Author: Breffni Banks

Alt-punk rock quartet, Empty Lungs, release their new EP, “Stand Up”, this February. Recorded at Start Together Studios, Belfast and engineered, mixed and mastered by Rocky O’Reilly, it was produced by Rocky O’Reilly and Empty Lungs.

Empty Lungs played their first show in May 2011 and since then have released a 3 track single, music video and have received airplay on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio Ulster and Dublin’s XFM.  Their explosive live shows have seen them take to the road around Ireland and the UK and led to them sharing the stage with bands like THE SUBWAYS, DEAD TO ME, LEMURIA, CHEAP GIRLS, GENERAL FIASCO, JAPANDROIDS, FRANZ NICOLAY (the holdsteady), FIGHTING WITH WIRE,  BEANS ON TOAST and BANGERS.

The ”Stand Up” EP will be self-released in association with Quarantine Collective digitally on 16th February and physically on 23rd February 2013.
It will consist of 6 tracks of passionate, hook driven, anthemic rock and roll. With a sound thats hard to pigeon hole it combines explosive punk rock and post-hardcore with 90’s indie rock and at times has echoes of folk and Americana. After its release the band plan to hit the road hard around Ireland, UK and Europe.

www.emptylungs.com

http://emptylungs.bandcamp.com/

Following a successful series of music events in intimate spaces during 2011-2012, the contemporary music ensemble Concorde is pleased to launch a new series in 2013 in cooperation with the RHA Gallery, Ely Place.  Up Close with Music II will take place on Sunday afternoons from January to April, offering listeners the chance to hear newly commissioned pieces from Irish composers alongside selected international repertoire from the 20th/21st centuries and to meet with composers and performers during the interval.

Director Jane O’Leary says, ‘the open spaces of the RHA Gallery are inviting and complementary to the fresh sounds we create and the connection with Irish contemporary artists is one which we enjoy exploring.’ 

The first event of the season takes place on Sunday 20 January at 2.30 p.m. and features the first performance of two commissioned works.  Judith Ring, who has worked with Concorde many times and is featured on their CD Reflections, has written a new work for instrumental trio, Swelt belly at dawn,  while Ariel Hernandez, Argentinian composer who lived in Dublin for many years and has now returned to his homeland, has composed a suite for violin, cello and accordion based on rhythms from the Litoral region in the North East of Argentina.  Malcolm Dedman’s solo violin piece, Dispelling the Darkness, appropriate for this time of year, was selected from submissions in the Global Connections project with ACM of Chicago.  Also receiving first performances are trios by Derek Ball (inspired by a painting of St. Jerome in the National Gallery) and Ada Gentile from Rome.  Luciano Berio’s clarinet solo, Lied (Song) from 1983 and Sofia Gubaidulina’s stunning work Silenzio (Silence), written in 1991 when she left her native Russia to live in Germany, will complete the programme. 

The Series Up Close with Music continues on February 17, March 24 and April 28. Exhibitions in the RHA during these dates include Basil Blackshaw: Blackshaw at 80,  Polke & Richter: Works on Paper from the Kunstmuseen Krefeld,   Zineb Sidera & Amina Menia: Becoming Independent,  Justin Larkin: Scenery,  Vivienne Roche RHA: Spirit & Light, Anita Groener: State and Skin, An Artistic Atlas.

Concorde is supported by a Music Project Award from The Arts Council.

Sunday 20 January, 2013

RHA Gallery, Ely Place, Dublin 2

2.30 – 4.30 pm

Admission Free (limited seating)

“Beautiful Boy” is the new single from Cork native, Femmepop. This is the first single from Femmepop’s debut album, “From a Girl Who Never Sleeps”, which is due for release this Summer.

Femmepop is singer-songwriter Margaret O’Sullivan. Originally from Cork but now based in London, Femmepop has played a string of London’s top music venues including The Barfly and The Windmill to glowing reviews.

With comparisons being made to The Breeders and Sonic Youth, Femmepop has been picking up airplay in Ireland and the UK, and her appeal has reached as far as Japan where she achieved a recent Number 2 chart position.  

“Beautiful Boy” and Femmepop’s EP Kick are now available for download from iTunes and Bandcamp.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/beautiful-boy-single/id592040487

http://femmepop.bandcamp.com/

West Cork Singer/Songwriter provides the music and lyrics for Quill – The Hand of Shakespeare

World Premiere 23-26 January at Watermans Theatre, Brentford

A new musical – ‘Quill – The Hand of Shakespeare’ is to be staged by the London College of Music, of the University of West London in Watermans Theatre, Brentford, from the 23rd to 26th January.  Brainchild of Den Stevenson, the English playwright, the innovative musical has a major Irish involvement, with the music and lyrics being provided by Fergus O’Reilly, domiciled for many years in Leap,West Cork. Fergus, who hails originally fromSligo, was born into a theatrical world, with his late father a cinema / theatre manager who later became a cinema owner.

His late aunt Ita Sloan was the distinguished pianist on RTE’s ‘Live at Three’ in the 1980s and co-wrote ‘One Day Love‘  – Ireland’s 1971 Eurovision entry, sung by Angela Farrell. Fergus played with rock & roll bands in his early days and enjoyed real success when he released records with various labels, including Polydor (later Polygram) inIreland. One of his songs ‘Hello’ representedIrelandon an international radio series ‘International Pop Jury’ and was voted 7th out of 18 songs.

