Dead, buried, gone, cleared out, packed-up, a trail of dust on life’s lonely highway, Stagger Lee - aptly named after the murdered billyboy of New Orleans - are dead. But haud yer whist! Don’t cry just yet, leave your soggy hankies in your pocket for the fe/male four-piece are not quite finished. They erupt from the ghostly chysalis of that Staggering incarnation into a new world of light…as the Dagger Lees!
Remember this? I couldn’t tell you then but the band chose to abandon the old moniker waaay back and the call for artists was a search for new identity in the form of a logo, artwork and creative vision for the new handle.
Big plans are afoot in the Lee camp. This summer is spent writing and preparing new material, including a download-only single available from MySpace next month. Their song Scarlet Fever appears on a forthcoming American film release by punk rock film company Vivid Alt, while September sees the band make a return to the Spiegeltent celebrations.
However big daddy of all this news is the early 2009 trip to the US to record their debut album with the legendary Jim Diamond of White Stripes, Von Bondies and Electric Six fame. With so much activity and a strengthening reputation, it was time to dump the old skin of success and move into new threads. The Stagger Lee name is well-known in America - just try searching MySpace - continuance under the same name would have invited a helluva headache. So instead, Stagger Lee is dead…long live the Dagger Lees!
In a remarkably good-natured move, Waterford’s You’re Only Massive have announced they no longer plan a future for their group. Megan revealed the news a few hours ago through the trusty MySpace blog channels, promising to honour scheduled Irish dates before a final gig with Queen Kong at Trickster in Berlin on 26 July - which gives my heart a little wobble - genuine shock factor surrounds You’re Only Massive’s decision to call it a day as a new record with Queen Kong, Dot Dash, is due for release in less than a month. Interesting details here on the QK blog.
We are at a crossroads, just like the seminal Britney Spears movie Crossroads.
I am more interested in trying to develop my writing and dedicate a chunk of my life to that, while Maebh is eager as a beaver to develop musically. I will continue to contribute to Y.O.M., beginning with a Y.O.M. zine, which will be out around the time Dot-Dash comes out.
For once the OHR black lace mantilla will stay in its case. I’m not sad to say goodbye Maebh and Megan, they’re bright, creative and attuned, a simple hybrid of text/melody blossoming to maturity. You know it’s not the last we’ll hear of them…but wasn’t it nice to know this incarnation?
Am not sure but think they’re recording in Rocky Oppenheimer’s Start Together Studio in the Oh Yeah! Centre in Belfast. Apparently BBC’s Stephen McCauley is making most of the noise! Wonder if they need someone to make tea….
Hey alll… I know some of these appear a bit dark but I’ve decided to leave them 100% raw as they were shot. The Urges are a garage band and all about having it dank, down, dirty and dark. Exactly what Saturday was all about. This is The Urges.
It’s four days since Dry County and my neck still hurts. Now you’re talking.
Live photo experiences for me just don’t get better. To picture, Dry County are a greasy smear of colour, boom, heat. Cars In Walls and The Eclectic broke the soundbarrier with cool support but the night belonged to DC. The house was packed with an easy, baying crowd who roared “encore!” seconds after the lights went down. We were wired. We wanted Stop, Proceed and by God, we got it.
It was the final gig. though the Dry County banner hoists once more on the New Sounds Stage at Oxegen.
When you’re at Punchestown, check the Chem Bros’ magnificent visuals and decide for yourself if Zach de la Rocha is the shit before topping off with the final Dry County performance, ever.* You’ll be glad to say you were there.
I know I would. For me, this is fuckin’ IT. This is why I take photos, why I blog, why on early weekend mornings after constant work, I wound up back back at my desk again in rapture. This is IT.
Brilliant Irish Music.
Peoples, get yourselves to Filmbase today at 4pm for the screenings of two cult Irish music documentaries: Darklight Festival’s cultural weekender kicks off with Shellshock Rock , “John T Davis’ lyrical snapshot of Northern Ireland’s burgeoning punk scene in the late 1970s” and The Stars Are Underground, 1996’s short film on the indepent Irish music scene based on The Frames’ song of the same name. Davis will be on hand for a Q&A afterwards. As an ardent fan of Norn Iron’s great new scene, I’m so there. Tickets cost €5.
(Check out the schedule: there are some brilliant films such as Heavy Metal in Baghdad and Tron…!!) Road Records follow up with an undergound art exhibition and book launch in the store’s basement on Fade Street afterwards with tunes from David Beattie and Maximum Joy’s Mici Durnin. What a way to welcome the weekend…
