Author: Breffni Banks

“The Death Of Robotnik” is the second up and coming album from Irish artist ROBOTNIK (Chris Morrin).  Plain and simple, the album was inspired by a mental breakdown in Morrin’s life. Morrin has decided to use the forthcoming album as a promotional tool to shine light on depression, mental health awareness and the psychological pressures of global neoliberal ideology.

It’s a lost album that is the transition towards a new creative step in Morrin’s musical career. 

Written & recorded over the course of winter 2011, in a basement flat in Dublin.

It was mixed in 2012 in the infamous Funkhaus Studios, Berlin.

Not being able to even face the idea of playing music publicly again, Morrin ended up going on a deep reflective journey for the last 4 years in Berlin. It’s taken all this time for Morrin to even consider releasing such a harrowing reminder of his past.

His debut album “Pleasant Square” was released in 2008, which was greatly received by the UK & Irish press and public.

https://robotnik.bandcamp.com/

Jack Lukeman has just been announced as special guest to Imelda May for her sold Belfast Waterfront 27th May, Dublin Bord Gais 29, 30 and 31st May.

Jack has been touring with Imelda on current 21 date UK tour gaining especially rare reviews on each night of the tour. “Lukeman’s an inspired choice with a tower of a voice he had the audience standing and singing with his brilliant set” – Evening Standard London Palladium. While a review from the Liverpool Philharmonic show reads “Lukeman a rabble-rousing Irishman with an incredible voice that had the audience roaring like random banshees into the night” (Getintothis.co.uk)

On the night that Imelda appeared on the Graham Norton Show, Jack was invited to join Jools Holland and his big band for a stomping show in Warwick University.

In between his own summer solo tour of the UK Jack will be playing at the 50,000 Firenze Festival in Florence Italy (Aerosmith/Placebo) and selected shows in Ireland.

http://www.jacklukeman.com/

After a very successful run of gigs at The Temple Bar TradFest 2016 and a headline show at the Fleadh in Ennis, Stockton’s Wing, one of Ireland’s most prolific and enduring bands, will celebrate their extraordinary 40-year career as they know best – onstage at a series of summer shows!  Featuring regular members – Mike Hanrahan (vocals & guitar), Paul Roche (flute & tin whistle), Steve Cooney (guitar, bass & didgeridoo) and Tommy Hayes (percussion, bodhran, spoons) – the band will be completed by two young Clare musicians Tara Breen (fiddle) and Karol Lynch (banjo/mandolin).  Fans will be treated to a back catalogue of hits including much loved classic ‘Beautiful Affair’ – voted one of the Top 75 songs in the history of RTE Radio and chosen by Today FM listeners as number 7 in their Top 20 poll of Irish songs.

Mike Hanrahan has been at the helm of the band at various stages over the last 40 years “I am so delighted to be back with Stockton’s Wing playing the music that shaped my earlier life and career. We were adventurers in every sense – with no boundaries and no pressures. We created a new innovative sound and our gigs were always happy and energetic occasions”.  Of the current line up, he says “It’s so good to be back on stage with Steve, Tommy and Paul again. We are missing two of the originals but I’m thrilled to have new blood – Tara Breen on fiddle and Karol Lynch on banjo. Two young Clare musicians steeped in the music of Stockton’s Wing.  A Wing gig is a special event and this time we are not trying to take over the world, just simply enjoying a moment, shining a light on the back catalogue of a music we believe is still worthy, compelling and spirited. It will be great to meet the fans again and hopefully collect a few new ones along the way.”

TOUR DATES:

Fri 16^th June Jim Dowling Festival, Eccles Hotel, Glengarriff, Co. Cork

Doors 8pm onstage 8.30pm Tickets €20 jimdowlingfestival.eu/bookings

Sat 8^th July Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Co Wicklow

Show 8pm Tickets €25/€23 Bookings: 01 2724030 mermaidartscentre.ie

Thur 20^th July Monroe’s as part of Galway Arts Festival

Doors 8pm onstage 9pm Tickets €30 Bookings: giaf.ie/stocktonswing

Sun 6^th Aug Ballyshannon Folk Festival, Co Donegal

Doors 7pm Tickets €35 incl booking fee ballyshannonfolkfestival.com/stocktonswing

