Senakah get a new sweet sound

It’s been four years since Senakah (formerly Seneca) burst onto the Irish music scene and next week the four-piece band with a strong Clare contingent, will launch their latest single, which has been produced by Cranberries guitarist Noel Hogan.

The single, Human Relations, was produced by Noel Hogan and remixed by Chris O’Brien and Graham Murphy at the Production Suite, who have worked with major Irish bands from Aslan to Westlife. Recorded in the Bishop’s Palace, Limerick, this is the first track to appear from the band’s forthcoming second album, also called Human Relations, and it will be launched on Friday, February 17.
Senakah is made up of Mayo man Rob Hope, Galway’s Yvonne Conaty, Sixmilebridge native Daragh ‘Locky’ O’Loughlin and Scariff native Brendan O’Gorman. After releasing their debut album Sweeter than Bourbon in 2008 the band re-located to the USA, where they played over 300 shows in a two-year period.
Their latest track has been getting much airplay and is also a hit on You Tube and social network sites thanks to its achingly funny video directed by Northern Irish director Darren Lee and starring and written by Ben Morrison from MTV’s Punk’d.
“It tells the sorry tale of Evan, who is addicted to his phone and to Bookface and it charts his descent into madness as he gets a friend request from the Devil and loses the plot with hilarious results. In its first week it was watched over twelve thousand times,” band manager Greg McAteer said.
To promote the release, Senakah will be embarking on a brief Irish tour and will be playing a gig next Friday, February 17 at Dolans Warehouse, Limerick City and then on Saturday, February 25 at Kelly’s in Galway City.
The band’s debut single, Smile, went straight in at 33 in the Irish charts when it was released in 2007 and a very respectable finishing position of 27 gave the band even more reason to smile.
Sweeter Than Bourbon was released in June 2008, while the album track, So Beautiful, was selected for the Ceol, Seachtain Na Gaeilge album which featured the cream of Irish talent including Bell X1, The Corrs and Kíla.
Their second single, Clarity, also climbed the charts, reaching 19. After embarking on their 2009 tour of the US, the band took in shows at the legendary Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood, and The Boulder Theatre in Colorado, where they became the first international act to perform at the Bob Dylan Festival, endorsed by the man himself.
They also teamed up and performed with keyboard legend Bernie Worrell of Talking Heads and Parliament.
The band were lured back to Ireland by the chance to record with the Cranberries’ guitarist Noel Hogan and having changed the spelling of their name to Senakah to avoid a trade mark conflict in the US, they’re ready to rock the world again.