The Needables

The Needables are Beat and Floyd Needable (aka Bren Cooke & Keith Crossan). They met while attending the Ballyfermot Rock School, and at some point, probably during a class about throwing TVs from hotel windows or some other equally rockstar-like behaviour, they discovered that they shared very similar musical tastes, They decided to join forces and the now legendary Pop Rock group The Four Fishermen from the County of Kildare was born (or TFFFTCK for short). 

Fast forward a couple of years and after numerous lineup changes, new band names and a top 20 single, the band, now known as Penfold DM, decided to call it a day. This gave Bren and Keith the push to finally embark upon their Americana side project which they had originally planned for when they were in their 60s, wildly rich, and able to play whatever they wanted without fear of reprisal or poverty.  

In 2012 they released their first EP, ‘Beauty From a Kiss’. Recorded entirely at home, this represented a band trying to find their sound, with songs ranging from the full on Americana Rock sound of the title track ‘Beauty from a Kiss’, to the stripped back, harmony driven ‘Jesus Don’t Climb That Mountain’. 

2015 saw the release of ‘Tales from the Fish Tank’ which was a more organic sounding, rootsy set of songs. Described as a ‘a lovely low-key release with some beautiful songs hand-crafted with pensive care and affection’ (thethinair.net), the EP showcased the sound that the band had been quietly fine tuning in the 3 years since their debut EP.  

With ‘Deep Down at the Bottom of it All’, their third self recorded and self produced EP, released in 2017, showcased the band’s ‘excellent harmony vocals, coupled with guitar and mandolin… these six songs continue to build upon the progress made by this talented duo’ (lonesomehighway.com). 

2022 marks the release on streaming services of ‘Homemade Songs’, a 9 track collection of songs including the single ‘Prettiest Eyes’ that was recorded in 2019 and originally issued only as a limited release for fans who registered through their website. The songs, while still remaining true to their sound, gave the band a chance to experiment with, and record songs they had collected over the years which hadn’t made it onto previous releases.  

The band has opened up for acts such as Birds of Chicago, the Small Glories and Lindi Ortega. They have played headline gigs in Whelans (upstairs venue) and the Underground, as well as being a regular on the Smithwicks Music Trail at the Kilkenny Roots Festival for a number of years.