JJ72

Greaney met drummer Fergal Matthews while studying at Belvedere College in Dublin, Ireland, forming a friendship to their mutual love of Joy Division, Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins.^[10] With Greaney assuming vocal and guitar duties, the duo formed JJ72 with bassist Garvan Smith. After Smith's departure, fellow student Hilary Woods, who had previously shared the stage with Greaney as part of a string quartet, was added as the band's bassist.^[11] Greaney was serious about the band and received support from his mother.^[5] Woods later described that the band's songwriting process stemmed from Greaney "coming in with the melody and lyrics and basically the three of us then evolve it into a JJ72 song".^[12] After saving their money, the band recorded demos and posted them to the offices of Select, Melody Maker, NME and BBC Radio 1 in the UK, which won them attention.^[5][13] They ignored the Irish music press, with Greaney later stating "we thought there were a lot more people in Britain, so let's try there".^[5] The band quickly began playing live (while studying for their Leaving Certs)^[5] and self-released their first single, "Pillows (Oxygen)" in 1999.^[14] JJ72 signed with Lakota Records (a subsidiary of Sony) in the summer of 1999 and released their first single on the label, "October Swimmer", in November.^[9] The re-released "Oxygen" single (released in August 2000) gave the band its first Top 40 hit in the UK.^[9] The band's self-titled debut album followed "Oxygen" on 23 August 2000 and charted at no. 7 in Ireland and no. 16 in the UK, going on to sell in excess off 500,000 copies.^[15] The band performed their own headline tours and supported U2, Coldplay, Muse, My Vitriol, Embrace, Manic Street Preachers and The Dandy Warhols, wrapping their touring campaign supporting JJ72 in February 2002.^[6][9][16]

The band's sudden success came as a shock to Greaney. Looking back in 2010 on the whirlwind time around the release of JJ72, he said:^[6]

I think it's more with hindsight, as with most things, that you realise what a big deal it was. Because I think, like most people, when you're that age, when you're young, kind of late-teens, you want to take on the world, and you expect the world to listen to you a lot. I suppose it's a real exuberance, when you're in your teens you can have that kind of naivety. And that's why, at the time it was just like, this is meant to happen, you know?

I to Sky

The band began playing new Greaney compositions "Formulae", "City" and "Brother Sleep" live during 2001 and recorded their second album with former Smashing Pumpkins producers Flood and Alan Moulder in early 2002.^[17] Greaney used his Jesuit schooling as inspiration for the religious imagery present in the album's lyrics^[3][18] and was determined to make an album which wasn't "hit after hit".^[6] The album title I to Sky came about because Greaney wanted to capture the place which he wanted people to be transported to while listening to the album.^[17] In addition to singing and guitar, Greaney performed piano on the album's opening track "Nameless".^[19] I to Sky was released on 11 October 2002 to critical acclaim, but with lower sales than JJ72.^[20] The band embarked on a UK and European tour, which Greaney later admitted they shouldn't have undertaken, later saying "it was a horrible time because at the start of that tour, when we released the album, someone really close to me died as well".^[6] Bassist Hilary Woods departed the band in March 2003,^[6] which brought an end to the I to Sky era.

Unreleased third album

Greaney creatively "almost hit a wall" and "just stopped writing" in the period after the release of I to Sky, at a time when he thought the band should have been moving forward creatively.^[6] Canadian bassist Sarah Fox (from Dublin band The Valves) joined JJ72 in May 2003.^[7] Despite Greaney's songwriting problems, the band began playing new songs live throughout 2003, including "Coming Home", "Everything", "Nothing in This World", "Maria", and "Rainfalls". The band pressed on with writing and recording their third album throughout 2003 and 2004, before sending the album off for mastering in the spring of 2005.^[7] The album was recorded during a period of uncertainty for the band, as the man at Sony who had championed them in their early days moved to a different job and Lakota Records' funding from Sony was cut after the corporation merged with BMG.^[6] JJ72 headed out on a UK and Ireland tour in May 2005 (their first in two and a half years) and the limited edition "She's Gone" single followed in June.^[21] The band toured the UK and Ireland again in July and played the Download,^[22] Wireless^[23] and Electric Picnic^[24] festivals in the UK and Ireland over the summer. The band released the "Coming Home" single in late August (which stumbled to no. 52 in the UK charts)^[25] and went on what would be their final UK tour in September 2005, with Greaney often venting his frustrations from the stage.^[24][26] JJ72 played their final gig on 8 December 2005 at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, as support to Mercury Rev. After continuing frustrations with Lakota Records, JJ72 split in June 2006.^[27][28] The third album went unreleased, but many of the songs were released on the internet, some by Greaney himself.^[6] Greaney later said "it's a good record, a pop kind of record, but I don't think it had the emotional punch of some of the songs on the first or second record. I don't think it was any bad thing that it was never released".^[6]