 The title track of his album that's called Here's to You and it's by brilliant Johnny Tanner and as I say Johnny's album is called that, Here's to You and well done Johnny because as I say all the songs written by himself except a track called You Stay which is with Jill and Jute as well so sounds great and thanks for sending it and maybe we look forward to you coming up and joining us maybe over the autumn, you never know. Right, 086, 60, 25,000 that's our text number and I just got a notice in by the way, our dog has gone missing from our house in Sledrun in Bunkrana and then he's shown could you please broadcast a message to listeners. That's Nicola and James Dougharty-Roe and he's a big, he's a big black and white thick Ford Collie. He was very unstable on his feet. His tail is distinct as it's broken in the past and now he's such a strange angle. If anyone sees him could you please contact the above number and I'll give it out to you now as we're very worried, of course you're very worried about him so if you're down around Bunkrana Sledrun is where they are based but the dog could be anywhere. It's 087, 7, 006, 6045, give it it again, 087, 7, 006, 6045. If you see this big black and white thick Ford Collie who's unstable on his feet and I'm sure the dog's all over the place doesn't know where he's gone so if he doesn't get that number contact us here and we'll certainly pass it on so thank you very much. Right we move on, we say hello to our first guest, we welcome back Levengro, how are you doing now? It's us Dave, James, Gareth and Jordan. So oh hang on, better if I put your mics up. It might be better keeping them off. And I'll be off when you're talking, don't worry. I mean it's great to have you back again, it was before the pandemic wasn't it? It definitely was. How have things been? Great, it's been the last, I think I was imagining post-pandemic things have really started to take off for us. We were sort of anxious if everything would go away after the pandemic but thankfully in the last few years things have really started to go well for Levengro. How did you deal with the pandemic as in musical, I mean did you go live, did you do the Facebook live stuff and all? Absolutely yeah, I think that was the only thing we sort of did to keep ourselves sane. We were making a song Springs in Mainlands, they remember doing the NHS. Obviously in the north we did a cover of Hero but NHS because of the great work they were doing. But we all filmed it in their own homes and recorded their own parts and we were live and raised money. Did you just raise money? I think we raised it over a few grand. I was dead off. From a gig, so it was great. Bringin' stuff. Helping out. So right, I tell you before we chat more tonight, we're going to go into the piece of music. So first up for us. This song's called Lai, it's an acoustic strip-backed song. This is the brand new single? Brand new single. That's getting... Is it number... Is it the most seventh? Seventh? Five. Yeah, number five. We've just gone update today so it's like every day we're looking and we're updating them and we're sort of... In all of it. In Ireland? In Ireland, yeah. In Irish artists. In Ireland and Northern Ireland. Yeah, number five, yeah. Brilliant. So it's amazing. And who wrote the song? Ourselves, yeah. We wrote the song ourselves, yeah. We recorded it with a fella called Liam Gettis, a great producer and he also co-wrote the song. So it's anything we've got a dream of, to be honest, is how it's going so far. Yeah, we're going to talk more. I mean, this is a brand new single. Is this the first time it's been played, like, acoustically? You know what, there actually is. Before we do a special friend here for hiding radio, it's the first strip-backed version. Brilliant. Right, lads, whenever you're ready, thank you. I want to look at you. Cause nothing else hurts like truth. Oh, I don't really need the why. So if you're leaving, baby, lie. Guess I did it to myself, yeah. Feet swarming. Guess I did it to myself. Though if you're leaving, baby, lie. Can we just play pretend? Another night. Though we can get so low, it hurts to hear you want. Can we just play pretend? Though if you're leaving, baby, lie. Absolutely brilliant. Do you know, Jimmy? Jimmy, give me a wee note there. And I was thinking the same thing. Are you a fan of Paul Heaton? Paul Heaton, yeah. Oh, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see that? Can you turn that down a wee bit? There's a wee feedback just a month before. There's a wee buzz, is that? Oh, maybe something else. Maybe it's me. That's it. But come here. I'm not taking away from yourself, but I get that, oh, summary vibe there. Brilliant. Oh, thank you. That's an absolute belter of a version, because I've heard the original, and that there is amazing. Oh, thank you very much. It's the first time we've done it, because it was great. It was great. It's amazing when you can, like, off that song's vibe is just when you strap it back, you sort of hear the words more, and obviously hear the music more, and it's really a great song. And I was really following your harmonies there, but your harmonies just were perfect there, you know? Absolutely. So, when the song written takes place, and we were ready together, is it the four of us collaborate? Always is. Yeah, the four of us, we've been writing together since the very start, so it's one of them things where we went to the Dublin, where we had a producer called Liam Gettys, and we had a few bits and bobs we had before, and we had a few other tracks, like in the bank and stuff we had, but this one in particular, it was one of them things that was just, we all came