King Kong Company

Overview

King Kong Company was conceived when two college friends, Alan Aylward and Mark White began experimenting with dance music using effect laden guitars and drum machines. They recruited college friends and expanded into a five piece. King Kong Company recorded a session for Dave Fanning on RTÉ 2FM in 1998, and despite having some of their tracks edited, they were announced as the most popular radio session for that year. King Kong Company played at Ireland's first dance festival, Homelands. Other artists on the bill included Underworld, Orbital and Paul Oakenfold. The band split after finishing college in 2000.

In 2011 the band reformed with the idea of producing one new music video every month. Before the band played a gig, the video for Acetate won the Viewers Choice Award at the Irish Music TV Awards in 2011. The popularity of the videos resulted in the band playing a one off sold out gig at The Forum in Waterford in 2012. This resulted in subsequent festival offers including Life Festival, Body & Soul and Electric Picnic. Their first international gigs followed in the United Kingdom in 2014.

They released their debut self-titled album in June 2016. The album was produced by Neil McLellen and was well received in the Irish media. The album reached the top 10 in the Irish Albums Chart.

In September 2016 they were nominated for two awards at the Pure M Awards. The first nomination was for Best Live Act where the other nominees included Hermitage Green, The Strypes and Aslan. The second nomination was for Best Music Video for 'Scarity Dan'. King Kong Company won the Best Live Act award.

In November 2016 the band's debut album made the Choice Music Prize long list. Other nominees included All Twins, September Girls, Bell X1, Katie Kim and Two Door Cinema Club.

In 2017 King Kong Company played their first mainland Europe gigs in the Netherlands. One February 28, their debut album was released in the Netherlands to positive reviews.