Entertainment

Screaming Eagles track to feature in Bryan Cranston's Sneaky Pete

Northern Ireland band Screaming Eagles' song Rock n' Roll Soul has been picked for the soundtrack of Sneaky Pete
Northern Ireland band Screaming Eagles' song Rock n' Roll Soul has been picked for the soundtrack of Sneaky Pete Northern Ireland band Screaming Eagles' song Rock n' Roll Soul has been picked for the soundtrack of Sneaky Pete

NORTHERN Ireland rockers Screaming Eagles have just been given the perfect start to 2017. One of the band's songs, Rock n' Roll Soul, has been chosen to form part of the soundtrack for Bryan Cranston's new TV series, Sneaky Pete.

The Breaking Bad star is set for another major hit with the con man crime drama and he is also an executive producer on the show – which is all good news for Screaming Eagles who will now have their music smack bang in front of millions of viewers worldwide.

Adrian McAleenan, the band's guitar player, is understandably very excited by this latest chapter in the Screaming Eagles' story.

“It is a bit of a fairy tale really when you think about. There we are, a band made up of people from Banbridge and Enniskillen, getting one of our songs in something so major and so cool. So cool because pretty much everybody watched Breaking Bad and will like myself be really interested to see Bryan Cranston's latest crime show.

"We are of course so happy about the whole thing and having been making music, gigging for years and really putting in the hard work, it's so gratifying to get a vote of confidence like this and to know we're doing something right.”

The band are no strangers though to soundtrack work – they previously had a track included in the US series Justified and in fact it was that connection that landed the Eagles the Sneaky Pete gig.

“The producer who worked on Justified is now on Sneaky Pete and got in touch out of the blue one day saying that he was watching scenes from a new project he was filming and that our song Rock 'n Roll Soul would fit it perfectly. So we sorted out the licensing etc and were of course more than happy to let the track be used. So lightning has struck twice for us, I suppose, which is amazing.”

Sneaky Pete is indeed a fantastic shop window for Screaming Eagles and their big moment comes in Season 1 Episode 2. With a lack of mainstream music television shows and serious under-investment in rising bands these days, a TV series soundtrack inclusion can often be the hammer that knocks the nail in. Series like The Sopranos, Entourage and The O.C. for example, certainly pushed songs and artists to the fore and into the public consciousness that otherwise may have stayed well below the radar.

“It definitely seems to be a good road to go down for artists now, “ Adrian reflects. “If you're a rock band like us there actually aren't too many options or opportunities for getting across to a mainstream audience so being part of a hit TV series where the music plays such an important role can be very beneficial. We hope so anyway.

"We're now just working away on our next album and have a bunch of live dates coming up so it's definitely a great time for the band. Long may it continue.”

Sneaky Pete debuts tonight on Amazon Prime.