under a room, nobody had any idea what they were writing a song about, and we just all got together, and it just came out with an, like, I would say about an hour. We had this song and this vibe, and the guitar, the drums, everything, which was blaring, and we went, right, this is a new sound that nobody's really doing, and that's why it does have that sort of one of public-y, co-play, sort of beat-for-heat. But then it has, obviously, an authentic side when it comes to who we are as musicians, and lyrical-y and stuff as well, with the words and stuff, so. Brilliant. You know, to do the like that, you have to be a tight-knit unit, and you obviously are, because how long has it been together now as Levengro? So as Levengro with Jordan, so the last three or four years, we were obviously going a wee bit longer than that as Levengro, but we sort of, after COVID, I would imagine, we sort of rebranded ourselves, brought Jordan in, and then since then, obviously, it's been, it's been good. And Jordan, you were with, uh, Linda Kicks? Yeah, I was here, like, actually, seven, eight years ago, with the drummer, actually, I was saying to Jimmy, I was like, I wouldn't remember seven or eight days ago. I had to actually count back, I know your face when I said it. We bound back the day out. So, but anyway, it's great, it's great to see you back again, really. Recording ways, apart from a single, are you working on an album or anything, or? Absolutely, yeah, there's something buzzing, I'm not too sure. Can you avoid and go down that, Jordan, know you've had no? On the piano, fully down. Yeah, I'll get it down to you. There's something buzzing to me, I don't know what. Maybe it's just me. That's it on me, too. Last one, your earphone. That's alright. That's alright. Alright, no point in drilling. Sorry, Gareth, you're working on an album? Well, we're working on an EP, so the plan is this year, is they record and release as much music as possible. So this is, I would say that, is what would you say the biggest year, in terms of releasing music for the Vengro? Like, normally we would probably release two or three songs a year, but this year we're doubling down and really focusing on the writing and the music, so we're really happy to have our current single, layout, but the good times we're going to keep coming with a new song coming out at the beginning of April, that fast, you know, and we can't wait to get that out. Your new song? Are you going on the style of what you've done there now, basically? Yeah, it's actually very similar. It has that upbeat vibe with the drums, blaring everything, and it's definitely a new song for us, and now we feel like it's a new song for the market in every video as well. Ah, great, great. Well, I'll tell you what, we're going to take a quick abrick. A lot of people are getting in touch here. We're going to get down. Glasses on, Paul, you know what I'm saying. Alicia Doris said, James, are you the quiet one? Ah, yes. Ah, ah, ah. Awesome. I am not. What do you say? Dave is the quiet one. I haven't. Hang on now. James, are you the quiet one? Pet. David could always chat. Song is brilliant. Oh, don't you worry about that. We'll get down to it. I'm here. And that's from Alicia. Alicia Doris and Michelle Temple. Remember these boys? Alicia Doris, the brilliant last Danny writes the well done. Kevin Collins is great stuff. Michelle, you know, you know, Travis, well done. Amazing. And Ellie, Ellie McLeod. Hi from Inver Gordon. That's a Scotland. Ah, of course it is. Ah, ah, ah, ah. Rachel Connelly White, replying to Michelle Temple. Ah, they are brilliant. That's great. Thank you so much, guys. Thank you. We're going to get another track from you, right? We're going to take an outbreak. But what are you coming up next? It's actually one that we thought it's an Abba song, surprisingly. So we're going to do Mamma Mia in our own sort of version. Oh, look forward to it. After this break, Levengro, don't go away. The effects of personal debt problems often go beyond just financial. What we don't want to face can cause us to unravel. Stress eats at you. Relationships unwind. It can feel like life's falling apart. But support is available. Get back on track with the insolvency service of Ireland, an independent organization that helps untangle personal debt problems. See backontrack.ie Supported by the Government of Ireland. Across Ireland, more than 1.6 million homes, farms and businesses have been upgraded to a smart electricity meter. 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This is Highland Radio with Paul McDevitt. Absolutely brilliant. Thanks so much. You turned the song into your own? Yeah, that's what we like to do. We like to take songs and sort of give them the living room. Talk right now. Tell me, Jimmy did you know these boys were running around giving away Valentine's Day cards and all? That's a funny one, yeah. That's it. I picture it very clever. I don't know if you know one guy up in there. He does satire cards and he reached out to us and said, as these fans are being on a Valentine's Day card, we were like, absolutely. Oh, we used it on the cards? It said, I want to live angry, grow old with you. Oh, class! I thought you stole him out of Poundland or something. There you go. That was great. Who does him, you say? His name's Chris. He's a company called Ferry Clever. Ferry? His second name's Ferry. Ferry Clever. That's brilliant. When you're getting the crack old, that's good too. Going out and getting a bit of publicity and whatever you want to call it. That's amazing. Gareth, you want to say, Edan might be on the road now. You work with Edan Morphy? I do. I work with Edan. I'm a