14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Belfast Telegraph
‘The people of Armagh have been paying my rent this last year': Viral singer opens up on beating cancer and becoming music legend in GAA scene
They say a lot can happen in a year, and south Armagh man Paul Loughran is the perfect testament to that.
From being diagnosed with testicular cancer, to writing his county's most prolific GAA anthem, and then travelling the world based on his band's viral sensations — Paul is the ideal example of optimism, hard work and resilience.
He makes up one-third of local folk group Plenty in the Tank, whose song 'G Stands For Geezer' became the theme tune for Armagh GAA's run to only their second All-Ireland win in 2024.
Named aptly after the manager of the senior men's Gaelic football team, Kieran McGeeney — aka 'Geezer' — the song hit number 20 in the official Irish Singles Chart last August following the final.
The song now has well over two million streams on the music platform Spotify, and it's picking up even more traction, now that Armagh are in the quarter-finals of the championship this weekend.
Paul wrote the song, which he says has completely changed his life, but just a few months previous, he had received another life-changing announcement.
'I was diagnosed with stage two bilateral testicular cancer in early November 2023, which means I had cancer on both sides, and I had surgeries at the end of November and then that January (2024),' the 29-year-old explained.
'I then had a full month of chemo and got the all-clear in March. I think I left the cancer centre on March 14th or 15th, and then I went back to gigging again on St Paddy's Day, just a few days later.
'I had a sort of serious turnaround. Like, especially coming out of that [cancer treatment], I had no money whatsoever.
'I spent all my savings on just being alive for that couple of months, basically, and paying my bills and stuff.'
What the Belleeks clubman didn't then realise, was that just a short while later, his fellow Armagh GAA fans would be helping sort out his bills.
'G Stands For Geezer' was created just a few weeks before Armagh went up against Galway in the All-Ireland final last July, with Paul dedicating one day in his bedroom to writing it and to say it took off instantly would be an understatement.
'I posted it on TikTok on a Wednesday afternoon and a couple of hours later it had a quarter of a million views,' he added.
'It was one of the first TikTok videos I ever posted and the reaction was absolutely mental.'
Paul is even more grateful to the Armagh team for actually winning the Sam Maguire after it all, as the entire whirlwind has opened up more opportunities than ever before for Plenty In The Tank.
'We got to go to New York there with the team for a Q&A thing, we got to play in Manhattan, which was unbelievable, and then we got to go out to Abu Dhabi and Dubai there for Paddy's week,' said Paul.
'So we've got to get out into the world and do gigs, in places we'd obviously never have been gigging in before, and better still, we're still getting gigs from it; the amount of weddings we've been booked for just for people around Armagh — we're flat out.'
The song has been getting around 10,000 streams a day since its release last summer, and that's on average, levelled out.
It has been picking up again since the championship started this year, and as Armagh continue to get closer to an elusive second consecutive Sam Maguire trophy, Paul said the views and listens are increasingly climbing.
He continued: 'I remember we were celebrating with the boys [Armagh team] over in New York, and they were all like: 'this is mental, and thank you for writing that song' or whatever.
'And I was saying, 'no, thank you for winning!'
'Because it wouldn't have been anywhere near as big as it was if we just got beaten in the final].'
Reflecting on the last 12 months — beating cancer, extensive success and having their band be forever etched in GAA history - Paul noted that 'it was honestly the best year of my life'.
He has also been able to give back to those who helped him, with Plenty In The Tank raising £2,000 for two charities — Friends of the Cancer Centre and Musicians NI.
'And now, I've been running for six weeks. I've signed up for the Belfast Half Marathon to try and raise a bit more money for Friends of the Cancer Centre. So, I'm trying my best to give back to them,' he said.
'The people of Armagh are absolute legends. I'm sorry to offend, but they're the absolute best fan base in the world, out of any sport, in any country.
'Thanks an absolute million to anybody that ever streamed or clicked on any videos that had 'G Stands For Geezer' on it — because you are still paying my rent.'
