Dean Byrne (Musician & Filmmaker)

Dean Byrne (born September 28, 1986) is a musician, filmmaker and writer from Dublin, Ireland. 
==Biography==
Dean grew up in the Dublin suburb of Tallaght. He was creative from an early age but it wasn't until the age of 14 that he started to play the drums, having been directly influenced by Brian Downey's playing on Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous album. Under the tutelage of renowned Irish drum teacher Tony Sherry, Dean quickly developed a love and talent for the instrument, learning to read and write music notation and later enrolled in the Trinity College of Music, London, completing all 8 Drum Kit Grades in 2008 with distinction. In 2013, Dean completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) Degree in University College Dublin, majoring in Music & English. He later returned to U.C.D and completed a Master of Arts Degree in Film Studies. Dean plays Sonor Drums and signed on to endorse the brand in 2015, becoming the first Irish artist to do so. In 2020, Dean signed to the Andrea Roche Agency as a commercial model. As of January 2024, he is writing his first book on the history of Irish Horror Cinema.
==Neon Stars==
Formed in 2004, Neon Stars was an indie-rock four-piece featuring Dean on drums, as well as Gavin Glynn (guitar & vocals), Joe Price (guitar) and Kevin Heaney (bass). Influenced by the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party and The Strokes, they quickly developed a cult following on the Dublin music scene due to their high energy gigs and refreshingly honest and raw songwriting. The band released a self-titled E.P. in 2007 including the tracks Never Seen It Coming and Me and the Boys, and went on to play the famed Whisky A-Go-Go in Los Angeles in 2010. In late 2010 they disbanded, with Dean and Gavin later becoming founding members of the band Leaders of Men. 
==Leaders of Men==
In 2010, Dean got together with former bandmate Gavin Glynn, as well as Brian Ashe (vocals), Edward Porter (guitar) and Darren Lindsay (bass), who had all previously been part of Dublin-based bands, to form Leaders of Men. The band were heavily influenced by bands such Interpol and The Walkmen and proceeded to write music personal to them, without regard for commercial intent. Dean was heavily influenced by film scoring and so brought that to his songwriting and arrangements. At their first ever gig in March, 2011 in The Workman's Club, Dublin, they signed with manager Stephen Curran of MCD. In August of that year, the band won the Play-on-the-Day Battle of the Bands competition run by Ireland's foremost music publication Hot Press Magazine, celebrating the win with a critically-acclaimed, sold-out show at Whelan's, Dublin, and followed-up with a stellar performance at the Guinness Storehouse on Arthur's Day 2011, on the same bill as The Saturdays, Stereophonics and Paolo Nutini. In October 2011, they released their first E.P. - The Debut Collection - to critical acclaim, and they performed live sessions on Irish television shows The Vanilla Sessions (TG4), and The Morning Show (TV3) to promote the E.P, as well as a feature slot on German national T.V station RTL. 
In 2012, they performed at the Hot Press Music Show in the RDS, Dublin, as well as at the Phil Lynott Exhibition in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, and the first-ever Longitude Festival (2012). They released their second E.P. that same year - A Trick on Confidence - recorded in Westland Studios, Dublin with Alwyn Walker. The E.P. included the tracks The Game Ends Here, Early Influence, Broken Drum and Superficial. The band were invited to return to play at Guinness' Arthur's Day 2012 alongside Jake Bugg, Amy McDonald and Mumford & Sons at Whelan's in Dublin. In 2013, they recorded two tracks with producer Ciaran Bradshaw - Fear and Made to be Brave - which became popular hits on their live set. They soon ventured to the U.K., performing at Notting Hill Arts Club, London, as well as prominent billing at Longitude 2013, Electric Picnic 2014, Indiependence 2012, 2013 & 2014, and Reading & Leeds Festival, 2014, which was broadcast on BBC. 
In 2014, the band signed to Universal Music and Big Life Music Publishing in the first ever-joint venture between the two companies, under the guidance of Jazz Summers. They soon enlisted the services of producer Cameron Blackwood to record the E.P. Alexander House (2014), which was widely well-received. This E.P. featured their first official single release under Universal for the track For Want of a Better Word, which reached the Irish Top 50 charts, as well as the songs At Ease, She and In Case the World Forgets Me. Following this, they were invited to play as the support act for the bands Frightened Rabbit, Gomez, and Royal Blood (on their first-ever Irish tour). 
