• The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse Irish Premiere @ Whelan’s

    We will host the Irish premiere of Alex Crowton and Bobby Dass’ The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse at Whelan’s on Sunday, July 2. Following the screening of the documentary, which looks at the life and music of the sadly-missed Mark Linkous, a band of musicians – including Tom McShane, The Mad Dalton, Pixie Saytar, Heliopause and Jake Lennox – will play an hour-long set of material from the Sparklehorse songbook. Doors are at 7pm and tickets – priced €13.00 – are available to buy via Whelan’s, a venue which Sparklehorse performed at on a handful of occasions.  

  • The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse @ The MAC, Belfast

    Few events in Belfast are likely to be as emotionally charged as this evening’s tribute to Sparklehorse. Anyone familiar with the band’s output -and it immediately transpires that not one soul in tonight’s intimate gathering does not hold every beat, note and lyric in their hearts – will already know that frontman Mark Linkous took his own life seven years ago. That fact, tragically, is unavoidable, and there is certainly no avoiding the spectral shadow that such an unnecessary and painful loss casts over the entirety of Linkous’ back catalogue. It is impossible to listen to his music without feeling…

  • Interview: Paying Tribute to The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse

    On Saturday, April 8 we will co-host a special, two-part event at The MAC as part of Belfast Film Festival celebrating the life and music of the sadly-missed Mark Linkous AKA Sparklehorse. Following a screening of Alex Crowton and Bobby Dass’ new documentary ‘The Sad & Beautiful World of Sparklehorse’, the evening will also feature a Q+A with the filmmakers, as well as a live, one-hour performance ‘A Night of Sparklehorse’ with Tom McShane, Peter Sumadh AKA The Mad Dalton, Richard Davis AKA Heliopause, Pixie Saytar, Jake Lennox and Brian Coney. Ahead of the one-off event, we chat with the organisers and…

  • The Sad & Beautiful World of Sparklehorse at The MAC

    On April 8 we will co-host a special, two-part event The MAC as part of Belfast Film Festival celebrating the life and music of the sadly-missed Mark Linkous, aka Sparklehorse. Following a screening of Alex Crowton and Bobby Dass’ new documentary ‘The Sad & Beautiful World of Sparklehorse’, the evening will also feature a Q+A with the filmmakers, as well as a live, one-hour performance, ‘A Night of Sparklehorse’ with Belfast-based singer-songwriters Tom McShane, The Mad Dalton, Heliopause, Pixie Saytar and more. Tickets are available from The MAC, priced at £10.50 & £12.50. Things kick off at 8pm.

  • Track Record: Crayonsmith

    For the latest installment of Track Record, the Crayonsmith lads arrived at my house armed with their favourite records, brownies and plenty of stories of why these albums mean so much to them. All three of them agreed that Public Strain by Women is one of the best albums ever. We chatted about the others over tea and here’s what they had to say: Women – Public Strain Ciaran Smith: “This record has everything and is a good example of where our three tastes meet. Amazing lo-fi recording job by Chad Van Gallen and loads of killer hooks. ‘Venice Lockjaw’ has…