• Album Premiere & Interview: The Bonk

    October 6, 2017 - By 

    Having released a string of stellar singles over the last two years, Dublin & Cork-based experimental, orchestral, psychedelic garage rock project The Bonk have released their debut LP, The Bonk Seems To Be A Verb, and we’re delighted to premiere the entire album on its day of release. Recorded over the last few years while the outfit have been together, it’s released on cassette through Drogheda arts & culture collective Thirty Three – 45. Although the project is based around the compositions of frontman Phil Christie – of O Emperor, the substantial cast of musicians credited on the album includes some of the island’s most…

  • Making It Count: An Interview With John Deery and The Heads

    September 28, 2017 - By 

    Look as far and wide as you will, but you’ll struggle to find an Irish band as respected as Derry’s John Deery and the Heads. Ahead of the launch of their wonderfully-woven third studio album, Nothing Permanent Lasts, at the Nerve Centre on Saturday night, we talk to the quartet’s main man about evolution, the power of change, successfully going down the crowdfunding route and much more. Go here to buy tickets and for more info about the album launch Hi, John. You officially launch Nothing Permanent Lasts at the end of the month. You ran a successful pledge campaign for…

  • Pulling Their Weight: An Interview with Elder Druid

    September 20, 2017 - By 

    Last week we premiered ‘Witchdoctor’, the lead single from Belfast sludge doom band Elder Druid’s forthcoming debut album, Carmina Satanae. With the album – a fist-clenched, eight-track statement of intent – set for release at Belfast’s Bar Sub on Friday, October 6, we chat to the band about influence, evolution, dark lyricism and why Ireland punches above its weight when it comes to the low-end. You’ve recently been in the studio recording your debut album, Carmina Satanae. How was the experience? Dale (Hughes, bass): I think it’s safe to say that from start to finish the environment was easy going enough that…

  • Honesty and Conviction: An Interview with Dave Hanratty of NO ENCORE

    September 11, 2017 - By 

    The country’s self-proclaimed “pre-eminent music podcast” NO ENCORE will once again take to the stage at Whelan’s on Thursday, September 28. Taking place as part of the inaugural Dublin Podcast Festival, the event will see hosts Dave Hanratty, Colm O’Regan and Craig Fitzpatrick record an episode live alongisde musical guests Overhead The Albatross, Daithi and Elaine Mai. Ahead of what’s sure to be a stellar evening on Wexford Street, Brian Coney talks to Dave Hanratty about the podcast’s conception, present and future. Go here to buy tickets to NO ENCORE Live II Hi, Dave. Take us back to the very…

  • Premiere & Interview: Blue Americans – ‘Bull On Venice Beach/Holy Goo’

    September 1, 2017 - By 

    En­ough tears have been shed over the once-fertile, in-breeding Belfast music scene – or more specifically, a certain strain of D.I.Y. post-hardcore that was once ubiquitous in the wake of Brand New and Reuben’s premature breakups – led by young, hungry outfits like More Than Conquerors, who quite successfully married that sound with an astute ear for a hook, delivered by the gilded throat of Kris Platt. Everyone in that band went their separate ways almost exactly two years ago, following not much shy of a decade together. All things, however, must pass, and since then, the landscape has drastically…

  • Playing The Long Game: An Interview With American Football

    August 31, 2017 - By 

    Few bands will ever have the underground cult status of American Football. The Illinois quartet are credited with the creation of one of emo’s most romanticised albums and have been part of the most anticipated return in the emo revival. Ahead of playing The Button Factory in Dublin on Monday, Kelly Doherty chats to Steve Lamos about their return. Where did the decision for American Football to get back together come from? A couple people came to us in light of the first album being reissued and asked us to play. I don’t think we had really considered it before…

  • Makers in the Making: An Interview with Liam Geraghty

    August 26, 2017 - By 

    Almost unheard of as a medium five years ago, podcasting was once relegated to being one of those pesky default iPhone apps that you couldn’t get rid of. However, thanks in part to massively popular shows like NPR’s This American Life, whose podcast Serial in 2014 introduced a whole range of people to the audio form, the podcasting world has gone from a slightly unpopular alternative to listening to music on a morning commute, to shows like Welcome To Night Vale, or My Dad Wrote A Porno selling out multiple nights in Dublin. This September, Irish podcasting network HeadStuff host…

  • We’re New Here: An Interview with Last Days Of Elvis

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    Anxious and introspective on record, Berlin-based Last Days of Elvis are anything but when interviewed. On first impressions, their debut Must Be A Mistake draws stylistic comparisons to The National and Nick Cave but underneath lies diligently crafted expressions of fragility and angst. Ahead of their upcoming UK and Ireland tour, our Dominic Edge discuss life in Berlin, toilet ambience and recording at Funkhaus Studios with vocalist, guitarist and stew-enthusiast Andrew Stark. Tell us more about your name – is it in admiration to the King, or am I wide of the mark? To be honest, I think we just really…

  • Eclectic Picnic: An Interview with Paul Muldoon

    August 11, 2017 - By 

    Ahead of Muldoon’s Picnic – an “omnium-gatherum” of words and music featuring an in-house band and special guests including Duke Special and Colm Mac Con Iomaire – at Belfast’s the MAC on September 2, Pulitzer Prize-winning Northern Irish poet Paul Muldoon talks to Brian Coney about collaboration, the birth and of the picnic and his desire to give poetry an extra push. Go here to buy tickets to Muldoon’s Picnic at the MAC “(A) Muldoon’s Picnic” is a saying denoting something that is all over the place or having a lack of structure and organisation. Collins also reliably informs me…

  • Keeping It Old School: An Interview with Paul Kane of Over The Hill Collective

    July 18, 2017 - By 

    Having grown in leaps and bounds over the last seven years, Over The Hill is a music collective based at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre aimed at mature musicians but open to everyone. Brian Coney chats to founder Paul Kane about its foundations and development, as well as why it’s a crucial link in bridging music, community and the older generation. Hi, Paul. First thing’s first: how did the Over The Hill collective first come about? It started about seven years ago. When I first walked in the doors here at Oh Yeah Music Centre I had just changed careers and…