Fri 18^th Aug Ennis Fleadh at the West County Hotel

Doors 8.30pm onstage 9pm Tickets €25 Booking details TBA

Sat 26^th Aug Ballykeeffe Amphitheatre, Co. Kilkenny

Gates 7pm onstage 8.15pm Tickets €20 ballykeeffeamphitheatre.com/stocktons-wing

Sat 2^nd Sept Doolin Bikers Festival, Doolin, Co. Clare

Open all day from 12noon – onstage 8pm to 10pm Booking details TBA

Sat 16^th Sep Clifden Arts Week, Galway

Booking details TBA clifdenartsfestival.ie

Ailbhe Reddy has just shared the great new video for her single ‘Fingertips’.

The track is taken from her sublime new EP ‘Attach to Memory’ which is now released worldwide via Kobalt/AWAL.

Having now accumulated over 2 million Spotify streams for her debut self released EP ‘Hollowed Out Sea’, Ailbhe is poised for an international breakthrough in 2017.

Ailbhe recently appeared on the TV show Other Voices and had her music synced in the RTE TV drama Striking Out before performing sold out shows in Dublin, London and Toronto. She now has a full touring schedule lined up to promote her new release across Ireland, UK, France and Germany including festival appearances at Glastonbury, Latitude, Cambridge Folk Festival, London Folk & Roots Festival, Body & Soul, Electric Picnic, Another Love Story etc.

www.ailbhereddy.com
www.facebook.com/ailbhereddy
@ailbhereddy

Three Underneath are set to release “Can I Be”, the lead single from their explosive sophomore EP “Something Pure” on June 10th 2017.

The trio decamped to the studios of Stephen Robinson (Laundry Shop, Angels of Mons) to record the exciting three-track Nirvana-esque “Seven”, haunting and heavy “His Last Words” and lead single “Can I Be”, mastered by Tony Cousins (Bat For Lashes, Kaiser Chiefs).

First breaking onto the Irish scene in late 2015, Three Underneath have since established themselves as a widely sought-after live act. The band’s explosive hit single “Buddy Yeah” was included on RTÉ 2FM DJ Dan Hegarty’s Top 20 Irish Songs of 2016.

A busy 2017 has seen Three Underneath announce their first festival bookings, perform at Whelan’s Full-Irish showcase and share the stage with Le Galaxie and Apella at the Dublin Tech Summit afters. The trio’s second EP “Something Pure” is out on June 10th and will be available at the show, online and in Tower Records.

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Spotify

Tara Lee is a rising singer/songwriter/producer and actress from Wicklow. Citing influences ranging from Blondie to Massive Attack to heartfelt songwriters like Tori Amos to Diane Warren, Tara has the unique ability to write raw emotional and connecting ballads to contemporary edgy pop songs.

Tara recently signed a worldwide publishing deal with BMG after first coming to attention of Thomas Scherer and his team at BMG in LA when she was the special guest performer at the ‘International Music Industry Awards’ presentation to esteemed songwriter Diane Warren.

Tara has just released her debut single ‘Paradise’ taken from Paradise EP (co-produced by Jonas Quant (No Doubt/Hurts/Kylie)

Tara will be performing at Forbidden Fruit on Saturday June 3^rd.

Tara was recently asked to compose the theme tune (‘If I Burn, You Burn Too’) for the hit International TV series ‘Jack Taylor’.

Tara also played starring roles in two critically acclaimed movies over the past year – ‘A Date for Mad Mary’ (which won an IFTA award for Best Picture) and ‘Moon Dogs’ directed by Philip John (Director of Downtown Abbey) which has just won a slew of International Awards and she also featured in series two of ‘The Fall’, the BBC drama where she starred alongside Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan.

https://www.facebook.com/TaraLeeArtist/

Seventeen years into an astonishing career, Damien Dempsey releases his seventh studio album, his most exciting work to date, “Soulsun” tomorrow, 26th May.

The lead single and opening title track gets straight to the point. “Soulsun” is accompanied by a colourful and life-affirming video directed by legendary rock photographer Steve Gullick, who has shot iconic images of Nirvana, Beck and Nick Cave over the years, just to mention a tiny few.

http://damiendempsey.com/

Limerick (via Brighton) band Warsaw Radio return with their latest single ‘Still Have You To Hold’. This new single engages listener from start with big cinematic strings and big vocals.

