They’ve travelled the highways and by-ways of Ireland, Britain, the Continent, the US and beyond in 2025, but one thing’s for certain: Kingfishr, or at least their guitarist Eoin “Fitz” Fitzgibbon, will get a hero’s welcome when he arrives home in Killeagh this Christmas.
There isn’t a statue of Fitzgibbon erected in his native village in east Cork yet, but surely it’s only a matter of time. They have, however, given the sign for the Páirc Uí Chinnéide a new lick of paint. “Yeah,” nods Fitzgibbon bashfully, “they’re fairly proud down there.”
The success of Kingfishr’s song Killeagh, written “as a joke” about the parish’s hurling team and “thrown together in 20 minutes”, has been just one high point in the biggest year of the folk trio’s lives. The song, with lyrics like “They’d go rarin’ and tearin’ and fightin’ for love / For the land they call Killeagh and the Lord up above” and a soaring singalong chorus, quickly became an anthem.
“I remember thinking that it was the cleanest thing we’d written,” concedes frontman Keogh, from a hotel lobby in “the sticks of America”, where the band are on tour when we speak. “It was as bare-boned as possible and was still a song that had a really good story. Ultimately that’s what all this stuff is; it’s just stories, no matter who the musician is. And maybe we’ve tapped into that.”
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The three friends, hailing from Wexford (Keogh), Tipperary (banjo player Eoghan “McGoo” McGrath) and Cork (Fitzgibbon) met while studying hardware engineering at UL. They began playing music together during the pandemic, as a way to break up the drudgery of the study-gaming-sleep cycle during lockdowns, but have cultivated a phenomenally loyal fan base in a short space of time.
They still have a wide-eyed wonderment about it all, too; “it’s absolutely scandalous” has become Keogh’s go-to catchphrase to describe the constant snowballing of their success, including their debut album Halcyon (released in August) hitting number one in Ireland and breaking the Top 10 in the UK album charts.
Their gigs at Dublin’s Fairview Park in June and Electric Picnic in August were tipping points, they all agree, in a year that has been filled with hard-to-fathom moments.
“Our front-of-house sound engineer hates working with us because our crowds are too loud,” says McGrath, laughing. “When we sang Killeagh we couldn’t continue the show because the crowd were just screaming and screaming.” A sound-level meter “clocked 127 decibels, which is the sound of a jet engine”, he adds.
“That just blew my socks off; I’d never experienced anything like that. So moments like that do allow you to reflect. We’ve got a couple of days off at Christmas, and it’ll probably hit us all like a truck – but we’ll be back in shape come January.”
They are looking forward to a break at Christmas, when they will return to their respective hometowns to catch up with their families, friends and girlfriends.
“We’ll be the lads coming home from Australia for Christmas,” jokes Fitzgibbon. “We’ll be them fellahs in the pub on Christmas Eve now, with the big heads on us. We’ll live a normal life for a couple days, and see how that works out.”
Being away from home so much, says Keogh, has given him a new understanding of Christmas. “And it’s amazing; the band has done so much in terms of the family,” he says. “We all have people that fell out, and aunts and uncles that aren’t talking. But now there’s all these WhatsApp group chats saying ‘Oh, we’ll go to the gig,’ and now they’re all back talking.” He smiles broadly. “That’s probably the thing I’m most proud of about the band – that it’s done so much in terms of steadying the waters.”
As for next year? Considering everything that has happened over the last 12 months, 2026 is looking particularly dazzling for Kingfishr, with their biggest headline gigs yet scheduled for next summer. Album number two is also already in the works.
“To be honest, it’s scandalous what’s going on,” he says, as his bandmates nod in agreement. “We’re trying our best not to take it for granted or let it become normal. I find myself some days waking up and thinking that this is real life, but clearly it isn’t. You go to bed in North Carolina, you wake up in Pittsburgh, and you’re ringing the lads at home, and they’re like, ‘I’m in work here. I’ll call you back later’, and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah.’ So this is all a complete dream.” He shakes his head again.
“And as for 2026, who knows? I haven’t a clue. We just have to keep writing and telling the stories that matter to us, I guess.”
Kingfishr play the 3Arena, Dublin on December 18th and 19th, and Dublin’s Malahide Castle and St Anne’s Park next June. See kingfishr.ie for full listings.
