August Wells live at Levi’s Corner Bar in Ballydehob, Co.Cork with special guests Brian Mooney and M.Sea. Photos by Jason Lee
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Over 20 years since his emergence with shoegaze band Rollerskate Skinny (with none other than Jimi Shields, brother of My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin) and a CV that includes stints fronting New York alt-rock band Favourite Sons and his own solo project Kid Silver, Dublin native Kenneth Griffin shows no sign of letting up from his multifaceted musical pursuits, with his latest venture August Wells – formed in 2012 with New York pianist John Rauchenberger – recently signing to Cork’s FIFA Records (Forever In Financial Arrears) for this second LP. Griffin’s impressive croon is the first thing you hear at the start of opener ‘Here in the…
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“One day you wake up, as the man that you are, And not as the one you thought you’d become. You stop making promises, you stop telling lies. You look right into your own eyes and start saying your goodbyes.” Few Irish singer-songwriters command with the same immediacy, pathos and poignance as August Wells‘ Ken Griffin. Of all their single releases to date – including the particularly excellent ‘Here In The Wild‘ – the band’s new single ‘She Was a Question’ aims straight from the psychic jugular, distilling Sisyphean acceptance to three minutes of sublimely woven, Bacharachian alt-pop where cold, hard reality simply has…
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In a one-off diversion from its usual Monday slot, Ken Griffin from August Wells chooses and selects some of his favourite tracks for this special Friday Mixtape (see what we did there?) August Wells playing the following Irish shows this weekend: Friday, January 29: Thirsty Scholar, Waterford Saturday, January 30: Levis’ Corner House, Ballydehob Sunday, January 31: DeBarras, Clonakilty Nina Simone – Suzanne I first heard this sitting in a bar. I immediately asked the barman to play it again. It was my first time ever hearing Nina Simone. I had no idea what was happening. Was it a man? A woman?…
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Back in June, August Wells release what remains one of our favourite Irish tracks of the year, ‘Here In The Wild’. Summoning the pensive, reflective chamber pop of Richard Hawley and the gloriously elongated vocals of early Ian McCullough, the Ken Griffin-led outfit mustered a certain noir incantation that seemed simultaneously deeply familiar and thoroughly new-fangled. Four months on, following a string of Summer dates including an impressive Electric Picnic appearance – the band have unveiled ‘Alice Dear Alice’, a track that whilst following in the vein of ‘Here In The World’ is perhaps more akin to August single ‘Come On In Out Of That Night’…
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Hands down one of our favourite songs of the year, ‘Here In The Wild’ by the Ken Griffin-fronted August Wells has been brought to life with a superb, rather touching video courtesy of Sean Nagin. Summoning the pensive, reflective chamber pop of Richard Hawley and the gloriously elongated vocals of early Ian McCullough, the song was recently released via Cork’s FIFA Records. Speaking to our writer Eoin Murray last month, Griffin – previously of Dublin indie rock band Rollerskate Skinny – said, “I chatted with Eddie (Kiely) from the label and I found his attitude very refreshing, and he seemed to genuinely love the…
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In a wonderfully reflective conversation, Eoin Murray chats to Ken Griffin (pictured, right), ex-Rollerskate Skinny frontman and current frontman of the New York-based August Wells about the latter’s recent melancholic masterpiece ‘Here In The Wild’, recently signing with Cork’s FIFA Records and the current state of indie rock music. So, firstly, ‘Here in the Wild’ was recently released on the excellent FIFA Records. How did you get involved with the label? What made you want to release the single with them in particular? A friend of mine from Cork, Graham Finn, lives in New York, and he played bass on the song.…