Month: May 2012

Whelan’s Newest Music Night TUESDAYS | 3 BANDS | €5

KELLIE AND THE SCRUFFS

‘VAMPIRES IN DAYLIGHT SINGLE RELEASE’

THE TECTONICS

WHITE ROADS

  Whelanslive is proud to present a celebration of new Irish music. Every Tuesday will see the upstairs venue play host to a series of the best of new music this country has to offer.Three hand-picked bands showcase their originality, performance and amazingly fresh songwriting skills. It is a great opportunity to see the next round of Irelands unsung and unsigned. ———————- Kellie & The Scruffs: Vampires in Daylight single launch   Vampires In Daylight is the second Single from the 5 piece Dublin soul, blues, folkpop fusion outfit ‘Kellie & The Scruffs’ taken from their Car-boot Sale Blues Ep due for release at the end of the summer 2012. Vampires in Daylight is a song about standing at bus stops in the clothes and smells of last night. A song of fear, streaky mascara, and the fact that there are no couches on buses. This track does not attempt to answer any of these universal philosophical conundrums because it was written with a hangover. Kellie and the scruffs are fun, passionate, refreshing and original. Front woman Kellie Marie has been hailed as a cross between Pj Harvey and Patti Smith. These guys are hungry.Their live show is a must see. On the back of the release of their Debut single ‘People’, in June 2012, Kellie & The Scruffs secured some sought after slots on the Irish festival circuit! Their 3 shows at Body and Soul Festival at Ballinalough Castle this month included a headliner at Natasha’s Living Food Emporium, a quirky and fabulous gig For Love: Live Music, Ireland’s national day of music in Templebars Siopaella, a big show at this years Milk & Cookies Secret Garden festival in August, and a headliner at this years Gig In The Garden, the band are starting to make some noise on the Irish music scene.The band is new but front woman Kellie Marie Reynolds has been writing since she was 7, gigging as a solo singer songwriter for years,composing music/directing for theatre and spending a couple of years with the Dublin Gospel Choir.Her Song For A.R came in 6th place in the Global Youbloom Song Awards in 2011 with a nod from Bob Geldof and Ex Editor of NME, Conor McNichols. After teaming up with Peter Taaffe (Lead Guitar) they formed a duo and had regular slots In Sweeneys supporting the Nine Bars, residency’s in their south county Dublin locals and two Electric Picnic shows in 2010. Not too shabby! But there was something missing. Beats. So along came Frankly (Percussion) a well seasoned session musician. But the band needed more. So at the end of 2011 Classically trained pianist Annie Hanlon and self thought jack of all trades Adrienne Hawley (Trumpet, French Horn, Bass Guitar, Percussion) joined the band and the rehearsing began.After months of hibernation and journeying towards a ‘Sound’, Kellie & The Scruffs have emerged as a unique and refreshing outfit with a shit load of passion and some seriously quirky original music, The Ingredients: A front woman with a seriously soulful voice, quirky lyrics, and unusual guitar chords hinting and winking at folk, blues, soul and rock……a classically trained pianist and soon to be doctor of music..yes. DOCTOR of music……A young lead guitarist with and old soul straight from the land of blues ….A drummer slash percussionist in the same body playing percadrum with glowsticks who might have dabbled in classical guitar….a self taught trumpet, french horn and bass guitar player…..and lots of homemade cookies,muffins and more cookies, you get Kellie & The Scruffs. We are all very different people from very different places. This place in the middle where all our influences meet is where our music seems to be coming from. The sound is blues Jazz, soul, pop, rock-a-billy, folk and funk. The vibe is happy. The Future is Bright. ——-————- The Tectonics New Irish band The Tectonics are a little bomb waiting to go off. A punchy powerpop trio, with a rock and roll edge, and more hooks than a hairy dog has fleas! Marcus Molloy on bass and Séamus Sullivan on drums (once the rhythm section of those skankadelic, raggletagglers The Big Geraniums) provide pumping rhythms pushing incessantly to the dance floor. The spice in the sauce comes from the spiky guitar of Eoin O’Brien, (former member of Kila, Cookers and Claydolls) while all three provide the vocal harmonies peppering their three minute fillets of pop. The Tectonics classic three piece line up of guitar, bass and drums encourages a back to basics rock and roll approach to live performances. The rawness and energy coming from this often makes for a raucous party atmosphere, but never at the expense of the subtlety and sweetness of the three part vocal harmonies. In the studio what emerges out of these simple ingredients can often become very interesting indeed! The song is always king, and attention to detail and a perfectionist streak in song writing always gives the best starting point. But in the hands of a rhythm section that have played together for over two decades, and a guitarist with vast experience as both multi instrumentalist and producer, the results generally end up somewhere very different from where they started. The tectonics are currently recording an album which they hope to release this Summer. For more details check out the tectonics website @ www.thetectonics.tv ———————- White Roads Blanchard-towns newest original band have taking the scene not only by surprise they have taking it hostage to the wonderful melodies and out of this world stomping rhythmic wonderment. It will leave you breathless. Though they are young they are blessed with energetic songwriting and performances Freddie Mercury would be proud of. The band have been playing around all the normal haunts in Dublin since January and this is the first appearance at the historic Whelan’s. ———————-

