Month: October 2018

Hot off their month long North American tour, where their thrilling Hozier supports and headline shows won legions of new fans and fresh support from US radio, TV and online media; Alfie and Harry Hudson-Taylor are back in Ireland for three big gigs this week, before they jet off again to bring their acclaimed live show, featuring songs from their new ‘Bear Creek To Dame Street’ mini-album, to hungry fans in Europe and the UK.

Catch them at the following venues:

Friday 26th October – Speigeltent, Wexford – SOLD OUT
Saturday 27th October – Cyprus Avenue, Cork
Sunday 28th October – Sligo Live at Anderson’s

Hudson Taylor’s headline European and UK tour dates:

7th November – Doornroosje, Nijmegen, NL
8th November – Rotown, Rotterdam, NL
10th November – Rolling Stone Weekender, Wangels, DE
11th November – Loppen, Copenhagen, DK
12th November – Obaren, Stockholm, SE
14th November – Musik & Frieden, Berlin, DE
15th November – Luxor, Koln, DE
16th November – Rolling Stone Park, Rust, DE
18th November – Les Etoiles Theatre, Paris, FR
22nd November – The Wardrobe, Leeds, UK
23rd November – Club Academy, Manchester, UK
24th November – St. Luke’s, Glasgow, UK
25th November – Think Tank, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK
27th November – O2 Institute 2, Birmingham, UK
28th November – KOKO, London, UK
29th November – The Haunt, Brighton

All six shows for Hudson Taylor’s pre-Christmas residency (17th to 22nd December) at Whelan’s in Dublin are SOLD OUT.

US praise for Hudson Taylor live in concert…

“No matter how bad things get, don’t forget you are still alive, and, if you need a reminder, go see Hudson Taylor in concert.” – Diandra Reviews It All, NYC

“Excellent. After this great performance, it’s clear they will be back to headline their own show!” – Playlist HQ, Chicago.

“Even though each musician had their own distinct personality and style, they meshed together perfectly to create a heavenly chorus.” – Boston University News.

“No matter where I looked, I saw another person quite literally grinning from ear to ear without even meaning to, as the energy that Hudson Taylor emitted engulfed the entire space.” – Tongue Tied magazine, NYC.

“A headline worthy performance, reaffirmed their position as an excellent touring band.” – Glide magazine, NYC

“Hudson Taylor somehow made a 1,200 person venue feel homey and intimate, as though everyone in attendance was friends.” – DC Music Review, Washington

“Hudson Taylor instantly grabbed the crowd’s attention and never let it go.” – Vanyaland, Boston.

Columbia Mills make their highly anticipated return with a new single ‘Close To You’ out now (released Oct 19th). Front man Fiachra Treacy’s lyrics provide a thoughtful complex counterpoint to the layers of man and machine that his band-mates provide.

Treacy says “while the song deals with personal tragedy, the overarching theme is how we judge and criticise other people’s behaviour. If we stop to look at ourselves, we’re all flawed in similar ways. We’re all the same”

On the back of two powerful and emotive sets at Electric Picnic this year, where the band played new material including ‘Close To You’, they’ve recently announced 2 new live shows.

Live Dates

Mike The Pies, Listowel. November 16th
Whelan’s, Dublin. November 29th

Check out the Columbia Mills complete playlist here: https://spoti.fi/2xZWNIN

The live final of the eight annual IMRO Christie Hennessy Song Competition takes place on Saturday, 3rd November at The Ashe Hotel, Tralee, with a special guest performance on the night to be announced. Ten finalists have been selected from over 250 entries from across Ireland and beyond to perform their original song in front of a live audience and panel of expert judges. The winning songwriter will be presented with a cheque for €1,000, courtesy of CARA Credit Union with a runner up prize of €300.

Christie Hennessy: A Celebration will open on Friday 2nd November with The Troubadour Club, a showcase featuring some of the finest of Ireland’s contemporary songwriters.

The IMRO Christie Hennessy Song Competition takes place as a tribute to the life and music of one of Tralee’s most famous sons. Now in its eighth year, the competition has grown in stature over the years to become one of Ireland’s leading song competitions and continues to attract a high calibre of songwriters from Ireland and overseas, covering a broad range of musical genres. Previous winners have included Paul McDonnell, Dave Molloy, Alan Kavanagh, Enda Reilly/Christine Deady, Míde Houlihan, Katie O’Connor and Curtis Walsh.

