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That very first gig back in 1987, playing to three people upstairs in The Baggot Inn. Was that Kila any different
Providing the soundtrack to Thomm Moore’s The Secret of Kells – alongside Bruno Coulais – seemed like a natural fit for Kila. A walk in the park, or a long day’s journey into night?
Talking of collaborations, one of your finest albums is Kila & Oki from 2006, where you recorded with the renowned Ainu Japanese artist. There was a Japan-only remix album too that year, entitled Another Beat.
Kila is literally a family affair, given that your brothers Ronan and Rossa are also members. Ever get a little Ray and Dave Davies over the years?
You’ve come a long way, baby, having been credited many times with breathing new life into Irish folk music – do you see Kila as a band always moving forward, or, after all these years, is it all about being in the here and now?
The solo albums began with your 1990 release Éist – opening the floodgates for 11 other extra-cirriculum albums from band members. Flexing a different muscle, or just impatient with the 2-to-3-year gaps between Kila albums?
What music out there is currently rocking your world? Do you feel the need to keep on searching for the perfect beat, the lost chord…?
Lord save us…
ith their blend of Irish music with world, techno and whatever-you’re-
having-yourself, KILA have managed to break down quite a few traditional barriers. 
Greystones Guide: Greystones’ most famous adopted son Ronnie Drew always enjoyed upsetting what he called The Folk Police by bending and breaking their perceived rules of what Irish music should be. Has that ever been the case for the genre-humping Kila?
to the one you joined soon after, or the one that has just released Suas Síos – your 15th album, if you include that Groovin’ 8-track cassette debut in ’91?
What’s going on with you guys and our Nippon friends?
Nah – we’re too old for all that!
The outside projects and solo work – ever any doubts about the mothership? Is Kila now bigger than its many members, given the line-up changes over the years?
1 comment
Reminder that Kila got their musical start right here in Greystones !!
They were second level students at the time at Colaiste Eoin in Stillorgan.
They came to to Siamsa Fheile Padraig in the early 1980s.
Venue was St. David’s Secondary School.
Siamsa was once our Greystones annual celebration of music, song and dance.
We started it to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, Ireland’s national day.
And we had a long and proud history of authentic entertainment.
Many famous Irish entertainers came to us.
Those who helped to initiate Siamsa Fheile Padraig included Fr. Des O’Sullivan.
Marcella O Suilleabhain, Sean Brady, Eddie Dunphy, Roisin Malone.
Sadie O’Shea, Joan and Jim Farrell and myself.
In its latter two years, parents from Gaelscoil na gCloch Liath kept the show on the road.
Kila was a small group then and very true to original Irish music.
But we could spot their talent even at early stage.
Eoin Dillon, their uilleann piper at the time, has the real Greystones roots.
His grandfather was Garda Sergeant here in the town.
His aunt, Nuala Dillon, still lives in the family home on Victoria Road, near railway bridge.
The last time Kila played here in Greystones, Eoin was still with the band.
I went down to hear him/them and it was a great night.
And I interviewed Eoin for my radio programme About Greystones on GCR.
Eoin subsequently went out on his own and I travelled to hear his first solo gig in Whelan’s.
An absolutely magical musical evening, not to have been missed.
What Eoin could do with pipes and Irish music !!
Sending best wishes to Kila and hope their return to Greystones went well.