• Q+A: Dublin’s White Collar Boy on SPECTRUM & Debut LP Permanent Haze

    March 9, 2017 - By 

    Set to play their first live show of 2017 at new-fangled Dublin festival SPECTRUM on Saturday, “post-nothing” duo White Collar Boy talk to Brian Coney about progression, their forthcoming new album and the importance of festivals like SPECTRUM. Go here to buy Full Weekend Tickets to SPECTRUM or here to buy Tickets to the White Collar Boy gig. Your debut album, Permanent Haze, is set for release later this year. How was the writing process for the release? Most of the tracks on the record have been kicking around for the past few years and slowly developed into more finished cuts at our space…

  • Home Suite Home: An Interview with Peter Wilson AKA Duke Special

    March 2, 2017 - By 

    Having recently successfully completed a Crowdfunder campaign to ensure its release, Peter Wilson AKA Duke Special and Ulaid recorded their collaborative show The Belfast Suite across two nights at Analogue Catalogue Recording Studio in Rathfriland, Co. Down. Eimear Hurley catches up with Wilson to delve deeper into the project, as well as his own speckled, genre-spanning career to date. Over the course of your career to date you’ve been part of many diverse and fruitful collaborations. What is it that sparks your interest in collaborating with a particular artist? And what do you think makes a successful artistic partnership? I guess…

  • What’s Happenin’ wi’ TOUTS? An Interview With Derry’s Young Punks

    March 1, 2017 - By 

    Derry three-piece TOUTS have wasted little time transitioning from a cover band to an uncompromising punk rock band in the past year.  Having just wrapped up in the studio, they have two E.P.’s tucked in their back pocket, with the first set for release in April*. After meeting at the Brandywell, home of Derry City F.C., the line-up has changed over time, with the current trio consisting of Matthew (singer/guitarist), Luke (bassist), and Jason (drummer).  As a band, their taste has evolved, from mod and pub rock beginnings, to punk rock usurping all other influences. They appear to have the…

  • A Labour of Love: An Interview With New Pope

    February 15, 2017 - By 

    You mightn’t immediately peg David Boland AKA New Pope, as a “degenerate romantic”, but when delving into his expanding back catalogue, there’s enough substance of the sort to confirm that the Galway-based musician has had dealings with nostalgia far more cogent than his youth might suggest. His is a craft indebted to memory; the bittersweet, the humorous, and the kind that inherently shapes one’s outlook – for better and, at times, for worse. To hear it on record is to acknowledge the confessional nature of Boland’s songwriting; we become willingly and unapologetically complicit in his experiences – an increasingly rewarding transaction…

  • Baring Her Soul: An Interview With Dublin’s Samantha Kay AKA Soulé

    January 26, 2017 - By 

    Last year was momentous for Dublin urban-electronic singer Samantha Kay AKA Soulé. She released her debut single ‘Love No More’ which featured regularly on national airwaves, played her first headline show in Dublin’s Workman’s Club, all this while concurrently working on her debut album under the guidance of Diffusion Lab. She ignites an innovation within the Irish music R’n’B scene, one that is becoming as prominent amongst a dominance of guitar lead indie and rock bands. Ahead of performing alongside Booka Brass and BARQ at Jameson’s Bow St. Session at Dublin’s The Sugar Club tonight, Zara Hedderman talks to Kay about…

  • Having The Last Laugh: An Interview with Susan Calman

    January 22, 2017 - By 

    If laughter is indeed the best medicine, then Scottish comedian, actress and writer Susan Calman should be designated GP. Having imbued her diverse and far-reaching career with promoting mental health awareness via her own personal experience, Calman talks to Brian Coney about process, profile and positivity ahead of appearing at Belfast’s the MAC on February 5 (tickets and full info here). Hi, Susan. You’re setting off on a string of tour dates in February. How are you feeling about the shows? And tell us more about this particular show, The Calman Before The Storm. I’m really looking forward to getting out on…

  • Singing The Blues: An Interview With Jimmy Eat World

    December 30, 2016 - By 

    It’s hard to think of many bands as consistent and dependable as Arizona natives Jimmy Eat World. Legends and primary breakthrough act of the emo scene, they have failed to put a step wrong in their long career and yet again have delivered with their most recent album, Integrity Blues. Despite 23 years of being worshipped by thousands of sentimental teenagers and beyond, there’s no airs and graces from the band – just a few regular guys who happen to have sold millions of records. Ahead of their sold-out date at the Olympia Theatre last month, Kelly Doherty met with the…

  • Admission for One: A Companion Piece to Robocobra Quartet’s Music For All Occasions

    December 16, 2016 - By 

    A conversation The Thin Air’s Stevie Lennox had with Chris Ryan that delves further into Robocobra Quartet’s process, including authorship, membership of the band, the philosophy of creativity or ‘good art’, punk rock, some stories regarding how the lyrical content of the album came about, as well as a little ‘Phil Collins in-the-studio’ self-indulgence. Photos by Ruth Kelly Art is defined by those who have achieved autarky in their process, and if drummer, vocalist, composer and producer Chris Ryan is the brain and beating heart of the idiosyncratic avant-punk collective Robocobra Quartet, he’s fully aware the remaining organs and limbs…

  • Worth Her Salt: An Interview with Katie Kim

    December 14, 2016 - By 

    Undeniably one of the finest Irish releases of the year, Salt has been widely eulogised for its intense depth of focus, as well as its distinctive compositional lure. Marking something of a promising reinvigoration for Katie Kim (AKA Katie Sullivan) in terms of direction, we caught up with the Waterford native to talk about the writing and recording of the album, getting back up on the stage, and more. Words by Aaron Drain. Photos by Brian Mulligan. While Cover & Flood dealt with similar themes, there has been a monumental shift in terms of mood and atmosphere with Salt – was…

  • Putting Friendship First: A Final Interview With Enemies

    December 14, 2016 - By 

    Wicklow four-piece Enemies hit the ground running with their full-length debut We’ve Been Talking back in 2010, eschewing the hyperactivity or aggression of many of their Richter Collective labelmates to focus primarily on melody. After a follow up – 2013’s Embark, Embrace – and a change of drummer, they return with long awaited, but sadly final, third album Valuables in December. Ahead of its release and a final show in Dublin’s Vicar Street on Sunday (December 18), Cathal McBride speaks to guitarist Lewis Jackson. Photos by Niall O’Kelly Hi lewis. How difficult was the decision to end the band? Before…