Beginnings and influences Greaney played violin as a child and into his teens. After a brief period as a
footballer with
Everton's
Dublin-based
youth academy in his mid-teens, he began playing guitar and writing songs. He counts music artists
Joy Division,
Nirvana,
Smashing Pumpkins,
Igor Stravinsky,
Depeche Mode,
Nick Drake,
Thom Yorke,
Niccolo Paganini and authors
Wallace Stevens and
James Joyce amongst his influences.
JJ72 JJ72 Greaney met drummer Fergal Matthews while studying at
Belvedere College in Dublin,
Ireland, forming a friendship due to their mutual love of Joy Division, Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. 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. Greaney was serious about the band and received support from his mother. 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. 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". 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. 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. 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: Greaney used his
Jesuit schooling as inspiration for the religious imagery present in the album's lyrics and was determined to make an album which wasn't "hit after hit".
I to Sky was released on 11 October 2002 to critical acclaim, but with lower sales than
JJ72. 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". The band toured the UK and Ireland again in July and played the
Download,
Wireless and
Electric Picnic 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) and went on what would be their final UK tour in September 2005, with Greaney often venting his frustrations from the stage. 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. The third album went unreleased, but many of the songs were released on the internet, some by Greaney himself. He performed solo acoustic at the first date of the 2001
NME Awards Tour at
Glasgow QMU, due to Fergal Matthews suffering an injury after the previous night's gig at
Derby University. He appeared at a
Jeff Buckley tribute gig at the
Garage in London on 17 December 2003. Greaney embarked on his first solo tour in May 2007 (supporting
Simple Kid in the UK) and uploaded two new songs to his
MySpace page, "Falling" and "Lost and Found". He also spent time recording in
New York City. Greaney made a live appearance in 2009, playing alongside My Vitriol,
Frank Turner and
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly at the Demolition Ball at the
Astoria in London on 14 January, the final gig to take place at the venue. Greaney spent time recording at the Manic Street Preachers' Faster Studios in
Cardiff with producer
Dave Eringa in 2010 Greaney reemerged towards the end of 2010, playing sporadic acoustic gigs around Dublin. He uploaded new songs "Drums and Violins", "Own Worst Enemy" and "History as a Cannibal" to his website. Greaney played his first solo headlining gig in the UK at Mr Kyps in
Poole on 13 April 2011. He continued to play occasional acoustic gigs throughout 2011. Regarding his lack of output, Greaney said he has "so many songs that I'm happy to write or record and not give them to anyone". with the band later admitting that they still hadn't named themselves when the offer came through for the tour. The band has been inactive since 2009.
Other projects Greaney formed a new band towards the end of 2012 and described its influences as Manic Street Preachers,
The Raconteurs and Smashing Pumpkins. Nothing has been heard of the project since November 2012. Greaney surfaced with a new band in February 2015, Kollaps1, which made its live debut at the Mercantile in Dublin on 4 February. ==Personal life==