Crá Croí, a new duo of veteran musicians from Cork, have released their debut single, Radiation Romance. We asked them the BIG questions . . .
Crá Croí (Irish for *heartache* or *vexation of spirit*) is a DIY collaboration between RG (music/lyrics/production) and CD (vocals/artwork) that blends "elements of 80s wave, post-punk, a hint of goth rock and modern synth textures into dark, catchy, and melancholic songs."
Speaking about the single, which is the first of several tracks leading up to a full-length release in 2026, the duo say, "Lyrically, Radiation Romance explores the tension between love and destruction, irony and sincerity, through a post-apocalyptic lens."
Tell us three things about yourself . . .
RG: I'm a musician since the late 1980s/full time self-employed musician since 2017, including studies at Berklee College of Music, a caretaker of two greyhounds and I’m into history and sociocultural anthropology.
How would you describe your music?
CD: Well, we don’t like to be pinned down stylistically but we assume that the majority of music-loving people like drawers so I guess one description would be the following: We draw inspiration from the darker edges of the 1980s but always with a personal twist. The sound is a of brooding synths, clean guitar lines and raw distortion with effects like flanger and chorus, driven beats, all tied together by vocals that are very catchy. The music carries the punch of a hook-driven pop structure while also delivering the emotional weight of dark poetry. Dark melodies, hook-laden vocals. The songs are exploring themes like nihilism, love and destruction, nuclear dread, and dystopian collapse often wrapped in irony and post-apocalyptic metaphors. Plus, you can dance to it as well. So that’s one side of us. It doesn’t exclude the possibility of future acoustic only music or synthwave tracks too. We’ll see where the creative muse will lead us.
Who are your musical inspirations?
RG: There are too many to list as we both have a very diverse background of music that had a big impact on us. Especially during our formative teenager years. I grew up in the 70s and 80s so music from that era still inspires me to this day. The Who, Rush, classic Heavy Metal bands of the era as well as Prog Rock, Punk, Post-Punk and other subgenres of underground music of course. Regarding Crá Croí, most of the inspiration is from the vast back catalogue of the 1980s as well. The Cult, Joy Division, Fields Of The Nephilim, The Sisters Of Mercy, New Order but also more contemporary artists like the Finnish band Grave Pleasures and of course Lankum for the way they express themselves. Also, The Chieftains for me and for CD it’s Frank Zappa, besides the music itself mainly the fact that they just did whatever they felt like. They were solely led but their creative intuition. That’s something we both can admire.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
CD: A local metal gig with local bands, as far as I remember.
What was the first record you ever bought?
RG: If I remember correctly it was the second album from Iron Maiden.
What’s your favourite song right now?
CD: Valley Girl by Frank Zappa.
Favourite lyric of all time?
RG: That’s a tough question. There are so many. Well one would be Stargazer by Rainbow from 1976.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
CD: Something by Pearl Jam I think or a trad song but let’s go with Garden by Pearl Jam.
Where can people find your music/more information?
Our debut single Radiation Romance is out now. Our website, Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Soundcloud.
Alan Corr
