Kerry siblings Steph and Paul O’Sullivan are the indie, alternative rock duo from Killarney who go by the band name, Greywind.
Since their 2017 debut Afterthoughts they have often been featured in The Irish World, most recently in 2023. They are touring Britain this week.
Greywind’s recent song releases include IKAMF (I Killed All My Friends) and Acid Rain and their 2017 debut Afterthoughts.
The band was dropped by its label Universal Island Records even before they finished their debut album, Afterthoughts, because they “hadn’t made the label enough money that year”.
But since then, the band has been rediscovered by new fans on TikTok and Instagram and been streamed millions of times.
It spent much of last year touring the US, supporting Chicago rock band Madina Lake.
Q: Looking at your videos, it seems like you’ve created this universe of your own, Severed Heart City, which is similar to what My Chemical Romance used to do…
Paul: “We’ve been doing this since day one, since our first ever song, since our first album Afterthoughts, everything has been set in our own world, you can see how all of our previous music videos all connected.”
Steph: “When people who discover us now look back, they see we’ve been doing this the whole time. We call it the GCU, the Greywind Cinematic Universe.”
Paul: “Our debut album invited listeners into our world, they’re swept onto rocks, into a forest.
“In our Antidote EP released last year, that figure is now outside a city, Severed Heart City.
“We’ve had this plan for so long but now, as our band’s getting bigger, people are starting to notice, it’s always been set in this world.
“We’ve had so many ideas for so many years – now everything’s come into place.”
Steph: “It’s so nice seeing people take notice of it.
“We grew up with all the classic emo bands. Seeing My Chemical Romance doing all this stuff inspired us so much but we’re doing our own version of it.”
Paul: “People are seeing the different sides of us more in the sense that we have beautiful songs like In Autumn, then the more intense, dark – but fun – I Killed All My Friends.
“The aesthetic has always been so important. You want an aesthetic that’s memorable.
“We’ve created this world and we’re mentally there. Severed Heart City is a place where we live.”
Q: IKAMF, or I Killed All My Friends, is about letting go of toxic relationships, isn’t it?
Steph: “Yeah, I’ve had too many people in my life that have been toxic.
“I’ve had friends that have been like, ‘Oh, don’t be in a band. You’re not going to do anything with it. What’s your plan B? I’ve seen so many people fail. Why are you doing this?’
“My best friend stopped talking to me, out of nowhere.
“It’s so fitting we release this song at this time because it’s like a manifesto.
“It’s being sick of being the nice person and giving people chance after chance, be it a friendship or a relationship.
“The lyrics include/ I can’t find my Halo. It slipped off. I tried.
“I tried hard to be a good person but sometimes you have to cut people off.”
Paul: “It’s like, ‘I killed all my friends because they wanted to die’, wanted this to happen, asked for it, showed me they don’t care about me.
“It even ties into the music industry like former management or a label. We thought we were friends but then realised, ‘Oh wait, you don’t care about me in any type of way’.
“The song has multiple meanings – many people can relate even with family members not caring or supporting you.
“So many people can associate with this and connect with when you feel like you’re being a good person but not getting the same respect back.
“The reaction’s been amazing.”
Q: It’s not too different to Acid Rain…
Steph: “Again, it’s like a toxic relationship.”
Paul: “Like everything in your life is falling apart.
“At the start of our career when major labels were falling into place so quickly, we were like, ‘What the hell?’
“Then it all falls apart and you have to rebuild from nothing.
“All these songs interconnect and go on to tell an even bigger story than people realise.
“We’re just so proud of that song.”
Paul: “We know our sound but it’s always good to dip our toe into different styles. as well but our core sound is always there.
“If the song starts with electronics, you’re still going to have a heart attack in around 20 seconds from now when the chorus hits.”
Q: You are about to tour Britain…
Paul: “That’s so exciting. We spent all last year in the US and earlier this year we toured the UK with Madina Lake.
“We’re back to do our own headline shows and play the Slam Dunk Festival (in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and Leeds) which is going to be so exciting. So many of our favourite bands, like The Used, are playing Slam Dunk so it’s going to be a special, special festival to play.
“It’s going to be exciting – we haven’t headlined there in a long time.”
Q: What was it like performing in the US?
Steph: “Absolutely insane. When we had gone viral on Instagram and TikTok, 90 per cent of the fans were American so when we went over there it was like a whole new thing for us.
“I felt famous.”
Paul: “Our first ever show in America was in Nashville.
“We were going into these shows blind and the first show was a sold-out show in Nashville.
