This County Tyrone, Northern Ireland outfit channels a whiskey-soaked strain of classic rock steeped in '70s influences and laced with blues and country textures, its moniker drawn from the River Blackwater that bordered each member's childhood or adult home. Formed in 2006 under the name Million Dollar Reload, the group issued two studio albums in the mold of AC/DC, the second of which prompted industry speculation in 2012 that gravel-voiced frontman Phil Conalane might succeed Scott Weiland in Velvet Revolver. A rift with Frontiers Records, reportedly sparked by the label's refusal to issue the live set As Real as it Gets, led the band to self-release that recording.
Midway through an August 2015 show at Belfast's Empire Music Hall, the musicians began the evening as Million Dollar Reload and finished it as Blackwater Conspiracy, simultaneously declaring one project over and another begun. That same night they unveiled a self-titled debut EP on their own Bulletproof 20/20 Records imprint, which would later host both 2017's Shootin' the Breeze and 2020's Two Tails & the Dirty Truth of Love & Revolution.
Guitarist Brian Mallon, bassist Kie McMurray, drummer Fionn O'Haigan, and keyboardist Kevin Brennan had all belonged to Million Dollar Reload when the transformation occurred alongside Conalane; Brennan alone arrived at the last moment, replacing high-octane guitarist Andrew Mackle who exited in 2014. His arrival on keys helped steer the group toward the loose, unhurried Rolling Stones flavor that would define their new identity, a direction also shaped by touring Europe with Blackberry Smoke's Charlie Starr in 2014.
Sean Douglas produced the debut EP at Rockfield Studios in Wales inside a live room large enough for the full ensemble. After another Belfast appearance in December 2015, the band tracked fresh material at Derry's Studio 2; from those dates Pete Maher—whose credits include the Rolling Stones, the Killers, and U2—mastered the signature track "Shoot the Breeze," later featured on the June 2017 album Shootin' the Breeze. The intervening months were devoted to finishing the record, though the group also performed a high-profile June support slot for Blackberry Smoke at the Dublin Academy.
Once the album surfaced, Blackwater Conspiracy launched a promotional run that included first-time appearances at Download Festival and Ramblin' Man Fair plus a UK tour with Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown. 2018 brought the band's inaugural London headline date and an extensive UK trek alongside the Kris Barras Band. Sessions for the second LP, Two Tails & The Dirty Truth of Love & Revolution, began late that year and stretched well into 2019; the finished set arrived on Valentine's Day 2020, with James Wilson producing an expanded palette that incorporated violins, brass, uilleann pipes, and Irish whistles.
