Subject Matter

The Story of Subject Matter is set in a place where the story could easily be referred to as a ‘shtory’, or even ‘storrrrrry’. But every ‘shtory’ needs a setting. So, there came a point where, in the first days of August 2009, two guys came into contact with a certain catalyst. This catalyst was Paul Carey, a bassist. And a pretty good one too, or so the two lads had heard. Our instigators, Paul O’Keeffe and Thomas Devine, were not afraid to chase Mr. Carey down, so to speak, and acquire themselves a vital piece of their puzzle. For you see, they were tantalisingly close to coming full circle with their ambitions, and saw that their wish to start a band was about to come true. O’Keeffe considered himself a songwriter, and an able rhythm guitarist, while Devine was a budding drummer, and he looked like one, too. With Mr. Carey in on the act, all they had to do was convince their friend, Ste, to give things a shot, and maybe the term ‘Subject Matter’ could turn into something much more than just a term. Ste, a guitarist, had dabbled in musical escapades with the two guys before, but had been trying to start a band long before they had, and as a result, he was a bit cynical about the whole thing. Nevertheless, he agreed to give ‘Subject Matter’ a chance, and soon their first practice was underway.

Our story cannot continue any further until we speak about an old piece of Subject Matter personnel. You see, Paul O’Keeffe, at the very beginning, did not see himself as the lead singer of this band. But he found soon enough, that he had to step up to the plate, and act as a permanent replacement for the original lead singer, James. At the very beginning, when Subject Matter assembled for the first time, the four members we have today, sat waiting to meet the young man who would take up lead singing duties. Immediately, the four lads connected together, without James. Within two practice sessions, it was clear that Subject Matter consisted of a four piece band, and a lead singer who was not totally with the rest of his band-mates.

All the while, Subject Matter rehearsed covers and produced a small number of originals, and found themselves on the stage at Whelans, as a five-piece, when the band was roughly two or three weeks old. Needless to say, they were underprepared, but you have to admit, very keen and courageous to be willing to dive straight into their live playing career. And soon after their first gig, which could be described as ‘lacking,’ they played a little venue called ‘Thomas House’. This gig was evidently a better performance than their first, but still, there was a lot of room for improvement. That faithful day - where schoolteachers could be found rocking out to ‘’Killing In The Name’’ and a photographer known as ‘’Danny’’ took some of his finest photos - was also the last time James ever appeared with Subject Matter. The four lads continued without him.

They got about as far as anybody could within five months. By the time they decided to put the band on hiatus in January, they had played the Megabites Youth Cafe in Lucan twice, and participated in two rounds of a BOTB in The Steering Wheel, Clondalkin. As well as that, they participated in the Noise ‘09 BOTB, playing in the Ronanstown Youth Cafe, which was the closest gig to home they ever played.
So in January ’10, Subject Matter had its last real practice for 6 whole months, only interrupting the hiatus once to play a show in Palmerstown as part of the ‘CU Got Talent’ competition. They showed up for rehearsals the day before, and played an acoustic song for the casual crowd which had assembled. They arrived the next day with electric guitars, and broke several rules.

And now, in July 2010, Subject Matter is ready to get back to the rat race, and build on the foundation they laid in the Autumn/Winter of ’09. They’ve got new songs to play, some of which have been written since last year. They’ve got some covers which they hope their fans will enjoy, and of course, they’ve got some ideas for total piss-takes onstage. More importantly, they’ve got an ambition to perform and deliver some of the greatest rock music you’ve ever heard. This ambition hasn’t been developing for the past 6 months alone... it’s something each of these guys have been waiting for ever since they fell in love with music.

Their message to you: Embrace us, join us, support us, follow us, rock out with us, and live life with us. Well... not like... all the time. Otherwise we’d just be fucking sick of you.