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School of rock
By John Mcgurk
21 June 2004
FROM Downpatrick to Donington - that's the astonishing journey taken by a band of history-making Ulster schoolboys, at Europe's Mecca for heavy metal music fans.
For Co Down rockers, Acidtone are the youngest group in the world to play the Donington festival...ever!
Acclaimed by Kerrang! metal magazine as 'the heirs to the throne', the fresh-faced four piece have a collective age of only 58...just three years more than Ozzy Osbourne.
But the band - brothers, lead singer, Adam McKee (13) and bassist, Conor (15), along with cousin, Conall McKee (15) on drums and best friend, guitarist, Philip Hanna (15) - are already proving their 'mettle' credentials.
Two months ago, the fiery rap metallers supported homecoming heroes Ash at a rafter-raising gig in the town - with Ash bassist, Mark Hamilton lending a helping hand in Acidtone's remarkable rise in the rock world.
But it's their latest metal milestone at Donington last weekend which really thrilled the teenagers; their manager - Adam and Conor's dad, Damian and even US shock rock Donington festival stars, Slipknot!.
Damian revealed: "Slipknot have a bit of a scary reputation. But they spent about one-and-a-half hours with the boys and turned out to be the nicest bunch of people you could meet - very friendly and supportive.
"Adam kept having to run backwards and forwards to me, as all nine Slipknot guys were asking for copies of our CDs!"
Adam - a pupil at St Colmcille's High School in Crossgar - added: "Playing at Donington was absolutely unbelievable. We had never been to the festival before and it was only the second actual important live concert I have been to - and we were playing at it!"
Future plans include the release of a new single, 'Scarred' on June 27, and appearances at the Oxegen and Reading festivals in Ireland and England later this summer.
Damian, who experienced success at a young age himself, as lead singer with Seventies' teenybop pop band, Rosetta Stone, is no doubt that there are some very wise heads on young shoulders in Acidtone's ranks.
"They are a young band playing their own stuff and the crowd at the Barfly stage in Donington went ballistic. I was really proud of them.
"They never stop rehearsing when they can, in between school work. What they have achieved so far is down to that work and their talent.
"They are still young. But they are so level headed. Sometimes their maturity shocks and amazes me."
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