CONTACT

If you are interested in playing one of the upcoming Whelan’s New Music nights please email newmusic@mercantilegroup.ie

Demented Promotions presents

THE SLACKERS

+ PARANOID VISIONS + CHEWING ON TINFOIL The Slackers are a classic American band that is equal parts grit and grace. Their slow rise against the odds is a story of perseverance and a belief in their musical vision, what Vic likes to call, “Jamaican Rock N Roll.” While they have been influenced, and even personally taught by Jamaican Ska/Reggae originators, like the Skatalites and the Upsetters (Original backing band for the Wailers), the band sees its music as an extension of the traditions of the United States. This band is equally appreciative of old Blues, Country, 60s Soul, Rock, and Rn’B as it is of Reggae, Rocksteady, Dub, and Ska. It is as if the Rolling Stones or the Yardbirds had grown up on Bob Marley as well as Muddy Waters. Smashing the stereotypes of “Ska” as happy, uptempo, and shallow music, the Slackers play with an aggressive edge and their songs veer in themes from the personal to the political. They can out jam any hippie band and outwrite most singer songwriters. From their 1996 release, Better Late Than Never through to 2010 with The Great Rocksteady Swindle, they have established themselves as America’s premiere interpreters and innovators of Jamaican music and a pretty good rock band to boot. The Great Rocksteady Swindle (release date 4/20/10) is a songwriting tour de force with all band members contributing to its gutsy muscular sound. “Mr. Tragedy” references the Specials while “Boll Weevil” references Sam Sham & the Pharaohs. “Cheated” seethes with bitterness while “Thank You” offers the possibility of hope. As the band has matured you can’t even tell anymore where the rock begins and the reggae ends, its become The Slackers. The band basically divides its recorded output into 2 categories. First of are their “albums”, which are as Dave says with just a hint of his typical sarcasm, “these are our ‘works’ where we try to take over the universe.” This steady stream includes Better Late Than Never (1996), Red Light (1997), The Question (1998), Wasted Days (2001), Close My Eyes (2003), Peculiar (2006), and Self Medication (2008). Back in 1996, the NY Times declared the Slackers to be part of “the sound of New York”, a mantle they haven’t given up since. Alternative Nation stated that their music is “protest music made for dim, sweaty basements, The Slackers would sound at home supporting Rancid as well as some grizzled New Orleans electric blues trio.” The LA Weekly wrote about, “their unfettered energy, unerring skankability, and playful anger.” Not content with letting the record industry dictate their output schedule, the band has also put out numerous eclectic and whimsical albums following their different interests of the moment. Slackers & Friends (2002) saw the band performing with some of their idols like The Congos, Glen Adams of the Upsetters, Cornell Campbell, and Doreen Schaeffer. International War Criminal EP (2004) was a bitter broadside against the Bush Administration. Afternoon in Dub (2005) is pure reggae bliss. Boss Harmony Sessions (2007) was a collaboration with DJ Boss Harmony who arranged and refiltered tracks in unorthodox ways. Lost & Found (2009) is a compilation of forgotten tracks, alternate versions, and remakes from the bands recording vaults. The band has also put out 3 live albums; Live At Ernestos (2000), Upsetting Ernestos (2005), Slack In Japan (2005), and 2 DVDs; The Slackers: A Documentary (2007) and Live at the Flamingo Cantina (2009). More recently, the band has started releasing their live concerts throughwww.whatevski.org and has plans for releasing more compilations digitally. This focus on the live show is not surprising because the Slackers have a good part of their existence on the road. Since 1997, the band has been doing around 110 shows a year. This includes some 20 major North American tours, 14 European tours, 3 Japanese tours and 2 Brazilian tours. They have played in 42 different US states, 6 Canadian provinces, 22 European countries, 5 Latin American nations, Turkey, Japan, and South Korea. They have appeared on the stages of the Warped Tour (1998), the Lowlands Festival (1999), Pukkelpop (1999, 2004), CMJ (2000), Montreal Jazz Festival (2000), the Bourges Festival (2001), the Dour Festival (2002, 2007), Deconstruction Tour (2004), Augustboller (2005), Streetbeat Festival (2005), Popkomm (1999,2006), Summerjam (2007), Mighty Sounds (2007), Ilosaarirock (2007) and Glastonbury (2008). They have opened for Rancid (1999,2003, 2006), Hepcat (1999), Joe Strummer (2002, 2003), Flogging Molly (2002), Jimmy Cliff (2002), the Beat (2002), Pennywise (2004), Toots & the Maytals (2005), The Pogues (2006), and John Spencer’s Heavy Traffic (2007). They have sold out numerous headlining gigs including such venues as Bowery Ballroom (nyc), Slims (San Francisco, 3 times), Lee’s Palace (Toronto, 2 times), The Garage (London), CBGBs (NYC, 2 nights in a row in 2006), Troubadour (LA, 3 times in 2006), the Knitting Factory (NYC, 5 times), the Melkweg (A-dam), SESC Pompeia (Sao Paolo, 2 nights in 2006), and the Loft (Tokyo). Hopefully, if you have read this far, you are starting to get the point that the Slackers are a phenomenon. A worldwide phenomenon. An underground band with a cult following, they can fill venues everywhere! The band has come a long way from their little dirty rehearsal studio on e.3rd street on the lower east side. Steve Bordin – Febuary, 2010   Facebook event : https://www.facebook.com/events/314555071941719/

WATCH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka5MZp5whlM

TICKETS

€18 (incl booking fee) available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings from WaV).

