About JJ72
JJ72 was formed in 1997 by lead singer Mark Greaney and drummer Fergal Matthews. The two recruited Hilary Woods as bassist to complete the trio, playing gigs in Ireland while still studying for their Leaving Cert exams.
The band released their first album, the self-titled JJ72 in autumn 2000. A great critical and commercial success alike, the album has sold in excess of 500,000 copies in their native Ireland and in the United Kingdom. The album spawned the singles "Snow", "October Swimmer", "Long Way South", "Oxygen" and "Algeria", and saw the band perform promotional tours in Europe, the US and Japan.
The band's second album I To Sky followed in October 2002. Although this release was panned by critics, it reached the top 5 of the Irish album charts and the top 20 of the British charts, and contained the singles "Formulae" and "Always and Forever".
In March 2003 bassist Hilary Woods left the band "to pursue other interests". Greaney and Matthews recruited Canadian-born bassist Sarah Fox as her replacement. After a two-year silence, the band embarked on their first tour with Sarah Fox in May 2005 and released the download and 7" only single "She's Gone". A second single, "Coming Home" followed in August 2005, peaking at number 52 in the UK charts. The band played at the 2005 Download Festival in Donington Park, however this was poorly received and the band left the stage during their set. A small venue tour followed in September 2005, with Greaney expressing from the stage his frustrations regarding the release of the third album. The band's third album was said to be complete, with the title rumoured to be On or Heaven City Falls, but no release date was set, pending an ongoing dispute with current record labels Lakota Records and Columbia Records/Sony. Songs rumoured to be included on the new album included "Take From Me", "Rainfalls", "Underground", "Maria", "Everything", "Heat", "Radio" and "Some Day". On June 22, 2006, JJ72 issued a press release announcing they are to split up after 11 years together. They cited their struggle with their record label as their main reason for the split. Mark Greaney embarked upon his first tour as a solo artist in May 2007. He subsequently formed a new band called Concerto For Constantine, featuring himself (guitar and vocals), Gavin Fox (ex-Idlewild/Turn/Vega4 on bass) and Binzer (ex-BellX1/Frames/Halite on drums). The band performed live throughout Ireland as part of the "2fm 2moro 2our" in November 2007 and supported Smashing Pumpkins in Belfast and Dublin in Spring 2008. Concerto for Constantine then went on to sell out headline shows in Dublin and London, and also played at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland and at T in the Park in Scotland in July 2008. Sarah Fox went on to play bass for a band called Lluther.
Lineup
- Mark Greaney: Vocals, guitar, piano
- Fergal Matthews: Drums, percussion
- Sarah Fox: Backing vocals, bass, guitar (replacing Hilary Woods)
Video
JJ72 - October Swimmer (Top Of The Pops, 2000)
JJ72 - Oxygen
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