BibleCodeSundays

The name…

The band started out as ‘Slainte‘, originally formed by Ruairi and Kieran MacManus, Ronan’s brothers, before being joined by Ronan and other brother Liam, playing traditional Irish music. Slainte grew and evolved, with many musicians joining the band as part-time members. Simultaneously, Ronan and other band members had started to write original material for other bands they had started or joined. Over time, the line-up settled down to include Ronan, Andy, Enda and Paddy with Joe Moran (flute and vocals, who’s place in the line-up was subsequently taken by Kian in 2009. Other band interests quickly faded and writing and performing their own material became the band’s focus. It was in 2006 that the band changed their name to The BibleCode Sundays – at the time, the band were playing back to back gigs every Sunday in small pubs full of hard-drinking Irishmen – “…we used to have to join them in their drinking just to get through the gigs because they were so crazy!” – Ronan. And so, the band would routinely find themselves up in the small hours talking, usually about conspiracy theories, including the so-called Bible Code, which refers to an encryption in the Torah believed by some to prophecy future events (e.g. the assassination of John F. Kennedy). These drink-fuelled discussions would happen every Sunday around 4am, and hence became known as BibleCode Sundays…

The journey…

The band celebrated their name change with a self-titled album of covers of Irish crowd-pleasers and then, with new material, and a packed schedule of gigs around London, their popularity in London took off, winning the award for ‘Best Band on London Circuit 2006’ by the readers of The Irish World newspaper.
The Band released their first original album, ‘Ghosts of Our Pasts‘ in 2007, to great critical acclaim, both in the UK and North America. The album included three songs, ‘Bang, Bang, You’re Dead’, ’Honour Of The Gael’ and ‘My Town’ especially written for Mike O’Dea’s Boston-based movie ‘Townies’, subsequently retitled ”The Code Of Silence’. The album also included the bitter-sweet ‘Boys of Queens’ dedicated to the FDNY, inspired by the events of 9/11, and subsequently used in the 2011 CBS show ‘Unforgettable‘.
Second album ‘Boots or No Boots’ followed in 2008, and included the track ‘Maybe It’s Because I’m an Irish Londoner‘ – which was subsequently adopted by English premiership rugby club, London Irish RFC. as the club’s anthem. With their growing popularity and adoption by both Celtic FC and London Irish RFC supporters, the band’s fanbase has grown to include Europe and the States, with performances at major sporting events and stadiums, including Twickenham and music festivals, including Glastonbury. In 2007, they were invited to perform on the Sky Sports Christmas Day special. In 2009, with growing popularity in the US, the band were invited to support The Dropkick Murphys for their Boston St Patrick’s Day concert – a relationship which continues to date with BCS supporting The Dropkick’s on their 2012 UK Tour. In 2011, the band performed at the London Feis Festival alongside the likes of Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy, The Cranberries and Christy Moore and earlier that year performed live in public, for the first time, with Ronan’s brother, Elvis Costello, at shows in New York and Boston.
With the addition of Kian on lead guitar and ever-maturing song writing, a new BCS sound started to emerge which began to find its way into their live performances.
The new BCS album New Hazardous Design was released in November 2013 and was launched with a sell out gig at swanky London venue Under The Bridge.