• Power, Romance, Archery: An Interview with Rachael Lavelle

    September 7, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of what looks set to be the Irish song and video of the year, ‘Let Me Unlock Your Full Potential’, Rachael Lavelle chats with Jack Rudden about romance, the myth of archery and more Photos by Kate Lawlor Sometimes an artist thrives on a prolific output. They will assure their presence in your mental real estate is safe with an unrelenting release schedule, while constant press and promo maintain a wider cultural relevance. It’s a rather public practice of tenacious self-embiggening that seems to be an essential – if not slightly crushing – part of a life…

  • … And Breathe: An Interview with Reeta Cherie

    August 28, 2023 - By 

    The Dublin-based DJ talks to Cíara Byrne about Irish club culture, the power of wellness, and the vitality of community and collaboration in the scene Photo by Kate Lawlor Reeta Cherie has spent the last decade playing in clubs, festivals and bars around Dublin and Ireland, bringing her passion and joy to the dancefloor and sharing it with anyone who turns up looking to embrace the same. From hauling vinyl across muddy festival grounds to embracing a switch to DJing with USBs for the sake of preservation, she embraces the flow of her career with passion and feeling. A qualified…

  • Q+A: Swimmers Jackson

    August 24, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of his stellar new LP Now Is All, we chat to Dublin singer-songwriter Niall Jackson aka Swimmers Jackson about the health of the scene, breaking new ground and being 100% DIY Swimmers Jackson plays Belfast’s Sunflower on 8th September, the Kicking Donkey in Bundoran on 9th September and Sandino’s in Derry on 10th Sunday. Go here for tickets Your new album, Now Is All, is full of highlights and features some of your finest songs to date. Taking a step outside of it, how do you feel it stands apart from what you’ve done before? It’s been…

  • The Colour and the Shape: An Interview with The Bonk

    July 21, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of the release of their second LP, Greater Than Or Equal To The Bonk, and a much-hyped Irish tour, The Bonk’s Phil Christie talks with Jack Rudden about the orbits of rhythm, language as music and what it means to improvise Photos by Sean McMahon From time to time, you will come across a band that makes you rediscover why you love music. They’ll unearth that little spark that makes you go, “Of course, this is why we listen. This feeling is why our species decided to organise sound in the first place”. Other times, a band…

  • Breaking The Waves: An Interview with Brìghde Chaimbeul

    July 10, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of playing Glastonbury, and the release of her thrilling new album Carry Them With Us, Christine Costello speaks with acclaimed smallpipes player Brìghde Chaimbeul about the sounds and inspirations behind her singular craft Photos by Monika Ruman  Carry Them With Us is Brìghde Chaimbeul’s second solo album and features a combination of original compositions and songs inspired by Gaelic folklore and archive recordings. The album is as dark as it is whimsical from the soaring lilts of ‘Banish the Giant’ to weighted tragedies of ‘Oran an Eich Uisge’. Chaimbeul’s rich understanding of her instrument adds a new layer…

  • Heavenly Pop Hits: Q&A with Martin Phillipps from The Chills

    June 21, 2023 - By 

    The Chills haven’t been here for a bit, their last show being at The Button Factory in 2014. That was the year before Silver Bullets, their first album in nearly 20 years, came out and served as a perfect reminder, or introduction, to Martin Phillipps’ perfectly executed pop writing. That such an album would come out after years of quiet and be great isn’t common. That such an album would only be the start of a string of excellent albums, all in the 4th decade of The Chills’ existence, is cause to marvel. And so you can marvel to your…

  • Real to Reel: An Interview with Katie Gerardine O’Neill

    May 10, 2023 - By 

    Dublin-based artist Katie Gerardine O’Neill talks to Sophia McDonald about breaking new ground via a new-found love of techno and analog recording Photos by Loreana Rushe “It’s like hoarder levels. This is just an excuse for me to be a very strange person.” Katie Gerardine O’Neill is describing the masses of music files and field recordings that have accumulated on her laptop. Crumpling up paper and crunching tinfoil is all part of the process for the Dublin-based artist, whose new record, Into the Beyond, combines traditional analog tapes with more modern electronic elements.  Following her previous album, Message Green, O’Neill…

  • “Are we really back here again?” The Return of girlfriend.

    May 5, 2023 - By 

    Following a three-year hiatus, Hana Lamari and Lahela Jones of Dublin DIY heroes girlfriend. discuss their return to the scene, Ireland’s ever-changing music community and the secret to longevity Words by Jack Rudden Photos by Gemma Bovenizer In a country as small as Ireland, independent music is an intimate and sometimes volatile affair. Artists, promoters and venues are cobbled together or torn asunder with remarkable speed and comparable tenacity. Only the most dedicated can survive atop these ever-shifting subcultural tectonic plates. Those that are willing to fight tooth and nail, reinvent and lay themselves bare are capable of enduring the…

  • Stop Learning, Start Dying: An Interview With Toby Amies, Director of In The Court of the Crimson King

    April 11, 2023 - By 

    Few modern music documentaries approach the kind of magic that is layered throughout Toby Amies’ In The Court of the Crimson King. The British filmmaker and broadcaster’s study of Robert Fripp and his band, King Crimson, is a fascinating exploration of the dynamics – both personal and creative – that have long made Fripp’s musical vehicle a thing of near mythos. Ahead of a screening and Q+A with Amies at Belfast’s Queens Film Theatre on Sunday 16th April, Brian Coney chats to the director about the many challenges, and myriad rewards, of tackling such an inscrutable subject and towering musical…

  • Process of Becoming: An Interview With New Pagans

    February 28, 2023 - By 

    Ahead of playing Belfast alongside Extravision later this week, Lyndsey McDougall, lead vocalist of fast-rising Belfast five-piece New Pagans chats to Ciara Byrne about process, parenthood and pushing forward at the helm of one of the island’s most dynamic rock bands New Pagans and Extravision play Belfast’s Ulster Sports Club on Thursday, 2nd March. Go here to buy tickets Your wonderful new album Making Circles of Our Own brings to life the inner experiences of being a parent, and the juxtaposition of being a mother in particular while being in a band. What brought you to explore these themes through music? When we wrote…