• For Love Nor Money: An Interview with Gross Net

    October 13, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of the release of his stellar debut LP via Touch Sensitive in November, Girls Names’ guitarist Philip Quinn AKA Gross Net talks to Brian Coney about money, sanity, impetus, authenticity and the fact “we’re all fucked”. Photos by Diarmuid Kennedy You release Quantitative Easing, on November 25. It follows on from Outstanding Debt, your collection of re-commissioned tracks from aborted releases. Once again, money is the pervading theme here. Cast your mind back ten years ago, did you ever envisage it taking such a hold over your art? Well… ten years ago releasing music, or making a slight bit of income…

  • Blood and Guts: An Interview with Le Butcherettes’ Teri Gender Bender

    October 10, 2016 - By 

    For the uninitiated, Le Butcherettes are a three-piece punk rock band based in El Paso, by way of LA and the streets of Guadalajara, Mexico.  As founder and front-woman Teri Gender Bender has alluded to, her grounding in a deeply religious city, where ‘humble hard-working people’ live on the same streets as ‘violent kidnappers’ had a profound impact on her mind-set.  This juxtaposition of good and evil would act as her musical education, informing image, lyrics and sound. Through a process of cultural osmosis Gender Bender drew inspiration from many sources, be it Mexico’s ‘raw corruption’ or American punk music –…

  • Tales From The Manor: An Interview With Emmet Condon of Another Love Story

    October 10, 2016 - By 

    Camaraderie and intimacy are what lie at the root one of Ireland’s most enticing summer spectacles, Another Love Story. Off the back of its marvellously successful third year, Homebeat founder and festival curator Emmet Condon talks to Eoin Murray about what separates ALS from Ireland’s larger music festivals and about the very real love that fuels it above all else. Photos by Aaron Corr It’s been a few weeks since Another Love Story. Now that you’ve had some time to let it digest, what were some of the highlights of the festival for you? Highlights are a bit tough to…

  • Far From Nowhere: An Interview With Malojian

    October 6, 2016 - By 

    Having released Southlands last year to critical acclaim, Malojian’s subsequent announcement that they’d be jetting off to Chicago to record the follow-up, This Is Nowhere, with the illustrious Steve Albini was just cause for much excitement within the NI music community. Now, on the cusp of its release, we pinned down Stevie Scullion – Malojian’s driving force – to get the scoop on recording with Albini, the writing of the new album, and more. Words by Aaron Drain. Photos by Colm Laverty Catch Malojian at the following Irish shows over the next three months. October 7: The Fat Gherkin (Solo…

  • Merch For Choice: An Interview With Repeal Project’s Anna Cosgrave

    October 3, 2016 - By 

    Fashion as political activism is a powerful medium to raise awareness and create a sense of solidarity. Vivienne Westwood was one of the first designers to utilise the immediacy of clothing to start conversations about universal issues. Recently in Ireland, men and women have been wearing jumpers with the word REPEAL across their chest. They represent a nation wanting their country to be progressive and respectful by giving women a fundamental human right that has been denied throughout the history of Catholic Ireland and inhumanity of the Eight Amendment in our Constitution. Anna Cosgrave, founder of the Repeal Project, has…

  • “I hate to stay still and pat myself on the back”: An Interview With Ciaran Lavery

    October 3, 2016 - By 

    Having spent the last few years steadily carving out his standing as one of the country’s most-loved and increasingly established solo artists, Aghagallon singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery commands sensitivity and candour like very few songsmiths, Irish or otherwise. Despite confirming his arrival with his sublime debut album Not Nearly Dark and Kosher EP in 2013 and 2014 respectively, it was Sea Legs, his collaborative mini-album with Derry producer Ryan Vail, that positively underscored Lavery’s knack and versatility as artist that has often said he has zero desire to be solely filed under “acoustic guitar-wielding singer-songwriter”. But it’s Lavery’s second full-length album…

  • Chemistry, Friendship and Respect: An Interview With Redneck Manifesto

    September 18, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of their only show of 2016 at Debarra’s as part of Clonakilty International Guitar Festival on Sunday, September 18, Cathal McBride talks to Matthew Bolger of Dublin instrumental heroes The Redneck Manifesto about new material, the importance of friendship to the band’s dynamic, failed attempts at writing over the internet and what the future holds in store. Hi guys. How’s the new material coming along? The new material is coming together very quickly at the moment. We’ve written 6 new songs in the last 4 months. It’s really amazing to get back in a room with everyone again. We really missed playing together and…

  • One Minute From Home: An Interview with Adam Wiltzie of Stars of the Lid

    September 11, 2016 - By 

    Few artists reign in their respective genre quite like Texan duo Stars of the Lid. Having released a string of stellar, deeply evocative albums via the likes of Kranky over the last 20 years, Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride have long established themselves as easily one of the most pioneering and influential drone/ambient outfits of all time. Ahead of highly-anticipated shows in Cork (Triskel Christchurch, October 8) and Dublin (National Concert Hall, October 9) as part of their first tour since 2008, Brian Coney talks to Wiltzie about new material, the legacy and future of Stars of the Lid, his work with Dustin O’Halloran as A Winged Victory For The Sullen and…

  • Stripping It Back: An Interview with Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor

    September 7, 2016 - By 

    Best known as Hot Chip’s typically cheeky, earnest-voiced frontman, Alexis Taylor embarked on an exploratory solo adventure back in 2008 trading the group’s funky and percolating electro-pop sound for something a little more introspective and intimate. His 2014 solo endeavour, Await Barbarians, saw him on almost every instrument which led him to create a record that was much more quiet and vulnerable this time round, honing in on his dreamy, effortless falsetto and the beautifully simplistic piano keys. Ahead of his at The Workman’s Club in Dublin on September 15, Paula Murphy talks to the London-born musician. What prompted you…

  • A Time and A Place: An Interview With Lisa O’Neill

    August 23, 2016 - By 

    While it may seem trite to state that music, like most art, is often shaped by its environment, it is a theme that’s so intrinsically linked to creative expression that it simply cannot be ignored. So it’s unsurprising then, when listening to the melodic alt-folk, and often traditional-leaning music of Lisa O’Neill, that the actual act of listening itself becomes more than just transformative, but transcendental – your mind’s eye can become fixated on lyrical allusions or musical tropes associated with specific locales, real or imaginary, that allow deeply rewarding connections to be forged. For O’Neill, her upbringing in rural…