“There was a queue down the road just to meet us. Me and Steph were so grateful. We were at the merch stand immediately after, sweating to death, to thank everyone for coming to see us.
“We played Dallas, LA, New York. Just having so many fans with our lyrics tattooed, and people flying from different parts of America and to Canada to see us, was a crazy experience – and that was a support tour.
“We can’t wait to go back to the US to headline for the first time. This is the start of something special over there. We’re really excited.”
Q: Early in your career you played festivals at Reading, Leeds, Isle of Wight, Download Festival (Donnington Park, Leicestershire) and Rock am Ring (Nürburg, Germany). Did your American experiences trump a lot of those…
Paul: “They did, to be honest.”
Steph: “We played a show in Dallas. We were the opening band – and it was like being a headliner, there were people singing back every word.
“And again, going to the merch stand after there was a queue of people just waiting to meet us.
“You think, ‘Oh my God, I’m in America, in Dallas, a place I’ve never been before and there’re people crying and singing our lyrics back to us’.”
Paul: “There’re people singing back every word of these songs we wrote in our hometown, in Killarney and this is our first time in these cities.
“We have so many stories from that tour. We ran into a tornado outside Texas…
Steph: “A grey wind.”
Paul: “It was a grey wind. We’re the most hard-working band in the world. This is all we care about. We’ve been so patient as well.
“There’s been so many dark times but even through the darkest of times, we’ve always been like, ‘We believe’.”
Steph: “Our music was our own light for us at the end of the tunnel.”
Paul: “Four months before we got an offer to play the US, we had people saying, ‘You won’t be touring America anytime soon’.
Steph: “Someone said we don’t look good enough to go to America.”
Paul: “(But) we embrace positivity. Even when something bad happens we’re always like, ‘It’s supposed to happen’.”
Steph: “Obviously it hurts but you have to get on with it otherwise you’ll never get anywhere.”
Paul: “We just appreciate all of it, if we’re playing to 10 people or to 1,000 people in America, we put on the same show and just appreciate it.
“We’ve always been outsiders but when you’re from Ireland, you have the US on that side, the UK on this side – and we’re not even in the Dublin scene – so to some people down here in Killarney it sounds like we’re playing alien music.
“That’s why we’ve always created our own world because we’ve always been the outsiders.
“We want to show people that it doesn’t matter where you’re from, you can literally make your dreams come true and you’re going to meet a lot of people who say you can’t do this.
“We’ve always been doubted all our lives, although we have the best parents in the world who have always been so supportive, so me and Steph have always believed, even when everything is falling apart,‘We’re going to prove you wrong’.
“We love being the underdogs.”
Steph: “It makes it much better then when something goes well.
“If everything was great all the time, you wouldn’t feel those good moments.”
Paul: “Feel like the outsiders, embrace it, use it as your weapon, it’s why you’re special, it’s why you’re different and it’s why you’re going to achieve more than anyone who doubts you.
“It sounds clichéd but as long as you believe in yourself you can achieve anything – we’re proof of it.”
Q: You HAVE come a long way since busking on the streets of Killarney…
Paul: “We used to sit on the floor in Killarney busking playing songs by Thrice (a band from California) and You Me At Six (from Weybridge) and went on to support those bands. This is all we’ve ever wanted.
“We’ve gone from a small town to touring the US, to recording new music in America.”
Q: Afterthoughts is about your uncle’s suicide. It has been streamed at least two million times. That must mean a lot…
Steph: “That song is obviously incredibly important to us as is having that many people hear it.
“Fans that have said that song has saved them, that just makes my heart so happy. That’s why we do this.
“In times where it has been sad and it has been dark, that’s the stuff that keeps me going and makes me want to continue.
“Being in this band has affected my mental health but because I love it so much when I hear our fans’ stories, that makes me feel, ‘Okay, I’m not alone in this. I can continue’.”
Paul: “Afterthoughts will always be in our set, we’re so incredibly proud of it.”
Q: Have you ever thought of reaching out to Killarney’s other famous local, Michael Fassbender?
Paul: “We’d love to have him in a music video so Michael, if you’re reading this…
Steph: “Which I’m sure he is. They have a little shrine to him in Killarney, hopefully someday we’ll get one.”
Q: Is that your aim, to be biggest thing to come out of Killarney?
Steph: “Michael I’m sorry if you’re reading this but we’re coming for your throne. I want a statue (in Killarney).”
- Greywind’s single IKAMF is out now.Greywind play Bodega in Nottingham on Wednesday 21 May, The Flapper in Birmingham on Thursday 22 May, Slam Dunk Festival on Saturday 24 May and The Louisiana in Bristol on Monday 24 May.
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