| Dead Cat Bounce | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Dublin, Ireland |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Website | Official Site |
| Members | |
| Demian Fox Shane O'Brien James Walmsley |
|
Dead Cat Bounce is an Irish comedy band made up of Demian Fox (drums), Shane O'Brien (bass) and James Walmsley (guitar and lead vocals). Based in Dublin, but touring all over the world, the group perform all-original comedy songs in variety of musical styles.[1]
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The four met at Trinity College Dublin in 2002 where they were all founding members of the sketch comedy group H-BAM. In late 2007 Fox, O'Brien and Walmsley were living together in Dublin and began to write a sketch show which they performed in the Project Arts Centre in January 2008. They chose the name Dead Cat Bounce (a stockbroking term) because the show opened with three stockbrokers standing over the body of a dead hooker. Will Ferrell happened to be in the audience at this very first show.[2]
In April 2008 the group premiered a second show Dead Cat Bounce...Radio Play in Dublin’s Sugar Club. This was in the style of a 1950s radio recording and Cullinan, who had directed the first show, was brought in to play keyboards and do live sound effects. This was also the first time the four had played together as a band. In August 2008, they took both shows to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, performing them back to back every night for a month.
In October 2008 they recorded a pilot TV sketch show for RTE which was part of Project Ha Ha – a season of comedy pilots aired on RTE 2 in January 2009.[3]
In March 2009 they were invited to perform at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, appearing in a televised gala hosted by Martin Short.[4]
In January 2010 they made a series of clips for BBC Online entitled 'The Maida Vale Incident'. These were shot at Maida Vale Studios in London and featured the songs 'Midget', 'Overenthusiastic Contraceptive Lady' and 'Four Lads'. They also include a cameo from T4 presenter Miquita Oliver.[5]
From February to May 2010 Dead Cat Bounce toured Australia for the first time, performing at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Sydney Comedy Festival where they were awarded the Time Out Jury Prize.[6]
In 2010 the band also recorded a charity single for Movember entitled Every Time You Shave a Moustache Dies.
Dead Cat Bounce
First performed in January 2008 in the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, and brought to the Edinburgh Festival 2008, this self-titled show was made up of a series of twelve sketches set in the same hotel room. It included Famine the Musical! A seven minute ‘musical’ based on the Irish potato famine.
Dead Cat Bounce...Radio Play
First performed in April 2008 in the Sugar Club, Dublin and brought to the Edinburgh Festival 2008, this show was in the style of a 1950s radio recording and featured a live foley artist. It was also the first show in which Dead Cat Bounce played together as a band and included the songs ‘Golf!’ and ‘Damn Girl’ which would later feature in their RTÉ pilot.
Dead Cat Bounce...Wired
First performed in the Sugar Club, Dublin in April 2009, and brought to the Edinburgh Festival 2009, this was billed as a ‘rock and roll sketch show’ and combined songs with character sketches performed on mic. It included all seven songs featured on the live EP 'Dead Cat Bounce, live at the Sugar Club'.[7]
Dead Cat Bounce...Too Fast For Love
Developed on tour in Australia and brought to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2010, the show was the first to see Dead Cat Bounce play characters in a dysfunctional rock band. It includes all three songs featured in The Kasabian Incident filmed for BBC Online.[8]
Dead Cat Bounce...Caged Heat
Dead Cat Bounce's latest show premiered in the Whelan's, Dublin on 10 February 2011.
In September 2009 Dead Cat Bounce performed six shows at the Sugar Club in Dublin for the Bulmers International Comedy Festival.[9] Over the course of the run they recorded a live EP, ‘Dead Cat Bounce, live at the Sugar Club’, which contains the following songs:
In February 2011 they released a live album containing songs from their show at this time (Dead Cat Bounce... Caged Heat). The album was entitled Live At The Roisin Dubh and features the following songs:
On Friday 7th October 2011 through their Facebook page, the band announced that Mick Cullinan (keyboards) would no longer be performing with them.