Congratulations to ICMP alumnus Darragh McCarthy and his group Hawke the Band on signing a new record deal.
The band has signed with Paragon Records, a label based in Dublin which features Curtis Walsh and Sick Love among its artist roster.
Darragh is a drummer from Ireland with the five-piece indie rock outfit and studied MMus in Popular Music Performance during his time at ICMP.
Commenting on the news, Darragh said: "Obviously when you start a band at first, the goal is eventually to sign a record deal. But in reality, being signed isn't the be all and end all, especially in this day and age with all the continuous changes in the industry."
Before signing, we made a plan ourselves and were dead set on making sure we did whatever we could to make sure it all went well, and if anyone (whether that be a label, management, distributors, etc) wanted to hop on board our plan, then great. We’re very lucky a label were as passionate about our music and ideas as we are."
"Now it means we have a bigger team working with us on various aspects of releases and planning, which of course we're so grateful for! But at the end of the day, we need to put more work in now than ever before to give ourselves the best chance of success possible."
Terry Gregory, MMus Programme Leader, said: "It's great to hear this good news about Darragh and Hawke the Band!"
His achievement is unsurprising considering his motivation, determination, persistence, belief and dedication towards pursuing his personal and professional aspirations - investing from experience and sustaining effort clearly works!"
"I'm looking forward to hearing of continued success."
Darragh and the group have some gigs lined up including a support slot at the Sebright Arms in London on 22nd February and sold out gig at Whelans in April in Dublin.
ICMP artist and performer opportunity
Hawke the Band is looking for bands to support them on their future headline dates.
Any interested ICMP acts or artists can follow and engage with the group's profiles on Instagram and TikTok to find out more.
Visit hawketheband.com to find out about the band's future plans. Watch the video to their track, 'If I Made the World'.
MMus in Music Performance • Enhance your musical performance abilities
Push your technical expertise, performance skills and academic knowledge to the limit with ICMP’s dedicated Performance Masters programme. You’ll be challenged on your instrument like never before in this advanced postgraduate course for Guitar, Bass, Drums and Vocals musicians.
To completely immerse yourself in your music career, email our friendly Admissions Team at enquiries@icmp.ac.uk or call them on 020 7328 0222.
MMus in Music Performance
Push your technical expertise, performance skills and academic knowledge to the limit with ICMP’s dedicated Performance Masters programme. You’ll be challenged on your instrument like never before in this advanced postgraduate course for Guitar, Bass, Drums and Vocals musicians.
To completely immerse yourself in your music career, email our friendly Admissions Team at enquiries@icmp.ac.uk or call them on 020 7328 0222.