A BANDON band has come together with other singers and musicians to form a ‘musical collaboration in self –isolation’ and is providing joy to many stuck at home during the current lockdown.
The Shruggs – comprising James Downing and Kees Hendrickx – are unable to gig at the moment so they have formed The Covid Collective to entertain their fans.
‘The idea is to release a series of videos with collaborations from some of our most talented friends,’ James told The Southern Star.
‘The members will change depending on who we can get for different tracks so we are open to all ideas really. As well as friends from all over West Cork we know a good few people in Holland that are friends and cousins of Kees. We’re hoping to get some of the older generation of musicians in West Cork involved too.’
The collective posted their first video on their Facebook page last Friday but had already teased the event all that week by asking their followers to guess what song and what guests would be joining them.
The result was a rousing rendition of Stand By Me and featured not only themselves but Gerard Mehigan, Shelly Burke and was mixed and edited at Clashafree Studios by Kees.
‘There has been an unreal response so far and I’m getting messages from people saying keep them coming.’
The Shruggs will be familiar to readers as last year they recorded a popular single called ‘West Cork’ and a video which starred actor Pascal Scott from The Young Offenders and Killinaskully. For more see ‘The Shruggs’ on Facebook.