Valentine’s Day of 2025 was perhaps the least busy Friday at the Pav, with nearly all Trinity students (except the single ones, like me) out with their partners. So, for once, we left the Pav early and took a shot at Grafton Street, where we’d walked a hundred times. But then music we’d never heard before was calling to us, almost like a siren’s call. This was our first interaction with Aaron Bowden, who would later become the leitmotif of living in Dublin. Fate always seemed to have us cross paths: on the way back from the cinema, on the way to the pub, while coming out of Victoria’s Secret without buying anything, or tipsy from prinks and on the way to the club. The 1 Euro coins that always seemed to sink to the bottom of my pockets and bags were finally being dug out and put to some use. The night was undeniably one to remember as we watched a proposal to the soundtrack of Aaron Bowden and his band.
What first caught our attention was the unapologetic loudness of their music, their soundwaves trespassing into Trinity over its Eastern fences. I had the opportunity to have a chat with Bowden one Thursday, before their familiar busking set at the end of Grafton Street. The band consists of the lead singer, Aaron Bowden, whose voice carries a similar tenor to Bruce Springsteen. He also plays the guitar alongside Jose Fondon. Over the course of the set, the two effortlessly switched between lead and rhythm based on the songs. On bass is Glebsy Vo, and on drums is Artur Wezlak, who recorded an impressive drum solo. Bowden described the primary genre of the band as Rock, leaning “hard rock”, which was notable in their rendition of Dirty Old Town which still somehow maintained its pensive quality. Some of their influences—also present in the setlist for the night—were Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Jeff Buckley. Bowden started in a duo around 7-8 years ago, “like a White Stripes kinda vibe”: the second song of Thursday night was “Seven Nation Army”. Slowly, the band grew to three and eventually to four, who can be found playing together usually at the end of Grafton Street, in front of the Bank of Ireland on College Green, and once we even caught them on O’Connell Street close to Penneys.
Thursday night, as most nights busking on Grafton Street do, featured a formidable circle of people whom passersby walked behind to avoid the enthralled crowd. The crowd didn’t discriminate between age, colour, or sobriety, with a vibrant cast of dancers taking turns to perform for the crowd and to the beat of the music. By my own rough estimate, at the height of the set, almost sixty people had gathered around the group. The night’s setlist also featured “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf, “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by the Clash (during this set, the answer is always to stay), “Get Back” by the Beatles (with a much punker twist of course), and “Lithium” by Nirvana. Their ability to improvise and perform under pressure was also put to the test as Bowden restrung one of his strings in a matter of minutes in the middle of “Seven Nation Army”.
Apart from this set of covers, they released their first single this year in April, which launched with a gig at the Bernard Shaw. In a University Times exclusive, Bowden revealed that the band was recording more material on the coming Sunday, but the release date is still unconfirmed. Some of their upcoming shows are at the Buskers Bar for the Battle of the Buskers and with Brant Bjork of Kyuss and Fu Manchu fame.
Sometime during my conversation with Bowden, he revealed his desire to play at T-Ball after having performed outside Trinity for so long. Consider this article its first official signing. More than anything, I hope this encourages you to walk a few meters from the Nassau Street entrance in the late evening to Grafton Street, where I’m sure you’ve been hundreds of times, and witness the spectacle that is Aaron Bowden and his band playing. More convincing than any of the words you’ve just read will be the actual experience of listening as well as watching them perform, epitomising the experience of live music.
