…that sounds a bit flippant but there’s a great show of support tonight for Imagine 2 at The Sugar Club, in aid of The Basin Club resource for mental illness experience.
Run in conjunction with Garageland, last year’s acts included none other than chart-smashers The Script and this year’s top bands lending their voices include Aortal, Epoch Rising and NSMA2008 runners-up Jerome’s Law.
Jonny Black of LaFaro was in Derry recently and some opportunistic theives nicked his wheels. With a vintage Gibson, Fender telecaster and an Orange amp in the back. Curse it all, musoes just don’t got the luck it seems…
La Faro: unknown photographer
However – and I’ve told you this many times before – Derry heads are sound. Mates and other players have bound together for a killer show featuring some of the finest bands in Norn Iron: in addition to LaFaro, also on the bill are the loves of my life *sigh* And So I Watch You From Afar along with Here Comes The Landed Gentry, Future Chaser, Fighting With Wire and a Panama Kings DJ set, Derry faves Skruff and Belfast contenders Shiro have thrown their considerable weight behind the benefit to round off the main stage line-up.
An acoustic stage has been added also: Paul Casey, Junior Johnson, Ard Ri, Our Krypton Son and LaFaro’s own Jonny Black.
This year the Ambassador opens its doors to the cause against global poverty with a daytime show featuring an eye-opening run of bands:
Concerto for Constantine, Little Green Cars, The Dynamicks, Razor Stilletos, Silkeborg, Funky Thursday, The Result, Choke Hazard, San Salvador, Severe Naked Crisis, Kassettes, Blown Fuse, Sweet Descent.
Smashing Pumpkins enthusiasts will remember Concerto For Constantine from earlier in the year.
Some shocking-awful band-names there. Wear your best martyr look but do get along on 18 October…
Hot Press are running an Oxjam competition accepting submissions from interested musicians. Six new contenders will be chosen to feature alongside six established actson a free CD going out with the magazine.
Just send one song (mp3 or CD), a short bio and your contact details to oxjam[at]hotpress[dot]ie or snail mail it to: Oxjam Opportunity, 13 Trinity Street, Dublin 2. Closing date is Monday 6 October and the usual T&Cs apply.
See www.hotpress.com for more info.
This time there’s a silent disco to accompany the bands which seems to be a very popula movement here at the moment. Red Kid, Penfold DM, The Hot Sprockets, Bill Coleman, Lisa McLaughlin and Phil Kerrigan all pledge their lyrical support to raise €40,000 for a parents’ room at Crumlin Hospital – click to see the plans- in the name of Sophie Andreucetti, a young girl who suffers hypopituitarism, epilepsy and blindness. The benefit was first set up by her father Simon last year to buy Christmas presents for sick children and you can read more about it here.
Despite a setback in The Hub suddenly shutting down for refurbishment (hooray! perhaps the venue will do Islands justice after all!) scuppering the brilliant plan of
Betamax Format + Terrordactyl + Large Mound = spondos for Barnados
the ‘Mound hound Dublin tomorrow with a double-gig-whammy kicking off at 1pm in Tower Records of Wicklow Street, following on later in Crawdaddy with The Bonnevilles and The Things DJs.
Those who attend the Tower show get in free to the night performance. Hell, those who ask nicely will probably find themselves on the guestlist, that’s how fierce and relentlessly friendly Large Mound are….
They also have a new song up on MySpace taken from My Whole Life Is Have To :
Self-producing Oppenheimer‘s debut album must have turned Rocky like a dial: along with two friends, he’s the latest name to join Belfast’s Oh Yeah music initiative. Founded by BBC’s Stuart Bailie and Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol in 2005, the non-profit Centre aims to provide the city with a comprehensive and dedicated resource space for musicians. Check out the website to find out more about the projects, plus there are some interesting snippets of news, videos and links, like this one from the Guardian featuring Tim Wheeler from Ash.
Opening in December 2007, Start Together Studios is the brainchild of Rocky, Barrett Lahey and Ben McAuley who spotted the chance to be involved with the future creative hub of the city. Each of the partners involved has their own technical habits, with US-born Barrett a self-confessed analogue freak while Ben has put his name to several respectable records, including Pixie Saytar‘s debut and EPs for Mojo Fury and Saint Dude’s.
Pictured above in a shamelessly stolen shot from Belfast ledgebags And So I Watch You From Afar‘s blog, Rocky was on hand with Barrett and Ben for their recent stint at STStudios, recording tracks for the upcoming Oh Yeah/Fate Magazine compilation. It’s looking to be a corker with featured artists including ASIWYFA, Panama Kings, La Faro, Mojo Fury, Kowalski, Cashier No 9, General Fiasco and The Jane Bradfords. Something’s definitely right up North…
