Author: Breffni Banks

Niall Thomas will release his debut album Breathe Easy in April 2013. It was engineered and produced by Karl Odlum who has worked and performed with artists such as Gemma Hayes, The Frames, Declan O`Rourke. The album was mastered in Abbey Road Studios by Steve Rooke Mastering Engineer for The Beatles, The Cure and Wilco.  Breathe Easy is a collection of ten songs and features Karl Odlum, Martin McCann, Petra Odlozilikova, Scott Davis, Kevin Murphy, Aidan Courtney and Christophe Capewell  all of whom have lent their time and talent to the recording.

 A recent review from a live performance:

“See him live when you can folks. You forget how good a guitar player he is when his good songs distract you, then you forget how good a songwriter he is when his good guitar playing distracts you. Something pure in it.”

The first single from the album “Spillin` Diamonds” will be available on 8^th April on iTunes with the album launch taking place in The Grand Social 12^th April. Niall will be performing with a full band ensemble on the night.

www.niallthomas.ie

www.twitter.com/niallthomas

O Emperor have just announced some tour dates for June – The Forum, Waterford on 15th –  Bourkes, Limerick 20th and Whelans, Dublin on 21st. The band will also play a special Cork show and add support slots very soon.

Their second album Vitreous is out on 14th June.

Vitreous is a follow up to the debut album Hither Thither released in October 2010.
It was self-recorded and produced in the band’s very own studio (Big Skin HQ) in Cork. Big Skin was (literally) built from the ground up and everything from label administration to recording happens inside its grubby, fire-stained walls. The resulting recordings are a direct representation of this operation, being the band’s most potent and distinct work to date; a stamp moulded from their many meandering sessions there.

While debut Hither Thither could be described as a lush tapestry displaying a classical use of depth and shading, Vitreous presents the listener with a starker, polychrome and pixelated picture. Heavily distorted drums take their place alongside syrupy analogue synths and disgusting fuzz guitars sounding like bees buzzing inside tin cans. Beautiful landscapes are destroyed with disparate, abrasive sounds in perverse displays of artistic self-destruction.

TRACK LISTING

1. Grandmother Mountain / 2. Holy Fool / 3. Whitener (Part 1) /  4. Brainchild / 5. Contact / 6. Minuet / 7. Land of the Living /  8. Soft In The Head / 9. This is it

O Emperor are: Paul Savage, Alan Comerford, Phil Christie, Brendan Fennessy and Richie Walsh.

http://oemperor.com

Róisín O has released the video for her new single Synchronicity

The video is directed by Myles O’Reilly, who has also recently worked with Villagers, Lisa Hannigan, and James Vincent McMorrow.

Róisín O releases this single on the back of some great shows in late 2012, supporting The Coronas in The O2, Dublin (12,000 capacity), and Lionel Richie in The O2, Dublin (8,000 capacity) and The Odyssey Arena, Belfast (8,000 capacity).

She also performed for ‘Glaoch – The President’s Call’, as part of a special Saint Patrick’s Day 2013 broadcast on RTÉ & online from Áras an Uachtaráin, alongside other Irish performers such as Bono, Christy Moore, Glen Hansard, Imelda May, The Script, and Lisa Hannigan.

Discussing the song, Róisín O explains:

“Synchronicity is a word that describes those odd coincidences, events or happenings that seem to conspire to tell us something. For me, Synchronicity was about finding a person who in many ways is the oposite to you, but that’s the reason you work so well together. The yin to your yang; the batman to your robin; the spagetti to your bolognese. You start finding out all these things about each other that you never noticed before, whether physical; like your nose fits perfectly into the space of their collar bone; or mental; like you like the top half of a sandwich and they prefer the bottom. The more pieces of the puzzle that you fit together the less you think it seems like a coincidence, the more it seems like there are no accidents”.

The single will be released on iTunes on Friday, April 5th.

www.roisino.com

Following on from the debut release of single “Mission Statement”, Hornets kick into 2013 with the release of their EP “Truth”, once again released by the Quarantine Collective label.

The EP will be launched on 20th April at QUBSU Sub Bar, Belfast with support on the night from The Continuous Battle of Order and Alice Kona Band DJs.

You can check out Hornets live over the coming weeks at the following venues:

22nd March        –             Amplified, Newry. w/ASIWYFA

23rd March         –              The Forum, Waterford. w/ASIWYFA

24th March         –              Cypress Avenue, Cork. w/ASIWYFA

13th April             –              Fibbers, Dublin

20th April             –              Truth EP Launch-Sub Bar, Belfast

17th May             –              Roisin Dubh, Galway

18th May             –              The Blind Pig, Limerick

For more info see www.facebook.com/hornetsband and Twitter @hornetsbanduk

AXIS OF release their debut album ‘Finding St Kilda’ on March 18th 2013 on Smalltown America.

“We’re keen to explore an interest in the wider world, really analysing how every detail slots together, with a view sympathetic to history, nature and human relationships. For us it’s about stories, views and in a completely non cheesy way making the most of our time in this world” says bassist/vocalist Ewen Friers.

It is this literate thought provoking content, along with a distinctive sound the band themselves like to think of as “heavy pop”, that has caught the attention of the UK’s music press. Rock Sound magazine recently labelled the trio, “the most exciting band to come out of Northern Ireland… Possibly ever!”

Having spent the last couple of years touring the UK and Ireland, as well as mainland Europe, clocking up shows alongside the likes of The Bronx, The Joy Formidable, Twin Atlantic and Therapy? along the way, the band are now set to unleash their debut album, ‘Finding St Kilda’, produced by Rocky O’Reilly (And So I Watch You From Afar, Fighting With Wire) at Start Together Studios in their native Ireland earlier this year.

Speaking of the record and the band’s approach in general, Friers says, “We started playing music together as kids and we decided then we’d live by two concrete rules – We’d only play music we wanted to hear and write words we thought were important. For us, the album is the perfect representation of what we are. Written by Mastodon fans hooked on Fang Island!”

Crushingly heavy and littered with pop sensibility throughout, ‘Finding St Kilda’, is an undeniably original and ‘heart on your sleeve’ affair. It’s no surprise that Kerrang! has already declared that “cult status looks assured.”

Irish Tour Dates Below;

March 20th – Cork – Nancy Spain
March 21st – Limerick – Dolans
March 22nd – Dublin – Workmans Club
March 23rd – Galway – Roisin Dubh (Upstairs)
March 30th – Belfast – The Empire

Axis Of are:
Ethan Harman / Niall Lawlor / Ewen Friers

https://www.facebook.com/Axisof?ref=ts

Frantic Jack are set to release their latest single, “Living Proof”, on 29^th March. This is the second single from their latest album, “Last One to Leave”, and follows on from the album’s lead single, “Soar”.

The band have had a busy start to 2013, recently headlining the Alcheringa Music Festival in India where they played to a crowd of over 10,000. Their live shows have become known for being highly energetic and entertaining, and they have shared stages with the likes of The Saw Doctors, Ash, Imelda May and Bressie in the past few years.

You can keep up to date with Frantic Jack at their website http://www.franticjack.com