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Frank McCarthy, Zach Buggy and Andrew Dineen performed as the ‘TheEmpty7’ when opening for NWA Rapper DJ Yella in the Voodoo Lounge in Dublin this week.
A GROUP of Tralee aspiring rappers saw their hard work and graft recognised this past week after they were asked to perform as part of the opening act for NWA music legend DJ Yella at a Dublin gig earlier this week.
Zach Buggy, Andrew (Drew) Dineen and Frank McCarthy form the hip hop group ‘TheEmpty7’, who had the privilege of opening for the famous DJ and producer in the Voodoo Lounge in Dublin last Tuesday, September 22.
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The trio, all firm friends outside the music scene, have been writing and recording their own music for the past number of years, but have only performed a handful of gigs/shows locally here in town, so this was a certainly a slight step into the unknown for them.
“Basically, Frank has a buddy named Adam Kernane and this was his first time putting on a gig. He wants to run his own promotion company and so he decided to bring DJ Yella here because he was on tour,” said Zach talking to TraleeToday.ie.
“When he got all the opening acts, he had room for one more. It was literally on Sunday afternoon with the gig being on Tuesday when Drew got onto me and said that another person was after pulling out, so I was asked then,” he continued.
“We had an amazing response! I jumped into the crowd and the other two lads followed me and I noticed later that half the crowd had their phones out filming us playing and it was weird that they were filming the opening act of a band that they didn’t really know, that was a really good sign for us,” he said.
So what of the man himself?
“It was pretty mind blowing [opening for DJ Yella]. I love hip hop and I really like NWA, I own the ‘Straight Outta Compton’ album and it’s a classic, I absolutely love it. I only saw the new film about them recently and so I’d been listening to the album all week, just on a total NWA buzz,” he said.
“We got to meet him before the gig and we got to chat with him for about ten minutes and I just said to him that I was a big fan of his music and that I really respect what he’s done and that it was a big honour to get a chance to open for him. He was really modest and taken aback and he thanked me and shook my hand,” he continued.
Zach readily admits that there’s been those moments when he’s been hit by bouts of worry and self doubt about whether everything that they have been doing up to now has been for naught.
“We’ve really only played three or four gigs before this and they’ve only been to half full crowds who weren’t really interested because it wasn’t a hip hop gig, we just weren’t playing to the right crowds. It always put seeds of doubt in our heads that maybe we should pack it in and maybe this wasn’t for us you know,” he said.
He continues on to say that the reaction of the crowd on the night along with having the chance to open for such an iconic star such as Yella, that it’s proved to the group that they must be doing something right.
“We’ve been told by a lot of people that they couldn’t believe how good we were. It’s given us major exposure,” he said.
Check out TheEmpty7’s music on their band-camp page HERE while you can check Andrew Dineen’s individual music HERE and Frank McCarthy’s music HERE.
