The Ledj has ‘em!

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Ruth Medjber AKA The Ledj was in attendance at the latest Club AC30 Dublin in Whelans and true to form, her shots are only bloody magnificent. Here we have Gazz Carr of Butterfly Explosion and their first gig in a while and although Whelans continuing sound problems marred their set the reception was warm. Looking forward to St Patrick’s weekend

Butterfly Explosion - Jan 09. Pic by Ruth Medjber

‘Em check MySpace albums for more – they’re a veritable rock calendar of top concerts in the last few months. Aside from snapping live pics for Hot Press, Ms Medjber also has a tidy line of neat freelance shoots going on the side, including CODES‘ upcoming album promo and new emos on the block Romanov’s Goodbye.  I think she should get a blog and show off her talents in all their glory. Anyone agree?

www.butterflyexplosion.com

www.myspace.com/clubac30dublin

Momentum’s hitting full-tilt as The Music Show draws close and twenty bands are asking you to hop on board and help by voting them to play the Live Stage!
I’ve some great photo-memories of live performances in the RDS, from The Immediate in 2006 and last year’s legendary spell from Doug Wimbish, bassist of Living Colour. Along with a packed schedule of live music, the weekend also encompasses a wide array of information and retail stalls,workshops and seminars…of one, Secrets of Rock Photography, I’ll be speaking at on Sunday.
*chomps nails*
One thing for sure, I can tell you how to handle dirty rockers and random locations, and how not to stage-rush and get thrown out of venues….

So if you’re feeling charitable and fancy giving these guys a shot at thousands’ euro of Sennheiser booty, the bands are:

DC Tempest                           Coming Back Around 
Deaf Animal Orchestra        No Wit Can Save Me Now
Disconnect 4                          The Rise  
Eject                                         Fight
Floyd Soul & Wolf                 Give It a Chance
Froud                                       Nostalgia  
Gorbachov                              Go On My Son
Herm                                       Rearrange    
Joe Echo                                 Where We Wanna Be    
Michele Ann Kelly                Hold On The Night    
Myp Et Jeep                           Excuses    
Pamela Connelly                   Curious Cat
Red Headed League             Do Dah
Reemo                                     Sometimes
Sanzkrit                                  Talk of The Town    
Story of Hair                         Big Melt
Superjimenez                        FAYE
The Last Tycoons                 Loving Arms
The Minutes                          Harmonic
Vasco Junior                         Despised

Subscription-free voting is over at www.hotpress.com. Choose a decent band now!

Oxjam. There’s a good word.

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.

More coming on Oxjam soon.

Well that was nice while it lasted…

My Hot Press alter-ego took over at Stradbally, zipping Off Her Rocker into a sleeping-bag cocoon for the weekend. Irish music had a really strong presence in this year’s Picnic line-up and it was great to hear loads of good reports back of Halves, SEBP and Jape, while Cathy Davey‘s performance was all but sent up in thanks for the celestial weather.
I had the pleasure of spectacular Sigur Ros to wind down on Friday, la Franz on Saturday (and was a bit miffed that they left the stage at 11pm in order to encore and be done by the 11:15 finish listed on the timetable. I met them later that night (*drool*swoon*) there wasn’t a peep of such criticism from yours truly) …My Bloody Valentine on Sunday. They were really the most important performance on the schedule for me and didn’t disappoint, except I wanted membrane-shredding LOUD and didn’t get it….

Over in the Hot Press Chatroom it was all systems go as we had some incredible names lined up for interview: Carbon/Silicon, Elbow, That Petrol Emotion, Foals, Michael Franti and The Roots took the tent by storm: it was so interesting to listen to their stories while hovering with the camera. ?uestlove of The Roots was just riveting, explaining how he started performing on the street because their esoteric hip-hop wasn’t suited for the clubs and years down the line, jamming at Prince’s gaff with Stevie Wonder on piano. Imagine!

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As a follow-on from last month’s discussion:

IMRO Launch Live Music Awards

HP today announced IMRO‘s plans to celebrate the country’s favourite venues in a new awards initiative to take place at the RDS during The Music Show on 4 and 5 October. Four regional and one overall winner will be judged by IMRO on six factors: “staging, sound/lighting, diversity of music programmed at venue, professionalism in their dealings with performers and promotion/PR activities utilised by the venue to promote performances”.
Where are the bog standards to sort the broken latches and embarrassing toilet attendants out?!

Joe Public – that’s you ‘n’ me – can vote for Hot Press Readers’ Live Music Venue Of The Year Award over at www.hotpress.com. If you’ve had the year of gigs I have, there’ll be a few weighty contenders on the list so wear your wrist-stamp with pride and get clickin’!

Rarely Seen Above Ground at Castle Palooza 2008.

What a weekend, I can’t wait to fill you in the Irish music extravaganza of the year! In the meantime, feast your eyes on the hotpress.com Castle Palooza photogallery!

HotPress’ master scribe eminent book-rocker Peter Murphy has his own blog! With the blogging equivalent of a champagne bottle, Interpol and Tom Waits baptised the latest addition to HP.com Blogs (the other being Anne Sexton on XXX). Expect the deliciously unexpected of relevations and an unparalleled peek at the man behind some of the magazine’s iconic features.
Check out today’s installment discussing his deep-rooted love for Eighties marvels The Triffids.

Peter Murphy on HotPress.com