• Listening To Our Heads: An Interview With Cherym

    May 27, 2021 - By 

    CHERYM are on the precipice of a monumental Summer. Hannah, Nyree and Alannagh have been locked away in their Derry practice space, crafting the tracks that will make up their new EP, spearheaded by new single ‘Listening To My Head’. It’s a short, sharp guitar attack, as immediate and exhilarating as the drink their record label, Alcopop! takes its name from. Taylor Johnson caught up with the pop-punk trio just days after their new single dropped to talk resilience, Blink-182 and the fight for their signature. Listening to my Head by CHERYM Hi gang! Thanks so much for talking to us today. Somehow…

  • Video Premiere: Pretty Happy – Sea Sea Sea

    April 22, 2021 - By 

    Just a couple of months on from their hugely successful ‘Salami’, Cork art-punk trio Pretty Happy are back with the video for new single ‘Sea Sea Sea’. While the dischordant rattles of NYC no-wave-inspired guitar drive things song along, tension is cranked between shrieked vocals of bassist Arann Blake – recalling Black Francis and David Byrne at their most effervescent – and a spoken word passage from guitarist/vocalist Abbey Blake. Positively owning its Irishness, ‘Sea Sea Sea’ is an at-times dadaist exploration of the nation’s chronic self-loathing and perpetual issues of queer identity and gender stereotyping. Its video – debuted in November’s Spilt Milk Festival – was…

  • Stream: M(h)aol – Asking For It

    March 18, 2021 - By 

    Given the length of time they’ve been around for in one form or another, it’s hard to believe that M(h)aol had, before today, only released two singles – their last being 2020’s ‘Laundries‘, concerning the historic systematic oppression of women in Ireland. The power and economy in saying precisely what to needs to be said, when it needs to be said, is what has seen the five-piece labelled as the most vital voice in Irish punk – and  post-punk, for that matter – pushing discourse forward with songs as razor-sharp as their message. Currently based between Dublin, London and Bristol, M(h)aol’s new single ‘Asking For It’  – originally set…

  • Watch: Problem Patterns – Christmas Number One

    December 11, 2020 - By 

    Whether you’re thrilled or dreading the prospect of a quiet Christmas this year, Belfast’s finest feminist punks have a single we’re delighted to let you hear. Its doo wop-via-Breeders harmonies guaranteed to have you grinning from ear to ear, ‘Christmas Number One’ is a refreshingly positive take on coping with expectations of seasonal cheer. Now, don’t let our lazy rhyming couplets put you off – Problem Patterns’ latest single is as earworming as they’ve ever been. Normally, we’re not ones to copy & paste a press release, but as ever, they put it better than we could have: “Known for their feminist punk ethos, Problem have tackled such topics as…

  • Video Premiere: Shifting – The Bland Leading the Bland

    July 21, 2020 - By 

    A month ahead of the release of what will surely be one of Ireland’s essential punk records of 2020, Shifting have just shared with us the video for ‘The Bland Leading the Bland’. An ideal introduction to the trio, who formed in 2016, and include members of No Spill Blood & Hands Up Who Wants To Die, amongst other noisemakers par excellence. The video a sub-ninety second microcosm of their repetitious, yet spontaneous dissonance, and squalid, darkly comic worldview, conjuring everything  from Unwound to Death Grips. The second in a series of videos to accompany their debut LP, it chronicles the time Matt ‘Uncle Dad’ Hedigan…

  • Premiere: Gas Hands – I’m Not In Love (With You)

    March 5, 2020 - By 

    Been missing that singular blend of melodic punk rock and post-hardcore that NI – not least the North-West – has mastered for over two decades? Derry-based trio Gas Hands are here to sort you out with their latest single, ‘I’m Not In Love (With You)’. Formed by frontman & guitarist Dylan Bradley & drummer Michael Brown, formerly of Lost Avenue, they’re joined by Mosmo Strange/Calling All Horses guitarist Nolan Donnelly on bass. Recorded & mixed at Smalltown America Studios by Caolan Austin, the trio’s economical, tightly knit release strikes a midpoint between signature North-West punk and the vitality of a young band hitting their stride. Gas Hands kick off their…

  • Video Premiere: Problem Patterns – Gal Pals

    February 14, 2020 - By 

    A silver lining to the three year cloud of political deadlock in Northern Ireland, today marks the first Valentine’s Day with equal marriage laws, with the first same-sex marriages having taken place earlier this week. Belfast punk quartet Problem Patterns have chosen to celebrate that fact with a video for catchiest single to date, ‘Gal Pals’ whose bubblegum exterior belies an incisive social satire – or in their own words: “Part social commentary, part potential theme tune for a cult queer romcom”. Each member of the band – which comprises Alanah Smith, Ciara King, Beverley Boal & Bethany Crooks – leads a verse, each of which deals with various stages in the…

  • UK Post-Punk Duo JOHN Set For Irish Tour

    August 15, 2019 - By 

    Raw UK garage-punk duo JOHN are set to make their first appearance in Ireland later this year, accompanying the release of their second album, Out Here On The Fringes, set for release on October 4. This run of shows comes at the end of a lengthy spell in France & the UK, following an eleven-country spell in 2018 with Idles. Taking place in conjunction with some of our favourite venues, artists & promoters (Why. Gigs & Drone Mansions) – their three-date run is as follows: Friday, November 29 // Bennigans Bar, Derry w/His Father’s Voice & SHŌTO Saturday, November 30 // The 343, Belfast w/Problem Patterns and Wake House Sunday, December 1 // The Sound…

  • EP Premiere: Fierce Pit Bosses – Sharks In The Bathtub

    January 17, 2019 - By 

    The seed of Donegal emo-tinged alt punk trio Fierce Pit Bosses has been growing the North West for a while now. Starting out as the folk-punk vessel for Eoin Gillespie’s kitchen sink small-town listlessness, he hit early the emotional notes of the likes of Jeff Rosenstock, before the project grew into a righteously fierce (sorry) live outfit. With Tuath’s Robert Mulhern at the helm on production, their debut Sharks in the Bathtub EP captures the raw, fizzing energy of Hüsker Dü, as buzzsaw guitars, snare & cymbal clatter collide with pop sensibility, and the irresistible sound of a young band with a beating heart on their sleeves. The EP is launched at Letterkenny’s Central Bar this Saturday, January 19, with support…

  • Sleaford Mods Set for Irish Tour

    November 30, 2018 - By 

    In support of their forthcoming fifth album Eton Alive, Nottingham electronic punk duo Sleaford Mods return to Ireland for a run of four shows: February 7 – Limelight 1, Belfast February 8 – The Academy, Dublin February 9 – Róisín Dubh, Galway February 10 – Dolans Warehouse, Limerick Comprised of Jason Williamson’s words & voice, and Andrew Fearn’s beats, they are, in the words of Steve Albini, “the greatest band in the world”. They manage to be one of the most engaging live acts in the world without frills, lacking so much as a proper stand for their laptop – beer crates, normally. Here’s ‘Jolly Fucker‘. Tickets go on…