The band grew up in the Finglas / Glasnevin suburbs of
Dublin City in Ireland. We all went to the
Sacred Heart primary school in Glasnevin and
eventually moved on to St. Kevin’s secondary
school. It was here that Southern Cross were
formed, but not for a few years later.
The story of Southern Cross’ formation is one of two
paths. Firstly there was O.D Massacre, a rock band
which some students in St. Kevin’s formed a few
years back. They had an average career for an
unsigned young band, and even played the Temple
Bar Music Centre on a few occasions. The drummer
for the band was Andrew Beatty, and he was one of
the band’s only lasting members. Towards the end
of O.D Massacre’s career they took on another bass
player, Paul Higgins. It was here that Spoo
and Ubi got to know each other musically and after
the split up of O.D.M they wanted to start
their own project.
In the meantime Lee and The Hedge were starting a
project of their own. Hedge had many years
experience playing guitar and Lee knew he had the
skills and vocals he needed. All they needed
was a drummer and a bass player.
At the same time Ubi and Spoo were looking for a
singer.
You could call it coincidence or fate, but eventually
the path’s crossed and the four of us went for our
first practise together in November 2001. We
started off with some covers. It was during a
rendition of U2’s “With Or Without You” that we
started to sound like a real band. Lee later
described this moment as “The Chill”. After this
we became more confident, now we needed a name.
The decision to name the band isn’t as interesting as
it seems, or as has been rumoured. Southern
Cross is named after the Southern Aurora Australis,
which appears in the night sky of the
Southern Antarctic, Australia and New Zealand
during winter. Four stars are seen in the sky in the
shape of a cross and if you follow them it will
lead you south. Hence: Southern Cross. However the
name of the band really stands for the four
members each being a section of the Cross. It’s
not a religious or political thing at all.
It was Lee who proposed the name and at the start none
of us really liked it, but at a Battle Of The
Bands in Patrician College we were asked for our
band’s name. We thought for a moment and just said
what the hell. We couldn’t think of anything else
anyway. We came 2nd in the competition.
We started entering other competitions all over Dublin
to try and get noticed, and we did.
Eventually we wrote two songs and played them at a
competition in Vicar Street, just to see what kind
of reaction we’d get. And what a reaction! We
couldn’t believe it. We got to a recording studio
and recorded a demo using these two songs.
Thinking Of You was the first track. It was
originally played with acoustic guitar but we used
a keyboard during the recording to give it more of
a Love Song kind of feel. In a way we regret it
now and we play it with the guitar when playing it
live. The second track is Say You’ll Be There.
This is a real fan favourite, and we always play
it live. The demo version is a little different
then the live, using strings and piano to get a
better effect. Both songs are available for
download at MP3.com.
So far we’ve played many gigs around Dublin and
Ireland, went to the finals in a few competitions
and came first in two. However at the moment we’re
still unsigned. Not that we mind all that much,
we’re enjoying this, but to get our first album on
the shelves is our next big venture and we’re
looking forward to it!
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