• Inbound: Women’s Christmas

    February 17, 2014 - By 

    Comprised of members from Dublin bands Villagers, Jogging and No Monster Club, lo-fi indie rock three-piece Women’s Christmas are much more than just an intriguing band name. Having released the superb debut EP, Tremendous, last month, we chat to the Ronan Jackson from the band about their formation, the recording of the aforementioned release and what 2014 holds in store for the band in terms of playing, recording and getting their music out there. Hi Ronan. First thing’s first: how did Women’s Christmas come into being? It was a pile of guitar songs that I had kicking around for about two or…

  • Me vs. You: An Alternative Valentine’s Day Playlist

    February 14, 2014 - By 

    That time of year is upon us again. The time when florists and chocolatiers hike up their prices and card makers try to make us feel somehow unfulfilled because we don’t have a significant other in our pathetic and worthless lives. And all in an attempt to guilt us out of our hard earned money in some fake show of affection. Well, I say fuck that. Take your soppy love songs and cringeworthy Hallmark sentiments and shove ’em where the sun don’t shine, baby! It is time for those of us who are single (by choice or not), for those of…

  • Classic Album: The Smiths (1984)

    February 13, 2014 - By 

    Hindsight is a wonderful thing. After 30 years of disappointments, you can look back and see exactly what started it all, throwing all amount of history and emotional baggage on top of it to make some kind of distorted, grotesque picture of what it was like. But when you sit down to listen to The Smiths‘ debut album, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this month, you’d be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about. For an album that supposedly changed everything, it’s so damn ordinary. The Smiths’ debut had a tortured genesis, involving betrayal, back room deals, and…

  • Hardwell and the Defence of Dance

    February 12, 2014 - By 

    To read the hysterical coverage following last week’s Hardwell concert, you’d think that end times were upon us: thousands of feral, drug-abusing teenagers on the rampage with the Dutch DJ as their dark prince. The debate over the next couple of days was depressingly predictable, with fingers pointed at dance music, drugs and “prinking”, or pre-drinking – a catchy new name for a custom as old as the hills. Hardwell’s Edinburgh show was even cancelled as a frankly bizarre precaution. But there’s no need to panic. This was a 16+ event featuring a globally successful dance music star, in a…

  • Interview: Maximo Park

    February 11, 2014 - By 

    In the nine years since the release of their Mercury Prize nominated debut album, A Certain Trigger, Newcastle indie rock band Maximo Park have evolved and expanded upon their boundlessly energetic and impassioned approach to accommodate their collective desire to avoid repeating themselves. With their new album, Too Much Information, embracing a decidedly more electronic approach to an exceptional end result, the Paul Smith-fronted are once more commanding critical clout for their unmistakable brand of zealous and adrenaline-fuelled indie rock. Ahead of their highly-anticipated return to Belfast on March 1, Shannon O’Neill talks to the band’s keyboardist/vocalist Lukas Wooller about the writing of…

  • Frame By Frame #002: September Girls – Green Eyed

    February 10, 2014 - By 

    Following on from a feature on the making of Cliff Richard by Abandcalledboy, Belfast-based photographer and filmmaker and Colm Laverty chats to Jessie from Dublin noise pop band September Girls about her brilliant and thoroughly DIY video for the band’s recent single, ‘Green Eyed’. First off, tell us a little bit about each of your roles on this music video. I’m Jessie and I play the red guitar in the band… and I also directed this video! In a sentence, what sets ‘Green Eyed’ apart from other Irish music videos? It was a very DIY affair, made by the band,…

  • Twenty Years of Troublegum

    February 7, 2014 - By 

    Set for an expansive three-disc deluxe reissue in March, the gamechanging Troublegum by Northern Irish alt-rock heroes Therapy? was unleashed twenty years ago today, back in the thoroughly transitional musical milieu of early 1994. An impassioned and inexorable fourteen-track masterstroke borne from social disillusion and the laws of unspoken smalltown psychosis, it saw frontman Andy Cairns, bassist Michael “The Evil Priest” McKeegan and drummer Fyfe Ewing propelled from emerging contenders to bona fide alternative rock demigods. From the gloriously demented ‘Knives’ to closing rampage ‘Brainsaw’, Troublegum forged Cairns’ deeply intelligent and masterfully sardonic lyrics, Ewing’s mighty rhythmic élan and a breathless deluge of earworming, generation-defining pop-punk hooks coloured…

  • Everything Sucks #007: Red Hot Chili Peppers

    February 7, 2014 - By 

    Everything Sucks is back after a long hiatus. Not that it was around long enough for anyone to really miss, but that’s okay. The last time I really got on my high-horse, a bunch of bullshit and chapped arses ensued because – surprise, surprise – people by and large don’t like being called out on calling themselves music fans and then refusing to support music. So, the topic of music fandom is what I am here to discuss today, from the other side of the coin, both as a deluded culchie alt-rock-obsessed teenager, and the hateful hack he became, rather…

  • Interview: Sean Gullette

    February 5, 2014 - By 

    Sixteen years ago, American actor, screenwriter and director Sean Gullette sprung to the film world’s attention via his critically acclaimed lead portrayal of Maximillian “Max” Cohen in Darren Aronofsky’s surrealist psychological thriller, Pi (π) – a modern cult classic that he co-wrote. Fast-forward the guts of two decades and Gullette – now an increasingly widely-respected auteur in his own right – is gaining plaudits for his debut feature-length creation behind the camera, Traitors. Centering on an all-female punk rock band in Morocco, the film offers up an alternative view of Muslim women in contemporary North Africa and is bolstered by its punk…

  • Frame By Frame #001: Abandcalledboy – Cliff Richard

    February 4, 2014 - By 

    In the very first installment of Frame By Frame – a brand new feature looking at the production of music videos by all kinds of  Irish bands and artists – Colm Laverty talks to Ryan Burrowes and Mark Finnegan from Northern Irish alt-rock trio Abandcalledboy about their recent, wonderfully retro tribute to the Peter Pan of pop, Cliff Richard. >Hi guys. First off, tell us a little bit about each of your roles on this music video. Mark (Finnegan, bass): I did a lot of the pre-production (storyboarding, set pieces, locations), it’s something I have a bit of experience in, but…