Author: Breffni Banks

Singer-songwriter Padraig Jack releases his stunning single ‘It’s Alright Now (Black Drapes)’ as a follow up to his hit single ‘Making Sand’ which spent 4 weeks at number 1 in the RTE Radio Airplay Chart in summer 2022.

A song that’s a highlight of his live shows, ‘It’s Alright Now’ was written while enduring what turned out to be a long but temporary period of ill mental health. While he now feels lucky to have been able to come through something that so many struggle with, to varying degrees, writing the song was an effort to understand and describe the phenomenon which was a new experience for the writer. The song begins with imagery describing depression as ‘The red of hell, draped in black’ but then evolves to a brighter place as the help of friends, family and counselling can ‘Hold your hand’ and ‘Bring you back’ to a place of feeling happiness again which you can ‘See in the eyes of those who love you’.

A native of the Islands himself, Padraig Jack is from a musical family. His dad is bilingual songwriter Barry Ronan and he is the nephew of the Irish poet and Aosdána member Mary O’Malley. Like his father, Padraig is proudly bilingual and writes music in both Irish and English. With influences ranging from James Taylor and The Eagles to Van Morrison and Shane McGowan, Padraig appreciates strong songwriting with a distinct point of view.

2022 has been a busy year for Padraig. He joined Dubliner Damien Dempsey on a sold-out tour of Ireland including shows in Cyprus Avenue, Róisín Dubh, Dolan’s, The Set Theatre and TF Royal as well as Vicar St. last October and The Iveagh Gardens this summer.

He also wrote and recorded a song for the legendary Foster and Allen, and performed it with the duo for a recording in the Pepper Canister Church in March 2022. This concert is due to be broadcast on RTÉ One this autumn. Padraig toured Wales in June 2022 which included a number of sold-out shows and will return again in late 2022 and he had an 8-week residency in his home island of Inis Mór at Joe Wattys which allowed show-goers to hear him perform in his home environment singing songs he wrote about that place in both English and Irish.

The rest of the year continues in the same vein.  Padraig is gigging throughout September and October in Ireland and he will also join Miles Hunt of The Wonder Stuff for a UK tour including a show in London’s Powerhaus this October.

With plaudits from industry legends like Mike Scott, Sharon Shannon and Miles Hunt, and laudatory reviews from the likes of Hot Press, Padraig Jack is sure to be a legend in the making.

Upcoming Gigs

Sep 07 – Westport Town Hall, Mayo – Guest to Seán Keane

Sep 29 – Coughlans, Cork, headling show for Cork Folk Festival

Sep 30 – Ionad Culturtha Baile Mhuirne, Co Cork

Oct 07 – Monroes Galway – Rock Against Homelessness

Oct 08 – Inis Meáin, Aran islands

Oct 20 – Crane Bar, Galway

Oct 22 – London Powerhaus – support for Miles Hunt (The Wonder Stuff)

Nov 18 – Newhampton Arts Centre, Wolverhampton – support for Miles Hunt (The Wonder Stuff)

Nov 19 – The Music Room, Liverpool – support for Miles Hunt (The Wonder Stuff)

Nov 20 – The Irish Club, Warrington – support for Miles Hunt (The Wonder Stuff)

www.padraigjack.com

The Coronas are back with a brand-new single ‘If You Let Me’  released on 7^th September. This is the follow-up to ‘Strive’, a great success which has been played extensively across Irish radio this summer and has become a firm live favourite.

‘If You Let Me’ is a firm declaration of support, about those times when you see that someone you care about is going through a tough time and even though you know that you should wait until they ask for your help, you can’t stop yourself from telling them how you feel. The band say that lyrically ‘If You Let Me’ is their answer to the Jackson 5’s ‘I’ll Be There’.

Produced by long-time collaborator George Murphy (Mumford & Sons, The Specials, Ellie Goulding) and mixed by Grammy award-winning Peter Katis (The National), sonically the song is a joyous, catchy, indie-rock jaunt that really shows the Coronas at their radio-friendly, foot-tapping best.

