Hozier’s Guitars publishes news about Hozier’s touring bandmates, friends, and collaborators.
Find out about their latest gigs and projects in our Friends News posts.
Sample music from Hozier’s Friends on our Spotify playlist.
The news from 2016 and 2017 has been archived.
Alana Henderson
Alana Henderson played cello & provided backing vocals on Hozier’s tour from May 2014 to March 2016. Alana is a singer-songwriter from Northern Ireland who plays multiple instruments, including cello, ukulele, piano, flute and tin whistle. She has released an album of reinterpreted traditional Irish folk songs, as well as an EP of her own compositions.
Alex Ryan / Black Fox Leash
Alex played bass with backing vocals and was the Musical Director on the Hozier tour from the very early tours in 2013 through to March 2016. Alex also played on and did the orchestral arrangements on Hozier’s Better Love and co-produced Saint Sister’s EP and subsequent singles. Previously, he played with Trinity Orchestra and has an accomplished choral background.
Alex Ryan wrote the atmospheric score to the film Darkness on the Edge of Town. The film included additional music that Alex and his brother, Patrick Ryan (Lagoon Pictures), wrote together. In late 2016, the brothers launched Black Fox Leash, releasing their debut 4-song EP, The Fire, in 2017.
Alex Ryan:
Black Fox Leash:
BARQ
Lead singer Jess Kavanagh, drummer Stephen McHale, bassist Neil Dorrington, drummer Tommy Gray are BARQ. Tommy, Neil, and Jess have all played with Zaska at points with, and without, Hozier in that arrangement. Jess sang backing vocals on early Hozier tours in 2013-2014. All are sought-after session musicians performing individually on other projects. Together they make a jazz-soul-funk sound that they call agrosoul.
Lagoon Pictures
Patrick Ryan and Tommy Fitzgerald are Lagoon Pictures and are known for their acclaimed film, Darkness on the Edge of Town, with a score by Patrick’s brother, Alex Ryan. Lagoon Pictures have also produced music videos for Wyvern Lingo and Lorraine Barnes (Guerra). A long-time friend of Hozier, Patrick joined the band on stage to play guitar on Blackbird during the last gig of the tour in Istanbul on March 3, 2016. See also Black Fox Leash.
Little Green Cars
Old friends Little Green Cars supported Hozier on tour in the USA in autumn 2015. Singer-guitarist Stevie Appleby is also a visual artist. Singer-guitarist Faye O’Rourke & Susannah Appleby (Stevie’s sister) founded IMP Hour. Guitarist/pianist Adam O’Regan directed the 4 music videos from their album, Ephemera, as well as for other bands. Drummer Dylan Lynch has been a member of Zaska.
Loah
Loah co-wrote Someone New with Hozier, winning a BMI Award in London for the song. The Irish-Sierra Leonian singer-composer is signed to Ensemble Music, a group led by fellow Trinity Orchestra alumni, Rob Farhat and Rob Kearns. Loah collaborated with Max Zaska and Dylan Lynch (Little Green Cars) in the jazz ensemble, Jazzberries.
Lorraine Barnes / Guerra
Lorraine Barnes joined Hozier’s tour as a backing vocalist from January 2015 to March 2016. Lorraine has performed as a vocalist with Sting, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Mariah Carey, Róisín Murphy, Emeli Sandé, and The Killers. She is also a songwriter, performing as Guerra.
Mia Fitz / SIIGHTS
Mia Fitzgerald played keyboards, guitar, percussion & vocals on the Hozier tour from July 2014 to March 2016. Mia is a multi-instrumentalist (keys, guitar, bass, drums), vocalist, producer, and engineer. She is currently collaborating with Toni Etherson as SIIGHTS.
Mia Fitzgerald:
SIIGHTS:
Rachael Lampa
Singer-songwriter Rachael Lampa joined the Hozier tour on backing vocals along with Ruby Amanfu in September 2014 and stayed until the end of the tour in March 2016. Rachael is a well-known artist in Contemporary Christian Music and has released 7 albums to date.
ROMES
Based in Toronto, ROMES are half-Canadian (Jacob Alexander, Nicolas Amadeus) and half-Irish (James Tebbitt, Andrew Keyes). They have been friends with Hozier since high school in Bray. The band released their debut EP, Believe, in 2016 and their first album, ROMES, in early 2017.
Rory Doyle
Rory Doyle provided drums & backing vocals on the Hozier tour from July 2014 to March 2016. Hozier often introduced Rory on stage as “the heart and soul of the tour”. Rory is an established session drummer and has played for years with The Walls and on Bell X1‘s live tours.
Ruby Amanfu
Ruby Amanfu joined the Hozier tour on backing vocals with her Nashville friend, Rachael Lampa. She was on tour for 6 weeks at the launch of the album in the USA (Sept 29 – Nov 6, 2014). Ruby has had a long working relationship with Jack White. She released her album Standing Still in 2015 and performed at the 2016 Newport Folk Festival.
Saint Sister
Morgan MacIntyre and Gemma Doherty are atmosfolk duo Saint Sister. They, along with Hozier and Alex Ryan, are Trinity Orchestra alumni. Alex co-produced their 2015 Madrid EP along with their subsequent singles, Tin Man, Corpses, and Causing Trouble. An album is expected to be released in 2018.
Stoneface Films
Stoneface Films is the vehicle for creative partners Jon Hozier-Byrne (director, and Hozier’s brother) and Davey Reilly (stand-up comedian). They wrote the treatment for Hozier’s Someone New video, produced music videos for other Irish artists, and had their film The Omega Male screen at Cannes. They often work with cinematographer, Tommy Fitzgerald (see also Lagoon Pictures). Jon and Davey produced 200 episodes of a twice-weekly podcast with Rob O’Sullivan from Sentinel Audio Productions.
Wyvern Lingo
Karen Cowley, Saoirse Duane, and Caoimhe Barry are Wyvern Lingo. Karen sang with Hozier in Trinity Orchestra as well as sharing lead vocals with him in Zaska. She duetted with Hozier on the track In A Week on his debut album. Both Karen and Caoimhe have provided backing vocals on tour with Hozier over the years. Saoirse’s sister Queeva played keyboard in Hozier’s touring band in 2014. Wyvern Lingo is also signed to the Rubyworks label (same as Hozier) and has supported Hozier live several times on tour.
Zaska
Like a collective, members of Zaska come and go, and come back again. Max Zaska’s funk-jazz-future-soul band included several years with Hozier and Karen Cowley (Wyvern Lingo) sharing lead vocals. The players list also includes Loah, Dylan Lynch (Little Green Cars), Jess Kavanagh, Neil Dorrington, and Tommy Gray (BARQ). Max spent much of 2017 recording his debut album with a who’s who of Dublin musicians. A release date has not yet been announced.
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