• Interview: Dave Lombardo

    March 12, 2014 - By 

    Ahead of an unforgettable drum workshop at Belfast’s Crescent Arts Centre, Brian Coney and photographer Liam Kielt met up with boundlessly influential metal drummer Dave Lombardo for a career-spanning interview, touching upon everything from his legendary work with and acrimonious departure from Slayer, his latest string of musical projects and keeping grounded and being at one with his fans. You’re hear from the drum workshop in Belfast. What encouraged you to go off and do these things? It’s a good way for me to get out there and talk to the fans and get in touch – get at ground level.…

  • Frame by Frame #005: Oh Volcano – Oceans

    March 7, 2014 - By 

    In the fifth installment of Frame By Frame – a regular feature looking at the production, concepts behind and creators of local music videos – Belfast-based filmmaker and musician Colm Laverty talks to fellow jack-of-all-trades Edward F Butler about his recent video for ‘Oceans’ by Owen and Enda Strathern AKA Oh Volcano. First off, tell us a little bit about your role on this music video. I mainly work in post production, but for this, it was a collage of all sorts. I worked on this short film with a team in Lithuania, no one really wanted the film, so…

  • Interview: Plane Crasher

    March 6, 2014 - By 

    A Herefordshire sludgy garage punk quartet who know how to meld the rawest of genres – once accurately described as “a wild fusion of The Jesus Lizard, The Ramones and Shellac” – Plane Crasher play Belfast’s Warzone Centre on Saturday March 8. To date, they’ve released a triple single, a live session and an eponymous 12” EP, all available independently on Bandcamp. Stevie Lennox caught up with them ahead of their Irish tour to catch a few of their thoughts. When did you actually form, and why? Sometime early 2010. It started a few years before that, Edd asked Matt to join his…

  • Getting re-acquainted: ZZ Top – Sharp Dressed Man (1983)

    March 4, 2014 - By 

    Like a punch in the face, ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ explodes out of the speakers, a sleek, streamlined beast of a song, riding a pulsating electric beat into the horizon. Never mind the suits, the beards, and the cool cars, ZZ Top’s legacy to popular music is making hard rock that you can dance to. Trying to sound ‘modern’ is the kiss of death, but when you do it as good as this, you’re onto a winner. Eliminator, ‘Sharp Dressed Man’s parent album, kinda came out of nowhere. ZZ Top had been a very successful boogie-rock band, churning out blues riffs,…

  • Everything Sucks #008: Radio

    March 4, 2014 - By 

    Over the course of doing a rant column in the hopes of entertaining others, you realise very quickly that while your first draft is often the most satisfying to get off your rotten little chest, it’s also the most stupid thing you could possibly put into the atmosphere. I was supposed to have a column in for Friday that would set the recent debate on radio right. It would accomplish this by dismissing radio as an artform entirely, citing podcasts, streaming, and many more external factors, combined with radio’s own greed and narrowing remit, as it block-programmes itself even further…

  • Choice Cuts: The Best Tracks of… February

    March 3, 2014 - By 

    In his latest review of the very best music released in the month just passed, the altogether audibly-attuned Aaron Hamilton bestows up our very ears some exceptional tracks from the likes of Sun Kil Moon, Lydia Loveless (pictured) and the behemothic pairing of Sunn O))) & Ulver. Banks – Brain (Harvest) Since her breakthrough last year, Banks has been one of the more promising acts in the annual flurry of year-end nominations and awards. Brain is a sardonic, down tempo collaboration with producer Schlomo, and the pairing works to the benefit of both of them – Banks sounds years more mature…

  • Frame by Frame #004: VerseChorusVerse – No More Years

    February 27, 2014 - By 

    In the fourth installment of Frame by Frame – a feature looking at the production of Irish music videos from the perspective of their creators – Colm Laverty catches up with Adrian Rowe and Emma Louise Dodds from Industrious Dark about their recent video for ‘No More Years’ by singer-songwriter Tony Wright AKA VerseChorusVerse. First off, tell us a little bit about each of your roles on this music video. We are Industrious Dark – Adrian Rowe and Emma Louise Dodds. We were the creators/directors of the video. In a sentence, what sets ‘No More Years’ apart from other Northern Irish…

  • Instatour: Slow Skies

    February 22, 2014 - By 

    Instatour finally returns this year with Dublin based indie folk band Slow Skies on their recent tour with James Vincent McMorrow. Check out the photos from their travels below!

  • Interview: Isobel Anderson

    February 20, 2014 - By 

    Three increasingly majestic studio albums in, Belfast-based experimental singer-songwriter Isobel Anderson has steadily established herself as one of the finest forward-thinking artists of a generation. Held in the highest of esteem by critics including BBC Radio’s Lauren Laverne and Jamie Cullum, to name but two, the East Sussex-derived musician talks to Brian Coney about inspiration, experimentation and how artists can break free from pre-conceived musical confines. Hi Isobel. You released your superb third album, In My Garden, in December last year. How did you approach things, from both a songwriting and recording perspective, on the record? In terms of songwriting, the album…

  • 20 Years of Being Brave – How Marillion Crawled Back From Obscurity

    February 20, 2014 - By 

    Twenty years ago, a record called Brave hit number ten on the UK album chart. It was by a band who had best been known for ‘Kayleigh’, a hit single they’d had nine years earlier, fronted by a different singer. It’s all ancient history now, but the band are still going, and whilst they’re still largely known for that hit single, the hardcore fans have been celebrating the Brave anniversary with much fanfare, a veritable army of fans rhapsodising over the raw, emotive music contained within the album. But how can a band who are arguably remembered for one 29…