Distractors play Eamonn Dorans tonight with garagey greats The Revellions.

Garageland is back with its eighteenth series of unsigned Irish music performances! A month of live dates kicks off tonight at the Sugar Club with double launch nights to follow at Eamonn Dorans and Whelans on 6 June. Interesting choices and titles in the line-up include Myp et Jeep, Guillotines, tonight’s Fear the Foliage and elusive Tiny, Tiny Hammers.

Established in 2000, Garageland’s constant live music format involves venues all over the country, its gig-tally currently topping over 1000. Seen as a stepping stone for fledgling bands to showcase their talents in a pleasantly challenging environment of their contemporaries in the music industry, breakthrough acts appear regularly: Delorentos, Fight Like Apes, Ham Sandwich, The Immediate, The Kinetiks, The Script and Television Room all kicked up a ruckus at Garage gigs on their path to success. Dedicated to smoothing the forefront of new Irish music, garageland.ie are busy peeps:a special series in conjuction with Your Music Live. TV is due to broadcast in June, featuring full live performances, interviews and news from the Top 40 Garageland bands.
More recently IndieHour snapper Ian Oliver tipped us off about Donegal band BoyNumber7 who emerged as inaugral winners of the 7 Steps Up Award. Initiative of Garageland and Youth Work Ireland, 7 Steps Up is aimed at furthering the creative potential of people aged 12-19 nd draws youngsters from all cultural backgrounds in Ireland. The Award will now be implemented on a permanent basis and looks set to follow garageland.ie’s success.
For more information on 7 Steps Up or Garageland gigs visit www. garageland. ie or contact garageland[at]ireland[dot]com. Interested musicians are welcome to apply to perform.

Current Garageland listings with more to be confirmed are :

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Quick and email Chris at chrismorrin[at]gmail[dot]com and he’ll put your names down on the list for tonight’s Crawdaddy show with New Zealanders The Ruby Suns and Brooklyn’s Telepathe.
Seriously. Good. Offer.

Ophelia - The Back Room - February 2008

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Shakefest this weekend should be a barrell-bellydance of laughs! A small, global-themed celebration of dance and culture besieges Charleville Castle in Tullamore, home also to hugely popular Castle Palooza. Leanne Hart and Lauren Guillery head a Peace Concert to raise awareness for International Day of Peace on 31 May and all proceeds over the weekend go directly to an Ethiopian NGO for women and children.
The nice organisers have this morning offered a pair of tickets to the three-day fest so if you fancy brushing up on your b-boi skillz or burlesque thrills this June bank holiday, give this a bash:

Which Irish singer recently recorded a haunting video at Charleville Castle?

As it’s Thursday and the weekend’s fast approaching, I’ll leave this comp to run until 10:30pm tonight send your answers to rockeroffher[at]gmail[dot]com.

Too Famous To Get Fully Dressed has the low-down on FLA’s new single and hotly-tipped debut album.