Fergus also won two major prizes in the 1980 Cavan Song Contest, with his composition ‘The Cavan Beggar-man’ Some of his recordings also charted in theUKat the time, where he toured extensively. Whilst Fergus’ name today is synonymous with providing quality music gigs in clubs and pubs throughoutWest Cork, he has been writing songs for years and recording his own work in studios used by such heavyweights as Led Zeppelin and Andy Fairweather-Lowe. He has always had this ‘mad dream’ as he calls it, of writing a musical, a dream which has now come true.

He has spent long periods over the last 15 years working on the music for ‘Quill – The Hand of Shakespeare’ – ever since the concept was first devised by Den Stevenson back in 1997. Initial reviews at rehearsals have been most positive.

The fact that the project has reached this stage is success in itself for Fergus, but the possibilities for the musical are limitless, particularly with the incredible team involved, all of whom are most accomplished in their respective fields. Apart from Den Stevenson  and Fergus, the production team involves Marc Urquhart as Director, whose name is long associated with musical theatre inLondon, Andy Smith, musical arranger and George Carter, musical director. Costume designer is Mike Lee and Jean Diamond is the efficient agent. The rehearsals have been going extremely well and four Irish actors are in the cast, with Nicole McBride from Larne, Co. Down particularly ‘turning a few heads!’.

Fergus O’Reilly has enjoyed the huge challenge involved in creating the music to complement the story of the life and times of William Shakespeare, which could easily become the next big musical in theWest End.

www.watermans.org.uk

The Certain Three Tour returns for its fourth annual outing this January and February in venues throughout Ireland.

Curated by Irish-based booking agency Word of Mouth, the shows will feature a triple bill of three very different acts with an alternating running order for each show. This year’s acts have been announced as electro-pop duo Nanu Nanu, lo-fi shoegazer Si Schroeder and the post-punk of Trumpets of Jericho. RTÉ 2FM will also be featuring live sessions from all the acts on Dave Fanning and Dan Hegarty’s shows on 15th and 16th January.

Previous tours have featured Katie Kim, O Emperor, We Cut Corners, The Lost Brothers and Alessi’s Ark, amongst others.

The Certain Three Tour Dates are:

Jan 17th (Thurs) – Bourkes                   Limerick

Jan 18th (Fri)  – The Bowery                 Cork

Jan 19th (Sat) –  De Barras                     Clonakilty, Co. Cork

Jan 20th (Sun) – Pine Lodge                  Myrtleville, Co. Cork (Afternoon Show)

Jan 24th (Thurs) – The Spirit Store     Dundalk

Jan 25th (Fri) – The Model                      Sligo

Jan 26th (Sat) – Whelans                          Dublin

Jan 27th (Sun) – The Chestnut Bar         Birr (Afternoon Show)

Jan 31st (Thurs) – Monroes,                      Galway

Feb 1st  (Fri) – The Palace Bar                   Athlone

Feb 2nd (Sat) – Set Theatre                        Kilkenny

Feb 7th (Thurs) – Gifted at Empire Music Hall    Belfast 

About the Artists

NANU NANU are an Alien-Pop duo based in Dublin. Members Mirrorman and Glitterface use analog and modular synthesizers teamed with a strong foundation of heavy beats and lush, otherworldly vocal processing to create their exciting and unique ‘Alien-Pop’ sound.

They have just finished their debut album, which will be released in early 2013 on Flaming June. Their debut single will be Pocket of Gold. It has been mixed by producer Rob Kirwan; the man who mixed PJ Harvey’s Mercury Prize winning album Let England Shake.

 2013 will be the year of Nanu Nanu.

www.nanunanuband.com

SI SCHROEDER is a Dublin-based musician who mixes his voice with guitars, samples, acoustic instruments, beats and live drums to create haunting and uplifting melodic songs exploring the darker side of the human condition. A layered approach to composition and production results in dense, textured blends of synthetic and organic sounds, over which Si’s warm, soothing voice unravels stories of chaos and destruction.

His debut album, the critically acclaimed Choice Music Prize nominated Coping Mechanisms (2006), was the Irish Times’ record of the week, Foggy Notions’ album of the year, and is in the Hot Press list of top Irish albums of all time.

Highlights among his live shows include 2007’s Electric Picnic, 2008’s Future Days, The Kilkenny Arts Festival 2009, and abroad at EUROSONIC in Holland, Berlin’s Popkomm and New York’s Intelfest, The Chicago Cultural Center, and repeat visits to London’s influential Kosmische Club. 

His second album is due for release in 2013.

breakingtunes.com/sischroeder

TRUMPETS OF JERICHO are a folk-tinged post-punk band from Cork, formed in 2010. 

After two years of creating some semblance of a sound that they can call ‘their own’, the group finally decided to record their debut Songs Like an Alum Ut Its Nor Really, garnering praise and indifference in equal measure. Their energetic live shows have built them a strong and loyal following in the south of Ireland (i.e. Cork) and they recently opened for The Fall, which is pretty cool.

breakingtunes.com/trumpetsofjericho