Who and how...

Leper Messiah hail from the county of Wexford in the south east corner of the Irish Republic. The current line up of the Leper Crew is the bands 2nd coming and heres the story spanning two decades of how the band evolved to where they stand now!

A history lesson?

Leper Messiah was formed in 1991 and comprised of six members. From a numeric perspective, they were Wexford's answer to Slipknot! They were a bunch of teenage social outcasts from the Bunclody, Kiltealy and Ballindaggin regions of county Wexford, despised by most for not conforming to the local ideals and concepts of Irish sport (GAA), religion and "short tidy haircuts"! :-) The original line up consisted of Liam Quigley, Michael Ivory, Kevin Cooney, Kevin Byrne, Shea Tomkins and Vivian Doyle. The first Leper Messiah crusade lasted for a distance of 3 years and the lineup eventually slimmed to a tight four. Highlights over that time were two original compilation tracks with an independant label and the UK Tour in 1994 which took the band to venues in Reading, London, Milton Keyes, Stoke, Manchester & Southport where their original material was well received by the UK audiences. With an ongoing fan base building in both Ireland and the UK you would think that this would be an excellent platform to go on to better things but due to a little thing called "life" and basically growing up the members went their separate ways. There is still a very close bond between all the original members and albeit they are spread all over the globe they are still the best of friends (lifers) and chat about their one true passion, the MUSIC!

A new crew and colony is born!

In late 2004, three of the original members started talking about getting together for old times sakes and do a once off gig over the Christmas period. This would require one of the guys coming home to Wexford from Chicago to rehearse and due to logisitcs the idea never took off. What did take off was the spark to re-ignite the flames of the other two guys still in Ireland to get the "Messiah" machine running again. Subsequently the hunt for a new Leper crew began, a new era in the bands life was about to be born! But who could or would be suitable to play with two absolute degenerates like the guys! Mick and Kev sat down and within minutes knew who the crew was to be, who it must be!

- Colm Breen, known to his mates as "Breeno" had to be the vocalist. The man has a voice like a thundering Harley and has a stage presence not seen before period!

- Mark Doyle, better known as "Screwy" had to be the man on the drum seat. Rythmn to die for and simply a PSYCHO with a pair of sticks!

- Richie Gannon on guitars, the man's fingers know no boundaries when he picks up that guitar!

The next step was to entice the "victims" into the fold. The hunch the guys had was right and after a few phone calls, the crew was formed and right from the get-go it was easy to see this was to be something special. The initial practices were tough as some of the crew like Mick *cough* hadn't picked up a guitar in seven years and rusty fingers was the understatement of the year! But the enthusiasm was there from all the guys and it wasn't long before the "toones" started to emerge. They played their first gig in Sinnott's of Bunclody to a full house, I guess people remebered the old Leper name of the past, the support was simply awesome and that is something that hasn't changed since! The crew have gone on to play at major biker rallies including the Viking's Ireland MC Rally & headline the Scruffy Necks MCC rally along with a host of gigs in the south east region of Ireland! They have since recruited the sixth member of the new crew, their sound Engineer Acko who has brought a new dimension to what the guys can do with their sound. Many new Leper colonies have emerged and the guys are often left speechless on stage from the support they get! Confidence levels are ever growing, original material is flowing like the river and the crew are surfing it with unbelievable delight!

A Leper show is an intense 100% groove machine with an abundance of passion and commitment plain to see... GET OUT THERE AND JOIN THE COLONY ALREADY!

All content of this site copyright 2005-2006, LeperMessiah.co.nr

Leper Messiah are...

Vocals: Colm Breen

Guitars: Richie Gannon

Guitars: Michael Ivory

Bass Guitars: Kevin Cooney

Drums: Mark Doyle

For more information about Leper Messiah, or to keep up with the latest band news... why not join the "Leper Colony" mailing list.... simply blast a mail to

The Leper Colony