The Original Rudeboys (O.R.B.) are an
acoustic pop/
hip hop group from
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
. They are notable for their debut album ''This Life'' which was released in 2012 and debuted at number one on the Irish
iTunes Charts, and their single "Stars in My Eyes", which hit number 2 on iTunes
and received national airplay. They have played at venues such as the
Olympia Theatre and at festivals such as
Oxegen
Oxegen was a music festival in Ireland, first held from 2004–2011 as a rock and pop festival and again in 2013 with dance and chart acts only. The event was regularly cited as Ireland's biggest music festival, and, by 2009, it was being ci ...
and the
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Fe ...
.
The band consists of Sean "Neddy" Arkins (rap vocals), Robert Burch (guitar and vocals), Sean "Walshy" Walsh (ukulele). The band's genre has been described as a cross between
hip hop and
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 ...
.
History
Formation
The three bandmates grew up together in the same neighbourhood in the North Inner City of
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
. They became friends around the ages of 7 or 8.
They each wrote and performed music individually before coming together as "The Original Rudeboys". A lot of the songs on their debut album were written two to three years before they became a band.
[
The Original Rudeboys first became a band in March 2011][ after having met at the home of a mutual friend. They decided to come together and write a song after a couple of drinks. This impromptu session was recorded and uploaded to ]YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
where it first gained recognition. This song, "Stars in My Eyes", went on to become the band's first official single. According to the group they had no intention of becoming a band but after seeing the views on their videos rise they decided to take on the music industry. The band's name came about from a T-shirt bearing the words "The Original Rudeboys" that Arkins wore to a band appearance. Jokingly claiming the shirt to be part of the band's merchandise, the band adopted the phrase as their official name.
After one month, the band gained the interest of the Irish media and were invited onto a chat show on TV3. From this appearance they received invitations from many more media outlets such as national radio stations and also an appearance on RTÉ's ''The Saturday Night Show
''The Saturday Night Show'' is a talk show hosted by Brendan O'Connor broadcast on RTÉ One between 2010 and 2015. The show features guest interviews, audience participation and live music. ''The Saturday Night Show'' is broadcast every Saturday ...
''. The band then went on to put on their first headline show in Dublin's Academy 2 where they sold out three shows.
Summer 2011
Based on their single YouTube video, the band quickly gained attention, earning festival appearances and gigs in both Ireland and England. They decided to write some more songs and record videos for each. These videos ("Live Your Life", "Sunny Days" and "Bringing Me Down") each went viral in their own right. The video for "Sunny Days" is a dedication to a friend of the group who died due to suicide. It features the band having a barbecue with their friends and touches on the issue of suicide awareness.
In Ireland The Original Rudeboys joined up with UB40
UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the ...
, The Coronas
The Coronas are an Irish rock band that originated in Dublin. They release their music by their own independent record label, 3ú Records, and are based between Dublin and London. They have released seven studio albums, '' Heroes or Ghosts'' ...
and The Rubberbandits at the inaugural Strawberry Fest in Wexford
Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 ...
in June and 50 Cent and Faithless at the first ever Waterford Music Festival in July.
The band also played the Oxegen Festival on the Vodafone stage in July. They played to a crowd of 5,000 where they were spotted by a BBC reporter and were subsequently invited to play the Introducing Stage at both Leeds Festival
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
and Reading Festival
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
in August. Among the crowd at the Reading Festival was producer Jake Gosling
Jake Gosling is an English music producer, songwriter, remixer, manager, and publisher best known for his work with artists such as Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, The Libertines, James Bay, Shawn Mendes, All Time Low, One Direction, Major Lazer, Christ ...
who approached the band after their set and asked if they would like to work with him. After the festival they joined him in his studio and recorded some tracks, including the official version of "Stars in My Eyes", that were collected and release as the ''Travelling Man'' EP. The band later returned to Sticky Studios to record their first full album, ''This Life
This may refer to:
* ''This'', the singular proximal demonstrative pronoun
Places
* This, or ''Thinis'', an ancient city in Upper Egypt
* This, Ardennes, a commune in France
People with the surname
* Hervé This, French culinary chemist Arts, e ...
''.
''This Life''
During the winter of 2011 the band returned to the UK to complete their first album, ''This Life
This may refer to:
* ''This'', the singular proximal demonstrative pronoun
Places
* This, or ''Thinis'', an ancient city in Upper Egypt
* This, Ardennes, a commune in France
People with the surname
* Hervé This, French culinary chemist Arts, e ...
'', which includes ten original tracks and re-recordings of the previously self-recorded YouTube tracks. The band returned from the UK to release their first official single, " Stars in My Eyes", which was released on 14 October 2011 and peaked at No. 2 in the Irish iTunes charts and No. 18 on the Irish Singles Chart. The album was released on 23 March 2012 and debuted at No. 1 on the Irish iTunes charts, No. 1 on The Independent Charts and No. 3 on 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 ...
