The soundtrack for the much acclaimed House of Guinness has helped to put one Irish band back on the map.
The soundtrack which features homegrown acts such as The Mary Wallopers, Kneecap, The Stunning and The Scratch, has laid the foundations to the show's dark and atmospheric scenes.
It has also managed to provide a global audience for The Stunning, and in particular, their track Brewing Up a Storm, despite being originally released 36 years ago.
This comes as Spotify confirm that the song's streams have increased by 475 per cent since House of Guinness premiered. Overall, the band's profile has also increased by 155 per cent as listeners have been tuning into their other tracks.
The Stunning have also climbed into the streaming charts of France, the Netherlands, America and Australia. A STUNNING comeback you might say!
Speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday, frontman Steve Wall is hopeful that this resurgence will have a positive domino effect on the wider Irish music community.
"It was an obvious choice, brewing up beer and brewing up a storm", he said. "The series was something that we straight away would love to be associated with. I didn't realise the whole soundtrack was going to be so strong and so Irish. It bolsters the effect for every artist involved".
He continued: 'So there's all these people that are shazaming [using the Shazam app to identify a song, movie or TV] the TV and going, "what's that?" Brewing Up a Storm was originally released as a single in 1989 and later included on their 1990 debut album, Paradise in the Picturehouse. But it's only now getting the sort of international traction it enjoyed with domestic audiences four decades ago off the back of the song's use in the series, specifically the fifth episode, Empire's Edge".
This remarkable rise in popularity has led to The Stunning adding an extra show at Dublin's Olympia Theater in December, following two sold out performances.
According to Wall, there has been a noticeable growth in younger fans "who weren't even a twinkle in their parents eye" when they started out.
Speaking about the band's break up in 1994, and why they failed to make a breakthrough on the global front, Wall said: "We never managed to get that break and an international record deal, even though we toured around the UK. So our music was never available outside of Ireland. Our band broke up in 1994, really out of frustration from that".
Along with the obvious pressures which modern day bands face, including trying to achieve respectable levels of streams and social media followers, as well as dealing with rising touring costs, Steve Wall claimed that radio stations have a lot to answer for, for favouring international acts and are 'very poor when it comes to playing Irish music'.
He added: "We are an island and there are many musical artists with so many of them never being heard outside of Ireland".
"A show like House of Guinness with a 100 per cent Irish soundtrack shows the industry, television and radio that we have got fantastic music here. It will stand up with everything internationally and will have a great effect. The series has had a huge impact. The fact that the whole soundtrack is Irish draws a lot of attention on this country musically".
Brewing Up A Storm is one of 38 Irish tracks which feature on the House of Guinness soundtrack, leading to a boost for Irish artists in the industry. Other tunes include Another Round by Dublin band, The Scratch.
Commenting on the increasing use of Irish artists on International TV productions, Angela Dorgan, CEO of non profit First Music Contact which hosts Irish Music week, had this to say.
She said: "House of Guinness is the latest in a long line of TV and movie soundtracks capturing the sound of the 21st century in Ireland and is testament to the sheer breath of talent we have in this country".
