Day 3: Ryan O'Reilly | #HITSBC17

Hey guys!

Day 3! Wow!
Today I have a little story to tell you - well, it's not actually a story.
But on this day, exactly five years ago, I went to the concert which inspired me to start house in the sand.
I was reminded of that this morning and started watching videos from the gig again. It's so, so very crazy how one trip to Cologne got this journey, that is house in the sand, started.

I'm obviously extremely grateful for that and also adore the fact that I'm still good friends with the artists I've seen that night.

That said - today we'll party extra hard, okay?
Let's dive into day 3!

What is #HITSBC17?

HITSBC17 stands for house in the sand's Birthday Countdown 2017.
Throughout the entire month of February, we are going to celebrate house in the sand's fifth birthday.
(Because why celebrate on one day, if you can celebrate an entire month, right?)
With the support from some of the finest artists and bands around, each day in February will be filled with an exclusive performance just for us.

Who is performing today?
Ryan O'Reilly.
He is a singer/songwriter originally from Southampton, UK but is now based in Berlin, Germany.
His sound blends a wide variety of styles creating a unique Folk, Americana and Acoustic sound.

Starting out by playing open mics in Toronto, then busking in London and finally going on fanbooked tours has gotten Ryan a lot of well deserved attention.

Now signed to DNA records, Ryan O'Reilly released his debut album "The Northern Line" in 2016 and has supported acts such as Lissie, Arkells, Matthew & The Atlas and many more.

In March 2017 Ryan and Canada's The O'Pears are going on a tour playing in churches in Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. Tickets here.

What needs to be said about this performance?
It's the first cover on this year's countdown and it's magical! I knew the song beforehand but found a new appreciation for it when I heard Ryan's version of it.
I have a feeling- whether you already know the song or not, you're about to fall in love with it.


Now go ahead and check out Ryan's cover of Sharon van Etten's "Every Time The Sun Comes Up".





Where can we find Ryan O'Reilly online?

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Soundcloud | YouTube | Instagram

Who deserves a thank you?
Ryan himself for recording the video for us, but also for being so wonderfully easy to work with.
 Makes a blogger's life so much easier!

What can we do now?
If you enjoyed this video and post, please help us reach more people.
Share it online along with the hashtag #HITSBC17.
We would love to hear what you think, so please feel free to leave a comment.


And that was day 3!
 I hope you enjoy our birthday party as much as I do and that you're looking forward to the rest of the performances. You're in for a treat.



Day 2:                                                                                                   Day 4:
                                                                          


Thank you for your visit!

Credits // Text: Vanessa Jertschewske | Image: Ryan O'Reilly | Video: Ryan O'Reilly for house in the sand

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Day 4: Ryan O'Reilly | #HITSBC16

Hey guys!

Day 4, we're at a good pace!
The birthday party is being well received and well attended which is so nice for me to see.

We started working on this in October 2015 so it's been quite the long process and to see everything finally come together on the internet.

What is #HITSBC16?
HITSBC16 stands for house in the sand's Birthday Countdown 2016.
Throughout the entire month of February, we will be celebrating this website's fourth birthday.
One artist/band a day is going to wish us a happy birthday and then perform a song exclusively for this sweet occasion.

Who is performing today?
Ryan O'Reilly.
He is a singer/songwriter from Winchester, UK who is now based in Berlin, Germany. Ryan's music comibines Folk, Americana and Rock elements.
Together with his fantastic band, you'll find him touring all the time.

Their songwriting is mainly influenced by relationships with people as well as different places.
  Commuting between London (UK), Berlin (Germany) and Toronto (Canada) the band is obviously offered a wide range of city influences.

 Ryan O'Reilly and his band are:
Ryan O'Reilly
Tyler Kite
David Granshaw
Tom Juhas

Ryan started playing the guitar at the age of 10, when his father gave him a six-string saying “you’re never going to impress anyone with your looks or your charm so you’d better get good at this”. 
Eight years later Ryan still followed his father's advice and went to Toronto, Canada where he played countless open mics. 

The story continued and so Ryan released multiple EPs, toured with acts such as Lissie and he kept on building himself a supportive fanbase.

What is special about this video?
It's a dressing room session, if you want to call it like that. We filmed this video before Ryan's show in Ulm and it was the first time we got to meet in person after working together online for a while.
Ryan's performance was, just like expected, spot on.
I'm sure a lot of you are going to enjoy this!

