Culture Night 2019

As part of Culture Night join us for an evening of live music and interviews from a selection of some of Ireland’s best established and up and coming musicians. Hosted by Joe.ie’s Paddy McKenna, the night will feature Soda Blonde, Chasing Abbey, Pillow Queens and Tebi Rex

Date: Friday 20^th September
Time: 6 – 9pm
Location: IMRO, Copyright House, Pembroke Row, Dublin 2
Bookings: This event is free of charge but due to limited capacity booking is essential. To reserve a place please email your name to events@nullimro.ie with ‘Culture Night’ included in the subject line of your email.

Soda Blonde

Soda Blonde is the new alt-pop musical venture of Dublin artists Faye O’Rourke, Adam O’Regan, Donagh Seaver O’Leary and Dylan Lynch. Emerging from the ashes of internationally acclaimed Little Green Cars. The band have quickly built up a loyal fanbase who embrace the new sound, seamlessly weaving together influences from Fleetwood Mac, Little Dragon and Kate Bush. The result – enticing and dreamy alt-pop.

The new collection of songs were written by lead singer Faye O’Rourke throughout her early 20s, where she honed in on her unique lyrical style of gritty kitchen-sink realism, evoking the tragic beauty of Karen Carpenter and the pop sensibilities of Annie Lennox. Throughout their repertoire, O’Rourke’s powerful and hauntingly unique vocal marries hard-hitting, atmospheric grooves to birth a new wave of pop that is both emotionally provoking and deeply satisfying.

The band hit the ground running with the release of debut single ‘Swimming Through The Night’ – an ambitious track which establishes their authority within the genre and marks a promising future. The single is not only a triumphant anthem, it also showcases the stunning artistic talent of the collective who self-produced all aspects of their work including visual concepts.

Guitarist Adam O’Regan directed the video for the track, explains: “‘Swimming Through The Night’ was filmed over the course of three nights. We had no budget, but through the immense talent, effort and love of some close friends we’ve created a video that we are very proud to share with you. We were inspired by the works of Jean Cocteau, Hayao Miyazaki and Stanley Kubrick in finding the story’s visual language. We invite you, the viewer, to draw your own interpretation of its meaning.”

The Irish quartet have carved a distinct identity for themselves without compromising the musical integrity and charm that saw their previous project skyrocket to success. With a colleciton of brand new music waiting in the proverbial wings and an array of live shows expected throughout 2019 and 2020, the future looks bright for Soda Blonde.

Chasing Abbey

Chasing Abbey is a hip-hop/pop collective at the forefront of Ireland’s urban pop scene. Artists Outro, Bee Fade and Teddy C make up the group, hailing from the midlands of Ireland.

Childhood friends, the trio are multi-instrumentalist producers, rappers and singers whose expertise helped skyrocket Chasing Abbey to unparalleled industry success in 2017, earning the group a global record deal with 3 Beat UK/UMG worldwide, as well as becoming award-winning artists for their debut self-release ‘That Good Thing’ (winning the prestigious Irish Song of the Year award).

Chasing Abbey’s second release ‘Talk To Me’ exploded on radio, became an official track for the Football Association of Ireland 2018 and landed major television syncs. May 2018 saw the group release their third single ‘Choices’, which shot straight to the #1 in the charts within hours of its release.

In 2018, Chasing Abbey brandished their live capabilities playing to crowds upwards of 20,000 supporting The Chainsmokers/Rita Ora at Dublin’s RDS stadium, and headlining festivals like Sea Sessions and Longitude (sharing the bill with Travis Scott and Post Malone), as well as supporting Zara Larson, Martin Garrix and Enrique Iglesias. The group’s debut tour The Rollout sold out across the country, seeing thousands of fans flock to their shows.

2019 saw Chasing Abbey release their debut EP ‘The Odyssey Project’. The EP premiered and was positively reviewed on Billboard US, marking Chasing Abbey as one of only a handful of Irish acts to get such recognition from Billboard. ‘The Odyssey Project’ showed just what Chasing Abbey are capable of, parking for a moment their classic pop sound and favouring a vibe far more suited to hip-hop.

After a summer of festivals, a sold-out Olympia show and their latest single ‘Dominos’ doing the airplay rounds, Chasing Abbey are gearing up for a huge 2020.

Pillow Queens

Pillow Queens formed in winter 2016 with the immediate release of their demo EP ‘Calm Girls’, which sparked a successful string of UK and Irish dates & festival appearances.

Their second EP ‘State of the State’ made its way onto BBC 6 Music’s playlists, with Steve Lamacq calling them, “deceptively infectious, with sharp hooks and sharp nails.” The lead single ‘Favourite’ picked up lots of great support on the UK’s national airwaves, including plays on BBC RADIO 1, BBC Introducing, RADIO X and Amazing Radio. After two more UK tours, and two sell-out hometown gigs, the band soon found themselves more and more comfortable on bigger stages, opening for the likes of American Football and Pussy Riot, capping off Summer 2018 with a stadium performance opening for Idles and Future Islands.

This quick momentum led to the band working with Mercury Prize nominated producer Tommy McLaughlin for their next single ‘Gay Girls’ – which received a nomination for the RTE Choice Music Prize song of the year, as well as International airplay on NPR’s World Cafe & KEXP.

2019 saw Pillow Queens venture into mainland Europe, with an appearance at this year’s Eurosonic Festival, followed by an impressive string of European tour dates supporting Soak.

Pillow Queens are working on their debut album due for release in early 2020. Their new single ‘HowDoILook’ is out now.

Tebi Rex

Having staked their claim with a succession of well received tracks, 2018 saw Tebi Rex establish themselves as one of the leading names on the Irish music scene. The singles ‘Men Are Trash’ (making both the UK and Irish Viral Top 50 charts) and ‘Peggy’s Bus’; debut EP Welcome To The Darkest Year Of Our Adventures; collaborations with the likes of Eve Belle; triumphant festival appearances at Longitude, Electric Picnic, Indiependence and Other Voices; being named as one of RTE 2FM’s Rising acts for 2019 – all contributed to an incredible year for the duo. Making their first UK appearance with two shows at The Great Escape, three singles – including ‘Financial Controller’, remixed by Watsky collaborator Kush Moody, and Irish radio hit ‘I Never Got Off The Bus’ – have led to the release of their debut album The Young Will Eat The Old on Sept 20th. The band play Ireland Music Week on October 5th.