It’s the featured single from their highly-anticipated seventh album Time Stopped which will be released on October 7th, after which the band will be embarking on a world tour with UK, EU, North American and Australian dates all in the calendar before Christmas.

They then make a triumphant return to Dublin to do their now legendary series of Christmas gigs in The 3Olympia. They have just announced a fifth show date in The 3Olympia on 14^th December to add to their sold out run of gigs from 15-18^th December. This is preceded by a date in the Ulster Hall in Belfast on 4^th December.

The Coronas have had a great summer, playing sold out shows in Marquee Cork, Trinity Series, King John’s Castle, Limerick and Park Live Wexford.

See The Coronas live;

4 Dec                                  Ulster Hall, Belfast

14 Dec                                * New date in 3Olympia Theatre Dublin added

15, 16, 17 18 Dec.              The 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin – SOLD OUT

Wed 28 December             INEC, Killarney

Tickets from https://www.ticketmaster.ie/the-coronas-tickets/artist/1410136

Waterford ravers King Kong Company have announced their first Dublin show in over 2 years. The gang are back together to play Vicar Street, on October 27, 2022.

Tickets on sale Wednesday, September 7 at 9am.

The Kong Company story so far…. They’re a band from Waterford, five blokes, a girl and a Boxhead. In 2011 they started putting out one video a month, put on the first gig in 2012 and played Indiependence on the back of a truck. Soon after Body & Soul booked them for an early Sunday evening at Electric Picnic where word had spread and the crowd had grown. Since then they have sold out Cork Opera House, the Button Factory, The Academy and most recently the legendary Olympia.

King Kong Company have played to 13,000 people in a tent at Electric Picnic for Sunday Mass, had thousands of hedonists lay siege to the Body & Soul arena for their stuffed to the gills lock in that closed the legendary stage. And in between there’s been tracks, an album produced by The Prodigy’s producer Neil McLellan, a Buckfast beer, Glastonbury, a robot, All Together Now, late nights, parties, early mornings, ferries, Prague, London, Newcastle, the engagement proposal, broken down vans, Spraoi, a Best Band in Ireland award and stuff that should never end up in print or online. Then some sort of pandemic, a weird far flung feeling that was miles away from the pandemonium of a King Kong Company gig. It’s time to bring it back.

Tickets available from Ticketmaster.ie

Emerging Irish Singer/Songwriter, Seánie Bermingham is set to release his Debut EP ‘That Hollow Moon’.

‘Call the Coroner’ is the first of two singles to be released from his upcoming EP. It will be premiering on RTE 2XM this week and has been chosen as the Single of the Week on KCLR FM in the run up to its release.

The four track EP was produced and recorded in its entirety by Seánie, mixed by Cian Hamilton in Middle Ridge Studios, California and mastered by Richard Dowling.

‘Call the Coroner’ drops 09.09.22

Seánie is a folk artist from South Tipperary whose songwriting style is marked by thematically dense lyricism and intricate acoustic melodies. He recently shared the stage with Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny and Ye Vagabonds at the Pilgrims and Players Festival in Kilkenny and supported Gary O’Neill in The Workman’s Cellar.

His upcoming single combines double-tracked vocals and unconventional song structures to cultivate a sound entirely his own. Seánie released his debut single ‘By Lake or Sea’ last year which was met with widespread acclaim.

Seánie started songwriting and live performing in his early teens, performing with friends at home in Mullinahone and with Tipperary band We Looked Like Giants. Throughout these years, he continued to cultivate his playing technique, resulting in a musician who is able to captivate and draw in the listener on every song with interesting andengaging melodies on guitar, bouzouki, or whatever he happens to have to hand.

