The Riff are a 4 piece that hail from Cork City in Ireland.The band was formed in the late 90's, owing some of it's influences to bands, from The Smiths,The Clash and The Stone Roses to Pavement and The Manic Street Preachers.Last year the group released their first full lenght album titled, "Play Something We Know".
The Riff played their first show at The Half Moon Club in Cork City, Ireland, on August 21st 1998. The group was formed from the coming together of two bands, namley "Tease" in which Kelleher and Scragg made up the rhythm section, and "Humber" a band where Cronin and Howard collaborated and honed their songwriting skills. Cronin, Kelleher and Scragg who knew each other from a very early age and who grew up together on the Northside of the city, had already played together in numerous bands dating back as far as the early 1990's. These were mainly bands that just played in and around the Cork music circuit which underwent somewhat of a revival following the explosion of the Grunge scene of that period.
Following the demise of both bands, Cronin, who played guitar, bassist Kelleher and drummer Scragg came together to form "The Riff" with Howard following suit shortly afterwards. With everything in place, the band set about writing songs for their live set. They soon became known on the Cork live circuit for their colourful lyrics and catchy tongue in cheek chorus'.
By early 2000 The Riff had developed a sizeable and loyal following in their hometown. Admirers in the media were also evident due to the amount of exposure and the content of reviews in local newspapers. December 2000 saw The Riff undertake their biggest gig to date, playing support to Irish indie giants "The Frank And Walters" at the Temple Bar Music Center in Dublin, followed closely by playing openers to "The Handsome Family" in the same week.
In April, 2001, the band almost called it quits following a car wreck in which Scragg was seriously injured. In August of the same year, after months of rehabilitation he joined the rest of the band on stage to a rapturous crowd. It was their first gig in five months, ironically in the same venue that the band had made their debut appearance in, almost three years to the day.
July, 2002, they embarked on their first ever tour outside Ireland, playing in bars and clubs in England and Wales.Whilst in Manchester the band headed to Moolah Rouge Studios to record a four track E.P. under the careful guise of Scottish producers Colin and Norman McLeod. The E.P. was titled "Emotional Baggage" and was met with great acclaim back in Cork, where the lead track "Research shows I still love you" was an instant radio favourite on college and local mainstream radio, earning itself the most requested song on Red FM's "Green Room" ( hosted by Colm o Sullivan) for three weeks in a row.
However, despite the rave reviews, the four piece felt it was time to go back in to the recording studio again. A friend suggested B.P.M. studios owned by "The Frank And Walter's" sound engineer and ex "Bell Sonic Sound"guitarist, Finny Corcoran. Corcoran had seen the band play in Dublin the previous year and knew exactly what was needed. Seven days in the studio produced another four track E.P. which was named simply as "The Riff" E.P. Again it was recieved with great reviews and a heavy touring schedule followed. This time they managed to turn out two more radio favourites,"Gary Glitter" a song penned about shamed 70's British rock star Paul Francis Gadd and "He Never Played For His Country" a song commonly misconstrued to be about Irish soccer legend Roy Keane, both songs saw heavy rotation on college radio.The end of 2003 saw the band open for the Revs in Cork, the gig was a huge success opening them up to a whole new audience.
By May 2004, the band decided it was time to record their debut album. After almost six years of writing they had accumulated a formidable collection of songs to choose from, but kept writing for the next two months before entering the studio. They returned to B.P.M. studios in August with Finny Corcoran at the helm. By March 2005 the ten track album titled "Play Something We Know" was complete and included "Gary Glitter" as the opening track, which, according to "The Frank And Walters" drummer Ashley Keating, is "one of the best songs ever recorded by an Irish band"
The album has created some waves in the U.K and Ireland and has attracted the interest of Music Industry personnel in the U.S.
Currently the band are writing songs for the follow up to "Play Something We Know" although no timeline has been decided for the new album, the band will be commencing a small tour of California in August 2007, dates T.B.A. shortly.
