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AN INVESTIGATION IS under way into the accident that killed all four members of British indie band Viola Beach in Sweden at the weekend.
The four died, along with their manager, when their car plunged more than 25 metres from a bridge into a canal in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The band had just played their first gig outside of the UK.
“We can confirm that our son Craig, along with four members of the band Viola Beach, were involved in a fatal accident in the early hours of Saturday morning,” a statement issued by the family of manager Craig Tarry said.
Craig was a warm, loving person who had worked tirelessly to achieve success and follow his dreams within the music industry.
The family of guitarist River Reeves said they were “heartbroken” by the news.
“Viola Beach were on such an exciting journey and River could not have been happier. He would have loved to have stuck around for the party,” said a family statement.
All River wanted to do was perform and entertain and to think that he will never make us laugh again with his ridiculous impressions and cheeky banter is beyond comprehension. We are so proud of him.
Crash
The five died when their car hit a barrier and plunged off a canal bridge at Sodertalje, a southern district of the capital Stockholm.
Their vehicle reportedly approached at speed the bridge which was not fully shut after allowing a vessel to pass underneath.
Swedish police told the BBC that there were two safety barriers in place and that red warning lights were flashing as the vehicle approached.
Other vehicles were waiting for the bridge to close fully. The car is now being examined.
A lorry driver who spoke to the Aftonbladet newspaper said that one car arrived “at a crazy speed … at least 70-80 kph”.
That’s very quick when everybody else was stopped.
The group, who last year had released a debut single, had been in Sweden for Friday night’s “Where’s the music” festival in the central city of Norrkoping and were headed back to Britain.
“It was the first time they had played outside of Britain. They were full of hope,” festival organiser Folkert Koopmans told Aftonbladet.
Sadly it seems the four and their manager died in the accident. It’s terrible.
The band’s record label, Communion, said in a statement that the four-piece had everything going for them: “great songs, passion, talent, drive…”.
“To sit down with the band was to sit down with a group of guys whose band you wanted to be in, and to be in the presence of a band who knew just what it would take to make it.
“This is why the band had been in Sweden, rather than sit back and wait for it to happen to them, Kris, River, Jack and Tom were determined to go out into the world and play every show they could until the world was singing along with them, and now that dream has been sadly taken away from all of us.
Equally, Craig, their manager was possessed by a passion to help the band achieve everything they wanted to, and to speak with Craig about Viola Beach, and music in general was an absolute pleasure – you knew he was doing it all for the right reasons. Everyone here at Communion is in a state of total shock and sorrow, and our thoughts go out to the families and friends of Craig and the band.
The four-piece had recently put out their second single ‘Boys That Sing’. All proceeds made from the single will now be donated to the families of the band and their manager, the statement confirmed.
With reporting from AFP.
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So the book shamelessly plugged for weeks by Aoife at Journal.ie wins the Journal.ie sponsored award presented by Aoife. All above board so, move along.
This book was edited by Sepp Blatter and funded by Bertie Ahern. Well done to all.
The ‘If you sponsor an award you can pick which book you want to win’ awards.
Hi Peter, we sponsor the award – we don’t pick who wins. The votes for all of the awards are cast by a judging panel who we are not involved with or members of, and members of the public.
I wrote a number of articles as part of our sponsorship, (like other publications did) on a number of the nominees. You can find them if you search for ‘Irish book awards’ on the site.
Also I wrote two pieces on Long Gaze Back, one when it was published in September and one yesterday, after the public voting for the awards had closed.
The ” give everyone an award to get the books into the media to increase sales for Christmas awards”
“Ireland AM Crime Book of the Year”.
If I were that author I’d be dropping the “Ireland AM” bit from my CV.
Bressie looks delighted. I’m glad that he won an award. Awards for anthologies always puzzle me. It’s basically a prize for other peoples work and imagination.
So the Journal award goes to one of it’s own ???
To The Journal.ie… I am curious how votes were cast in your office for this award.. If #wakingthefeminist was about conspiracy AGAINST female writers, then I suppose this award is a conspiracy FOR female writers..
Hi Sinead, we sponsor the award – we don’t pick who wins. The votes for all of the awards are cast by a judging panel who we are not involved with or members of, and members of the public. Hope that clears things up for you.
Joe Duffy and Niall Breslin…….SAKE!
Right, that’s the feminist list.
Now where’s the real list?
Delighted for Dónal Ryan – a stunning collection of short stories. Well deserved!
But that award is for s single short story, ‘slanting of the sun’. I didn’t think it was the best story in the book?
I though gilmores book would have been a shoe in for the fiction award after all his promoting and drama and shot at dawn bull. Maybe it’s in the fantasy section or heaven forbid, maybe it’s just crap, and nobody’s buying it!
Jim mcguinnesses book is very good.
Awards for books that hardly anyone will bother reading.
speak for yourself
In my humble opinion Mr Donleavy is a tad over rated. The ginger man was his first and best book. After that he descended into a surreal sort of post aristocratic Irish pastiche. First prize for his longevity. Still fighting fit in his mid nineties. I suspect keeping his exposure to other humans to a minimum helps with this.
Not Ireland’s favourite books. They would be the ones people read and enjoyed. Most likely to be found topping the charts. These are winning books picked from eligible books whose entry is sponsored by the publisher. Having said that, for the winning authors, it’s nice to get the recognition. Congratulations to them.
Ur old enough to know the rich look after the rich best thing is they do not look happy happy days
I’m sure you’re right j k but I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.
No Irish author in the Mills & Boon series? No Irish novelist nominated for the Bad Sex award in Britain?
Joe Duffy – oh, is that the one with the national radio show, the one that’s been promoting his book all year, at licence payers’ expense? The one who had his book printed in Germany?
Oh yes, so it is.
“This is a local book for local/ German jobs.”
Yet the Bible keeps on selling, it reminds me of the so called charts. The best selling music that beats those on those famoust top 40 turns out to be classical music and Mozart keeps on selling.
So when I see charts, awards or the top 5 then I think that they exist in order to sell these goods as those who sell themselves well never get a mention…
have your say