Ladies and Gents, please give it up for Ryan O'Reilly performing his song "I Want To Call You When I'm Drunk".




Where can we find Ryan O'Reilly online?

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Soundcloud | YouTube | Instagram

Who do we need to thank?

The wonderful Ryan himself who was an absolutely pleasure to film with. Many thanks for setting this up and for doing such brilliant job, Ryan! Looking forward to the next gig already.

What can we do now?
If you enjoyed this article, please help us reach more people by sharing it along with the hashtag #HITSBC16.
Everybody who uses the hashtag on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram has the chance to win something amazing once the countdown is over.



I hope you enjoyed day 4!


Day 3:                           Day 5:

Thank you for your visit! 

Credits // Text & Videography: Vanessa Jertschewske | Image: Fred Funk (via Ryan O'Reilly Facebook) | Performance (video): Ryan O'Reilly | Video intro (audio): Martin Kelly | Video intro (visual): Vanessa Jertschewske

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Video Interview: Ryan O'Reilly

Hey guys!

The one thing I love the most about HITS is the super friendly people that help make this space of web so positive and welcoming.
I might work on the website on my own, but I collaborate with people all the time and so far each time has been a blast.

So I just want to take this little intro to thank everyone who's been involved in creating content for house in the sand, you guys are the loveliest.

And the artist you're about to see answering my question was no exception. Ryan O'Reilly and his band were absolutely lovely to work with.

Ryan O'Reilly and his band offer a big variety of sounds, still they march into the Folk and Americana direction. Their songwriting is mainly influenced by relationships with people as well as different places.
  Commuting between London (UK), Berlin (Germany) and Toronto (Canada) the band is obviously offered a wide range of city influences.

 Ryan O'Reilly and his band are:
Ryan O'Reilly
Tyler Kite
David Granshaw
Tom Juhas

Ryan started playing the guitar at the age of 10, when his father gave him a six-string saying “you’re never going to impress anyone with your looks or your charm so you’d better get good at this”. 
Eight years later Ryan still followed his father's advice and went to Toronto, Canada where he played countless open mics. His travels made him meet Tyler Kite and David Granshaw.

Them busking on London’s famous Portobello Road street market has opened many doors for the three musicians; people who enjoyed hearing their music invited them to their hometowns such as Oslo, Berlin, Lisbon, Napoli, Toronto and London - just to name a few.

Before his show in Ulm, we sat down to chat about Ryan's latest EP "Sometimes Things Just Happen", moving to Berlin, falling out of love with London, touring and a lot more!

I hope you enjoy!

Ryan O'Reilly online: Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram

Thank you for reading!

 

Credits // Text, Image & Video: Vanessa Jertschewske

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Gig Photography: Ryan O'Reilly at Roxy, Ulm

 

Hey guys!

When artists sound amazing on records, it's cool.
But when you go to a show and they blow you away with their live sound, that's when you know they are talented.

I got to see an incredible act live just a few days ago.
It was so nice to see Ryan O'Reilly live after featuring him on HITS a few times before.


Ryan O'Reilly and his band offer a big variety of sounds, still they march into the Folk and Americana direction. Their songwriting is mainly influenced by relationships with people as well as different places.
  Commuting between London (UK), Berlin (Germany) and Toronto (Canada) the band is obviously offered a wide range of city influences.

 Ryan O'Reilly and his band are:
Ryan O'Reilly
Tyler Kite
David Granshaw
Tom Juhas

Ryan started playing the guitar at the age of 10, when his father gave him a six-string saying “you’re never going to impress anyone with your looks or your charm so you’d better get good at this”. 
Eight years later Ryan still followed his father's advice and went to Toronto, Canada where he played countless open mics. His travels made him meet Tyler Kite and David Granshaw.

Them busking on London’s famous Portobello Road street market has opened many doors for the three musicians; people who enjoyed hearing their music invited them to their hometowns such as Oslo, Berlin, Lisbon, Napoli, Toronto and London - just to name a few.

Ryan and his band made a stop in Ulm whilst touring Germany. Below are lots of impressions of the gig.

Support act for the night was Joe Astray, a folk singer/songwriter based in Hamburg, Germany.

Visit him on Facebook.

