• Q+A: Sea Pinks’ Neil Brogan Interviews TERRY

    August 17, 2018 - By 

    Sea Pinks’ Neil Brogan is a big fan of the Australian band TERRY. So much so that he has turned promoter to ensure the band stop off in Belfast on their upcoming UK tour to promote new album I’m Terry. You can catch them September 7th at Voodoo with a reformed (for one night only!) CRUISING supporting. Neil caught up with Al Montfort from the band for a Q&A that touches on Home & Away, the band’s love of Van Morrison and Melbourne’s place in the global liveability index. Meanwhile you can catch Sea Pinks launching their new record, Rockpool Blue, over…

  • A Musical Voyage Through the Cosmos: An Interview with Frankie Cosmos

    August 15, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of her mini-Irish tour, Greta Kline of New York DIY indie band, Frankie Cosmos speaks to Zara Hedderman about recording over fifty albums, dogs of Instagram and the bigs steps she took with her band whilst honing her craft and building an audience. Photo by Landon Speers Hey Greta, where are you right now? I’m at my house in New York, getting ready for the upcoming block of shows for the Frankie Cosmos tour. Do you write new material on the road? I do write while I’m on tour but it definitely changes the way I compose songs. When…

  • Bathing in Folk: An Interview with Jeremy Barnes of A Hawk and A Hacksaw

    August 9, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of their gig in the Workman’s club next week, Jack Rudden chats to Jeremy Barnes of A Hawk and Hacksaw about Eastern European music, Don Quixote and the possibility of Jeff Mangum being a time traveller. Photo by Christian Pallin. Many people know you as a drummer, but you are also an accomplished accordionist. Which instrument did you pick up first and which would you consider your primary instrument? The drum kit was my first instrument. My goal as a youth was to make as much noise as possible on it. I as not interested in nuance. I wanted to…

  • Therapeutic Comedy: An Interview with Mad Notions

    August 8, 2018 - By 

    “The last thing we wanted to do was be just another podcast where two or three lads sit around chatting about nothing for an hour.” Mission accomplished then for Mick McCullagh and Nathan O’Regan, hosts of the Mad Notions podcast. Far from their fear of chatting about nothing, over the past six months the two musicians have, perhaps accidentally, created something which is having a positive impact on other musicians in Northern Ireland beyond the infectious howls of laughter the two share during episodes. Cooped up in Nathan’s home studio better known as the ‘Poditorium’ once a week, Mick and…

  • Everything Goes: An interview with Aidan Moffat

    July 12, 2018 - By 

    Still best known as one half of Arab Strab with Malcolm Middleton, Aidan Moffat’s later career has been a multifaceted one, and his latest album, Here Lies the Body, a collaboration with RM Hubbert, is one of our favourites of 2018 so far. Ahead of July dates at Galway’s Róisín Dubh (23rd), Dublin’s Grand Social (24th) and Belfast’s Black Box (25th), Cathal McBride speaks to Aidan (pictured right, with Hubbert) about this latest project and other recent work.  Hi Aidan, how has the tour for Here Lies the Body been going so far? They’ve all been pretty great so far,…

  • ‘That Is Horror Already’: Aislinn Clarke on Magdalene Laundry Frightener The Devil’s Doorway

    July 11, 2018 - By 

    Earlier this year, the announcement of The Conjuring spin-off The Nun prompted movie site ledes about how scary nuns are the new scary clowns. But for Irish readers, Mother Superior’s terrors are nothing new. The trauma of the Magdalene Laundries — the island-wide network of religious asylums where vulnerable and ‘wayward’ women were imprisoned and forced to provide unpaid labour —lingers in Irish cultural memory. Peter Mullan’s The Magdalene Sisters (2002) is the most well-known dramatisation of life in the institutions — the last of which closed in Belfast in only 1996 — but is being joined by new genre work. Premiering this week in New York…

  • Interview: Chelsea Wolfe

    July 9, 2018 - By 

    Currently on tour in Europe, the bewitching force that is Chelsea Wolfe will play Belfast’s Limelight on July 23 and Dublin’s Tivoli Theatre on July 24. Ahead of those shows, the Californian goth-rock artist talks to Jack Rudden about new music, her country music background, the ideal breakfast and more. On your latest release, Aaron Turner of Post Metal icons ISIS featured on the track ‘Vex’. What was it like collaborating with Aaron  and have you any plans to collaborate with other artists in the near future? CW: I also collaborated with Troy Van Leeuwen of QOTSA, and my longtime bandmate…

  • Melting Songs: Seán Mac Erlaine interviewed

    July 3, 2018 - By 

    Woodwind specialist and experimental composer Seán Mac Erlaine creates deeply cerebral and alluringly unclassifiable music. Long celebrated for his own swirling, phantasmal compositions as well as his work with Swedish/Irish folk group , This is How We Fly, May saw the release of his latest solo album, the divine Music for Empty Ears. The album was recorded in collaboration with Norwegian luminaries, innovative live sampler Jan Bang and guitarist Eivind Aarset and also features the sumptuous wraith like vocals of Galway singer Sadhbh Ní Dhálaighhe. The dizzying array of talents on record combines to create one of the most seductive releases in Mac…

  • Sistrionics: An Interview with Deap Vally

    June 28, 2018 - By 

    Deap Vally are singer-guitarist Lindsey Troy and drummer Julie Edwards. They exploded into the scene with their debut album Sistrionix in 2013, which won favourable comparisons to blues rock contemporaries The White Stripes and The Black Keys as well as scene legends Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin. After leaving Island Records, they self-funded 2016’s follow-up album Femejism, which was produced by Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Nick Zimmer. After the release of single ‘Get Gone’ earlier this year, they’re currently on amall European tour, including The Limelight in Belfast tonight (Thursday, June 28). Caolan Coleman spoke to them ahead of the gigs. Your new…

  • Lost in the Forest: An Interview With James Holden

    June 21, 2018 - By 

    Few artists have taken such a personal journey as James Holden. The electronic artist’s transformation is not subtle; Holden, now a practised bandleader, ties together jazz, folk, psychedelia and world music with an ideology rooted in trance. The Animal Spirits, one of 2017’s most interesting and colourful releases, threw these experiments loudly in the face of the listener with an unrivalled fervent energy. As a result of the critical acclaim, Holden is now in the thick of a cross-continental festival trek, including an appearance at Ireland’s very own Body & Soul this weekend. Despite this, Dom Edge had the pleasure of…