Colm O’Herlihy: The Corkman making waves in Iceland's cool music scene
Colm O'Herlihy and his business parter, Icelandic composer Atli Orvarsson. Picture: Juliette Rowland
On a Zoom call from Reykjavik, Colm O’Herlihy shares stories from the trenches of late-2000s Cork music. Having done his time playing in indie bands, working as a session performer, managing labels, and booking tours for the like of Chelsea Crowell and alt-rock legend Grant Hart, opportunity came the Corkman's way by a chance meeting while on the road at a festival.
“The first time I went to Iceland was for [festival organisers] ATP, just for a festival, and the booking agent that my band at the time had said, ‘y’know, go meet these Icelanders’. And among them turned out to be Jófríður Ákadóttir, of JFDR. We became friends, and invited them to Ireland for a tour, and they said to me, ‘why don’t you move to Iceland?’. I asked what would I do, and they had a friend who ran a label, so I went over to see if I’d like it, and fell in love with the place straight away.”
