Glyder are a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band from Ballyknockan,

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

History

Later another band was formed in 2004 after a one-off gig at "The Vibe for Philo" in Dublin. Originally called Hollywood, the band toured Ireland with

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...

. An EP was released in February 2004 called ''Black Tide Silver Path'' and the band convinced producer

Chris Tsangarides Christopher Andrew Tsangarides (17 August 1956 – 6 January 2018) was a British record producer, sound engineer, and mixer of Greek Cypriot origin. He was best known for his work with many heavy metal artists, including Gary Moore, Thin L ...

, who worked with

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

and

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...

, to record their self-titled debut album. The album was released through French label Bad Reputation Records in April 2006 and was critically acclaimed in the UK and Europe. A '5K'

Kerrang ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

live review, a '4K' album review, reviews, and coverage in nearly every rock magazine in Europe, established Glyder as an international

act. Glyder hit the airwaves in the summer of 2006 with regular airplay on the

Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Dickinson has performed in the band across two stints, from 1981 to 1993 and from 1999 to the present d ...

BBC6 rock show. The track "PUP" was playlisted on most UK rock shows from

XFM Radio X is a British national commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. The station launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station named Q102, before being renamed Xfm in 1992. The station b ...

and Total Rock to

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, and tracks were played on Norwegian, Swedish, and UK national radio, as well as

independent radio Independent radio indicates a radio station that are run in a manner,different from usual from the countries it broadcasts in. Conversely, in places such as the United States, where commercial broadcasters are the norm, independent radio is some ...

stations all over the world. Glyder toured Ireland with The Answer during the summer of 2006, and did their first UK headline tour in October 2006. During 2006 Glyder also opened for W.A.S.P.,

Bob Catley Robert Adrian Catley (born 11 September 1947) is an English singer. He is the lead singer of the hard rock band Magnum and is also active as a solo artist. Biography Early years (1947–1972) Born in Aldershot on 11 September 1947, Catl ...

Wishbone Ash Wishbone Ash are a British Rock music, rock band who achieved success in the early to mid-1970s. Their albums include ''Wishbone Ash (album), Wishbone Ash'' (1970), ''Pilgrimage (Wishbone Ash album), Pilgrimage'' (1971), ''Argus (album), Argu ...

and shared stages with

Eric Bell Eric Robin Bell (born 3 September 1947) is a Northern Irish rock and blues musician, best known as a founding member and the original guitarist of the rock group Thin Lizzy, of which he was a member from 1969 to 1973. After his time in Thin Li ...

and Brian Robertson. In November 2006 Glyder won a text competition to open for UK Rock stalwarts

Thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

on three dates of their UK tour. Also in 2006, the band played as the opening act of a small headline tour of the UK with Manchester band Fury UK .In January 2007 Glyder announced they were to tour Europe with

. In 2008, they released their second studio album, ''

Playground for Life ''Playground for Life'' is the second studio album by Irish hard rock band Glyder. Track listing All tracks written by Cullen/Kinane/Fisher/Ryan #"Gambler's Blues" - 4:57 #"Sweets" - 3:30 #"Puppet Queen" - 3:48 #"Playground for Life" - 4:34 # ...

'', on True Talent Records. In March 2008 they toured with

Fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

in the UK. In May/June 2008 Glyder toured Scandinavia with Gotthard, opened for Dio in Stockholm and played the Gibson tent at

Sweden Rock Festival Sweden Rock Festival is a rock festival outside the town of Sölvesborg in Blekinge in southern Sweden. The festival offers the best possible mix of classic rock, hard rock, metal, blues and related genres. The first version of the festival, k ...

. In September they opened for

Blue Öyster Cult Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island, New York, in the hamlet of Stony Brook, in 1967. They have sold 25 million records worldwide, including 7 million in the United States. ...

in France, and played the Raismes festival in France with

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

and Y&T. They then continued to the UK with Y&T as special guests. Glyder headlined an eight date tour in Spain before they headlined at the biggest Indian college rock festival, Synchronicity at

IIT Kanpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT- Kanpur or IIT-K) is a public institute of technology located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), it was declared an Institute of National Importance by th ...

, India . In December Glyder opened the Classic Rock stage at

Hard Rock Hell Hard Rock Hell is a three day music festival held at Vauxhall Holiday resort, Great Yarmouth. It was previously held at Hafan y Môr Holiday Park, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, North Wales, and up until 2011 at Pontin's Holiday Village, Prestatyn, Wales. ...

2 in Wales. In August 2009 Glyder opened for

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

in Marlay Park Dublin.Blabbermouth news
9 July 2009 Most of 2009 was spent writing and recording the third Glyder album, "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow". The band was signed to SPV/steamhammer after they heard some cuts from the album. The album was released in March 2010 and featured a guest solo from Y&T's

Dave Meniketti David Alan Meniketti (born December 12, 1953) is an American musician, best known as singer, songwriter, and lead guitarist for hard rock/ heavy metal band Y&T. He has also released three solo efforts (including "Live in Japan"), one of which is ...

on the title track. In June 2010 they opened for

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...

in Vicar St Dublin. On the same day the band reached the number 1 spot on 89.5 FM WSOU, the college radio station of

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

, New Jersey. WSOU is considered by some to be the most influential hard rock and metal college radio station in the U.S., and was recently named the United States No. 1 college radio station by Playboy Magazine.

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

also took to the band and played an exclusive track on his "Nights with Alice Cooper" show that was syndicated all over the US and the world.

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakema ...

also played the band on his show on Planet Rock and has supported the band since he first heard "Love never Dies" on the "Weather the Storm" EP. Due to financial strains and frustration with the music business, singer/bassist Tony Cullen and Drummer Davy Ryan quit the band. The band reformed in January 2011, with Jackie Robinson, Graham McClatchie and Des McEvoy joining the band. The fourth album, titled "Backroads to Byzantium", was written by Kinane, Fisher and Robinson, using home recording software and a few gmail accounts; due to Robinson living in Northern Ireland, rehearsals were not practical. The album was recorded in April 2011 in Bluebird Studios, Straffan, Co Kildare, and mixed by Peter Brander in Mediasound studios in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was due for release on SPV/Steamhammer in Oct 2011.

Discography

Albums: Studio LPs

*2006 ''Glyder'' *2008 ''

'' *2010 ''Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow'' *2011 ''Backroads to Byzantium''

Compilations

*2011 ''Black Pearl – A Collection of Rough Diamonds'' (LP)

Single and Extended Plays

*2004 ''Lucky Strike'' (SP) *2005 ''Black Tide Silver Path'' (EP) *2008 ''Weather the Storm'' (EP)

References

External links

Official websiteGlyder picture galleries
{{Authority control Irish hard rock musical groups Musical groups established in 2004