The ten finalists in the 2018 IMRO Christie Hennessy Song Competition are:

1. Niamh Keane | ‘Lonely Sea’
2. Paddy Dennehy | ‘Strange Wings’
3. Heather McGrath | ‘Intoxicate Me’
4. ELKAE | ‘Sold’
5. Allen Monaghan | ‘Bird’
6. Gemma Bradley | ‘Beserk’
7. Leila Jane | ‘Look Away From Our Creation’
8. Emma Langford | ‘The Belle And The Ruin’
9. Ciara Sidine | ‘Finest Flower’
10. Liam O’Shea and The Grunts | ‘Everytime (We Kiss Goodbye)’

Special guest performer on the night will be award winning international singer-songwriter Don Mescall. Don’s songs have now been recorded a huge number of artists, including Rascal Flatts, The Backstreet Boys, Lonestar, Geri Halliwell, Ronan Keating, Sir Cliff Richard, Nathan Carter, Mackenzie Porter, triple platinum French artist Marina Kaye, Sharon Corr, Aslan, American Idol’s Clay Aiken, Boyzone, Canadian Idol Winner Theo Thams, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, Lulu, Kirsty, The New Cities, French Canadian artist Garou, Woodstock’s legendary Richie Havens, US Country star Neal McCoy, Brian Kennedy, Luke Dickens, Jaydee Bixby, The High Kings, Frances Black, Grant & Forysth and many, many more. Don’s new studio album, ‘Lighthouse Keeper’ will be the first studio album in twelve years, following his debut album ‘Innocent Run’. The new album will be released both digitally and in hard copy on 2nd November and features lead single ‘Love Me Right Now’, a collaboration with Nashville legend Stella Parton.

Entry to the live final is free of charge. For further details about the event, contact IMRO at events@nullimro.ie or 01 661 4844.

The IMRO Christie Hennessy Song Competition is supported by The Troubadour Club, CARA Credit Union, The Ashe Hotel, Radio Kerry and Tralee Chamber Alliance.

LIVE FINAL AT THE ASHE HOTEL, TRALEE | SATURDAY 3^rd NOVEMBER | 8:30PM

London based experimental industrial noise rock outfit TAYNE have launched another new song and video; ‘Storms’ is taken from their forthcoming debut album ‘Breathe’, which is slated for release for 2 Nov 2018 via Strange Brew Records.

“Lyrically ‘Storms’ deals with on a bunch of repeating dreams I had. There seemed to be a reoccurring battle between my subconscious and conscious mind reliving scenarios in my life i wish had gone differently” comments the band.

TAYNE’s music is an aural assault that welds moody, atmospheric vocals, punishing guitars, and overwhelming electronics, to pulsating rhythms; creating a unique listening experience.

Singer Matthew Sutton elaborates on the forthcoming album: “ ‘Breathe’ is a very personal self-serving record for me. Mostly, the record is a reflection of my own anxieties, insecurities, fears, hopes and expectations and mental health. Thematically, it’s dark, chaotic and intense; so I wanted to have some sort of juxtaposition. I decided to present the singles on the record in traditional pop song structure, with pop hook choruses. Equally there are a lot of demons on the record.”

The debut album was produced by Matthew Sutton himself and mastered by TJ Lipple (Bikini Kill, Fugazi, MGMT, Rollins Band, St Vincent, Xiu Xiu).

The album will be released on vinyl as well as in digital format, pre-orders for ‘Breathe’ are available now.

Digital – https://tayneband.bandcamp.com/album/breathe

Vinyl – https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/music/tayne-breathe

TAYNE’s live performance is equally as intense as the sound they deliver and the band is set to hit the road for a string of live dates this autumn in the UK and Ireland.

TAYNE live

04 Oct (UK) London @ Old Blue Last

10 Oct (UK) Edinburgh @ Bannemans

11 Oct (UK) Glasgow @ Bloc Bar

19 Oct (UK) Brighton @ The Quadrant

21 Oct (UK) Birmingham@ Subside Bar

23 Oct (UK) Nottingham @ The Chameleon

25 Oct (UK) Leeds @ Bad Apples

26 Oct (UK) Darwin @ Sunbird Records

27 Oct (UK) Preston @ The Ferret

10 Nov (UK) Liverpool @ Jacarada

11 Nov (UK) Leicester @ Firebug

21 Nov (UK) Manchester @ The Peerhat

22 Nov (UK) Belfast @ Art Department

23 Nov (IRE) Cork @ Fred Zepplins

24 Nov (IRE) Dublin @ Whelans’

25 Nov (IRE) Ballina @ Emmets

28 Nov (IRE) Galway @ Roisin Dubh

29 Nov (IRE) Tralle @ The Greyhound

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With their debut single ‘Fire It Up’, The Winter Flood bring a dark indie pop sound influenced by The XX and London Grammar. With heavy synths and pop beats mixed with dark tones, ‘Fire It Up’ is a thunderous hello to the Irish scene.

The Winter Flood is a side project by Oliver Michael. Michael graduated from BIMM in 2017 and had spent years previous composing music for films. The Winter Flood was born as a way to develop ideas Michael was having that wouldn’t be used for work on film.