Seánie has been writing songs for the best part of a decade and when talking of his influences, he says:

“I was heavily influenced by the work of Sufjan Stevens and Fionn Regan, but none more so than Justin Vernon. His self titled second Bon Iver album opened the door to an entire new world of music for me. It completely changed my relationship with music and what the guitar was. I fell into a rabbit hole of alternate guitar tunings and have never looked back. The guitar for me is an ever changing instrument as I go through phases of various tunings, each one bringing with it an entirely different sound. The tuning dictates the type of song that is written, so I feel that if my songwriting becomes too one-dimensional, I move to a different tuning and enter an entirely new world of songwriting.” 

The Tipperary singer-songwriter spent his early years surrounded by great music which helped him find his sound and style, speaking about his youth in music Bermingham states:

“I was very lucky to have found inspiration at my home-place in Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary. My parents renovated an old cow shed into an intimate concert venue when I was 12 called Crocanoir. Over the years, we have had renowned Irish and international folk artists performing on my doorstep. This total immersion in folk and traditional music from an early age has shaped and moulded my songwriting style. These concerts would always end with a music session in my living room so having the opportunity to play in such an intimate setting with these incredible artists was invaluable to my development as a musician. Their ability to put the outside world on hold and keep the audience in the palm of their hand through song and story is something I aspire to achieve in my songwriting and performing.” 

Call the Coroner

A song about growing anxiety and the loss of self attributed to that. Life doesn’t always work out in the way you had intended, but nothing ever “should” be a certain way, no matter how much you’d like for it to be. It isn’t what happens, but rather how to respond to it. Coming to this realisation and allowing these emotions to wash over you as opposed to fighting them was integral to me getting my sense of self back.

Social Media:

Twitter   Instagram  Spotify

Paul Quin is often referred to as a pioneer in the field Electronica in Ireland. In June his long-awaited debut album ‘Life on Earth’ was launched with a sold-out show at Dublin’s Pepper Canister Church which turned out to be an extraordinary night of music, storytelling, analogue synths and gothic glamour.

The album is now receiving rave reviews and has been an album of the week on two Irish music radio shows as well as getting lots of airplay and media coverage. Paul now brings his electronic stories of heartbreak, sex, love, outsiderhood and further ruminations on the meaning of it all at the emerging cult of the Alternative Sunday Social Club at The Wild Duck in Dublin’s Temple Bar.

This time Paul’s sound and stage performance will be augmented by a four piece live band, an appearance by collaborator Colm Key to perform new songs for a forthcoming recording collaboration with Quin and support in the form of rising Irish soul and R’n’B star AIS (whose singles ‘Hurts Sometimes’ and ‘Freedom’ have had heavy radio rotation) and Arabic and metal music stylings from Sydney / Dublin musos Beyond the Crescent Moon, a band who are also feeling the love right now all over Europe and further afield. Colm Key is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, collaborator and producer.

This is a musical Sunday that must not be missed.

www.facebook.com/paulquin01

About the Alternative Sunday Social Club   

The Alternative Sunday Social Club was created so that music fans can enjoy some top tunes on the last afternoon of the weekend. Since we launched at the beginning of 2015, we’ve hosted gigs by Rocky DeValera (front man of legendry Dublin bands The Gravediggers and The Rhythm Kings), The Dubtones, Blood or Whiskey, JC Carroll (The Members), The Business, Brush Shield’s Skid Row, Trouble Pilgrims (formerly The Radiators from Space), The Lee Harveys, Eileen Gogan and the Instructions, The Winters, The Hacklers, TV Smith (The Adverts), Strand, The Unelectables, Vulpynes and The Outcasts. We’ve had music from right across the spectrum with rock, guitar pop, punk, Americana, blues and ska and we’ve grown our crowd by word of mouth with all ages dropping by on Sunday afternoons. For the band they get the kick of their early live shows, and the audience gets to enjoy the music and the musician up-close and personal. It’s cheap, cheerful and above all fun for everybody who comes along. This isn’t 1000s of people in a converted warehouse; this is dozens of people enjoying music the way it was meant to be seen and heard.

