Intro: The Academic – Mullingar’s bright young hopefuls

Mullingar has been the hometown of Joe Dolan, Niall from One Direction and The Blizzards. 2014 might just be the year the Westmeath town adds another act to its musical legacy.

The Academic are only young lads but their radio-friendly melodic pop/rock tunes, best represented by debut single ‘Bear Claw’, have caught the ear of many a UK A&R rep already.

So much so, that when they played a pub gig at the Other Voices Music Trail in Dingle in December, there were 17 reps who flew over to the remote Kerry town just to see them. Mostly like to do a “Strypes” in 2014.

Fan Footage video from the Dingle show.

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Artists

The Academic

Niall Byrne

Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.