So there she is, in all her glory. 10 years ago to the day we were crowned Siansa Gael Linn champions. Seems a little surreal...

As  a band we've been lying dormant for about 6 years! For one night only... (well video... as we are stranded in Covidy Isolation... boo...) we came together and gave one of our old sets a go.

To everyone's surprise (mainly ours...), it seems we remebered the set pretty well! You can watch the video here if you'd like: Ioscaid - Helvic Head 2020

It was the intention to get together soon, play a few tunes, have a few beers and reminisce about the craic we had, but this social distancing has taken that idea away for the time being. Sure, the year isn't over yet...

Love,
Ioscaid

Hey Guys,

We have some news for you from band headquarters;

The lads have agreed to take an extended break from Ioscaid...

We came to the sudden realisation a couple of weeks ago, when we found that it was practically impossible for us to organise a practice together! Our personal lives are catching up with us, what with new jobs, further education, and other commitments!


To keep the band going at a level that we would be happy with, and that we would be proud to perform and record at, we would have to increase our commitment level to the band by a large amount, and that is something that we, collectively, just can't afford to do at the minute!

Now, this is not goodbye! We love playing together as Ioscaid, and have achieved so much together over the years (can you believe it's been over 4 years since we first formed?) that we don't just want to throw that all away! We love the music we make, the craic we have while practising, gigging and travelling, and the friends we make (and have made) and people we meet when we go anywhere!

We were all together last weekend at Damian McKee's wedding session in Magherafelt and signed a few CDs for you guys to fight over! We have 10 signed copies of our Ioscaid EP that will go to the first 10 people to order them from our shop, as a special way of saying thank you for all your support over the past 4+ years!

In the meantime, we'll still keep the Facebook, Twitter and website going, you'll still be able to buy CDs and we'll touch base from time to time if we have any news we think you'd like to hear about!

We'd like to thank you all again for supporting us and we'll see you soon!

Love,
Ioscaid

Well everyone!

Long time no see! haha!

We have finally done it! Well, myself and Emmet that is! (He's the newest addition to the lineup by the way!)
It may have taken about 8 hours, 12 cans of Carlsberg, a fist fight and cost me my eyesight (staring at the computer, not from a punch), but we have redesigned the website and I think you'll agree it's looking well! 

2013 was a particularly quiet year for us due to educational and work commitments, but having said that, our highlight of the year was opening The Sandy Kelt, a new Irish Bar in Kalajoki, Finland, which was amazing! All the people we met were amazing and we had a great time, can't wait to get back!

We would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we hope to see a bit more of you in 2014.

Love,
Ioscaid

BBC Young Folk Award Winners –   2012

 The Lowry Theatre in  Manchester was the venue for the 2012 BBC Folk Awards on 8th February 2012, and it was a night that Ioscaid  will never 
forget! In  October last year the guys performed in Kendal in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk  Award semi-final, and, out of 10 acts, were chosen to progress to the finals, along with 3 other fantastic acts including Sunjay Brayne, Blair Dunlop and Graham Mackenzie.

All 4 acts were then invited to the BBC Folk Awards Final presented by Julie Fowlis and Mike Harding and with an audience including legends of folk such as The Dubliners, Don McLean, Andy Cutting, Tim Edey, Christy Moore…the list was endless. Ioscaid played during the live interval show along with the other Young Folk Award nominations before joining the rest of the crowd in the 
main auditorium.  

Ed Byrne was introduced onto stage to present the Young Folk Award and tension was building as the competition was so tight for the title. 
‘And the winner is…..Ioscaid!’-The lads couldn’t believe it and slowly made their way onto stage to collect the trophy from Ed and make a short acceptance speech.

It was a great night meeting all the musicians and singers after the ceremony and the tunes and songs went long into the night/morning with The Dubliners really showing their experience, still going strong as ever at 4am!  We had a great night all round and have made some great friends along the way, congrats to the 3 lads Graham, Blair and Sunjay as well and we’re sure to meet them again soon!

Ioscaid would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped them along the way, family, friends and everyone else! 

The great news is that the guys have agreed to record an EP, due to be released at the beginning of the summer, and they have been speaking to numerous gig and festival organisers. So keep the ears open, eyes peeled and watch this space!

Love,
Ioscaid