Eurovision hopeful recalls happy years in Rathmolyon

Cal McAdam part of Wild Youth

Eurovision hopeful and former Rathmolyon resident Cal McAdam says to expect "something big" from his band Wild Youth for their performance in the iconic song contest later this year.

The group will represent Ireland in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool on 9th May with their song, 'We Are One'.

Drummer McAdam (30) who lived in the Royal County for five years says he can't give away too much about their performance but added that the four piece "want to do the country proud."

"We can't say too much because we want it to be a surprise but all I will say is that it is going to be big," he said.

"We are trying to keep it cool and classy, we are a band, we haven't been manufactured for Eurovision. We have been playing for five and a half years so in that sense we know how to work a stage, we just want to represent the country in the best way we can without everything being too showy and taking away from the song.

"At the end of the day, it's the world's biggest song competition, it's the world's biggest Pyrotechnics explosion. We want to do justice to the song and have a great performance."

The drummer who was accustomed to city life found it initially "weird" moving to Rathmolyon, a place that was "so quiet," as he explains: "I lived in Rathmolyon for five years. I'm from Tallaght so I'm used to city life, helicopters, dogs and all sorts of chaos so it was very strange for the first few weeks! I couldn't get used to how quiet it was especially at night. But it was a beautiful place and I loved it, I miss it. The people are so lovely. My credit union is actually still in Enfield. There was a really great pizza place so I used to be wandering around Enfield with a pizza in one hand and a pint in the other!"

Wildyouth consist of band members David Whelan, Conor O’Donohoe, Ed Porter and Callum McAdam. The genesis of the group started organically as Cal explains: "Conor and David had been mates in school through the years and grew up in the same area so they started playing music together and me and Ed were in two different Irish bands at the time, we were on the circuit doing the rounds and it just happened that both of our bands ended at the same time and I knew Conor for a good few years before that.

"I got a phone call from someone saying there are two lads playing in Dublin and they need a drummer can you come in and jump into a rehearsal and we all got on so well and since then we haven't looked back. The universe works in magical and mysterious ways and I think it wasn't giving up on us yet."

Cal discovered his passion for the drums as a teenager and describes playing music as "escapism."

He added: "I was 15, my friend played the drums and I thought it was pretty cool and he was getting a lot of attention from the girls so I started learning the drums, watching Youtube videos and listening to my favourite bands like Nirvana, Muse, Depeche Mode and from there I got into a band and having stopped drumming ever since.

"When your head is so involved in something, you can just lose time, you forget where you are at. It;s such an escapism. Its also a workout because you are using all four of your limbs so it's like going to the gym for two hours. Once you get up and play your gig afterwards you feel like you can take on the world!"

Cal says believing in your dreams and putting the work in is the secret to success.

"I always say the perseverance pays off. We have put in hours and hours of practice, hundreds of thousands of euros on equipment, living on beans and toast, sleeping on people's couches and playing some really difficult venues over the years so when something of this magnitude presents itself it proves that when you believe in something, if you keep going at it magical things can come from that."