gentleman. No, it's Edan Morphy. He's still a gentleman. He's a... I don't know if he's still at Highland, but I used to work in BT. Going back, Johnny's sitting over our manager as well. Well, four or five years ago, and Edan was there. Edan's retired now. Has he retired? I don't blame him. That's his story. He doesn't work there anymore. No, he's lovely fellow, Edan. I know. As Edan's on after us, we always enjoy the crack. He's a good company driving home, let me tell you. He doesn't learn, you know. What have you recorded? What have you done? We've done a lot of tracks. Like, as we were saying about sort of this year's going to be the biggest year for us in terms of releasing music. Yes. We have tons of songs now in the bank, and it's so hard to keep them because we just want to get them out of it because we were actually listening back to them the other day and it was when I was like, we just want to get these out of it. How many songs did we write last summer? They choose about 100, it's like. But close to 100 songs, and we've got about 20, 25 ready to go. How does it work for you if you have 100 songs? How does the process start? Do you just say do you just say we're going to sit down and write or do you have a topic or what way? It's actually changes. Jordan, Gareth, James, we can all come to the band with an idea and then sometimes it can be we all sit in the room. Mostly what we do is we all sit in the room. We have our own studio now up in Derry. Fortunately, and that's sort of dumb wonders for us because we're able to sit back with a laptop and actually record a demo. So we sit and we'll write a song together, pick a topic, you know, like everyone of us has stuff going on in our own lives and a lot of songs as well. You'll be able to hear that. We don't actually only say, oh, this song is about this, but you'll be able to hear the words and stuff. Excellent. That's basically how we do it. Excellent stuff. Do you put it down sort of rough first and then go, where do you record? We record it ourselves in our studio. So that's how we do it. We do it on a business where we write the song, we'll record a demo, and if the demo is good enough, we'll take it maybe down to one of our producers in Dublin. Yeah. We've got a great relationship with some producers down there. We work with Vali and Geras, Cormac Butler, Rob Grace, and we've done a few bits with Ryan Mack as well. Good stuff. Whenever the demo is sort of good standard and Johnny gives the AOK as well. Yeah. Very good. Tell me, what about gigging? What's the story with gigs? Well, we've got news here that we're going to Holland. That's a good one. We played there last year, so we're looking for that now. The weather was amazing, wasn't it? The vibes were classic. That's actually happening in June, and we're back to Canada in June as well. Yes, we're going to Canada. We had in the festival, was that right? Yeah, it was classic. We got this message randomly, and asked us to come out to Canada for a Celtic Fest, and there were about 6,000 or 7,000 people there, and we got to play it. And it's a big logistics wise, like it's a big sort of, you know, undertaking thing, isn't it, to get it all together, right? Well, they sorted it for us. I was actually going to say, Johnny sorts our side, they sort the rest. Do you know what, it's experience as well, because boys on the airport, on the plane, they don't come through. Well, at least you enjoy yourself. Oh, that's part of the thing. That's amazing. Have you been gigging in Derry recently? You know what, we actually haven't. We sold out a hometown show, just Christmas past there, not last Christmas, the one before. It was Dream Come True, they sell it at the nerve centre in Derry. I'm so about, like, what, 700, 800 people or so? I came to the show, so it was unbelievable. I know, right, so it was Dream Come True, and then the next time we're going to be, we're going to headline Derry's towards probably the end of the year. This time, so maybe September time, we're going to put on another headline show, but this time we want to go one bigger, hopefully. Somewhere really different. We're going to talk to a few pluses. Millennium forum. That's a big one. We're talking 1,200,000 people now. Why not? You're as good as anything about Derry, and I say that genuinely. I appreciate that one. Different people were calling you different things. Oh, yes. Love and grow, leave and grow. Love and grow is what we got one time. Is that right? But it's actually pronounced love and grow. Love and grow, I know. When you started, I was going, you've been saying it wrong. I was waiting for it to come. No, that's what I call them. I've asked you this before, but I forget. It came from a book. Johnny over is my brother as well. We were at a walk one day. At the very beginning of the band, we actually called ourselves Geneva. Geneva project. It was awful. It was when we first started doing the bars in Derry, but it was an awful name. We were trying for ages to find a name. And Johnny one day, he goes, do you remember that book? It's an ancestor of ours. Years ago, we sort of carried it from there. We completely own it. What's it mean? What is it? It means something else. It's originally. Absolutely. We get calls, the muck bottles or something, but it's just not better. You can throw one out for us. Best version. That's the best version after ABBA. I'm listening from my lab. Bout to fall asleep for a midnight, nine-hour shift. Can they come to a small village in County Valencia in Spain? Valencia? Valencia made me every night. Love them. From Ella Rose. That sounds like a bit. This man, James, will sign them up. He's on the first