Galway pop rock band The Opacas will launch their debut album Carpe Diem this week with a show at Róisín Dubh on Friday.
The show will also mark The Opacas’ third birthday, as they transition from being solely virtual, born of the 2020 lockdowns, into a live touring and performing band.
Carpe Diem will feature the essential Opacas mix of pop, rock, blues, and Americana, showcasing new material as well as all of their singles to date – from debut release, ‘Out Of My Mind’ to the recent ‘Shine On’ recorded with the Moycullen Musical Society.
The Opacas were formed during the Covid lockdown in March 2020 when all live music performances were suspended. The band’s members Steve Talbot, Peter Tobin, Pat Boyle, Joe Treacy, Mike McLoughlin, and Leeds based guitarist Mark Raynor, used simple apps on mobile phones to compose and share music with each other.
They finally got to meet in person when recording the video for ‘Out Of My Mind’ in a Salthill pub in September 2020.
This began a slew of singles from the Galwegians, accompanied by imaginative and inventive videos, often recorded in collaboration with other performers from various fields.
Singles such as ‘She Walks Away’ and ‘We Won’t Look Back’ featured story-based videos with actors from the Knocknacarra Amateur Theatre Society and Athenry Drama Group.
The band also created stripped down, piano-only versions of their songs, with videos displaying works by visual artist Aoife Dowd and Patrick Kenneally, and by photographer Dr Chaosheng Zang.
This commitment to collaborate with other creatives is a hallmark of The Opacas.
“It’s not just about us,” said lead vocalist Steve Talbot. “We wanted to use our music to showcase local artistic talent.”
The Opacas most recent single ‘Shine On’ is a tribute to a close work colleague who died suddenly in 2019 at the age of 42.
The melody is a call to the universe for his spirit to shine on, as the lyrics encompass the need to embrace the transience of life.
The creation of the song, and its debut performance in Galway’s historic St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, was captured by emerging Galway filmmaker Greta Thornton in a documentary screened at the Eye Cinema in April.
The launch of Carpe Diem in the Róisín Dubh and the band’s third birthday celebrations marks the start of a new chapter in the life of The Opacas, and an invitation to all music fans to ‘seize the day’ and join in the fun.
Admission is free and the gig starts at midnight. Support is from singer-songwriter Tomás Ó Cáinte who released his debut single ‘Grand Canyon’ this month.
