Greywind are a two-piece alternative rock band from Killarney in Ireland formed by siblings Steph and Paul O'Sullivan. In their first 20 shows as a band they have already played some of the biggest festivals in the world, including Reading & Leeds Festival, Download Festival and Rock Am Ring in Germany.
The Greywind story is a potent reminder that a whole new world of possibilities could be waiting just a few clicks away. Rewind a few years and an aspiring band had one option: to hit the road and get their talents in front of as many potential fans as humanly possible. By contrast, Greywind’s rise to prominence started before they’d even played a single gig.
Located on the shore of the Lough Leane lake in the south of Ireland, Greywind’s home of Killarney is a beautiful town and a popular tourist destination. For young people passionate about music – like the O’Sullivan siblings Steph (vocals) and Paul (guitar) – it’s a place of limited opportunity. “My best friend at the time said, ‘you live in Killarney, you’re never going to be a singer’,” recalls Steph, who admits to being an outsider as she grew up. “I was shy and people probably just thought ‘there’s that weird girl who listens to My Chemical Romance’.”
Inspired by the likes of Thrice and Jimmy Eat World, the O’Sullivans would dream of a bigger future: touring the world and playing on the Warped Tour. Bargain flights to the UK to see some of their favourite bands live offered a glimpse into a whole other existence, but a dearth of other local musicians meant that their dreams of forming a band never really progressed beyond that. One potential guitarist jumped ship before he’d even joined. “We told him, ‘We don’t want this to be a hobby, we want to tour the world.’ We probably sounded like lunatics when we’d never even played a show,” laughs Paul.
The turning point came following the suicide of their uncle. Grasping the shortness and fragility of life, Steph and Paul decided to forge ahead despite their lack of a conventional band line-up. Still a hive of enthusiasm, the siblings’ bond is evident with their continuing eagerness to finish each other’s sentences. “We wanted to make a start and feel like we were doing something,” explains Paul. “And we thought it would take years,” interjects Steph. “Which it usually does.”
Those anticipated years were condensed into a single week. On an ordinary Wednesday night, the pair polished off the lyrics to their first completed song Afterthoughts and then recorded a demo of it the following day. They uploaded it on the Monday and were then immediately deluged by a flood of industry interest.
The journey only continued. Radio 1 quickly took notice when Zane Lowe picked the demo as his Next Hype. After the industry-focused rush of meetings subsided, Greywind focused on developing those ideas during a creative spell with Grammy-winning producer Jason Perry.
Enamoured by Perry’s creativity and enthusiasm, Greywind called on his skills again to record their debut album during a three-week stay at Texas’s Sonic Ranch Studios. From the studio’s rich history to the scorching weather, it was an opportunity of a lifetime. Most importantly, however, was a chance to hear their ideas – almost entirely written on acoustic guitar – evolve into beefy layers of sound.
Featuring lyrics which address the dark heart of the human condition, the resulting album possesses the visceral crunch and the soaring hooks of the bands that have so inspired them. Dynamically, however, they move in ways more mysterious than that template would suggest. Often an ethereal drift of atmospherics explodes into controlled chaos – an approach that echoes their love for the post-rock soundscapes of Caspian and Explosions in the Sky. Alternating at will between tender, evocative and aggressive, Steph’s voice is the magic ingredient that elevates Greywind into another dimension.
In April 2016 Greywind played their first ever live shows, which took place on a sold out UK tour with Moose Blood. Throughout the rest of the year they played shows with Thrice, Young Guns, Farro, along with festival appearances at Reading & Leeds Festival, Slam Dunk and The Great Escape Festival.
Greywind started 2017 with a sold out debut headline show in London along with incredible reviews for their debut album "Afterthoughts" from the likes of Kerrang!, Alternative Press, Rock Sound and Upset Magazine. The album charted in the Official UK Rock Chart and was released on January 27th. Greywind will be playing Download Festival, Rock Am Ring & Rock Im Park in Germany, along with 2000 Trees Festival and Fat Lip Festival this summer.
PRESS
"A moment you won't forget if you're a fan of rock music." - Zane Lowe
“If a more poetic and graceful, yet musically powerful debut comes in 2017, we'll eat Slash's hat - A stunning debut album” - Kerrang! Magazine
"Greywind turned in the most exciting set of Reading Festival, make no mistake, Greywind are headed for the big time." -Louder Than War
"Greywind take things to skyscaper heights at Download Festival, the stage can barely contain them." - Upset Magazine
"A striking record full of depth and epic soundscapes - roaring guitar surges, powerful volume crescendos and Steph’s sky scraping vocals" - Alternative Press Magazine
"Truly incredible and awe-inspiring - Afterthoughts is something that comes out once in a generation, if we are lucky" - Cryptic Rock
“Afterthoughts, one of the best debut albums we can remember hearing for a long time - trademark stadium-sized choruses, and honestly, all of them feel like they’re already classics.” - Bring The Noise UK
"‘Greywind’ turn pain into something beautiful with their debut album" - The Huffington Post
“They’re an act born to create stadium sized heart hitters” - New Noise Magazine
"Huge, stadium ready alt-rock" - Punktastic
“Sounds enormous - The band clearly know their way around a blockbuster chorus” - Rock Sound
“Greywind have captured a daydreamers spark and used it to light something grand, wonderful and human” - Upset Magazine
“Huge anthemic choruses, rich instrumentation and soaring vocals - Beautifully hypnotic” - Front Magazine
“An impeccable debut - Hypnotising and truly remarkable” - Devils Gate Media
“A true inspiration - This band has made a special place in my heart with their stories told in this record” - Shockwave Magazine