The band later recorded tracks (as of today unreleased to the public) with producers Gethin Pearson and Dan Austin. The band parted ways in early 2016 to pursue individual projects.
==Session Musician==
Dean's work as a session musician began before Leaders of Men were formed, but took a necessary backseat due to the bands schedule. In 2010 he was drafted by Irish band Ham Sandwich (band)|Ham Sandwich to perform on their Irish tour, as a last-minute replacement for their drummer who had taken ill. In 2016, he returned to the session music scene as an in-demand drummer and musical director part of various bands, trios, orchestras and tributes. Dean performed Karl Jenkins' Adiemus (1995) with the Diva Voce choir and orchestra at Whitefriar St. Church, Dublin in August 2016. In September 2016, Dean performed at Electric Picnic with the band My Sweet Beloved, which was broadcast on Irish national television station RTE2. In 2018, Dean played the Windmill Lane Live Sessions with duo Glenn & Ronan, as well as with Wild Youth in King John's Castle, Limerick supporting The Coronas. His work as a session drummer has taken him to the U.S., U.K., Europe and the Middle East. He recorded the drums for the track Forever Young, for the film of the same name (2021), by Adam Weafer. In 2024, Dean will perform in Germany, Denmark and the Middle East with internationally-renowned acts Wow Party Band, Pop Gods, as well as tribute bands This is Tom Jones, Made in Jersey (Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons), The Bootleg Beach Boys and Beatles for Sale.
==Music Videos & Filmmaking==
In 2011, Dean wrote, produced and directed the music video for the song Happy Here (2011) by Leaders of Men. At the time, the band needed a video produced at low-cost and Dean had an idea ready to go. He hired actor Emmet Kirwan to star in the video, which was shot in Tallaght. Dean acted as producer for the subsequent videos for the songs The Game Ends Here (2012) and For Want of a Better Word (2014), as well as the writer, producer and director for the video for the song At Ease (2014). 
In August 2018, Dean relocated to Los Angeles, to learn and immerse himself in the craft of filmmaking. Dean soon secured an internship with Real Art Daily Productions. There he worked as Assistant Director for the music video for the song My Dirty Heart (2019) by award-winning songwriter Natalia Bortolotti, as well as production assistant on the web-series Americans Abroad. He later secured an internship with Cinekat Filmworks, working as production assistant on the award-winning short films Portals (2019) and Not a Match (2020) 
Dean returned to Ireland in 2020 due to the covid pandemic and began work on his own short film - The House That Was Not (2023), an adaptation of the short story of the same name (1898) by Elia W. Peattie. In June 2023, Dean began production of the film, hiring actors Tom Kerrisk and Calla Hughes for the lead roles of Bart and Flora, respectively, and also securing the services of Irish filmmaker John Farrelly as Director of Photography and Editor. The film was a completely independent production, financed by Dean, under the banner of his newly-formed production company YDB Films. Production was completed in October 2023, and is due for public release sometime in late 2024. As of January 2024 it is being reviewed for inclusion in a number of film festivals worldwide. 
