French based Cork native PAUL TIERNAN will release his new album ‘The Mystery of Others’ on April 15th. The album will be launched in Ireland with tour dates starting April 16th in Coughlans Cork City followed by gigs in Co Tipperary, 3 more around county Cork and a Dublin album launch on 30th April at Odessa. The album is available from gigs & from www.paultiernan.com
On April 30th, five of Ireland’s finest bands will come together to raise money and awareness for marriage equality. The event, which will take place in Dublin’s swankiest venue Bello Bar, boasts an all star lineup of September Girls, Kate’s Party, Cave Ghosts, Sissy & The Winter Passing.
There is a suggested donation of €8 on the door, and there will be collection buckets on the night for anyone who can spare some extra change. There will also be YES EQUALITY badges so that you can wear them all over every outfit in the run up to the referendum on May 22nd!
For more info see www.facebook.com/katespartyband.
#YESfest
YES Fest
Marriage Equality Fundraiser
April 30th, 8pm
Bello Bar
€8
September Girls // Kate’s Party // Cave Ghosts // Sissy // The Winter Passing
The Ballyfermot College of Further Education Rock School students are set to take over the Grand Social this April for their annual end of year gigs. The Rock School BCFE gigs, Magnitunes 2015, are set to take place on three consecutive Tuesdays – 14th, 21st and 28th April.
The Rock School BCFE showcase gigs started in 1989 and since then have been held in venues throughout Dublin including the Baggot Inn, Whelans, The Village and now The Grand Social. The idea is to showcase original Irish songwriters. Artists who have benefited hugely from these gigs include Damien Dempsey, Mundy, Mickey Harte, Wallis Bird, Fiach and many more. The gigs will be filmed to a professional standard, giving each artist promotional footage to help them in their career development.
The gigs also provide an opportunity for students to learn the skills involved in running shows. Students are allocated roles in venue booking, social media, art and design, posters and tickets, equipment hire, van hire, logistics etc., so that a strong team unit is built around the showcases to make them the best that they can be.
Speaking of this year’s events, Niall Ó Ceallacháin, student at BCFE Rock School said: “The artists performing are the best of what Rock School has to offer – second and first year bands feature. Since the course is performance based, the gigs are an integral part of the years assessments and are graded, with the grades going towards the students’ end of year results.”
The Rock School at BCFE is the original and most successful Rock School in Ireland and one of the first of it’s kind in Europe. It’s aim is to prepare musicians for the professional music industry as writers, performers, instrumentalists, arrangers and producers. Niall added: “Dublin is very lucky to have a Rock School like this on its doorstep.” As part of the Rock School course, 2nd year students have a chance to go to Germany for one week to take part in the Mu:Zone festival. Once again as with other years, Irish songwriters from the Rock School were the highlight of the festival in 2015.
With an mini-festival vibe and with music from various genres, Magnitunes 2015 promises to be an eclectic series of gigs with approximately 80 original Irish songs being showcased by original Irish artists over the three nights. Performances will come from Kerencia (14th April), Edelweiss (21st April) and NamaNaya (28th April) among many others.
Magnitunes 2015 is proudly supported by IMRO.
Magnitunes 2015 – Rock School BCFE End of Year Gigs
The Grand Social
14th 21st & 28th April 2015
Doors 7:30pm
Tickets €5 (On the door – €7; Student ID – €5)
Tucan is delighted to announce the release of their second studio album ‘Towers’.
This second album comes six years after their first studio album (Aliquot Strings 2009) and it is their first since the band expanded to include brass and strings. Produced by Torsten Kinsella (God Is An Astronaut), these new compositions are subtle and melodic though cinematic in their scope and arrangement, and represent a musical evolution for the band.
Cork singer songwriter Danny Battles has been chosen to play support on the tour by Louis Walsh’s new band HomeTown.
Danny will play the eight venues in the tour over Easter. The tour plays Ennis on Good Friday, 3 April, Kilkenny 4 April, Easter Sunday in Castlebar 5 April, Drogheda 6 April, Bundoran 8 April, Athlone 10 April and Killarney 11 April.
Formed in 2014, We, the Oceanographers are a DIY bedroom rock band from Dundalk, Co. Louth. In keeping with their Art Music background, the band began playing shows in Cafés and Art Centres and have since played independent festivals as well as opening for We Cut Corners, Funeral Suits and Le Galaxie. The band is made up of Conal McIntyre and Joseph Edwards, with the recent addition of live member Sean Bradley.
The band closed 2014 with a live performance of their recently released album, @Ventures, in An Tain Arts Centre, Dundalk. Available at the show was the CD “a single by ‘we, the oceanographers” containing a selection of tracks from the forthcoming album.
We, the Oceanographers debut album is now available on a limited run of 7″ Vinyl and digital download from Bandcamp.
Check out the video for “Same Old Story”, the first single from the album.
