'THE PRIESTS' SING LIVE IN ARMAGH CATHEDRAL

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When Sony BMG Records scoured Europe for clergymen with the talent to record a new album, word of mouth eventually led them to three priests in two tiny Northern Ireland villages. A £1 million recording contract followed and The Priests were born.

“We’re all middle aged now, so we’re not a boy band obviously. We didn’t just walk away from our parishes and make an album,” says Father O’Hagan, laughing.  “It must be said that Sony have very accommodating when it comes to us prioritizing our responsibilities as priests, so we work around that. Weddings, funerals, baptisms. You don’t leave your parish, your collogues and a bishop behind. That’s not the way it works.”

One thing is for certain — they’re going to become huge international stars. Sony BMG affiliates in 32 countries including the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Brazil and the Philippines have already agreed to release their debut album without hearing the first note.  Now Radiohead’s string arranger is on board, as is famed photographer David Bailey, who has taken the cover photos. Their new manager Sam Wright can count Eminem, Marilyn Manson and Jon Bon Jovi among her former clients. Behind all the glamour they’re still priests, of course.

And from the beginning Father O’Hagan insisted that his focus as a priest would not change. In fact he was cautious about the idea of making the album at all.  But he was reassured when Sony indicated a large degree of flexibility about their commitments. And since they first signed on the priests themselves have started to actually enjoy the work.

Says Father O’Hagan, “It’s been quite a steep learning curve and this has been an amazing journey thus far. We’ve met some wonderful people, many of whom have never had occasion to meet a priest before, so it’s been enriching for us. Many who have met us accidentally may now see another side to the church.”

“We don’t perhaps appreciate how big that is yet, I suppose. We’ve been concentrating so much on making the album that we’re just catching up with how big that exposure might be,” says Father O’Hagan. How do you go back to being a parish priest in a Northern Irish village after you’ve been feted and applauded in Manhattan?

“We have to be careful to balance all this with our responsibilities back home. It’s not going to be easy. I don’t think anyone’s done this before. But we’ll work at it and we’ll cross the bridges as we come to them. We want to lift people’s hearts with our music.”