• Interview: Astralnaut

    September 2, 2013 - By 

    Laying claim to being one the downright heaviest bands in the country right now, Keady sludge-doom band Astralnaut breed groove, weight and haze to produce a sound that that is ever-increasingly all their own. Masterfully veering between pummeling downtuned riffs to stoner-rock mini-odysseys, we cannot recommend catching the Thomas Mallon-fronted act highly enough. We talk to Thomas and Pearse from the band about the past, present and future of Astralnaut,”an unspoken bond of sheer riffage and groove”. ___ Early stirrings: Stoned Messiah, Third Harvest and onwards: Pearse (Donnelly, rhythm guitar): Astralnaut formed as many bands do, from the ashes of previously formed groupings. Thomas…

  • Interview: Swans

    August 14, 2013 - By 

    “I used to hate people, generally,” says Michael Gira, fifty-nine year old commander-in-chief of seminal New York post-punk band Swans. In the final stages of touring their critically-acclaimed, monumentally accomplished twelfth studio album The Seer, the outfit are currently undergoing perhaps their best period in thirty years both as a creative unit and in achieving widespread acclaim for their stunningly severe craft. Not altogether unexpected, something evidently running parallel with this is Gira’s own disposition nowadays: a thoroughly agreeable and self-effacing personality that unravels in conversation with Brian Coney ahead of the band’s hugely-anticipated Belfast show. Having just concluded a…

  • The First Time: Rachel Austin

    July 30, 2013 - By 

    In the third installment of The First Time, we catch up with Belfast-based experimental folk singer-songwriter Rachel Austin, delving into a whole range of musical “firsts” in her life both as a performer and lover of music. Traversing her experiences with everyone from the Appleseed Cast and the Smashing Pumpkins to UB40 and Django Reinhardt, the Virginia-born artist has come quite the way… Portrait photo by the ever-excellent Joe Laverty. ___ First album you bought? I begged my parents to take me to the music shop to buy Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World when I was 8 or 9.…

  • Mustang Margaritas: Alex Trimble and Jamie William

    July 26, 2013 - By 

    Last summer Two Door Cinema Club frontman Alex Trimble and his best friend Belfast photographer Jamie William embarked on road trip down the West coast of America in a classic car, taking in everything from the scorching Nevada desert and seedy sights of Las Vegas. Armed with a pair of Contax G2 cameras and literary notions like On The Road for company and Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas for company, the duo set about capturing their journey, the result of which is Mustang Margaritas, a collection of postcards hand-picked to tell the story of one special trip in a Mustang across…

  • In conversation with… The Vincent(s)

    July 25, 2013 - By 

    In the first installment of  In Conversation With..., photographer Brid O’Donovan captures Margus and Shane from Cork “death pop” five-piece The Vincent(s) visually and in conversation about the band and their music. This is where we would say “awesomesauce” if we sucked – which we do so … awesomesauce. _____ [On discovering music as a kid] Margus: “I had a friend around the corner. We moved into this estate when we were young and you’d see someone wearing a band t-shirt and you would be obsessed. You call round to their house when you’re not invited. Then I found his…

  • Interview: Speed of Snakes

    July 11, 2013 - By 

    You may know them as Rupert Morris (lead screamer, lyricist and guitarist in science-dance-metal troupe BATS) and Vinny McCreith (red-hooded bassist in Adebisi Shank and electronic solo artist as The Vinny Club) but together they are Speed Of Snakes. The Dublin-based duo recently premiered the first track from the sci-fi themed electro-rock project, as well as setting out the suitably silly backstory for the whole project: On the first day, 88 trillion years ago, the great snake Metatraxium created the Universe, the Earth and all the life upon it. Each species birthed from a succession of fantastic and horrifying eggs.…

  • Inbound: Bellos

    July 11, 2013 - By 

    In the third installment of the Inbound, we chat to Luke Bowen, frontman with Belfast-based alternative three-piece Bellos to discuss the band’s early beginnings, influences and the band’s plans for the next few months. ___ You formed last year. How did the band come about? Where you all friends beforehand and what motivated you to get the band together? “Aidan and I had just moved into our first house together. There was a deal in the off license for a bottle of Buckfast and six cans of beer for a tenner, so we obliged, got messed up and started listening to…

  • Interview: The Melvins

    July 2, 2013 - By 

    Having spent the last three decades consistently reaffirming and reinventing themselves as one of the boldest and most thoroughly influential bands of all time, the Melvins have recently released the excellently-titled – genuinely impressive – Everybody Loves Sausage, a covers album featuring renditions of songs by acts as tastefully disparate as Throbbing Gristle and David Bowie. With their 30th Anniversary Tour just around the corner, we speak to the band’s legendary drummer Dale Crover about the release, the band’s quarter of century reigning as the unequivocal Godfathers of Grunge and much more besides. Eighteen genre-spanning full-length albums and several bassists into their…

  • Malibu Shark Attack

    June 27, 2013 - By 

    Tucked into a corner of Weaver’s Court Business Park are Studios 2 and 3 of Start Together. Control room, recording booths, a treasure trove of sound equipment – this is Rocky O’Reilly’s manor, the place where the one-time Oppenheimer man, and production maestro, has helped deliver a dizzying array of music. Sitting in his favourite seat, the one beside the mixing console, Rocky has invited me here to tell me about his latest endeavour, Malibu Shark Attack. There is reason to be intrigued. First off, it’s the first band he’s been a part of since Oppenheimer called it quits in…

  • Inbound: Joshua Burnside

    June 18, 2013 - By 

    Hands down one of the most-forward thinking folk artists from these shores in recent times, Joshua Burnside is set to release his latest EP, If You’re Goin’ That Way, off the back of a wave of momentum created by his latest single ‘Black Dog Sin’. Having received 6Music Airplay from the likes of Lauren Laverne and Gideon Coe, Burnside’s wistful, altogether playful brand of experimental folk not only defies regional comparison, it is indicative of a particular musical spirit that has every potential to thrive much further afield. We catch up with the Comber-based singer-songwriter to get his thoughts on lyrical…