MARCH –
27th – Bellurgan Folk & Trad Festival – Bellurgan Park
28th – Album launch w/ Third Smoke, Dublin – Whelans
APRIL –
18th – Record Store Day
31st – Vantastival
Check them out on Soundcloud, Facebook and Twitter.
Music Generation and Nimbus School of Recording Arts are running a fantastic Audio Engineering/Music Production Scholarship opportunity for budding sound engineers to study at the world class, state-of-the-art Nimbus School of Recording Arts in Vancouver, Canada.
Started by renowned record producers Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, KISS, Peter Gabriel) and Garth Richardson (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, Rise Against, Biffy Clyro), Nimbus School of Recording Arts passes on the same training, skills and discipline to a new generation of media professionals as that which Bob and Garth have learned throughout their careers.
The scholarship, valued at approx. €33,000, will provide 12 months’ free tuition plus accommodation/living costs for a student on one of a range of cutting-edge music industry programmes.
Nimbus helps students turn their passion for music into a career through offering small class-sizes, mentorship from industry experts, and hands-on training in real studios which are open 24/7. The Music Generation scholarship holder will, upon successful completion of his/her course of study, earn the professionally-recognised and highly respected Nimbus School of Recording Arts Diploma.
Full details on the application process can be found at the Music Generation website here.
Interested applicants should act fast as the deadline is this Monday, 30th March at 5pm.
Irish electro-pop artists R release their new single Bubble Gum Geisha through Salt & Shake Records on 17th April 2015
The track is taken from their forthcoming debut album and is the first release from R since their debut single ‘Change’ caused such a buzz in late 2013. ‘Change‘ spent six weeks on the BBC 6Music playlist, received spot play support from BBC Radio 1 and 2 and reached No 1 on the Amazing Radio Chart.
R’s creative core is the work of brothers Pierre and Marc O’Reilly and Konstantine Pope, all respected musicians in their own right. Marc’s solo project has seen him embark on a live tour across Europe, including a performance at Glastonbury, while he also provided vocals on 3 tracks for MOBO award-winning act Karios 4tet’s last album, which received 4 star reviews from Mojo, The Independent and The Guardian. Pierre, meanwhile, is a composer for motion pictures and has worked on a full host of films, including collaborating with Academy Award-nominated director, Nicky Phelan and BAFTA nominated Director, Eamonn O’Neill whilst third member, producer Konstantine Pope, has made a name for himself both as a screen composer and electronic music producer. His screen work has appeared on BBC, ITV, NBC Universal, SYFY, and Glory World Series amongst many others and his commercial releases have charted on Beatport and received substantial radio play.
Bubble Gum Geisha is now streaming on Soundcloud here .
The Contemporary Music Centre continues its Spring 2015 Salon Series with an exciting programme at the Kevin Barry Room, National Concert Hall, 6pm, Tuesday, 28 April 2015. Éamonn Cagney, Niwel Tsumbu and Martin Tourish, a trio of musicians who perform regularly together invite Roger Doyle to accompany them in this new music salon programme. They will perform Water journey by Éamonn Cagney; Kind of Sean Nós by Niwel Tsumbu and The Lodge by Martin Tourish.
The Contemporary Music Centre’s Salon Series aims to encourage newcomers and enthusiasts alike to engage with the music of Irish composers. Each performance takes place in an informal atmosphere with dialogue encouraged between composers, performers and audience.
Éamonn Cagney is a percussionist and composer. Water Journey, based on Gaelic slipjig and West African 9-8 rhythms, is opened with a solo percussion piece by Éamonn, followed by an ensemble piece with Niwel Tsumbu, Martin Tourish and Roger Doyle. It is inspired by Éamonn’s ancestral folklore of sea voyages and night time maritime atmosphere.
Niwel Tsumbu is a guitarist, vocalist, performer and composer. His composition, currently entitled Kind of Sean Nós takes it’s inspiration from the singing of Iarla Ó Lionáird and Congolese church music from Niwel’s maternal ancestry. The piece explores the fluidity and adaptability of these musical forms in the context of Ireland today.
Martin Tourish is a piano accordionist and performer – composer. His piece The Lodge is inspired by new emerging dance music forms in the traditional Irish idiom. It evokes the tradition while integrating African hand drum rhythms and exploring the concept of Irish improvised music, that is improvisation in the traditional idiom.
Admission is free for the Salon series but booking is strongly recommended. To book please contact the National Concert Hall on tel: 01 417 0000 www.nch.ie.
Indie Arena is a weekly radio show highlighting new and classic independent music. The show broadcasts weekly from Cork’s Room 101 Radio on Tuesday evenings from 8-10pm. Presenter Antonia K Moore is currently seeking submissions from artists.
If you would like to have your music considered for inclusion on the show, drop an email with links to your press kit and an MP3 to Antonia at indiearenaradio@nullgmail.com.
