After their shows last spring supporting Irish traditional super group Celtic Woman, it's finally time for the High Kings to step out on their own. Their U.S. solo tour starts this month. CAHIR O'DOHERTY talks to singer Martin Furey about the group and their abiding passion for the music of Ireland.

WHEN the unknown act the High Kings took the stage to support Celtic Woman group throughout the U.S. last spring, many in the audience gasped - it was obvious from the first song that they deserved a stage to themselves. Watching them take their bows, Dave Kavanagh, the well-known Irish promoter and entrepreneur, quickly realized he had four new stars on his hands. On the spot he decided to put his money where his mouth is, bringing the four young Irish lads back to conquer America.

This month, in a new tour that will take them across the East Coast and as far south as Florida, the High Kings will introduce their unique take on Irish traditional music to a rapidly growing fan base.

But before they even start the new tour, it should be pointed out that every one of the High Kings is already seasoned professional. Vocalists and musicians Finbarr Clancy (son of Bobby Clancy, part of the well known traditional music dynasty) Brian Dunphy, Martin Furey (son of folk legend Finbar Furey) and Darren Holden (who recently starred as the Piano Man in the Tony Award-winning hit Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp musical Movin' Out) are all on board.

In addition to rehearsals for the U.S. tour, the High Kings, in a career highlight to date, performed at the All-Ireland hurling final in Croke Park on Sunday won by Kilkenny. Being asked to perform in Ireland's Super Bowl was a major honor, and it's exactly the kind of invitation that demonstrates they're becoming breakout stars.

"It's a huge honor to be asked," Martin Furey, 38, told the Irish Voice. "As we all know from our history it's a sport that was nearly quashed at one time. So to see in with 80,000 people at the stadium is such an honor. We were dumbfounded when we were the asked, to be honest."

It's a heady level of success for a group that just got started a year ago. "A year ago Dave Kavanagh invited us into his office, told us he was really into what we were doing, and felt that we were up there with anything else he'd heard. He said he'd give us the tools to bring our music to the public and that's what he's done," said Furey.

"Trucks, rigs, sets, costumes, the whole thing has been unreal. He loves the music as we all do. It's traditional Irish music and the melodies are ancient, ranging from 100 years ago to hundreds of years ago."

From the start the High Kings didn't want to be another Irish boy band. The real focus, says Furey, is on the music, which is part of the Irish heritage and would respected and performed as such.

"We're having a laugh for sure, but we know these songs backwards. They're part of who we are, so it's not stuffy at all. We always have fun with it too," he says.

It's hard not to notice that the High Kings have a fairly large female following. "Are Irish men popular with American women? My wife won't let me out if she hears that, she'll tie me to the bed. She's very good with tying knots," jokes Furey.

Furey left home at 17 to study at Trinity College in Dublin. Later he moved to Prince's University in Edinburgh to study Scottish literature and history (his mother hails from Scotland). Furey sings in the High Kings, but he also plays the guitar, banjo and low whistles.

The unique dynamic between all four lads is the chemistry that makes the group work. All four have known each other for years in various ways through friends, family and professional experience. There's already a good degree of trust and familiarity between them.

"The band is very definitely in its honeymoon period at the moment. At the moment everyone is buzzing and things are going very well. Roddy Doyle's right, being in a band is very much like being in a marriage. It's the only other commitment outside marriage that you would make of that nature," says Furey.

"You're saying to a group of people for this amount of time I will give you everything I have. There's up and downs, there are late nights and early mornings and things can get heated, but you work it out in the end. Everyone wants to make the best of each other."

Scott Porter, the 26-year-old Australian who was once the lead dancer in Riverdance, is the band's Brian Epstein, the driving force behind the band's presentation to the public, including their look.

Says Furey, "He's a star in his own right. He's a very clever dude. We're all down to earth dudes and we're portrayed that way. We've worked really hard on the core of the band, the music and the feeling we put into it. We just want to sing, we want to perform these songs as well as we can."

The High Kings' distinctive sound, which is as central to the band as their unique Celtic look, mixes classic traditional songs alongside the modern. Acclaimed composer and musical director David Downes, the driving force behind the Celtic Woman phenomenon, brings intricate harmonies and rhythms to the High Kings songbook, giving them a freshness without ever sacrificing the traditional melodies that made them so attractive in the first instance.

"When I first heard David Downes' arrangements I wasn't sure. Then I started singing along to them and I realized how clever they were," said Furey.

"He turned his hand to traditional standards, but he scored them for men this time. He's just done something weird to the music that really works. If I could describe it, it wouldn't be as magical as it is."

Authenticity, the belief that the music should come from a felt place, that you should care about it, is central to the High Kings philosophy.

"That's the way I was brought up in my family. You must feel it and you have to be telling the truth. It has to be genuine.

"This is music we were brought up with. I was brought up in sean nos traditional culture. This style has been going around our heads since we were kids. It's a way of translating through to a very old traditional culture. It's the Irish tradition for the modern world."

For tour dates and tickets to the High Kings shows visit www.thehighkings.com.