www.facebook.com/Alternative-Social-Clubs

Paul Quin

With Support from Beyond the Cresent and AIS

Sunday, September 11^th     Doors 4.00pm     Tickets €13

The Wild Duck, 17/20 Sycamore St, Dublin 2

Phone: (01) 5356849     Email: hello@nullthewildduck.ie     www.thewildduck.ie

N.O.A.H are set to release their brand new single ‘Stay Here’ across all digital platforms on the 2 September. ‘Stay Here’ was self produced by the band, with mixing and finessing by Grammy Winning Ruadhri Cushnan.

With this latest release, N.O.A.H indulge in all things ‘indie-synth-pop’, from groovy bass lines, 80’s inspired synths and an irresistible chorus, this tune has it all. Amongst the noise, the lyrics depict raw and honest story telling. The lyricist observes, confronts and comforts a friend in need, offering an unconditional, selfless vow to help without need of recognition.

“‘Stay Here’ is a song we’ve always wanted to make, it’s musically explorative and pulls from a multitude of influences that we have never really shown before.” – N.O.A.H

Breakout Irish indie rock band N.O.A.H comprises of three lifelong friends Ryan Hill, Adam Rooney, and Ronan Hynes.  N.O.A.H formed back in January 2020, on the cusp of a global pandemic! (Great timing) After finishing in college (BIMM Dublin and MU) the group decided to reform an old musical endeavour. Obsessed with the idea of creating something new and a relentless desire to be heard, a fresh canvas was needed. Thus the band took inspiration in its naming from the biblical story of ‘Noah and the Ark’, the ultimate new beginnings story.

After spending months writing, recording and developing as a band, N.O.A.H finally released their debut single ‘Shine’ in September 2020. The track picked up a lot of press, N.O.A.H even recorded an exclusive acoustic rendition of Shine for radio presenter Laura Whitmore on BBC5 Live in the UK. Further interest was shown from  popular Irish stations such as RTE2 FM, Spin 1038 and Corks Red Fm, achieving play-listings and earning various spots as ‘Track of The Week’. With word spreading fast and the ever growing press, N.O.A.H signed with Natasha Bents’ newly founded Mother Artists Live Agency (Foster The People, Idles, CMAT). The band even made their first TV appearance on RTÉ Six One News to talk about their good news story and journey to date.

Last October the band released their debut EP ‘Echoes of the Night’ produced by Grammy Winning Ruadhri Cushnan, and distributed by Warner Music Ireland. The EP is a blistering project that has grabbed the attention of those on the international music scene, not just the rock and noise genres. The past few months have also seen the band dip their toes in the UK market. Working with Lander PR the band secured regional UK radio play as well as their UK debut TV appearance on CBBC ‘Saturday Mashup’, the guys performed live on the show as well as taking part in games and comedy skits throughout. N.O.A.H also performed on Virgin Media Television’s 6’ O’ Clock Show on May 27th.

It’s certainly an exciting time for N.O.A.H, having garnered thousands of streams, sold out multiple venues, signing with a major UK agency, supporting The Coronas in Ulster Hall, playing Main Stage at Sea Sessions 2022 as well as being announced for Ireland’s leading festival Electric Picnic. There’s so much more to come and N.O.A.H are delighted that they get to share it with you!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

https://open.spotify.com/

 https://www.facebook.com/NoahBandIrl

https://www.noahofficialband.com

https://www.instagram.com/noah_official_band/

https://www.tiktok.com/@noah_official_band

‘Truth Can Be Kind’ sees Susan O’Neill’s 2021 collaborator Mick Flannery come back into the fold, in another co-write between the two artists, they join forces again on a new duet track.  Although this track will feature on Susan’s forthcoming Solo EP ‘Now you See it’ due September 14th, both artists take a nod to the ‘In The Game’ album when talking about the track.