The Winter Flood are currently working on their debut EP which is set for release early 2019.

The follow up single to his No.1 selling independent album ‘Dance With Me’ with his band The Swing Cats in 2017, ‘The World’s A Stage’ features World Scratch Champion – DJ Flip with clear hip hop/urban influences heard throughout.

Only one week live, and the video has already tipped 50,000+ views on Facebook.

Following on from sell out shows at both The National Concert Hall and The Olympia Theatre last year, Luke and his band The Swing Cats will return to Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on April 20th, 2019. Tickets are now on sale from ticketmaster.ie

Filmed in Dublin earlier this year Luke’s TV SPECIAL “Luke Thomas and The Swing Cats live @ Twenty Two” will air on October bank holiday Saturday 27^th at 22.45 on Virgin Media Two an repeated on Monday October 29^th at 20.00

Resulting from his TV special recording at Twenty Two Club in Dublin, Luke was invited to host a brand-new monthly variety show “Sunday Night Live” at the venue. The first of these was held on Sunday 23^rd September and the follow up this weekend features Picture House and Katherine Lynch amongst others.

The Innocent Bystander announced as support to TV/AM at The Grand Social 10th November after the Sold Out Whelans shows in July and September.

From Drinking pints of Gin with Shane McGowan and midnight Jamming with Primal Scream to Christmas parties with Kylie Minougue, Mark Healy has always felt as in the middle of all this The Innocent Bystander madness, resulting in him creating the band to match the bizzare situations he found himself in !!

Hot on the heels of his debut single, ‘Waster’, selling out from Rough Trade shops and also making Rough Trades recommended singles of 2017 and receiving over 40,000 online views – in additional to airplay and support from RTÉ 2FM, The Irish Times, 98FM, 8Radio and Hot Press.

And his second single ‘Electrocute’ gaining even more momemtum with radio and another single of the week in ‘The Irish Times’-

Third Single ‘The Complacency League’ getting serious across the UK from the BBC and various other stations, The Innocent Bystander returns with a spiky slice of irresistible guitar electropop entitled ‘Neon Lights’

The Innocent Bystander is a band from Dublin-based producer/songwriter Mark Healy. Mark began his career with The Josephs, signing to Deconstruction Records, London, in 1996.

Since then, Mark has collaborated with Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club, Carol Keogh, and Elevens; performed with Madness, Wayne Kramer (MC5), and Clem Burke (Blondie); and composed the original score for celebrated author Irvine Welsh’s film project Nuts (2008).

The Innocent Bystander grew out of Mark’s ambition to “make guitar music that takes nothing from the Blues”. Debut single Waster features 24-year-old vocalist Daniel Hoff and combines influences from New Order, Everything But the Girl and Steve Reich along with with Mark’s affection for the unsung guitar heroes of Trashcan Sinatras, Prefab Sprout and The Blue Nile.

The result is an individual take on a classic indie sound. The scope of The Innocent Bystander is demonstrated by the single’s b-side ‘Schiller’, which explores ambient territory with its layered washes of treated guitar and piano.

The Innocent Bystander’s music, whatever the tempo, explores themes of isolation and distance – but the music is never morose, animated as it is by righteous anger at the cruelties of modern life, and a passion for the endless possibilities of using music to talk about them.

The Innocent Bystander are currently working on a debut album, ‘There’s Music Still Left in These Streets’, which will be released in 2019.

Clifford Clifford Productions is a Dublin-based father-son duo that works primarily on videos with Ireland’s leading musicians and spoken word artists. The ‘Back To Basics Tour’ is their debut documentary.

The ‘Back to Basics Tour’, a ground-breaking film, follows musicians Greg Clifford, Barry Jay Hughes and Ian N. Brennan on a self-booked and funded 17-date tour of Ireland.

According to Dave Clifford, one half of CCP, the film captures the struggles that ensue within an unsigned music scene and the self-motivation required to persevere and survive.

He said: “A film like this has never been produced before, thus giving it an edge and making it newsworthy. The tour aesthetic was one of grassroots DIY graft, with an emphasis placed on pure, honest and stripped back acoustic performances”.

“Identifying and working sensibly within limitations and parameters was imperative throughout, both in bringing the tour to fruition and film to life. The whole project was created void of any funding.”

Full time musician and filmmaker Greg Clifford, who holds a masters in contemporary composition, explained further:

“We have created a modest yet important original film that not only documents new music and live performances but also reveals humour and traits indigenous to the people of Ireland in the various counties we visited.

“The documentary offers a true, unfiltered representation of Ireland and captures a snapshot in time of Irish society within this cultural context. Ultimately it serves as a source of inspiration for aspiring independent musicians in Ireland. It gives the unsigned scene a voice.”

‘Back To Basics Tour’ is set to screen in The Sugar Club on 6th November at 7.45pm