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When Bleech 9:3 songwriters/guitarists Barry Quinlan and Sam Duffy first crossed paths in their early twenties, it almost seemed inconceivable that they hadn’t met before. Throughout their tumultuous teenage years spent gigging in various projects around Dublin, they’d lived near-parallel lives mired by the chaos-purgatory spiral of addiction; like two shadows cast by the same light but never touching.
In the throes of the early stages of recovery – when a better life still felt elusive and intangible, something to be hoped for, though not necessarily to be believed in – Barry and Sam were introduced to each other at a 12-step rehab programme. Barry soon signed up to be his new friend’s sponsor and take him through the process, and felt energised by the similarities in their ambitions and worldview.
“I think to find someone your own age, with the same dreams as you, from the same city and is also suffering from the same thing… we knew immediately that we could help each other,” recalls Sam. “You can lose your mind thinking about how rare that is.
However unsteady their respective circumstances may have been at the time, a brighter, more creative future suddenly came into focus. In between “secret” writing sessions the foundations of Bleech 9:3 were born, giving Barry and Sam purpose to move forward. “From the point of view of recovery and sobriety, we shared an intrinsic understanding of each other. It felt like we were building something very, very special,” says Barry.
Three years on from Barry and Sam’s chance meeting, and Bleech 9:3 are on the crest of a wave. Completed by James Quinlan (bass) and Luke O’Neill (drums), the band are one of the most in-demand new live acts on the circuit, after a storming 2025 saw them open up for Keo and Shame alongside booking sold-out headline shows. They became a word-of-mouth wonder in a matter of months, earning early acclaim from press and radio, before the year culminated in an electrifying three-night residency at London’s Blue Basement.
With only a handful of singles to their name, Bleech 9:3 have established a sound that’s as evocative as it is crunchy and in-your-face, deftly gliding between sharp, irrepressible melodies and heavy blasts of distortion whenever the mood demands. They draw from a shared adoration of seminal acts like Radiohead, Deftones and Nirvana, as well as more contemporary names like Fontaines D.C. and Sleep Token.
