Carol Keogh has written and performed with a variety of bands and been involved in a number of musical projects since 1995. Her diverse career stretches back to The Plague Monkeys who released two albums and two EPs throughout the late 90′s until their split on the eve of the new millennium.
Towards the end of The Plague Monkeys, Keogh began collaborating with nascent producer and multi-instrumentalist Ken McHugh, who had also been working with a young songwriter called Cathy Davey. My Sanctuary, the largely instrumental debut album from McHugh’s Autamata project, featured contributions from both Keogh and Davey, notably Keogh’s on ‘Out of This’, which was later used in the movie Tara Road, and Davey’s on the single ‘Jellyman’. Keogh went on to co-write several songs on the follow-up album Short Stories, including the song of a Dublin Christmas, ‘Liberty Bell’, which was subsequently covered by the Dublin Gospel Choir. Throughout this period, Autamata performed live extensively with an augmented band line-up, taking in shows nationally, in Eastern Europe and at the famed Austin City Limits festival in Austin, Texas.
The run of Keogh’s involvement in Autamata saw out the end of The Plague Monkeys and, after a two-year hiatus, the formation of The Tycho Brahe, in 2002. The Tychos were slow to (re)form but their debut album This Is was synthesised quickly. It was a dynamic four years in Keogh’s memory, during which a second (double) album was released, Love Life. In live performance, the trio was augmented by rhythm section Dara ‘Dip’ Higgins on bass and John Dermody on drums, as well as cellist Kim Porcelli, until The Tychos took their final bow in 2006.
Since then Keogh has been working on her solo career and has assembled a band of fine backing musicians in The City Fathers. In 2012 recording funds were raised through a successful crowdsourcing campaign.
Carol’s first solo release (backed by The City Fathers), Mongrel City, was released in 2014.
In 2020, she contributed vocals to a cover version of Nocturn by Tom Dunning & Your Boyfriends, recorded for I Wanna Be Kate: The Songs Of Kate Bush – Remastered & Expanded.
References
- Carol Keogh. Breaking Tunes website, retrieved 8 December 2023
- Carol Keogh. Discogs.com website, retrieved 8 December 2023
