A gig held at Strange Brew on Monday 24th November. The event starts at 19:00.
DHP presents
Kean Kavanagh
+ special guests
Monday 24 November
7pm - 10:30pm
Eclectic Irish singer/songwriter who cultivates a buzz with influences of kitchen-sink pop and Americana.
Kean Kavanagh's musical and personal journey has taken him from America to Ireland; from law firms to indie labels, making him one of Ireland’s most buzzed-about indie artists. After attracting attention during the COVID-19 pandemic with the mixtape Dog Person -- a mix of electronic and soul influences -- he really came into his own with 2025’s The County Star, a thoughtful album of winning indie rock story songs.
Kavanagh was born to Irish immigrants in Houston, Texas, thus absorbing an eclectic mix of early influences, from Hank Williams to Prefab Sprout. As a boy, the family moved back to Portlaoise in the Irish midlands, and Kavanagh ended up at Trinity College in Dublin studying law. Despite a promising internship, he felt the pull of music was too great to ignore, but he fell into the business in a most unexpected way. With friend Kevin Smith, who raps under the name Kojaque, he co-founded a Dublin-based hip-hop label, Soft Boy Records. Serving as their chief A&R man, Soft Boy became known for their camaraderie and embrace of sensitivity within the scene. Kavanagh would back Kojaque as his DJ during live sets and joined him as a vocalist on the track “Eviction Notice” off the former's well-reviewed concept album Deli Daydreams. Kavanaugh was also featured in a gripping mini-documentary about the label filmed for Boiler Room.
Though Kavanagh would soon play some solo shows in earnest -- even opening for Vampire Weekend when they came to Dublin in 2019 -- it took the COVID-19 lockdown for his musical talents to come further into focus. In April of 2020, he could be heard on a soulful track, “Pretending Nothing’s Wrong,” from Friday Forever, the sophomore album by British producer Richard Russell's Everything Is Recorded project. That fall, he issued the mixtape Dog Person, featuring electronic-assisted indie rock like “Emma” and “Coca Cola Sky,” which caught on with listeners.
More tracks followed, most notably the EP Wrestling Music, which dabbled in electro-funk and soul -- but a 2024 rendition of a local folk song, “The Portlaoise Queen,” for a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders was a sign of things to come. At the beginning of 2025 he began releasing material from that summer's The County Star, his LP drawing from influences like Irish folk and Americana and spinning them into colorful stories of searching, yearning young men he’d met growing up in Ireland.
Tickets sold by Strange Brew on behalf of the promoter DHP. All ticket revenue belongs to the promoter.
Entry requirements: 14+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio
Kean Kavanagh
+ special guests
Monday 24 November
7pm - 10:30pm
Eclectic Irish singer/songwriter who cultivates a buzz with influences of kitchen-sink pop and Americana.
Kean Kavanagh's musical and personal journey has taken him from America to Ireland; from law firms to indie labels, making him one of Ireland’s most buzzed-about indie artists. After attracting attention during the COVID-19 pandemic with the mixtape Dog Person -- a mix of electronic and soul influences -- he really came into his own with 2025’s The County Star, a thoughtful album of winning indie rock story songs.
Kavanagh was born to Irish immigrants in Houston, Texas, thus absorbing an eclectic mix of early influences, from Hank Williams to Prefab Sprout. As a boy, the family moved back to Portlaoise in the Irish midlands, and Kavanagh ended up at Trinity College in Dublin studying law. Despite a promising internship, he felt the pull of music was too great to ignore, but he fell into the business in a most unexpected way. With friend Kevin Smith, who raps under the name Kojaque, he co-founded a Dublin-based hip-hop label, Soft Boy Records. Serving as their chief A&R man, Soft Boy became known for their camaraderie and embrace of sensitivity within the scene. Kavanagh would back Kojaque as his DJ during live sets and joined him as a vocalist on the track “Eviction Notice” off the former's well-reviewed concept album Deli Daydreams. Kavanaugh was also featured in a gripping mini-documentary about the label filmed for Boiler Room.
Though Kavanagh would soon play some solo shows in earnest -- even opening for Vampire Weekend when they came to Dublin in 2019 -- it took the COVID-19 lockdown for his musical talents to come further into focus. In April of 2020, he could be heard on a soulful track, “Pretending Nothing’s Wrong,” from Friday Forever, the sophomore album by British producer Richard Russell's Everything Is Recorded project. That fall, he issued the mixtape Dog Person, featuring electronic-assisted indie rock like “Emma” and “Coca Cola Sky,” which caught on with listeners.
More tracks followed, most notably the EP Wrestling Music, which dabbled in electro-funk and soul -- but a 2024 rendition of a local folk song, “The Portlaoise Queen,” for a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders was a sign of things to come. At the beginning of 2025 he began releasing material from that summer's The County Star, his LP drawing from influences like Irish folk and Americana and spinning them into colorful stories of searching, yearning young men he’d met growing up in Ireland.
Tickets sold by Strange Brew on behalf of the promoter DHP. All ticket revenue belongs to the promoter.
Entry requirements: 14+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio
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