"It's surreal": Local teens to perform at Electric Picnic
By Rebekah O'Reilly
Athlone band COPA is set to perform on the Hazelwood Stage at this year’s Electric Picnic, after earning their place through the Electric Youth talent competition.
The band is made up of Athlone natives Antonio Quinn Canton (14) on drums, Nathan Quigley (15) on bass, Joey Dunne (14) on guitar and vocals, along with Moate native Jack Flynn (16) on guitar. The teenagers describe their sound as a mix of grunge and indie rock.
Formed in April of this year, the group has already played several local gigs, including Athlone’s Féile na Sionnaine festival.
Singer Joey Dunne explained how the band came together: “Myself and Antonio are in school together in Athlone Community College, and we decided to form a band.
"Our music teacher put us in contact with Nathan, and COPA was born about six months ago.”
In July, the four entered the Electric Youth contest, hosted by Youth Work Ireland Laois, which featured over 120 young performers. After reaching the final at Portlaoise’s Dunamaise Arts Centre on August 15, they secured their slot at Electric Picnic.
“There are four other groups performing at the festival,” Joey said. “Two acts on Saturday, another two on Sunday, and an interval act between sets.”
The band described the moment they learned they’d been selected as “unbelievable”.
“It’s really surreal to think we’ll be playing at Ireland’s biggest festival,” Joey said. “We’ve played for 50 people in pubs, and the Electric Youth final was our biggest crowd at 250. This is on another level.”
“It’s 100% overwhelming,” added Antonio. “If you told us six months ago we’d be playing Electric Picnic, we never would have believed it.”
Since then, the teens have been putting in hours of rehearsal to prepare.
“As long as we perform as well as we have been recently, we’ve nothing to worry about,” Joey said.
“We’re really grateful for this opportunity, which we wouldn’t have without Electric Youth,” Nathan added.
"It's all about the music, and performing to the best of our ability."
While their Electric Picnic set will consist of covers, COPA are currently working on original material.
The band also thanked their parents for their support, Ann Flannery for giving them gigs in Flannery’s Pub in Athlone, Brendan Dermody of Sound Factory for providing instruments, the organisers of Féile na Sionnaine for giving the band the opportunity to perform at their first festival, and the Athlone Youth Orchestra, where Nathan began his music journey.
They also wish to thank Mark Hynes from Athlone School of Music, drum teacher Tadhg Kelleher and Athlone Community Radio for all of their support.
You can follow the band’s journey on Instagram at @CopaBand25