Susan says:

“This was another co-write and duet with Mick Flannery. I guess the theme is in a similar vein to our duet album. The protagonist struggling to deal with some harsh realities of an adulterous lover. They piece some of the story together, but request in the song to not hear the truth said out loud.”

Mick echoes this, “This song might well have fit the ‘In The Game’ storyline but we didn’t have it ready in time. Very glad it’s being released on Susan’s EP.”

The song has a raw soul-like swagger that showcases again the pair’s intimate, yet warring, vocal union, which has now become one of the favourite vocal pairings to come out of Ireland and beyond in many years. Reunited with In The Game’s producer Tony Buchen (Smashing Pumpkins, Courtney Barnett) for this song, working again between Los Angeles and Ireland’s west coast. Guest players on ‘Truth Can Be Kind’ include bass player Zach Dawes (Lana Del Ray, Sharon Van Etten), drummer Darren Weiss (T Bone Burnett, Elle King), and piano player and composer Jay Israelson.

‘In The Game’ saw the pair receive nominations for the Choice Music Prize Album of the Year, the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards’ Album of the Year and take home the Best Original Folk Track award for their song ‘Chain Reaction’. Susan was also shortlisted for the ‘Vanda and Young’ Award for her song ‘These are the Days’. The collaboration album ended up being the biggest selling Irish independent record for 2021.

Susan recently wrapped up an extensive tour of North America, which also included a handful of performances with Mick Flannery, and the duet album band in Los Angeles, and the main stages of The Calgary and Edmonton Folk Festivals in Canada.  The summer kicked off with another show with Phoebe Bridgers at Glasgow’s Barrowland, right before a hugely memorable performance at Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens. This past week Susan flew to the UK to open for the recently Grammy-nominated U.S roots queen Valerie June, (also a huge fan of the pair), before closing out the summer tour with Mick Flannery at Denmark’s Tønder festival this past weekend.

Susan will embark on her largest Irish headline tour in support of the EP, including festival appearances at The Electric Picnic, Clonakilty Guitar Festival, Imagine Arts Festival, Vantastival and Sligo Live Festival.  Also joining Mick Flannery for the 1-year anniversary shows of ‘In The Game’ in Cork and Limerick.  The Cork Opera House show sold-out in no time, and a second show has just been announced for Live at St. Luke’s on September 9th.  The pair’s last show for the foreseeable future will be at The Live at the Big Top series at the Milk Market in Limerick.  (Full list of shows below)

Stream ‘Truth Can Be Kind’ here:

Pre-save Susan O’Neill’s EP on Spotify: https://smarturl.it/nowyouseeit

Or Bandcamp: https://susanoneillmusic.bandcamp.com/album/now-you-see-it

Upcoming live shows /tickets for Susan O’Neill’s EP tour + Select shows w/ Mick Flannery

Sept 3-4 Electric Picnic, Stradbally

Sept 9 –  Live at St. Luke’s, Cork City *

Sept 10 – Cork Opera House, Cork City *SOLD OUT

Sept 11 – Clonakilty Guitar Festival, Clonakilty

Sept 15 – Cleere’s, Kilkenny

Sept 16 – Duncairn, Belfast

Sept 17 – Vantastival, Drogheda

Sep 30 –  Spirit Store, Dundalk

Oct 1 –    Live at the Big Top, The Milk Market, Limerick *

Oct 6 –    Whelan’s, Dublin

Oct 7 –     INEC, Killarney

Oct 8 –     glór, Ennis

Oct 13 –  Coughlan’s, Cork SOLD OUT

Oct 14 –  Róisín Dubh, Galway

Oct 23 –  Sligo Live Festival, Sligo

Oct 27th – Imagine Arts Festival, Waterford

*  w / Mick Flannery Featuring Songs off ‘In The Game’

www.susanoneill.ie

www.mickflannery.com

https://www.instagram.com/susanoneillmusic/

https://twitter.com/SoundsofSON

https://www.facebook.com/susanoneillmusic