==Discography==
===Extended Plays===
====As Drummer/Songwriter====
YEAR	ARTIST 	TITLE
2007	Neon Stars 	Neon Stars
2011	Leaders of Men	The Debut Collection
2012	Leaders of Men	A Trick on Confidence
2014	Leaders of Men	Alexander House
===Singles===
====As Drummer/Songwriter====
YEAR	ARTIST 	TITLE
2005	Neon Stars 	Break Down
2005	Neon Stars 	Start to Change
2005	Neon Stars 	Still the Same
2005	Neon Stars 	Talking to Walls
2005	Neon Stars 	Risk
2007	Neon Stars 	Never Seen It Coming
2007	Neon Stars 	Monotony
2007	Neon Stars 	Me and the Boys
2007	Neon Stars 	Kid Presentable
2007	Neon Stars 	Count to Ten
2008	Neon Stars 	Better Off
2008	Neon Stars 	Kick in the Face
2008	Neon Stars 	Take It All Away
2009	Neon Stars 	Shot Down
2009	Neon Stars 	Too Cool to Dance
2011	Leaders of Men	Bite Your Tongue
2011	Leaders of Men	Up Against The Wall
2011	Leaders of Men	Happy Here
2011	Leaders of Men	Who's Waiting For Me?
2012	Leaders of Men	Broken Drum
2012	Leaders of Men	Superficial
2012	Leaders of Men	The Game Ends Here
2013	Leaders of Men	Fear
2013	Leaders of Men	Made to be Brave
2014	Leaders of Men	At Ease
2014	Leaders of Men	For Want of a Better Word
2014	Leaders of Men	In Case The World Forgets Me
2014	Leaders of Men	She
2015	Leaders of Men	Drinking
2015	Leaders of Men	Eyes Don't Change
2015	Leaders of Men	Disappear Here
2015	Leaders of Men	What's Going on in My Mind
2015	Leaders of Men	Message to my Friends
====Soundtracks====
YEAR	TITLE 	ROLE
2021	Forever Young 	Drummer
2023	The House That Was Not	Music Supervisor
==Notable Venues Played==
* The Workman's Club, Dublin
* Whelan's, Dublin
* The Olympia Theatre, Dublin
* Vicar St., Dublin
* Aviva Stadium, Dublin
* Croke Park, Dublin
* The Academy, Dublin
* RDS, Dublin
* INEC, Co. Kerry
* Limelight, Belfast
* Oxegen Music Festival, Ireland
* Electric Picnic Music Festival, Ireland
* Longitude Music Festival, Ireland
* Milk Music Festival, Ireland
* Indiependence Music Festival, Ireland
* Notting Hill Arts Club, London
* Reading & Leeds Festival, U.K.
* Fugslo Koncerter, Denmark
* Whisky A-Go-Go, Los Angeles
* Crowne Plaza Hotel & Convention Centre, Oman
==Television and Media Appearances==
YEAR	SHOW 	BROADCASTER	ARTIST
2011	The Vanilla Sessions 	TG4 	Leaders of Men
2011	The Morning Show 	TV3 	Leaders of Men
2011	Music Weekly 	RTL 	Leaders of Men
2011	Guinness Arthur's Day Live 	RTE 	Leaders of Men
2012	Guinness Arthur's Day Live 	RTE 	Leaders of Men
2012	Live at Lillies 	YouTube 	Leaders of Men
2013	Guinness Arthur's Day Rewound 	RTE 	Leaders of Men
2013	Longitude Live 	RTE 	Leaders of Men
2013	The Sunday Sessions with Joe.ie 	YouTube 	Leaders of Men
2014	Two Tube 	RTE 	Leaders of Men
2014	BBC at Reading and Leeds Festival 	BBC 	Leaders of Men
2016	Other Voices Live at Electric Picnic	RTE 	My Sweet Beloved
2018	Windmill Lane Live Sessions 	YouTube 	Glenn & Ronan
*
==Filmography==
YEAR	TITLE 	MEDIA 	CREDIT 	ARTIST 	PRODUCTION COMPANY
2011	Happy Here 	Music Video 	Writer/Producer/Director 	Leaders of Men 	Gepetto
2012	The Game Ends Here 	Music Video 	Producer 	Leaders of Men 	Gepetto
2014	For Want of a Better Word	Music Video 	Producer 	Leaders of Men 	Crooked Gentlemen
2014	At Ease 	Music Video 	Writer/Producer/Director 	Leaders of Men 	
2019	My Dirty Heart 	Music Video 	Assistant Director 	Natalia Bortolotti	Real Art Daily Productions
2019	Americans Abroad 	Web Series 	Production Assistant 	 	Real Art Daily Productions
2019	Portals 	Short Film 	Production Assistant 	 	Cinekat Filmworks
2019	The Set-Up 	Web Series 	Background 	 	Shots Productions
2020	Not a Match 	Short Film 	Production Assistant 	 	Cinekat Filmworks
2021	Forever Young 	Short Film 	Production Assistant/Background/Soundtrack	 	
2023	Anniversary 	Feature Film	Background 	 	Lions Gate Films
2023	The House That Was Not 	Short Film 	Writer/Producer/DIrector 	 	YDB Films
2023	Out Like a Light 	Music Video 	Production Assistant 	Anamoe Drive 	
Category:1986 births
Category:Musicians
Category:Filmmakers