violin, piano and recorder then progressed onto the trumpet in which he has a Grade 6. This got him involved in various South Ulster Boards and Ensembles that played throughout Northern Ireland and further a-field (Netherlands, 1994). He always had an eye for the drums which might stem from his father who used to play them in his younger years before he moved onto the bass guitar. Pete bought his first kit when he was 16 and got involved in a few local bands where he then got tagged “Pete the beat”, before laying down his roots with Java Shrine at the age of 17. Java Shrine would always be his main priority in the music circuit. Pete is versatile and can adapt to many styles of music quite easily, be it rock, blues, funk or jazz.

Chris Day – Trombone, Piano, Clarinet, Euphonium

Chris has been playing the trombone from the age of 8 and is still pursuing it to a professional level. He is now studying music at Queens University. He is a member of the Ulster Youth
Orchestra and South Ulster Youth Orchestra and is Lead trombone/Assistant manager of the QUB Big Band. He is a brass tutor and directs a Jazz band in local schools. He has grades in several instruments, and has played as a session musician with Westlife on the John Daly show and the Kelly show on their recent tour.

Ciarán Ryan – Vocals, Bass, Guitar

Ciarán started his music as far back as when he was 8 years old, when he was sent to private lessons on the Irish traditional instrument, the tin whistle. He excelled in this instrument throughout his early school years. He then bought his first bass guitar a year later at the age of 14. Ciarán had done some choir singing in his earlier years, and thus when he was asked to the mantle by Java Shrine to add vocals to the band, he was at first apprehensive, but has since taken it on at a full rate, trying to do as much singing as possible, along the way improving both his vocal work and his ear for music as a whole.