OUR STORY - Black Water County

OUR STORY

Black Water County, now nearly spanning a whole decade together, began to deviate from the well trodden path of teenage insolence (and a lot of booze) to a vigilant state of introversion; hoping to gleam empathy and affinity through stories of the downtrodden and heartbroken.. With a necessary touch of spirit and spirits.

In 2017 they independently released their first album ‘Taking Chances’ and embarked on their first UK tour before signing with booking agent Midnight Mango the following year. The two following years saw three national headline tours with an ever increasing amount of venues selling out at each new stage as well as a number of elevating support slots across the UK and genres spanning all the way from modern mesmeric folk to classic, left field ska punk.

The bands’ second album ‘Comedies and Tragedies’ was released in March of 2020 with a second sold out show at The Old Firestation in Bournemouth (the first one in 2019). However, the plug on the promotional album tour was sadly pulled when just three days later when the global pandemic hit England.

“Sometimes there are gigs where you simply pinch yourself and say “I was there…”, and tonight was one of those.” – Ross, Ferrone, Rock Regeneration.

If ‘Taking Chances’, is a post-university tale of being in your early twenties; rebelling against anything that stands in the way of a good time, then consider ‘Comedies and Tragedies’ to be a reality check sequel; rife with uncertainty and the struggles of self-identity.

In both 2016 and 2018, Black Water County won their place on Fireball’s ‘Fuelling the Fire Tour’ supporting Less Than Jake, Flogging Molly, The Bronx and The Skints amongst others. They subsequently featured in Kerrang!’s online coverage of the tour, had an endorsement from Fireball UK and also appeared on BBC radio Solent with the single ‘Rise and Fall’.

‘Ultimately though, it was Black Water County who landed themselves a place on the stage with Flogging Molly.. The Emerald Isle-influenced six piece started the first moshpit of the evening and cemented themselves as the judges’ favourite’ – Kerrang Features

The bands’ UK festival appearances have included WOMAD, Boomtown Fair, Beautiful Days, Belladrum, Black Deer, Tunes in the Dunes, Camp Bestival, Larmer Tree and Teddy Rocks along with hundreds of smaller UK festivals and festival slots across Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, The Netherlands and France.

After venue doors were finally back open, the band besieged their way back out into the world with an eagerly awaited, first ever headline show at the O2 Academy Bournemouth in March 2022, a rare unsigned event for the historical venue. With a reprieve of the cancelled album tour in mind, the Spring of 2022 saw another sell out UK tour in addition to an even bigger Autumn 2022 UK tour announcement.

Shannon Byrom
Lead Vox, Tin Whistle

Tim Harris
Lead Vox, Bass

Bradley H-Clarke
Guitar, Vox

Gavin Coles
Mando, Banjo, Vox

Ollie Beaton
Drums