In the latest installment of Front of House, we talk to Belfast-based freelance sound engineer Bernard Flanagan about starting out, his typical work day and working with the likes of Biffy Clyro and Therapy? Photos by Liam Kielt. Hi there. Can you tell us about yourself? My name is Bernard Flanagan and I’m originally from Maghera. I have lived in Belfast on and off for 10yrs. I have also lived in London and Glasgow. How did you become a sound engineer and how long have you been involved in it? I have been in the music industry since I was 14-15.…
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Dublin’s Hangar team have announced the official launch party of their new venue, located on Andrews Lane, in the heart of Dublin City. Having been “hard at work creating a new space, a new cultural hub ready to cater to all types of music and events”, the venue – boasting a brand new, state of the art sound system – will kickstart on Aprll 17 with a MMOTHS (pictured) DJ/AV set (feat. Slipdraft), The Minutes and New Secret Weapon, with The Building Society DJ’s taking over upstairs. Tickets are extremely limited (300 advanced tickets) and only one ticket per person. RSVP here. First come, first served basis.
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Derry alt-rock quartet The Wood Burning Savages aren’t exactly ones to slack with their music videos. Take the engaging, narrative-driven visual accompaniments to previous singles ‘Boom’ and ‘America’ – two strong, wonderfully considered videos that really manage to drive Paul Connolly’s words home. Directed by Cillian Farrell and Sonni Ross , the band have just went one better with the video for new single ‘Lather, Rinse, Repeat’, an instantly captivating accompaniment to a track bursting with upbeat gusto and eager flair. Check that out below.
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Back in November, Dublin duo Phil Boughton and Daryl Chaney AKA Subplots played the first ever Higher Ground in the city’s spectacular Pepper Canister Church, a series of shows hosted by Hidden Agenda. According to Hidden Agenda, “These shows focus on showcasing the best international and local talent performing in alternative and spectacular venues across the country. Each act is carefully chosen on their musical and artistic merit with a focus on showing only the most exciting, innovative and creative acts from across the board.” Setting themselves apart from the get go, each of the shows are also filmed on the night and released…
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When he’s not busy running Dublin’s newest record shop, Little Gem Records or performing as part of both I Heart The Monster Hero and GODHATESDISCO, Andy Walsh has been concocting his own inimitable, solo sonic wizardry as White Sage. The first manifestation of that is the perfectly phantasmal Way Beyond our Means, a Kraut-echoing, decidedly experimental quartet of tracks, including lead single ‘Parnell Street June 1955’. Evoking the likes of Neu! and Fujiya and Miyagi, the track swaggers forth with its chugging groove, broad synth shapes and twinkling notes marrying in a swirl of blissed-out haze. Watch the simple yet very…
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Dublin’s Niall Jackson is as chameleonic and active a musician that you’re ever liable to meet. A member of the likes of Bouts – not to mention the man behind recent homeless charity supergroup Christmas Hearts – Jackson also fronts three-piece Swimmers, who launch their new EP, The Burning Circus, upstairs in Whelan’s on Saturday, April 25. The lead single from that is ‘Lose Myself’, a drifting, nostalgia-laced ode to personal freedom and wanderlust of the soul, recorded by Justin Commins of Kill Krinkle Club. Go here for the EP launch’s Facebook event page and stream the single below.
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Forging heady spiels of stream of consciousness with Mingusian sax forays, open-ended punk abandon and skilfully loose improvisation, Belfast’s Robocobra Quartet are right up there with the country’s very best live acts. Ahead of supporting Not Squares at Belfast’s Bar Sub tomorrow night – and appearing at our second birthday show at Dublin’s Twisted Pepper on Saturday, May 2 – the Chris Ryan-fronted four-piece have unveiled ’80-88′. the lead single from their new EP, Bomber (“‘four songs about three people, two novels, a failed assassination attempt and a volunteer-run community arts space” – obviously). We’ll soon have a premiere of the second single from the…
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Few Irish bands defy categorisation so impressively as Dublin instrumental four-piece Alarmist. The closest thing the country has come to (that is: bettering, if not matching) the likes of Battles, Maps & Atlases and Giraffes? Giraffes! – the band’s unravelling, math-tinged tracks are equally parts complex and cunning, meshing effects-laden guitar lines with skittering keyboard lines and consistently engaging percussion. Two years on from it featuring on their Pal Magnet EP, ‘Aztec Dreams’ by the band has finally been released with a fittingly hypnotic video courtesy of Cormac Murray & Daniel Staines. Triangles are very much still in, kids.
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Of the increasing number of new bands to emerge in Derry over the last while, Fabric are easily one of the more curious propositions. Having formed in the summer of last year, Ruairi Coyle (drums) and Lorcan Hamilton (bass/vox) are, according to their Facebook bio, “striving to invent a new sound by exploring many different genres/artists and musical styles.” You might as well aim high, right? Accompanied with wonderfully bombastic b-side ‘Ascot Blondes’, the duo’s debut single, ‘Jungle’ is certainly hard to pin down. At a push, we’d be inclined to say it sounds a bit like Death From Above 1979 jamming Joy Division (or…
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On Saturday, April 18, Dublin’s Aviva Stadium will play host to the seventh annual Irish Youth Music Awards, the country’s only all island youth focused music festival, with over sixteen different regions from across Ireland participating in the project. Events have been running since last December across the whole island with the national event – organised by Youth Work Ireland – taking place on the day. According to the Youth Work Ireland, the aim of the IYMA is “to provide every young person with the opportunities to get tools for life and change communities. Each year the programme is launched and…