49th & Main

No matter what obstacle gets in their way, 49th & Main refuse to be defeated. This hard-fought resilience to achieve their dream has long been ingrained in the dance-pop duo.

After meeting at school in Kilkenny, producer Ben O’Sullivan and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Paddy King began making music together one summer. However, O’Sullivan soon discovered he had developed aplastic anemia, a rare blood disease which prevented his bone marrow from producing enough new blood cells, making him chronically fatigued and prone to infections.

Nonetheless, just three months after he began treatment, 49th & Main introduced themselves to the world in early 2020 with lo-fi banger ‘Catching Eyes’, which thrust them into the spotlight internationally (and has since clocked up 50 million streams). However, they were faced with another massive setback – the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown.

Undeterred, 49th & Main powered through, and their jazz and indie-infused take on house found a global following. Post-pandemic, the duo quickly made up for lost time, as the energy of their live shows started spreading word-of-mouth.

With King on guitar and vocals and O’Sullivan on the decks and drum pads, headline tours and a performance at Glastonbury followed. However, just as things were going well, the duo were separated when O’Sullivan was forced to take a year off the road while undergoing treatment for his illness.

Back at home, O’Sullivan spent much of his time experimenting with weird sounds. This resulted in him widening the band’s sonic palette, looking at more genres, such as drum ‘n’ bass and garage, and weaving those influences into the 49th & Main world.

Having recently reached a huge milestone of 100 million streams and, armed with more new tunes ready to play out - including their new club banger with an important message, the dark-themed house tube ‘self sabotage’ - the pair are more eager than ever to get back on tour together.