The Celtic Social Club
Release ‘For Real’ on 16th June
The first single to be taken from their album Dancing or Dying? releasing Autumn 2021.
Franco-Irish supergroup The Celtic Social Club release their latest single ‘For Real’ on 16th June. ‘For Real’ is a slice of raw optimism with a pop sound, featuring Beatles-esque backing vocals and a blistering violin solo that brings to mind Dexy’s Midnight Runners. ‘For Real’ is taken from the forthcoming release Dancing or Dying, which will be the band’s fourth album, and it’s the perfect accompaniment to warmer days and more positive times.
‘For Real’ is a song about vowing to do everything with gusto and doing it properly. It’s about re-assessing and re-affirming life when given another chance to make a go of it. It’s about vowing to yourself that you realise that life is for the living and you need to make each day count.
The Celtic Social Club made their live debut on 18th July 2014 at the famous Vieilles Charrues Festival in Brittany, France. After some personnel changes their line-up now consists of seven musicians from diverse backgrounds: Manu Masko, Goulven Hamel, Ronan Le Bars, Richard Puaud, Pierre Stephan, Mathieu Pequerau and Dan Donnelly.
Irish audiences will be familiar with charismatic lead singer Dan Donnelly, who hails from Belfast and was previously well-known for his work with 90s indie band, Watercress.
Post Watercress, Dan found success as a solo artist, supporting the likes of Damien Dempsey, Duke Special and The Levellers, and releasing two solo albums and one EP. Dan then joined The Wonder Stuff in 2014, co-writing their top 40 album, 30 Goes Around the Sun. Dan has been with The Celtic Social Club since 2018, co-writing their album From Babylon to Avalon in 2019.
Dan says, ‘Having learned my craft travelling Ireland in a van in the 1990s, I am extremely excited at the idea of finally releasing some music in Ireland again. I keep an eye on the scene on my travels and I love a lot of the new Irish music, like Lankum who we played with in France. I really feel that as an Irish man, my bonding with these Breton musicians has rekindled my love of Celtic music and we have something fresh and unique to offer the Irish music lover.’
The Celtic Social Club’s music is a modern interpretation of Celtic music from different regions; Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Galicia, and Asturia. They have brought this unique sound to festivals and venues all over the world, including France, Switzerland, Germany and China. With this new single and album, The Celtic Social Club are exclaiming loud and clear that, when the world gets back to action, they will be ready… ‘For Real’!