O’Really - the unlikely story

The origin of the name O’Really maybe uncertain. But one version of it is that some guy, at some point, asked:

- Eeh, which of you are from Ireland?

- honestly ... none

- O’Really?

The story of O’Really is likewise unlikely.

The adventure begun when Robert stumbled upon Simon at the local musicshop, where he literally kneeled in front of him, asking him to put together an “irish style” folk group. A few months later the group had their first gathering in the dining room at Ella’s absolutely stunning hotel. The woodfire sparkeled playfully, the coffeetable was set like a christmas tree with all kinds of stuff, like snacks, pastrys, cheese, wine, beers, you name it - in abundance. Candles were lit, enhancing the atmosphere. The setting was, precisely, cinematic. O’Really was born

In the beginning the line-up was five members. Ella, Simon, Henrik, Niclas and Robert. But soon enough four of them decided to reinforce the band with a more reliable guitarist, due to the lack of trust in Robert’s ability in showing up to rehearsals and gigs. This was a smart move and Kristoffer eventually completed the band.

The first gig was at a private birthdayparty, celebrating a local guy’s 60 years anniversary. The set-up was an all acoustic gig playing all kinds of songs from the irish repertoire, in a beautiful garden with very happy people. Since there were different levels of knowledge of the songs, within the band, a lot of switching between the instruments was going on - just in order to make the gig run smoothly. O’Really found this was quite a fun thing to do, so there has been great deal of swapping around ever since.

Funny thing... the elderman of the group, Henrik, is a devoted user of “ ********* Excel” and the whole repertoire is carefully documented in loads of different spreadsheets, categorizing playlists, keys, and instruments. None of these are readable without serious reading glasses, and the playlists are never to be followed, quite often the keys are changed and even more often there are different opinions of which instrument each member is assigned for. There is still a slight possibility to see one of these curiosities at a gig - the excel sheet

O’Really did not spend much time on rehearsing, to the botheration of some of the members, before the early sessions at the local microbrewery Stallhagen on the Åland countryside. In the beginning playing for “beers and meals”, but later on the group is on the pay-roll and the relationship between O’Really and Pub Stallhagen is going strong as a happy marriage - or even better.

2019 was a very exciting year. The gigs piled up and eventually O’Really was invited to Ireland to play at a festival on the Irish west coast. The band took the chance to have a closer look at the monumental Irish music scene. The Irish traditional music and its culture is indeed something to admire and a decent person pays respect to it and honors its representatives. On the other hand, you have to realize that the celtic scene is a huge thing, and there are thousands of musicians and bands all over the world who are dreaming of doing exactly this - traveling to Ireland. However, the experience from the irish tour is that it is possible to play this music in its own habitat, achieving the same cheers, applaudes and admiration as if we were back home. This, certainly, has to do with the focus, energy and the love of music emerged from all the six of us. Or maybe it tells us a bit of the Irish mentality. A nice, warm and big hearted welcoming. In a world, that unfortunately keeps on distorting into some unfriendly hate driven darkness, this is the message we’d like to address. Come together, let’s have a good“craic”, listen to this lovely music and enjoy this unlikely band: O’Really live