Unpaid Volvo musicians plan 'injustice' gig
Musicians in Galway, who claim to still not have been paid for performing in last year’s Volvo Ocean Race stopover festival, are planning a Summer concert to highlight the injustice.
At least 10 bands, many of them local and struggling to make a living, remain unpaid despite having played sets and gigs during the festival at the Docks and at the Claddagh.
The week-long party, which took place in June last year, was hailed as a huge success and attracted tens of thousands of visitors to the city.
The music acts, which were free to the public, were a particular highlight but some of the bands were not paid in full, and many not paid at all, by the organisers Let’s Do It Global.
This is despite the fact that Galway City Council granted LDIG some €250,000 for the stopover on the understating that a substantial proportion of it was to be spent on free entertainment at the Docks.
It is understood that other businesses and individuals – photographers, stage management and workers in construction – are also still out of pocket having worked on the Volvo event.
Two bands – The Hardcore Priests of Yemen and Mikey and the Scallywags – told the Galway City Tribune that they still haven’t been paid for the gigs they performed last year.
Féilim O’hAoláin of The Hardcore Priests of Yemen, a seven-piece funk band based in the West, said they played a one hour gig at the Swamp on Wednesday of the stopover but were never paid the agreed fee. They’re owed €200.
Mr O’ hAoláin said the band needed the money to buy equipment and travel to other gigs.
“It might not sound like a lot of money but there are loads of people and bands like us owed small sums. If you can’t pay the pipers, don’t throw the party,” he said.