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.

Although they’re a seasoned band who paved their way bit-by-bit, it’s been a whirlwind for Derry rockers Fighting With Wire since the release of debut album Man vs Monster in 2007. Punching past other rock releases this past year, the record’s packed with driving spirit and guitar, gathering resounding reviews from a wide range of sources and a steady stream of bookings, a full summer schedule has soldified the album as success. Currently riding high at #2 in the MTV2 Chart (above Coldplay, Paramore and We Are Scientists, so go and vote to keep get them to first place!), new single Everybody Needs A Nemesis is released next Monday 2 June before Fighting With Wire jet away to Paris and the first leg of their European mini-tour. Check out the video :

They play tonight at The Hub with support from Laminate and Your Arch Enemies. I love seeing bands in tiny, dark venues knowing they’re heading on to huge stages soon after. Get along and make your own mind up for €12. The Dublin bands are worth that alone and apparently Laminate may be calling it a day very soon…

It’s the first rainy day after our sunny spell and looking out, I can’t help but be reminded of the wonderful festivals awaiting us!

Batching photos from last year’s Castle Palooza, I got thinking about the sheer variety of events planned each summer. Mega-fests like Oxegen and Electric Picnic dominate the music calendar but there really is so much more going on and often at a much cheaper rate. If, after a day and night of bright music and new friends, you’ve found yourself longing for mashed potato or dry loo roll at 4am, you’re better off going indie. It’s the small stuff that counts!

So here’s my festival wishlist 2008…chip in and rate your own favourites or recommend a band!

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A note from the dark room revealed these : free downloads of Love Like Nicotine and Shake, Shake My Ceiling, two storming tracks from DRN‘s 2007 Dead Start Program EP. Currently slap-bang in the creation of debut album, the band say recording’s set for London’s Flood Studios in July. Keep an eye on MySpace for some pre-production teasers….

Dark Room Notes will perform in mid-June at the London Calling showcase for Music From Ireland, after which gigs will likely slacken off…so get yourself up to frAntics at the Shaw tomorrow 28 May, just in case!

Word is in from downloadmusic.ie camp and the fifteen bands featuring on the new USB compilation album are:

Codes
Dirty Epics
Driving By Night
Jo And The Flood
Justin Manville
Orphan Code
Ro Tierney
Roberta Howett
Saccade
Suddyn
The Flaws
The Kinetiks
The Radio
The Rumours
Vesta Varro

Congrats to them! That’s an album and a half all right. Looking forward to my nifty USB key!