Roper Groove Metal / Co. Limerick

Biography from ROPER social media sites…

The year is 2003. Madonna shifts Britney and Christina at the MTV Music Awards. Apple opens the iTunes Music Store. Beyoncé releases her debut solo album. Nokia were leaders in the mobile phone market and everyone was jumping on a new website called MySpace to befriend a man called Tom.

Meanwhile, four young fellas in massive jeans from Limerick were writing the smelliest of metal tunes and preparing to record them with local legend Mark P. O’Connor behind the desk. What resulted was a six-track EP called “Bend for the Weekend”, complete with a toilet on the cover (reasons unclear). Twins Conor and Brian O’Brien were joined on guitar by former drummer Dave Daly, with Brian Meaney now picking up the sticks.

2005 sees the departure of Dave from the band, only to be replaced by yet another Bryan. New songs are crafted and an opportunity arises to enter the Miller Strat Band of the Year. The crowd and judges were won over by the smelly metal assaulting their ears and ROPER were victorious. Part of the prize was an opportunity to record a three-track EP with the fantastically talented Graham Finn at Spector Studios in Cork. The fruits of our labour was “Left to Stampede”, with our good friend Ken Coleman supplying the artwork. The drippy hand was probably the only album with a non-black cover in the metal section of HMV Cruises Street at the time!

Hot on the heels of a support slot with MUDVAYNE and AMERICAN HEADCHARGE in June 2005, we once again joined our pal Mark P. O’Connor to lay down the eight tracks that would become “Gallows Hill”. The album opener features a sample from 1979 film ‘The Warriors’, as well as some choice percussion (e.g. Keith Lawler on the half-empty coke bottle). As the track descends into oblivion, we hear a concerned voice say “Listen! Did you hear that? It was probably nothing”. The lady who provided the line was staying at the studio during the recording and I can’t help but feel that the concern was genuine once she heard how smelly the metal was. Many of our friends were involved in this one, notably Dave Chambers on production and Mag Fhloinn for lyrical support. Many years later and it still brings a tear to the eyes of four proud fathers.