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| The Beginning - Sean Keogh and Paddy Hughes in 2014 |
Interviewed by the Liverpool Echo in 2015, vocalist Sean Keogh said, " 'A Lovely War' is me, my brother Chris, my oldest friend Paddy and his brother Liam. Me and Paddy made friends at nursery when we were three and then our mums and dads and siblings all became good friends so we've all spent a lot of time together. I think being so comfortable and familiar with each other has definitely helped us gel musically and it’s been really fun playing with them. Before this band started, Paddy, Chris and I were in a ska band from when we were about 16 'til we all went to university and parted ways. Then a few years later, when Patrick and I had both moved back to Liverpool, we formed 'A Lovely War'. At first it was just the two of us with him playing acoustic guitar and me playing an old little Yamaha keyboard. Then Chris came back from uni too so he came and played with us when we were in a recording studio in the summer. And now we've got Liam on the drums too so we're a proper band again. We played at the Magnet last month which was our first proper gig as 'A Lovely War' with all four of us. Before that we'd played a few stripped back gigs at View Two Gallery, the Baltic Social and the Caledonia Pub, and I played by myself at some coffee shops in Kentucky and Indiana when I was in America about a year ago." Indeed in June 2016 at BC Camplight Sean had performed solo, armed with his trademark 80s keyboard sounds and an iPad, and delivered a set of wonderfully wonky and individual pop songs.
Staunchly eccentric the group molded in their first year of existence, unraveling a quirky, off-centre, even slightly whimsical temperament lend to Merseyside, a new kind of character that its music scene has somewhat missed. The trio, brothers Sean (vocals, piano) and Chris Keogh (guitar, keys) and Sean's school-friend Pad Hughes (bass, acoustic guitar) played at the Kazimier in 2015 as they displayed their very English quirkiness and a highly literate take on modern alt-pop. Blending acoustic guitars, synthesised beats and electric piano, the band pulled off a sound that stayed somewhere just the right side of whimsical. Their single, 'Autumn Leaves Us Blue' summed the band up perfectly with its piano-led evoking a peculiarly English sense of despair and loss without taking itself too seriously and overstepping into saccharin territory. There followed many appearances around Liverpool and festivals around the country as well as being featured by Dave Monks on Radio Merseyside. Evolving into the quartet of Liam Hughes, Chris Keogh, Sean Keogh and Daniel Morgan they were
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| Recording in 2017 |
Music blog Getintothis had some lovely things to say about Sean's set supporting Karl Blau at Leaf in Bold Street in March 2018. "He delivered classic pop songs and synth driven snippets of joy. You can’t help but smile, his work reminded us of Erasure, Soft Cell and sound like they could soundtrack Beverly Hills Cop or an episode of Miami Vice, the original one, not that crap remake. This boy can hold a note, his songs are instantly catchy, more of this, please."
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