• New Pope’s Guide To Galway #2: General Election 2016

    February 24, 2016 - By 

    Ah Galway, city of tribes. Hipsters, students, buskers, shams, bogmen, crusties, drunks, Spanish, gaeilgeoirs, nordies, immigrants, the homeless: Galway has them all! And, for the most part, we all live in ignorant tolerance of one another. But who is to represent such a diverse and bohemian jumble of dole-monkeys? Here is my guide to the upcoming election in the constituency of Galway West. I am, of course, going to leave out Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour because they are all shitehawks. Don’t believe a word from any of them. They are liars. Definitely do not vote for them, I’m…

  • Hyperbolex with Ray Wingnut: Nevermind The Zogabonds

    October 28, 2015 - By 

    ‘Oooh… that Benjamin Netanyahu, he’s a card, isn’t he??’ It’s 7.04am on May 9, 1996 and Zig and Zag are holding it down on The Big Breakfast. They are about to interview and host a live session with Eels who have earlier that year released their wonderful breakthrough album, Beautiful Freak. They go on to show Eels snippets of their favourite television program about Pike and Chubb fishing. In a few minutes time the band perform ‘Going Over To Susan’s House’ live and acoustic. Zig and Zag trip out to the groove, air guitaring, bugging out. It is beautifully and boldly…

  • Call Me If You Kill Anyone

    October 15, 2015 - By 

    The second in his latest column series for us at the Thin Air, Omagh singer-songwriter Michael McCullagh AKA Son of the Hound continues a tale from his days playing in Colenso Parade. Go here to read the previous installment. We’d booked the rehearsal space on advice of other musicians. Standing on the street in Liverpool I looked around, expecting to see some commercial building among the residential houses but there was nothing. Then from a second story window came a shout. ‘Hey! It’s up here!’. It was Hanso, unruly hair and wild eyes laughing at us as he hung precariously out…

  • Vault Lines: The Evangelists

    October 5, 2015 - By 

    ‘Jesus Is Dead, Long Live… The Evangelists’, so says the sticker on my old record box. It has been there for 13 years or more, and every time I look at it still evokes feelings of nostalgia for both the band and for the time when I first came across them. It was back in 2002, and my friend Cathy Wright and I had just started doing a weekly radio show and website, both called Alternative Ulster. The whole show and site were dedicated to covering nothing but Northern Irish music. At this time the local music scene was still…

  • Hyperbolex with Ray Wingnut: Giveamanakick and Naive Ted

    September 23, 2015 - By 

    ‘Hello, we’re called Giveamanakick and we’re from Limerick.’ Steve Ryan’s hushed tones from under a peak hat, no eye contact, only to his comrade with the sticks. It has a vibe of menace. It feels to me like he wants to grab everyone, punch them in the gut and then fuck them out the window of the pub. This was serious. This band had such brutal force. When they played brains were shredded, lungs were sore and adrenal glands jacked. When Ryan donned a fighter-pilot mask, all of a sudden it was like Hannibal Lector and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre…

  • The Countless Other Gangs of Four

    September 22, 2015 - By 

    Having recounted some exquisite tales for us in his previous alias of Meb Jon Sol last year – and with the release of his new single, ‘Pilgrim’, on Friday – Omagh songsmith Michael McCullagh AKA Son of the Hound returns for a new string of columns for The Thin Air. Photo by Tom Nicholl. The train shook the window as it passed. The fixings of the steel bunks shuddered and cream paint flaked from the wall, falling quietly as the noise of the train faded into the Dublin hum. ‘That’s why the room was so cheap’ I said. I heaved my guitar case on…

  • Hyperbolex with Ray Wingnut: Tommy & The Big Guns

    September 15, 2015 - By 

    Always meet your heroes. Especially if they have proven their dedication to groundbreaking underground music time and time again. What I admire most in my heroes is that they have never compromised their integrity and dedication to creating or promoting truly great art. A couple of weeks back, my hero (and friend) Billy Jam contacted me and requested that I do him a favour; to record a radio interview for his show ‘Put The Needle On The Record’ on WFMU. I leapt at the opportunity. WFMU is broadcast in New York and New Jersey and is a world leader in…

  • Noise in the Signal: How IASCA’s New Submission System Hurts Independent Music

    August 24, 2015 - By 

    This past week, music rights association IASCA triumphantly announced its deal with online content delivery specialists Yangaroo, to adapt their radio submission system for Ireland. This was sold as a triumph for Irish independent music, as now there will apparently be a more direct path to station heads’ ears via their streamlined system, and apparently, as a result, more scope for radio play. A nice idea, but one that leaves more questions than answers. COSTS: At present, it costs nothing to bung together a .WAV with a press release and a few .JPGs to send off to various D.J.s and…

  • Rave New World (20/2)

    February 20, 2015 - By 

    In the latest installment of Rave New World, the mind-expandingly tasteful Antoin Lindsay & Aidan Hanratty delve into best new electronic tracks and mixes of the week, as well as various unmissable upcoming nights and releases. GIGS Misfit present: KiNK at Thompsons, Belfast Friday, February 20 Is it worth braving Thompsons on a Friday night to see someone play I hear you ask? Yes, actually, when it’s KiNK playing. The Bulgarian producer has garnered a serious reputation for his live shows over the last few years. His sets are a lovely mix of raw and clean sounds which are seriously banging. Should sound…

  • MayKay: All Views My Own

    November 19, 2014 - By 

    “Not only am I a really good singer, I’m really good looking as well.” My long suffering mother warned me very early on about being misquoted. She told me to be careful with every word I said and imagine every sentence as a headline. Make sure you can stand by your words. Why say anything otherwise? “Yeah whatever, Mum. I’m 22 years old. I know what I’m doing! Stop patronising me! I’ve been doing this for almost three whole years!” So, yes. I did say the aforementioned sentence. Yes, I did become mute and open mouthed for about two hours…