Philtre

Philtre to Rock

The dictionary defines the word ,'Philtre' as a 'love potion or a magic potion or charm.'

Tralee based rock act Philtre was formed in the summer of 2004 by two brothers Junior and Omar Abdulsalam, with Tralee Natives Tom Leahy, Castle Countess, and Padraig Dillane, Cahermonee.

Since the band's formation Philtre have gone from strength to strength, making appearances at the Rose of Tralee festival in August of 2005 where they won the "Live at the Rose" competition. Winning such a prestigious competition enabled the band to record their debut EP "Bullet from nowhere",with the headline track featuring on RTE's The Sunday Game.

"It was great to win that competition - it opened a lot of doors for us," said Tom Leahy, vocalist and guitarist with the band. "We play all original music but our influences range from the Stone Roses to Oasis with a bit of punk thrown in."

On the back of that success came constant gigging and Philtre have shared the stage with Republic of Loose, Leya, Delorentos, Vesta Varo and The Flaws. "I guess you could say I'm working part time so I can play music full time," laughed Tom.

All that gigging is certainly paying off as Murphy's Live 2007 has selected Philtre as one of the twelve best unsigned acts in Ireland. This year over 350 demos were submitted to the competition and it's little wonder as the winning band will walk away with a pheonomenal prize worth 10,000 euro that includes an EP launch with Fifa Records, studio recording time, a national distribution deal, full PR and a six month management deal.

"It would be amazing to win that competition. We've made it to the final twelve acts selected so we're delighted with that. But we made it as far as the semi-finals last year and we're looking to go one better," said Tom.

Philtre play on the 1st of February, in The Granary Killarney, let's hope their magic potion of music will be enough to see them walk with the top prize. For more on Philtre please log onto http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=1426154036