• Twenty Years of Troublegum

    February 7, 2014 - By 

    Set for an expansive three-disc deluxe reissue in March, the gamechanging Troublegum by Northern Irish alt-rock heroes Therapy? was unleashed twenty years ago today, back in the thoroughly transitional musical milieu of early 1994. An impassioned and inexorable fourteen-track masterstroke borne from social disillusion and the laws of unspoken smalltown psychosis, it saw frontman Andy Cairns, bassist Michael “The Evil Priest” McKeegan and drummer Fyfe Ewing propelled from emerging contenders to bona fide alternative rock demigods. From the gloriously demented ‘Knives’ to closing rampage ‘Brainsaw’, Troublegum forged Cairns’ deeply intelligent and masterfully sardonic lyrics, Ewing’s mighty rhythmic élan and a breathless deluge of earworming, generation-defining pop-punk hooks coloured…

  • Track Record: Michael McKeegan (Therapy?)

    November 15, 2013 - By 

    Ahead of our Belfast Music Week listening party with him on Wednesday, November 13, Therapy? bassist Michael ‘The Evil Priest’ McKeegan gave photographer Liam Kielt exclusive access to his enviable record collection for the latest installment of Track Record. Featuring  acts as diverse Kraftwerk to Iron Maiden, McKeegan talks Liam through some of his most prized records from down the years ahead of the release of his own band’s Gemil Boxset (which you can check out/buy right here). Bad Brains – I Against I It was one of the first punky harcore records I got into. I’d never heard anything like…

  • Therapy? – Infernal Love Listening Party

    November 6, 2013 - By 

    On Wednesday, November 13, we will be holding a special Belfast Music Week listening party of Infernal Love, the landmark third album by Northern Irish alt-rock heroes Therapy?. Originally released in June 1995, the eleven-track release – featuring singles including ‘Stories’, ‘Loose’ and ‘Diane’ – it was the final album to feature the original line-up of Cairns, McKeegan and Ewing and is considered by many to be the band’s true masterstroke. Starting at 12.30pm in Laverys Back Belfast, the band’s bassist Michael ‘The Evil Priest’ McKeegan will be joining us for an exclusive play through of the forthcoming remastered version…

  • Therapy? announce full details of Gemil boxset

    October 23, 2013 - By 

    Northern Irish alt-rock heroes Therapy? have announced  full details of their forthcoming Gemil boxset. The £125, Limited Edition box set is comprised of 2013 remasters of Nurse, Troublegum, Infernal Love and Semi-Detached, two CDs of completely unheard and unreleased material (30+ songs) spanning 1989-2011, one CD of unreleased reworks and demos (20 songs), a DVD and two official bootlegs. A 12″ vinvyl of all previously unreleased official songs (16 songs), a cassette recording of a performance at the White Horse in Dublin in 1990 and a 24 page 12″x12″ deluxe art book with unreleased photos, images and notes from the…

  • Everything Sucks #002: Sweet ’95 – The Retortening

    July 19, 2013 - By 

    Looking at Dan Hegarty’s column on 1995 recently here on this site, I found that, for all the reminiscing on things like Britpop (which sucked, by and large, not that we knew better) and the WWF of the day (more on that later), it was summarily A Very Good Time for Irish music. Not as fervent and fertile as today’s jubilant mass of DIY gigs and indie labels, but a far cry from the marginalisation of independent and non-commercial music that had gone on a generation previous, where people like Phil Lynott were thrown out of the showband system that…

  • Watch: Robyn G Shiels – EP Launch

    June 13, 2013 - By 

    Filmed by none other than Therapy? bassist Michael “The Evil Priest” McKeegan and edited by Tristan Crowe, Belfast-based singer-songwriter Robyn G Shiels has unveiled videos documenting his recent EP launch. Performed in the totally unique live setting that is the Belfast Barge, Shiels launched his wonderful Underneath The Night of Stars EP following a set by fast-rising, Belfast-based band Arborist. Read our review of Shiels’ EP here. In the meantime, have a peek at the aforementioned videos below! ‘A Man To Your Wife’   ‘When We Were Brothers’   ‘If Now Is An Echo’