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News Well the gig on Sunday night was a huge success with a sold-out gig and I believe that the bulk of 2,000 euro was raised for Aids West, so thanks to all who came along. Also thanks to the guys from Cuckoo Savante for inviting us to play and organising an excellent gig. We played Dream Brother and Mojo Pin with Niall singing a verse for the obligatory 'everyone on stage' rendition of Hallelujah - our first cover versions we've done in 4 years of existence I might add...Well we're all gearing up for the gig in An Pucan which will be the first full band gig of Agiven tunes with our new drummer Paul. Mike is going to be joining us on violin too so its looking like it should be a good one. Also playing are 2 great acts,'A Band Called Wanda' and 'Paul Maloney'...Best of all admission is absolutely free so call in if your about town...Also, check out our myspace.com page. Send us an invite and we'll be more than happy to add ye too our friends list.. 11th April2006 The winter hibernation and we're back from our travels and gigging again. Our first gig with new drummer Paul will be on Sunday night when we take part in the Jeff Buckley Tribute night in Roisin Dubh. There's going to be a load of bands from Galway playing including ourselves, Cuckoo Savante and Lucas. Its all in aid of the charity Aids West so all in a good cause. The list of confirmed upcoming gigs is :
Sunday, April 9th, Roisin Dubh, Galway(Jeff Buckley Tribute)
Wednesday, April 12th, The Pucan, Galway Sunday, April 30th, The Cellar, Galway Sunday, June 4th, The Cellar, Galway(with Mardi Gras) Well we've been taken it easy for the first couple of the months of the year...Tell the truth we've travelling all over the world with Mike in Seattle, Enda in California and Niall in London - Been tryin to spread the word further afield! Be sure and check out our myspace.com page. Send us an invite and we'll be more than happy to add ye too our friends list...We've just added the song 'Born To?' there as well. This track was also recorded in Grouse Lodge along with 'This Little Thing We Have'. Keep an eye out for our next set of gigs to be announced upon return from our worldwide travels... 2nd February 2006 Happy New Year. We're all set to kick off the year with a couple of gigs this week in Roisin Dubh. Tonight Niall and Enda will be playing acoustic support to Breakdown Rambler. Then on Wednesday night, we'll be playing a full band gig with support from Dave Morrissey. Doors are at 9 and admission is free. On other news, we've just recently set up a myspace.com account and we'll be updating this regularly with new live tracks and blogs. You can leave comments too so let us know what ye think of the songs....Later 16th January 2005 Its Christmas and as part of the festive spirit we'll be rounding off 2005 when we play the Damien Dempsey Aftershow party in Roisin Dubh tonight(Wednesday, 21st Dec)...We'll be kickin off at around 11.30 and admission is free...Its been a good year for us and looking forward to 2006...Merry Christmas... 21st December 2005 Biography Formed in early 2002, the current core line-up of AGIVEN comprises of Niall McGrath (vocals, guitar), Enda Ward (lead guitar) and Kevin O'Sullivan (bass), Michael Chang(violin) and a variety of guest percussionists.To date AGIVEN have played venues across Ireland including Roisin Dubh, Cuba*, The Quays and GPO in Galway, Dolans of Limerick, Cleere's of Kilkenny, and The Green Room, Voodoo Lounge and Slatterys (Rathmines and Capel Street) in Dublin. AGIVEN have shared the stage with acts such as The Hothouse Flowers, Aslan, The Guggenheim Grotto, Dawn Kenny and many more. The band have developed an archive of material with songs typically developed acoustically and then expanded to full band arrangements. This modus operandi has resulted in two almost distinct sets of the same songs - acoustic and electric - each having their own unique sound and feel. Experimentation with a multitude of instruments is continually ongoing (featuring violins, flute, guitar synths, samplers, piano, djembe, bongos and zyladrum) to create constant variations of the live set. Originally called FIRBhOLG, a name change was decided in early 2003 and so AGIVEN was born. After many home-recorded demos, the first 3-track E.P. was been recorded in Sun Street Studios in Tuam, and is available to listen to on the music page. These tracks featured Dave Burke on drums and Felim O'Donnell on flute and percussion. The tracks done the rounds around the country receiving much positive feedback. In particular the band got a write-up on the demo by Matt McGee from the popular U2 tribute site - @u2.com. You can read his review here.'I'm hoping to hear more in the not-too-distant future. Somebody sign these guys and get a proper album out...' - Matt McGee, @u2.com... Following that review hits to agiven.com went through the roof and the band now have a spread of fans across the world. A second demo was recorded in 2004 featuring Mika Kaida on violin. Mika's contribution convinced everyone that violin made an essential contribution to the bands sound. With Mika having to return to her native Japan a search was immediatly underway for a replacement. However, this was not to happen for another year when Enda and Michael had a chance encounter at a session (music not drinking session!) in Galways Ti Naughtons. In late 2004 Agiven received a grant in recognition of their work to date from The Mayo Arts Council. This was used to fund the most recent demo featuring two songs - 'This Little Thing We Have' and 'Born To?' and feature the drum work of Dave Concannon. The tracks were recorded in Grouse Lodge studios in Westmeath and were engineered and mixed by Stefano Soffia who has worked with acts such as Doves, Manic Street Preachers and Horslips.
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