• Privacy, Freedom, Bliss and Breadth: An Interview with Hilary Woods

    May 3, 2018 - By 

    Dublin native Hilary Woods found herself thrust into the public eye while still just a teenager, playing bass in the commercially successful alternative trio JJ72. Her tenure with the band saw her tour the world, grace the covers of music magazines and even appear on Top of the Pops. After two albums though Woods parted ways with her bandmates, ready to follow her own creative voice. The road to launching herself as a solo artist may have been a winding one but since 2013 fans have been treated to three darkly dreamlike releases showcasing Woods’ delicate voice and deft song…

  • This Ain’t No Picnic: An Interview With Alpha Male Tea Party

    April 26, 2018 - By 

    Alpha Male Tea Party are a three piece math rock band from Liverpool that have made a name for themselves with hard hitting off kilter riffs and an idiosyncratic sense of wit. The lads are about to set out on an Irish Tour in order to promote their latest album, Health, with shows in Belfast, Dublin, Galway, Cork and Limerick. Jack Rudden had the pleasure of chatting to the group’s guitarist, Tom Peters, about their latest release, the math rock scene and Abraham Lincoln before they hit the road. Your five date tour kicks off on the second of May. What has…

  • Fears: h_always

    April 6, 2018 - By 

    Content note: Suicide & self harm.  Under the Fears moniker, Constance Keane hasn’t ever shied from making music that challenges pervasive feelings of anxiety, just as her previous outlet, the sonically-opposing M(h)aol, used primal, abrasive noise-punk as its own vehicle to address greater issues. And, as with anyone who holds complete autonomy over their creativity, it’s often assumed that it’s just one aspect of someone in tune with themselves. By her own admission, Constance has worked hard to accept, utilise, and channel that into a busy and fulfilling professional & artistic life. However, following a traumatic event in Autumn 2017, Constance fell into a suicidal state, and following several trips to A&E, she was admitted to a psychiatric…

  • Making It Rain: A Chat with O Emperor

    March 30, 2018 - By 

    The trajectory of O Emperor is rooted in familiar origins. They did what schoolmates do and formed a band. That band were picked up by Universal shortly after, landing them a #6 in the Irish album charts. They took their time and constructed a studio for the follow-up. here’s a point where the Radioheads & Beatles’ of this world effortlessly toe the line between artistic and commercial success, and its often the dependence and freedom of a studio itself to bring out the alchemy present in the band. Those moments where everything seems to magically synergise at once can’t be replicated…

  • Political Partying: An Interview with Room For Rebellion

    March 8, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of its next takeover in London, Belfast and Dublin on March 23, we talk awareness, action and momentum with Jess Brien, Anna Cafolla, Isis O’Regan, Hollie Boston and Cait Fahey of Room For Rebellion, a “political party” who host synchronised events in aid of Abortion Support Network. Go here to buy tickets for Room for Rebellion Hi guys. Take us back to the roots of Room for Rebellion. When and how did it come about? Room For Rebellion was first set up by Isis who felt implored to do something about the state of women’s healthcare in Ireland. Anna and…

  • In Their Hands: A Conversation with Wyvern Lingo

    March 8, 2018 - By 

    Bray’s Wyvern Lingo chat to Nicole Glennon about being women in the Irish music industry,their camaraderie, activism and plans for the future. What does it mean to each of you to be a woman in 2018? Caoi: It’s socially more acceptable as a woman to dress in a garish fashion..? I don’t think about being a woman. The day our album was released, we were loading the van after our sold out gig in the Button Factory in Temple Bar, and some random prick walking past smacked my ass. When I ran after him, punched him in the back and screamed at…

  • Those Who Can, Do (and Teach): A Brief Herstory of Girls Rock School Northern Ireland

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    Established in March 2016, Girls Rock School Northern Ireland offers workshops and mentoring in electric guitar, bass, drums and vocals to women and girls of all ages. Taking inspiration and mentorship from it’s sister school Girls Rock School Edinburgh, it was the very first collective of its kind in the whole of Ireland. Since then, there is now also Girls Rock Dublin; just as Girls Rock camps and schools have been popping up across the world since the very first camp was held in Portland in 2001. GRSNI welcomes participants who self-identify as female, trans and/or gender non-conforming; they are…

  • Phil Kieran on Soundtracking EdgeFest: East Belfast Boy

    March 1, 2018 - By 

    We grab a few words with Belfast DJ, producer and jack of all trades Phil Kieran about his experience soundtracking East Belfast Boy – an EdgeFest production currently on at Belfast’s the MAC – his forthcoming EP, Polyrhythmic, and more. Hi Phil. You’ve written the music for East Belfast Boy as part of this year’s EdgeFest. How did the collaboration come about and what attracted you to the project? I was approached by Emma Jordan who is the director of the play, we have been friends for years. I mentioned to her last year I would love to have a go at…

  • Interview: All The Luck In The World

    February 26, 2018 - By 

    Following the release of their second album, A Blind Arcade, on 23rd February, Ben Connolly of Berlin-based alt-folk trio All The Luck In The World chats to Nicole Glennon about contrasting studio spaces, sonic experimentation and the importance of originality. TTA: A Blind Arcade has just been released. How are you feeling about it? BC: Overall we’re really excited about it. We put a lot into this record and then had to sit on it for almost two years, so there’s a sense of relief in knowing that the songs are finally going to make their way to people. I would say that…

  • Explorations in É: An Interview with Dowry

    February 21, 2018 - By 

    There is an ambient apposition at work through the debut single from Dowry, the solo moniker of multi-instrumentalist and composer Éna Brennan. In É unfolds with measured purpose, the instrumental track building gently in tension as it moves from a drone base through subtle orchestral counterpoints towards its dramatic, understated conclusion. Éna creates her sounds with violin and a loop pedal, inviting the listener to become entangled in the earthier low tones, and the ghostly high register notes that pull away from their mire like will-o’-the-wisps. It’s that same emotional evocation that we’ve encountered on Éna’s earlier compositions, and in…