Rodney Owl

Rodney Owl (aka Mark McConville) is originally from Lurgan in Co. Armagh and has been living and playing music in Galway since 1996. Having grown up during the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, Mark found his way to music in his mid-teens after a successful career as an amateur Boxer.

In the early 90s he left home for London and spent five years busking and dodging met police in tube stations, joined a punk band, stacked shelves, dug holes and broadened horizons.
Rodney Owl’s new album Truth Is Broken, released in April 2023, showcases the singularly unique brilliance of McConville’s songwriting and musicianship, as produced by the renowned Alex Borwick and the Black Gate Label.

A collection of 12 remarkable songs, with influences as diverse as Aldous Harding, Lumen Drones, Velvet Underground, The Smiths and Sly & The Family Stone, Truth Is Broken carves out a unique and compelling space for Rodney Owl in the Irish musical landscape.

Mark currently lives a quasi-reclusive life with his family in the rural west of Ireland, finding inspiration in his surroundings - an ancient Celtic rainforest, dogs and cats for companions, and a multitude of feathered friends.

“Not of this time, Rodney Owl writes beautifully arranged and accomplished songs. Shades of Love, Lambchop, early REM.”
– Cian Ó Cíobháin, An Taobh Tuathail

“Elegant, folksy guitar picking, a sweet wisp of melody, reminiscent of acoustic legend Nick Drake” – Across the Line, BBC Radio Ulster

“Truth Is Broken is richer and more luscious than anything it succeeds. Its twelve tracks dance between stripped back, reflective meditations and abstract, guitar-driven indie-rock.”
– Cian O’Connell, The Connacht Tribune