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You'll never see a poster advertising a gig by the happy gang.
That's because the musicians in question are not so much a group as a mutually supportive collective who get together to play music and bounce ideas off each other.
The format works for aidan, an irish singer-songwriter who's back in Dublin after working in Belgium and France.
"Sitting around in someone's house playing music - we start to formulate our ideas together," explains aidan.
"There isn't any peer pressure. Some days some people are more active than others.
"At the same time, we also have our own projects on the side.
"We help each other out. We're all very supportive of each other."
Aidan has been staging music nights in Bewley's.
"It's such a beautiful room that we decided to record a live album there," he says. "Working like this is the only way to do it because we all have fun while we're doing it."
Recorded in November, aidan's impressive "live at bewley's" five-track mini-album (on floatinghome.org) features input from many of his friends, including Johnny Rage, Jenny Lindfors, Chris Morrin, Cian Murphy, James Guilmartin, Ben Kritikos and Niall James Holohan.
"This is a labour of love," says aidan, who'll be headlining dates in Belgium to support the album later in the year.
"I'm surrounded by talented people, so it comes together with more pleasure than if i was trying to organise my own project."
"This approach does work in the Irish music scene," he says. "People like the Redneck Manifesto and Lir are all in their own bands but also come together to play music.
"I see that more and more. And I'm pleased because music is an interactive art form."
-eamonn carr
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