Choosing a Band

The Greatest Five Piece Quartet Ever!!!

Over the course of the last 13 years or so I have played after many bands at wedding and corporate gigs. One band that  has stood out is The Camembert Quartet who now also go under the moniker of The Late Late Show House band. At the turn of the century I was settling into my regular slot at the Sugar Club in Dublin and I heard Oisin the manager of the club raving about this band he saw playing at  Vicar Street.  He was delighted with himself as they were going to play monthly at the Sugar club. Since then they have had a strong association with the club becoming synonymous with the venue. Paddy (aka Clint Velour) the lead Singer has lots of charisma and really knows how to engage an audience, with lots of interaction and even on occasion getting members of the audience involved on stage.

Apart from the Sugar Club I have seen them play in a variety of settings from intimate venues to grand size halls such as the RDS and they never fails to ensure the guests/audience dance the night away and have lots of fun as well.   As Paddy says himself they are the ‘greatest five piece quartet ever’. They can change the genre of a song and make it their own.   An example that comes to mind is the 80s classic Lionel Ritchies “All Night Long” a great song that they sometimes choose to end their set.   The band infuses the song with a latin flavour, with Doc doing his magic on the  keys and the rhythm section of Cormac on Bass and Ray on drums quickening the tempo of the song to create a real carnival atmosphere.  The band are very adaptable to the mood of the crowd and can slow it right down or rock out with a mash up of Daniel O donnell doing  ” A Whole Lotta Rosie”, one of their more innovative offerings!   They are also adept at switching into whatever is currently floating people’s boat.  For instance at Brian O Driscoll and Amy Hubermanns wedding the band starting off acoustically with Candi Staton`s original version of  “You Got The Love” and proceeded to build up into the anthemic version associated with Florence and the Machine, the band at full tilt driving it on to a climatic ending.  I could say more about them but I reckon the best thing to do is to check them out for yourself.  By the end of the night you will be saying to yourself and your friends ‘Yeah you know what, maybe they are the greatest five piece quartet I have ever seen’.

Visit www.camembertquartet.ie