…So sang Marlene Dietrich in the 1940s, harking back to her homeland.
Over the last few months of chatting to musicians and browsing networking sites, it’s dawned how many Irish musicians are upping sticks and choosing to gig away from home: Berlin in Germany, to precise.
Perhaps Ireland shares a subconcious affinity with the Germans, having also rebuilt a ravaged economy into a thriving hub of exciting artistic development? Berlin was always a highly cultural city: classical composers Bach and Mendelssohn called it home and today there are a staggering seven symphonic orchestras in the city. Although schmaltzy, the gloriously hedonistic image portrayed in Liza Minelli’s Oscar-winning Cabaret was supposedly an honest representation of the city’s nightlife prior to the horrors of WWII, cementing a reputation as an open community for artists, musicians and those of an independent disposition. The 60s/70s style known as ‘Berlin School’ furthered progressive music with offerings from John Peel’s favourite conceptualists Tangerine Dream whose early forays paved the way for Techno, the biggest revolution in pop music since jive rock in the Fifties. A few years later David Bowie and Brian Eno sought refuge in the city’s creative haven and produced some of the most critically acclaimed material of their careers.
When the wall dividing East from West was demolished in 1989 and the nation’s reunification began, derelict buildings on the old west side, many untouched since the war, were reclaimed by young people looking for seclusion in which to play the ultra-loud Techno. Hundreds of galleries and museums, low cost of living and tolerance for individuality meant that the creative reputation gathered momentum and expanded into continental Europe’s unofficial capital of culture with musicians and artists from all over the world flocking to lay roots there. Several of our home-grown artists now use the capital as a base: Humanzi took a break from the Dubscene rock’n'roll for R’n'R of a different nature and ended up recording the as-yet unreleased follow-up to 2006′s succesful Tremors there. I tracked down some others to find out what influenced their choices in making the move.
Radio City always has deadly club/gig nights and the trend is set to continue in season Nollaig with what’s looking to be a brilliant do: taking a break from usual DJ duties, Analog Dublin present the city’s first Post-Rock/Shoegaze night, ClubAC30, coming to town on December 15th with home-brew Sweet Jane, Dae Kim and TwinKranes gigging loud alongside a special DJ set by Amusement Parks On Fire.
I have a guestlist give-away for this blinder of a night and all you gotta do is be in it to win it! First person to mail me (naymca [at] gmail.com) with the answer to this pifflin’ easy Q finds their name on da list:
“Which famous Irish shoegaze group recently announced a reunion tour?”
I can’t wait to hear what APoF choose to spin for us from the dark corners…it’s looking to be a spellbinding start to the club. Defo gonna be a great pre-Christmas night out!
Seeya there with long hair!
At 1:30 on Sunday afternoon I was checking MySpace and saw a bulletin from Ham Sandwich: they were playing a free all-ages show as the final 2fm 2moro 2our in less than an hour’s time. I’d promised to bring my kids ice-skating but took a rain-check due to lack of funds (€14 for a child?! Madness!) so instead we whizzled our way to Wexford Street for my six- and seven-year olds’ first concert: Ham Sandwich, Concerto for Constantine and David Geraghty.
We arrived half-way through the Hambo’s second-last song and the kids were wide-eyed and overwhelmed at the front of stage as Podge, Darcy and John ground out the heavy melodies they’re known for, while Niamh gave good writhing and seems to have adopted a very Dirty Epics style of dancing….
Music’s beauty is unlimited capacity for diverse tune and opinion…there’s room for everyone’s voice. I want to know what musicians think of the gig circuit they work so hard to conquer. This week’s instalment of Thirty Years Underground comes from Dave Marron of Sanzkrit….
Off Her Rocker: What do you imagine are the differences between emerging musicians today and that of U2′s day? Dave Marron: U2 had released two or three albums before I was even born, so I didn’t witness their rise to fame first hand. but in my opinion I think it’s easier for bands to achieve some kind of success in Ireland today than it was in the early eighties, but I’m not necessarily sure if that’s a positive thing artistically.