.[ Their second single, "Travelling Man", went straight to No. 1 on the Irish iTunes chart and peaked at No. 23 on the Irish Singles Chart.][
Off the back of this success the band went to travel the country playing gigs in some of Ireland's most prestigious venues. They supported international artists such as US rapper The Game and English rapper ]Professor Green
Stephen Paul Manderson (born 27 November 1983), better known by his stage name Professor Green or simply Pro Green, is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, television personality and mental health activist from London.
Growing up on ...
as well as Irish artists Sinéad O'Connor and Damien Dempsey
Damien Dempsey (born 9 June 1975) is an Irish singer and songwriter who mixes traditional Irish folk contemporary lyrics that deliver social and political commentaries on Irish society. Damien sings in his native, working class accent in the Eng ...
at their headline shows.[ In December 2012 it was announced The Original Rudeboys would be supporting fellow Irish band The Script on the European dates of their 2013 world tour. The album This Life has officially gone platinum since 12/12/13.
]
Touring issues
On 7 July 2012 they supported Swedish House Mafia
Swedish House Mafia (SHM) is a Swedish house music supergroup consisting of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. The group officially formed in late 2008, were placed at number ten on the '' DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJ Poll 2011, and have ...
on their final Irish date before they disbanded, in Phoenix Park
The Phoenix Park ( ga, Páirc an Fhionnuisce) is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tre ...
, Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
, with Calvin Harris, Snoop Dogg and Tinie Tempah
Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...
. During the concert two people died from drug overdoses and nine were stabbed, while 30 were arrested for assault, drugs and public order offences.
In November 2012, The Original Rudeboys turned down an opportunity to open for Chris Brown on 3 December 2012 in Dublins O2 Arena. They stated that this was due to his 2009 attack on his former girlfriend, Rihanna. Walshy gave an interview with RTÉ saying they were "completely against Chris Brown's assault on Rihanna" and supporting him "would send out the wrong message to our fans."
Second album
On 7 October 2013, the band posted a clip of a new song titled "Never Gonna Walk Away" on their Facebook page. The song was released on 22 November 2013 and went on to win Song of the Year at the Meteor Choice Music Awards.
On 18 February 2014, the band announced the second single from their second album, titled "Feel It In Your Soul". The song was released on 25 April 2014, and hit number 1 on iTunes in under 24 hours.
On 19 February 2014 it was announced that the band had changed their name to O.R.B..
On 23 March 2014, the band announced the title of their second album, ''All We Are
"All We Are" is a song composed by the German Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Warlock (band), Warlock, from their 1987 album ''Triumph and Agony''. It was released as the band's fourth single and published by Vertigo Records. A music video f ...
''. The album was released on iTunes on 2 May 2014 and hit number 1 on the Irish Independent Albums Chart.
On 3 June 2014, "Can't Let Go" was released as the third single off the album. On 14 November 2014, "Never Alone" was released as the fourth single, and as a charity single linked with Console Ireland to help suicide awareness
2015
On 15 April 2015, a brand new song titled "I Wanna Fly" was posted on their Facebook page, and on 21 April 2015 was posted on their YouTube channel.
Band members
;Official members
*Sean "Neddy" Arkins - rapper
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
, vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
*Robert Burch - lead vocals, lead guitar
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...
*Sean "Walshy" Walsh - ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
For live gigs:
* Ciaran Donnelly - bass player
* Alan Connon - drummer
Saying goodbye
On 12 June 2016 the band announced their breakup to their fans and stated that they would play one last farewell gig on 27 August 2016.
Return
On 26 January 2020, the band announced their return via Instagram, although, due to being abroad, Sean "Walshy" Walsh was not a part of the return.
On 27 January 2020, they posted artwork for a new song called "Hypocrite" on their Instagram; it was released on 31 January 2020. On 13 March 2020, they posted artwork for another new song called "Better Days" on their Instagram; it was released on 20 March 2020. On 22 May 2020, they posted a picture captioned "New Music 12/06/2020" with the hashtag #AFD, and on 5 June 2020 announced another new song called " All Falls Down". On 9 September 2020, they posted a picture captioned "Putting the final touches on a little something" with the hashtags #ComingSoon and #GL. On 11 September 2020 they announced a new song called "Guiding Light". It was released on 25 September 2020.
On 14 December 2020, they posted a picture "I guess we fucked it up...", followed the next day by a picture "I didn't want us to end like this...", both hinting at a song called "I Called It Love", which was released on 18 December 2020.
Discography
Albums
Extended plays
Singles
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Original Rudeboys, The
Musical groups established in 2011
Musical groups disestablished in 2016
Musical groups reestablished in 2020
Musical groups from Dublin (city)
Irish pop music groups
Irish hip hop groups
People educated at Bangor Grammar School
2011 establishments in Ireland