Fred were a five-piece Irish

Indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

band from

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. They released four albums, the last of which, ''Leaving My Empire'', was released in 2011.

Career

The ''Fred EP'' was released in 2000. A debut album, ''Can't Stop, I'm Being Timed'', was released in 2002. The single "October", released in 2004, was taken from their second album. Two follow-up singles taken from the album were released in 2005: "Summer's Coming" and "Four Chords and the Truth". Their self-financed third album, ''Go God Go'', was released on 30 May 2008 and via United For Opportunity in the U.S. in 2009. The album was recorded in Love Tap Studios in Ireland and mixed by

Mark Wallis Mark Andrew Wallis (born 1964) is an English greyhound trainer. He is a record 13 times UK champion Greyhound Trainer of the Year. Profile In 1990, Wallis joined leading trainer Linda Jones at the Imperial Kennels (Linda would later become his mo ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It spent a total of two weeks on the Ireland Albums Top 75, climbing as far as No. 30 in the

Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). The charts were previously compiled on behalf of IRMA by Chart-Track, and have been compiled by the ...

. The singles, "Skyscrapers" (released 16 May 2008) and "Running" (released 8 August 2008) received a significant amount of airplay on national radio during the summer of 2008. A third single from the album, "The Lights", was released in Ireland on 14 November 2008. Fred performed at a number of Irish festivals including Electric Picnic 2008 and Hard Working Class Heroes. They played their debut show in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

NXNE North by Northeast (or NXNE) is an annual music and arts festival held each June in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival's main focus is live music, but it also includes an eSports gaming tournament, comedy, a conversations series, a flea marke ...

in June 2008 and played at

Pop Montreal POP Montreal is an annual music festival occurring in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the early fall, usually at the end of September or the beginning of October. More than 400 bands are scheduled to play in more than 50 venues across the city, most ...

and the

Halifax Pop Explosion The Halifax Pop Explosion was a music festival and conference that occurred every fall, typically two weeks after Thanksgiving, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The term "Halifax Pop Explosion" also came to be adopted in the 1990s as the name o ...

to support their ''Go God Go'' album's release in Canada in October. On 20 January 2009, thousands of

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

worth of equipment owned by the band was stolen from their van parked across from Anglesea Garda Station in

, just as the band were to begin a

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n tour. The missing gear was recovered within 48 hours. The following week, Fred appeared on '' The Cafe'' on 30 January 2009, where reference was made to the incident and it was explained that the "amateur" thieves had attempted to pawn the instruments only to be foiled by leaving their addresses in the shop. The band played their single "Good One" on ''

Tubridy Tonight ''Tubridy Tonight'' is a talk show hosted by Ryan Tubridy that aired on RTÉ One for five seasons between 2004 and 2009. The programme featured guest interviews (usually three per show), audience participation and live music from both a guest mu ...

'' on 21 March 2009. On 11 April 2011 the band streamed their new album '' Leaving My Empire'' on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

. The album, released in Ireland on Friday, 15 April 2011, went straight into the Irish Album charts at No. 23, and The Indie charts at No. 10. The Irish press received the record with high praise, with State Magazine calling it "A burst of Technicolor glory", Irish Independent describing it as "Sprawling, ambitious and intoxicating", Heineken Music calling it "A joy to behold", and Hot press stating the album "has seen them ascend to a new level of brilliance". In August 2011 'We are the city now' was used in a national Canadian commercial for

TBooth Wireless Glentel is a Canadian retail firm. Based in Burnaby, the company deals primarily as a retailer of mobile phone services. In Canada, the company operates over 350 wireless outlets under the Tbooth Wireless (La cabine T sans-fil in Quebec, formerly ...

Members

* Joseph O'Leary - Vocals * Jamie Hanrahan - Guitar * Jamin O'Donovan - Bass * Justin O'Mahony - Drums

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Extended plays

Awards

In January 2009, the band were nominated in the Hope for 2009 category at the

Meteor Music Awards A Meteor Ireland Music Award was an accolade bestowed upon professionals in the music industry in Ireland and further afield. They had been bestowed each year since 2001, replacing the IRMA Ireland Music Awards held in the 1990s. Promoted by ...

. They lost to

Wallis Bird Wallis Bird (born 29 January 1982) is an Irish musician, living in Berlin since 2012. As of 2021, she has released six studio albums, including ''Architect'' in 2014 and ''Home'' in 2016. Career Bird performed at the Eurosonic Festival in 2012 ...

at the ceremony on 17 March 2009. , - ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, , Fred , , Meteor Music Award – Hope for 2009 , , , -

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fred (Band) Irish indie rock groups Irish alternative rock groups Musical groups from Cork (city) 1998 establishments in Ireland Musical groups established in 1998