flight out there, man. 100% from Ella Rose. He is. He is my favourite Irish country and accents to die for. Ooh. Ella Rose. They're boys here. I hope you can see them. The reactions made are genuine. These boys want to hear more, so... Do you want to bring them up at the end? Or cut it? I'm feeling like I didn't say anything. He's turned on me thunder. Thunder, right? Thunder, right? Well, listen, as I said, I'm delighted with the song. I really, really was. And we have followed you from the first time you're up. Because it's been tight enough to get you up here. Absolutely. And I'll say thank you so much. Highlanders have always, from day one, they've always been a supporter of the band. And that means we could go to BBC Radio One and all that crap, but it's these type of stations and these type of people that really make the difference in Irish. Better crack as well. But the thing about it is, in fairness, you're bringing the us. We're sitting here just letting you do that. You're bringing the talent. You have got what it takes to take it down all our level. Do you ever think about that? Or have you anybody behind you to get a push in that? Because you're hitting now number five in the charts. There's no reason why you can't take it to our level. Because you're writing your own stuff. People love your own stuff. If you're packing out, even last year, 700 people want... You throw on an odd cover, I have no doubt. But if you're playing your own stuff, that means a lot. People want that. 100% and that's the dream that gets when we've been doing this for a long time. For years it started to really take off. And the answer to the question, we do have a great team with Johnny over there. We've also got a management on board who are pretty massive in Ireland. We look after pictures and stuff. So that's an opportunity that came along just quite recently. So they have them behind us now in our self-belief. You believe in yourselves, which is important. You do believe that you're quite capable. We don't bear it. And picture this. There's no reason. Absolutely no reason. I'm not trying to... I'm just telling you when you're here, when you're gone, you might say, it's all different right now. Right now? No, I want to know. No, as I say, delighted to have you here and appreciate... I know it takes a bit of time and a bit of organization, but we've followed your career we have and we just want to see it getting bigger and bigger because there's something there that I think can take you right to the very top. I've no doubt at all about it. Before you go, will you do us one more song? Aye, we will. Aye, we will. Let me go for a quick commercial break and we'll come back with Le Van Gros live on Highland Radio 20 minutes to 9. Hello, Jadward speaking. Sorry. Edward speaking. Hey bro, I'm glad you picked up. Who is this? It's me, John. I'm literally outside in the landing. I don't know any, Sean. Lose my number. Hello? Edward, don't hang up. Can you hear me? I'm a German, could fix the gas boiler. Please forgive... Always use a registered gas installer or you could risk everything. Find one at orghi.ie. Shannon Airport knows precisely what suits a suitcase nicely so find out concisely at ShannonAirport.ie. Affordable parking, easy access, seamless security and dream holiday destinations like Lanzarote, Paris and New York for a hassle free airport experience for you and your suitcase. Visit your dream holiday at ShannonAirport.ie. With a high digital online skills course, you'll feel a real difference. I can listen to all the music I like. The boss app that's coming out and it's brilliant. Anything you want and all is to have their fingertips. Those small tints, but they mean something. Learn essential online skills with simple, accessible lessons at highdigital.ie or free phone, 1-800-20-30-30. Brought to you by Vodafone Foundation and alone. Vodafone together we can. FBD doesn't stand for 50 bees droning. Fabulous Brazilian dancers or flat battery doctors. FBD stands for support. We support van drivers in Ireland with up to 75% off new van policies. Visit your local branch to talk to your FBD insurance team. FBD insurance, support. Do 75% off based on 5 years no claims discount. Terms and conditions apply. FBD insurance group limited training as FBD insurance is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Welcome back and it's Monday night sessions with myself, Paul McDevitt and Jimmy Stafford. We're right through until 10pm and Lavengro. You can follow us back if you're on Facebook. You can catch up with it again after. They've been playing two brilliant tracks and this final track lads is This is where do we go from here? Where do we go from here? It's just your own. One of our romance, yeah. Whatever you're ready lads, thank you. Dave, James, Gareth and Jordan I'm not joking, absolutely amazing. Gary McAvoy was on this and he said, hey Paul and Jimmy, say hello to the guys. Keep up the great hard work it'll pay off lads. They're on the McAvoy's. And Danny Wright said I've had the pleasure of knowing these guys I'm working with them and what you see here is real. They're going to the top and they deserve to be there. 100% Danny, a great point. If you have management behind you now lads there's something badly wrong with them if they can't take you to the top. I don't care what anybody says. No, but genuinely, you're playing your own stuff your songwriting is pure class you have Lavangro sound and I love it, I really, really do. So when you do make it big don't forget. Come here lads. People want to get in touch. What are you on? All socials, Lavangro official Spotify. Tech Talk. Everywhere. L-A-V-E-N-G-R-O Check it out.