There seems to be a lot of middle of the road bands, sticking to a formula of contrived blandness. They repeat a dumbed down lyric over and over until it takes hold of people’s sub-conscious. It seems that most of today’s emerging artists in Ireland focus their attentions on PR and propaganda more than song-writing. I think there was more truth in the eighties scene. Maybe when our country was in economic turmoil we found it harder to lie to ourselves. We sought something real.
Like U2 in Dublin in the eighties, Most of the best scenes seem to have stemmed from a time of recession. The Beatles in Liverpool in the sixties, The Madchester scene in the late eighties, The Seattle scene in the early nineties. People needed local heroes to tell the world their stories and lift their spirits. Read the rest of this entry »
Were you at The Village last year when to see Saviours of Space wow the crowd? Fancy showing past winners Delorentos how it’s really done? Well, the heats for the National Student Music Awards have been announced and it’s time to get your demos in….
Organisers have confirmed the regional heats as:
Thur March 6th UCD
Thur Mar 13th NUIG
Wed Mar 19th Cyprus Avenue, Cork
The best will be selected to compete in the finals in Dublin later in the year.
Last year The Blizzards strummed and sweated their way through a headline slot. No news yet on who’ll do the honours next year…I’d love it to be last year’s contenders The Kinetiks but am thinking The Flaws may be more likely…
…Paul Buchanan might not be waiting longer but us ordinary joes still have a fortnight to go.
After a long hiatius from the madness of Ireland’s gig scene, The Rags are back and they’ve brought presents!
I caught up with the scandalous six on Tuesday afternoon in Apollo Studios in Temple Bar, as they polished off a free album sampler ‘Bin Bag’ which they’re making available as a free digital-only release from their website therags.com on November 30th.
“On the surface of things we’ve been keeping a low profile the past year
or so but we’ve been busy recording our debut album,” explains frontman
Daniel Anderson. “At the moment we’re putting finishing touches to it, and
making ‘Bin Bag’ available for free is our way of saying thanks to all the
people who’ve been contacting us asking us when the album is going to be
out. They’ve been very patient.”
Bagsies I be first to hit the site at the end of the month! As if that’s not enough, The Rags also play a special Christmas gig in the Button Factory on December 20th…gearing up for what will undoubtably be 2008: Year of the Rags….
“…what’s going on?” Here’s my round up of the latest gigs, releases and general newsworthy nuggets.
Ethereal thinkers Tidal District are playing Pravda tonight from 11pm. No admission charge or stringent security means you can save a fortune by smuggling in your own medicinal tipple thus ensuring an fiine kickstart to your plastered weekend.
If you’re in the red county tonight, why not check out Television Room on 95FM at 5pm, psyching themselves up before their first Cork headliner at Cyprus Avenue? Having already graced Phantom and Phoenix radio earlier this week, it’s been a whirlwind ride for the fray-mous five (tatty-chic) since releasing Tinabelle three weeks ago.
I bumped into James (it took seven hours to dig myself out of the ground after calling him Brian at the Button Factory on Sat…scarleh’!) at Apollo Studios on Tuesday and promised to hit Crawdaddy for what will be TVRoom’s best show to date, tomorrow night.
It’s all happening outside Dublin tonight: Queen Kong and Sticky Digit will hit Dolans Warehouse like a…Kong-sized Digit later this evening. Shit-hot new Irish Krautrockers VoxPopuli will do the support thing. Get your industrial ass in gear and go! Do I need to tell you twice? Fine. GO! Read the rest of this entry »
Music’s beauty is unlimited capacity for diverse tune and opinion…there’s room for everyone’s voice. I want to know what musicians think of the gig circuit they work so hard to conquer. This week’s instalment of Thirty Years Underground comes from Dave Marron of Sanzkrit….
