LOL has anyone else noticed this MySpace ad? Tickles me pink, so it does!

Not one to succumb to any sense of anti-climax, I’d like to calmly state that the month of May is here and so far the sky hasn’t fallen off yet.

It’s been a heady couple of weeks in this blogosphere as all sorts of occasions have whipped past and today is the first day activity levels have levelled out. I’ve been writing and researching, photoshopping thousands of photographs and trying to still an all too regular fluttering of my heart as catastrophes peep over the horizon. I sincerely regret not learning to file. Also, I’ve become a bit spoilt by these unbridled unsigned gigs in the city this year. I’ve forgotten all about barriers and passes and three songs no flash and its quite a culture-shock to return to massive festival stages and polished stageshows from the proximity of the NSMA! Green Energy‘s a far shout from where Floyd Soul and the Wolf stand, yet Nick Cave saw the interiors of enough dim-lit venues before breaking out to open-air extravaganzas!
That buzz of activity and never quite knowing who/what’s next coupled with the sunny weather outside has made a very pleasant start to the summer indeed

The Irish music scene is very quiet today. I’m raring to go, to get on to something juicy and get some momentum flowing…but there’s nothing going on except Cathy Davey‘s eating habits:

If you can figure out what she’s saying, she’ll award two free tix to any of her gigs…check the myspace!

You know what this means, don’t you? All the musicians have dumped their leather jackets, and headed to the little park behind Whelans with their Bucky? No, they’re all rehearsing (ASIWYFA are in studio…doesn’t that bode well for this Friday’s show?)!
So off I go to productively file my 2fm School of Rock pictures. However I’d like to throw a question: what’s the craic with spin-off Irish bands? Jape and Redneck Manifesto, FKOS and A Lazarus Soul, Wingdings and GiveAManAKick…How many do you know of? Which band is better? Do side-projects detract from the original? I’m curious….

RapturePonies, Adam Lacey and Leigh each tagged me in the Memes…

Rules: having been tagged, list six unknown facts about yourself. Tell your tagger you have posted.
Tag six new sources and personally inform them of their tagee-ness. Their submissions can be done on their own blogs or in the comment box below.

Werrrrgh? I felt a bit averse to posting a meme referencing the useless on this, a music blog.
So here’s a random Musical meme?

1) At a Tisch screening a few years ago, I told Sorcha Brennan to get out of shot so I could take a photo of Butterfly Explosion.

2) My first ever paid job for a band was to follow StoneOcean around Carlow for a day, which is when I met 79Cortinaz. I proceeded to take loads of photos, get ratted drunk, graffiti the toilets and was driven home asleep on my untouched battered sausage and chips.

3) I’m unbearably shy and always full of questions for the bands I meet that I never get to ask because a scamptious mental devil overrides sense with sheer inanity. When photographing The Cribs at Oxegen 2006 I almost blurted “your father should demand a DNA test!” at the youngest Jarman brother.

4) Before landing my work experience at HotPress, I only ever went to Whelans if I was plastered. Then I was barred and didn’t return for about seven years.

5) The first unsigned Irish CD I ever bought was The Jimmy Legs’ EP for £4 in Fibbers, a godawful creation with a neon pink Jack Russel on the cover, inside which they thanked God, their parents and John Player Blue.

6) I’m an awful, deaf, insomniac drummer.

I hereby tag six Irish musicians’ blogs and ask that they reveal six things about their band :

1) Deaf Animal Orchestra
2) The Eclectic
3) Team Fresh
4) Distractors
5) Queen Kong
6) Aortal

Did you vote their win at the Meteors or feel your feathers ruffled when Sean Michaels slagged their name? Do you consider yourself a fan, nay! a dedicated Hambassador, to the Kells cause?

Then go forth and do your bit in getting the Sambos Keepsake on to Steve Lamacq’s Radio6 playlist.
Simply email lamacq.6music[@]bbc.co.uk  with ‘Track 1′ as the subject title.
You won’t be spammed but Hammed instead…

...And I’m just about recovered from Electric Picnic last weekend. Read the rest of this entry »