McNamara’s story telling style envelopes the listener creating a vivid scene with a powerful tale of ageing, love and loss. This is ultimately an uplifting love song that pulls on the heart strings.

The BBC Introducing 2017 and BBC 6 Music featured band are currently in studio finishing off their debut album, in their adopted home of Brighton, with Mercury Nominated Producer Jag Jago (The Maccabees and Florence Welch). This latest single was mastered by John Davis (U2 and White Lies) at Metropolis in London and follows up on their critically acclaimed single ‘After Eve’.

The W.R sound takes influence from Fleetwood Mac, Arcade Fire and Wilco. W.R are Brían McNamara (Vocals/Guitar), Nikki Bates (Violin & Vocals), Laurence Bridge (Bass Guitar), Chris Webber (Lead Guitar) & Paul Lennox (Drums).

See Warsaw Radio live;
Thurs. 22 June Sofar Sounds, London

“Rich vocals and sublime strings” – BBC Introducing
“One of those bands that you discover and you wish you’d known them longer” – Chris Hawkins, BBC 6 Music
“This is the definition of quality music and songwriting” – Music News Today
“All the hallmarks of a classic in waiting” – XYZ Magazine, UK

http://www.warsaw-radio.com/

‘Wanna Love’ may be Robert’s debut single release, however, this all rounder from Graignamanagh in Co. Kilkenny is no stranger to the studio, or the charts!

Robert’s debut EP ‘Talk To Me’ released in May 2016 reached No 2 on the Irish iTunes charts and was the most played song on RTE Radio 1 during June 2016.

Robert’s new single ‘Wanna Love’ is currently A Listed on Beat FM and is also on high rotation on 2fm and iRadio.

In recent years Robert has developed into a songwriter/producer/performer of note. Robert wrote three and co-produced four tracks on Hometown’s recent chart topping album released on Sony Music. He has also co-written with some of the best-known songwriters in the UK including:

Dan McDougall (The Wanted/The Shires)
Blair MacKichan (Paloma Faith/Sia/Lily Allen)
Phil Thornalley (Natalie Imbruglia/Pixie Lott)
Josh Wilkinson (One Direction/5 Seconds of Summer)
David Munday (Tina Turner/Pixie Lott/Belinda Carlisle)

In his capacity as writer and producer, Robert has helped other artist’s music achieve chart success.

Robert performed at Electric Picnic last September and had his own headline gig at Whelan’s last November. He will be performing at the Ruby Sessions on June 6th and at the Indiependence Music Festival on August 5th.

Robert grew up in a house immersed by traditional Irish music; his father plays in well-known local trad band ‘Keltic Cats’. Before long Robert was learning the guitar and wrote his first song aged 12. By aged 18 Robert had won a number of national & International songwriting awards including the Glinsk International Songwriting Award.

“It’s a cracking pop song – as good as any of the international artists on our playlists” Niall Power Head of Music at Beat 102-103.

Live Dates:
Tues June 6th: Ruby Sessions, Doyles, Dublin
Sat Aug 5th: Indiependence Festival (Beer Hall Stage)

Watch the video ‘Talk To Me’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ9afUMEkTQ
Twitter.com/robert_grace
Facebook.com/RobertGraceOfficial

Sharon Shannon has announced the release of her latest single “The Machine” featuring vocals by Alyra Rose.

Taken from her 10th studio album “Sacred Earth”, “The Machine”, with a new radio edit, comes out of the touring experience in New Mexico, where Sharon met Alyra Rose. The Machine is a song political in nature and a musical hybrid of hip hop and a traditional Irish style reel.

2017 has already been very busy for Sharon. Her album “Sacred Earth” hit the Top 5 in the Irish Independent Albums Chart on the week of release. She’s travelled to America, France, Spain and Australia…and it’s only May! To add to that she was special guest on the sold out 3Arena show for Nathan Carter in April!

There is nothing like a Sharon Shannon live show to get you tapping a toe. This summer catch her in concert:

June 16th – Doolin Festival
July 15th – Theatre Royal, Waterford
July 20th – Crossmolina Festival, Mayo
August 17th – National Concert Hall, Dublin
August 19th – The Dome, Ennis (Fleadh Cheoil 2017)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharon.shannon1
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gaffalo
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/artist/6gABJRqeRV4XW6T8vP9QEn