The Answer (band)

The Answer
The Answer in 2006.
Background information
Origin	Downpatrick and Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK
Genres	Hard rock, blues rock
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Albert Productions (UK)
Members	Cormac Neeson Paul Mahon Micky Waters James Heatley

The Answer is a Northern Irish hard rock and blues-rock band from Newcastle and Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK. They have achieved success with their debut album Rise selling in excess of 30,000 copies in the UK & Europe, 10,000 on day one in Japan and 100,000 worldwide.

The Answer was formed in 2000 by guitarist Paul Mahon, whose father was a jazz trumpeter and member of seminal Irish showband The Freshmen, who released three albums on CBS and toured with the likes of the Beach Boys. Aged 18, Paul knew he wanted to put together a rock band and mentioned it to bassist Micky Waters, an old school friend who had been in numerous cover bands around Belfast.

James Heatley, who had played as Ash’s stand-in live drummer in 1993, was recruited to be the drummer for The Answer. Paul called him up only to find that he was about to take his finals at University, so the trio waited whilst James completed his degree in Psychology.

In late June 2000, the four of them got together for their debut rehearsal. 2001 was spent writing, rehearsing, gigging locally and building up a set The Answer. By 2002, the band had attracted the attention of MCD promotions in Ireland, (the company who recently bought out the Mean Fiddler Group, alongside Clear Channel), who put them on as openers at the Witnness Festival that year.

Eamonn Keyes, owner of Doghouse Studios recorded them before they were signed.

In 2005, Classic Rock magazine voted The Answer as Best New Band 2005, which brought them even more exposure. The Answer then went on to co-headline the first Nokia 'New School of Rock' Tour, with Tokyo Dragons and The Sound Explosion. Shortly afterwards, in November 2005, came their second official release - the single "Never Too Late". They supported Deep Purple at an intimate show at the London Astoria on 17 January 2006.