I won’t have it! The amazing LeBien have packed up their synths, pulled down the shutters, padlocked the doors and chucked the key aside. Their performance at Childline last night was a grand finale to us unwitting punters and I am devastated to say goodbye. They’ve even deleted their MySpace profile. *sob* You will be sorely missed guys. Sorely.
No, it really rocks…this year’s fundraiser has a startling line-up featuring Cathy Davey, Clampdown, The Coronas, Future Kings Of Spain, Ham Sandwich, Super Extra Bonus Party and Soul Riot DJs on The Star Stage while Dry County, Jape, Les Bien and Rarely Seen Above Ground take the Phantom 105.2 Stage accompanied by resident DJs and a Bodytonic crew.
Not sure if I’m animal enough for a seven-hour marathon but the show at the new Academy caters for absolutely everyone so drag your mates away from Dancing On Ice in the name of a good cause…
When I’d just got the idea of this blog off the ground last year, I smuggled my boyfriend into the VIP room at Castle Palooza on the premise of helping me round up bands for interview. The subsequent recordings were abandoned due to insane background noise, save for five minutes of Fight Like Apes. They’d just gone into orbit and it’s good to see they’re still sky-high several months later.
One point MayKay and Pockets agreed on was the excellence of Limerick greens giveamanakick. It’s been a while since I saw either play and I’m glad: Galway, step up to the plate. The time has come for a corker of a gig: Fri 25th January, giveamanakick and special guests Fight Like Apes @ Roisin Dubh.
FLA’s other favourite band Grand Pocket Orchestra support at the Dublin show in Whelans this Saturday 19th. Kicking rock monkerey, commence!
Ballroom of Romance on Friday was a right rousin’ to do…Hounds played before I arrived – bah! – at the jammers Lower Deck in Rathmines. Great news for Seomra Spraoi
Cited as one of Connected magazine’s top 50 of 2007, The Negative Way fared well last year with a spot at HWCH and support to The Brunettes’ Whelans gig. Camera whizz Mark Duggan sent me the link to a music video he recently made with the band. Called Face The Day, it was recorded around Dublin last summer and quirky camerawork reflects the soulful indie influences the band draws from and makes you wanna get out into the fresh January air.
Plans for an EP have been shelved for the time being but TNW still intend to start the year in the studio with live performances to follow. New music’s been added to their MySpace recently, including I Don’t Know Myself, set to become their next audiovisual project.
The Kinetiks have posted their new single Bite The Bullet on their MySpace, Bebo and XFM pages. Mixed by indie favourite Gareth Mannix, the track’s been a closely-guarded secret since its inception in Grouse Lodge mid-2007. Launched in Whelans on February 29th with an all-ages show to following afternoon, Bite The Bullet differs from its precursor Shuffle Your Feet, being available in both physical and download form, featuring cover art courtesy of fellow snapper Ian of The lovely Skanks.
Kill City Defectors are really putting it about this year: following their free gig in Galway’s Roisin Dubh, another has been set for Carlow’s Underground Bar this Saturday 12th. Freefreefree!!
Not-free is this weekend’s Capri-Son fundraiser for Beaumont Hospital, organised by TwinKranes in memory of a friend. You’ve gotta hand it to the rockers, they really band together. Shuffle on to Button Factory to see TwinKranes, Sickboy, Stagger Lee, The Mighty Stef and The Things live it up. You won’t get a better excuse than this schmexy flyer to go out this weekend.
Upscale exposure is no doubt a dream for any blossoming band and for Irish musicians usually involves international advertisers or television shows happening upon tracks. As reported by hotpress.com Starbucks’ label Hear Music, which many will recognise as Paul McCartney’s new home, has included slightly-different Dubliners The Guggenheim Grotto and Damien Rice on a new sampler. Despite loathing the twee franchise myself, it’s always good to see our bands do well and I might’ve been convinced to drop by in exchange for a shiny CD emblazoned with The Guggenheim Grotto. Exce-e-ept the CD in question is entitled The UK’s Best & Brightest. Being far too soft, I can almost forgive TGG this lapse of national idenity amnesia, seeing as they’re struggling to crack the big time and the compilation features behemoth British acts Amy Winehouse, The Fratellis and Lily Allen. But honestly Rice, we expected better!
I leave you with Superjiminez‘ refreshing logic on the possibility of their debut album in 2008:
“…Our concept is like a fine wine that, logically, must take time to mature so as to reach the right consistency and balance.
“What d’ya mean? Like a cheese sorta thang?”.
No, no. Not like a cheese, I’d say. For our album will be full bodied, well-rounded, brimming with exciting flavours and bursting with exotic colours. A wine that can be sipped slowly by an open fire, or inharmoniously skulled while you wait on a taxi to bring you into town. A wine that frequently appears at house parties or in clubs and late bars. A wine that will stand the test of time. Not like cheese, I repeat. Cheese smells….“
Hot Sprockets drummer Adrian ‘Age’ Kelly was involved in a serious accident shortly before Christmas and spent the holidays in hospital. Things looked aptly hairy for a bit but thankfully he’s now on the mend in Beaumont.
Goodwill may now be seasonally unfashionable but it’s unlikely plaid-clad Sprockets will hold it against their friends, who’ve banded together in the shape of a fundraiser for Age at The Hub tonight. Steel-strings and swagger from The Hot Sprockets themselves, The Zealots and Hassle Merchants, acoustic sets from Mainline and Sweet Jane promise chaos taken to new heights courtesy of DJs from Antics, Chemistry and Trashed. If your plan for bands in 2008 is to start as you mean to go on, this gig should be a speedball…and for a good cause, too!
Lots of generous musicians have truly entered into the spirit of Christmas this week by deciding to give something back to those who’ve supported their music this year.
James O’Toole take note! Bats‘ EP Cruel Sea Scientist was released last week and spam-bulletins have been non-existent. Instead they post little bits and pieces of furry-faced fun, like this short’n'silly YouTube vid for the lovers of their their leather-winged thing. While you’re at it, check out their brand new website too. They do the art thing so well…
And while they ain’t gifts as such, Dark Room Notes want everyone to know that t-shirts will be available from their Whelans gig with Lauren Guillery and the Claws tomorrow night.
And on the note of Kowalski, who are planning the most extravagant extravaganza at their show tonight (horns, trumpets, choirs, guest vocalists and three drummers), I’ll leave you with their regal indie Christmas message from last year. They’ve promised to post regal indie Christmas message 2007 on the Big Day itself. So excuse yourself from Hot toddies and brandy butter on the premise of a nap (for Christmas day is aaaall about toddies, brandy and naps) and get your MySpace fix of the Seesaw funsters.
With a glut of gigs lined up to really chuck us into the swing of Christmas season proper, this’d be a fine place to start as your money goes towards Crumlin and Temple Street Children’s Hospitals. Relax! Your collection of Jem dolls is safe: this Thursday’s Bodytonic/Thumped gig is asking admission of €10 or a new, non-plush toy (unwrapped) and in return you’ll get be treated to divine rock vs rave DJ sets from the likes of Large Mound, Jim Carroll, Richie Jape and Johnny Moy. And with a line-up like that, it’s safe to say Shakin’ Stevens won’t get a look-in….
Not content with a great reputation for scintillating live shows, good looks and rockstar appeal, The Kinetiks, Penfold DM and DC Tempest now have to show off what big hearts they have.
Organised by the father of three year-old Sophie Andreucetti, who was born with hypopituitarism, this show is a one-off fundraiser aimed towards buying special gifts for children in Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin, who are too sick to spend Christmas at home with their families. Read the rest of this entry »