 

Ryan O'Reilly and his band went on stage and immediately bursted into the first song of their set.
With his stage presence, Ryan managed to control the crowd's attention from the very first minute.

He kept telling short stories about the songs and little anecdote from touring to entertain the listeners with more than just songs.













The band consisting of Tyler, David and Tom is absolutely brilliant.

The three musicians help giving the songs more grip and more energy on stage, each of them knows how to control their instrument and the communication between all members was fantastic.
















The setlist was a clever mix of ballads and up tempo folk rock tracks.
Towards the end it was only Ryan playing some acoustic songs without the band before they joined him once again for the encore.














I can honestly say that this was one of the best gigs I've seen this year.
Loved the mixture of honesty, wit and pure passion on stage!





























Chapeau to Ryan and the band - you guys sounded fantastic!

Thanks for having me and for the lovely little collaboration beforehand. Can't wait to share the content we created.





Ryan O'Reilly online: Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram





Thank you for reading!

Credits // Text & Photography: Vanessa Jertschewske | Video via Ryan O'Reilly on YouTube

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EP Review: "Northern Lights" by Ryan O'Reilly

 

Hey guys!

I receive tons of emails daily which inform me about new releases. It's such a privilege to have artists share their work with me.
Even though I'm in a really busy state of blogging (hello, 230 emails!), I still enjoy every single email. It does take a lot longer to listen to everything but I'm trying.

And whenever I find a record I absolutely enjoy, it just excites me a lot.
Today I'm going to share one with you, like I always do.

Ryan O'Reilly sent me his newest EP "Northern Lights" and I'm absolutely happy to review it for you.

Artist: Ryan O'Reilly

Title: Northern Lights

Genre: Folk

Label: independent

Release: Spring 2015

HITS rating: 8.5/10

Ryan O'Reilly and his band offer a big variety of sounds, still they march into the Folk and Americana direction. Their songwriting is mainly influenced by relationships with people as well as different places.
  Commuting between London (UK), Berlin (Germany) and Toronto (Canada) the band is obviously offered a wide range of city influences.

 Ryan O'Reilly and his band are:
Ryan O'Reilly
Tyler Kite
David Granshaw

Ryan started playing the guitar at the age of 10, when his father gave him a six-string saying “you’re never going to impress anyone with your looks or your charm so you’d better get good at this”. 
Eight years later Ryan still followed his father's advice and went to Toronto, Canada where he played countless open mics. His travels made him meet Tyler Kite and David Granshaw.

Them busking on London’s famous Portobello Road street market has opened many doors for the three musicians; people who enjoyed hearing their music invited them to their hometowns such as Oslo, Berlin, Lisbon, Napoli, Toronto and London - just to name a few.

They have been on the road for "the best part of a decade", means they've had enough inspiration to create the "Northern Lights" EP. 

Tracklist:
1) Evil Quarter Mile

2) The One

3) In The End

4) Give Up On Me

5) Northern Lights

One thing you'll soon notice on the EP is the spot on guitar work; mixing rhythmic strumming with melodic finger picking, both on acoustic and electric guitars. 
"The One" impresses with said guitar work paired with wisely used percussions and, of course, warm and soothing vocals. This song blends folk with americana and ties little bits of rock into the atmosphere.

What I really enjoy about Ryan's music is his (and his band's) incredible sense for harmonies, melodies and the way they arrange words with instrumentals. This element is very present on "Give Up On Me". Again the guitars seem to duet and harmonize with the vocals and create a fragile, yet attention drawing scene.

Title track "Northern Lights" absolutely deserves to be the title track. The calm verses prepare you for the chorus which builds up each time it kicks in with a melancholic feeling to it. I can actually guarantee you, if you're a lover of acoustic/folk sounds, you're going to love this!

To sum it up: To me this EP was made to listen to whilst traveling. Ironically Ryan, Tyler and David get a lot of inspiration from traveling. Each song enchants you in a way you'd like to be enchanted by a song: in a peaceful, yet exciting manner.
The "Northern Lights" EP definitely leaves you wanting more.

You should listen to these tracks: The One, Give Up On Me, Northern Lights

 
Ryan O'Reilly online: Website | Twitter | Facebook |  YouTube

Thank you for reading!

 
More Ryan O'Reilly on house in the sand: exclusive performance

Credits // Text: Vanessa Jertschewske | Image & Video: Ryan O'Reilly

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