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm or check out the bands playing The Midnight Hour in the upstairs venue (FREE ENTRY, 12am).

Whelanslive.com presents Sounds of Summer Festival Featuring

LITTLE GREEN CARS

+ Gypsies On The Autobahn & Bleeding Heart Pigeons Little Green Cars are a five piece band from Dublin. Their debut single ‘The John Wayne’ backed with ‘Glass Case’ was released on UK label Young and Lost Club (home to Noah & The Whale, Johnny Flynn, Everything Everything, Young The Giant and Fixers) on July 25th (available on iTunes).   They’ve benefited greatly from production from David Kosten (Bat For Lashes, Everything Everything) and their sound draws from folk-rock which seems to draw inspiration from artists like Tom Waits, Fleetwood Mac and Arcade Fire. Little Green Cars are Stevie Appleby (vocal & guitar), Adam O’Regan (vocal & guitar), Donagh Seaver O’Leary (bass guitar), Dylan Lynch (drums) and Faye O’Rourke (vocal & guitar). Having made their debut appearance at Oxegen last summer, followed by a slot at Electric Picnic and Arthur’s Day, the band recently appeared on the first episode of the tenth season of acclaimed TV series Other Voices. 2012 looks set to be an incredible year for them, with plans to record and release their debut album.

TICKETS

€8 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings from WaV).

SOUNDS OF SUMMER

It is also : 21st June – REVEREND DEADEYE 21st June – CASHIER NO 9 22nd June – THE RIPTIDE MOVEMENT, PUGWASH & THE SHOOS 22nd June – SPOOK OF THE THIRTEENTH LOCK 23rd June – THE NOTAS, BIG SEPTEMBER, THE YIPS 23rd June – DOTT, TELL NO FOXX, REDWOODS

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie DJ from 11pm til late or you might even catch the end of Jaime Nanci and the Blue Boys in the front bar (9pm, Free).

THE DIRT DAUBERS

JD Wilkes from the Legendary Shack Shakers new band

+ guests

Hailing from Paducah, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee, the Dirt Daubers have travelled the world singing loud-and-proud an eclectic mix of Appalachian, ragtime and hot jazz standards and their own original music.

RAFFIKI

RYDER

NO MORE RAIN

————————— No More Rain are a french indie-rock band based in Dublin. They just celebrated their first anniversary. The fifth-piece are currently working on their first album. No More Rain are a progressive rock band. The lyrics mixing English and French, participate significantly to set a unique universe, both intense and energetic. ————————– Raffiki are a band of six, consisting of Grace Tooher on vocals and mandolin, her brother James Tooher (Jimmy) on guitar, mandolin, harmonica and vocals, their cousin Laura Sheary on piano and vocals, Ciarán Toohey (Toots) on guitar and vocals, Seán Carroll (Jinky) on the bass and Brian Richardson on the drums. Raffiki began at the start of the summer of 2010, and so far we have accomplished alot that were proud of. Having won our final round in the global youbloom awards with judges, Bob Geldof The Boomtown Rats, Conor McNicholas, NME editor 2002-09, cultural commentator, Nigel Grainge A&R incl. Sinead O’Connor, The Boomtown Rats, Thin Lizzy, Steve Miller Band and Rupert Hine, Producer & songwriter incl. Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks, Wilson Phillips. We won a 1000 euro prize fund and were asked to continue on to the annual final. This enabled us to record our second EP. We also won The All Ireland Battle of the Bands 2011 and won the coveted prize of supporting Cathy Davey in the Portlaoise Sky Venue. We also played to the roof tops of our local town as The Guinnes World Record for 1000 elves in one place at one time was broken. Having recently decided to make the move to The Big Schmoke aka Dublin, things are looking up. With James and Grace already here the rest are making their way. At the moment gig opportunites are looking good for us having played in many prestigious music venues in Dublin and more to come. Venues include The Sugar Club, The Mercantile, The Mezz, Sweeneys, The Workmans Club, The Button Factory, and Whelans as of June 20th.  

TICKETS

€10 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings from WaV).

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie/Electro Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm til late (FREE ENTRY).

THURSDAZE

featuring

THE AMAZING FEW

TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN

ZEALOTS

JIM BLIND PILOTS

+ DJ SET NIAMH FARRELL   and special guest  

TICKETS

Tickets: €6.00

THIS GIG HAS BEEN CANCELLED  – REFUNDS FROM POINT OF SALE

WANDA JACKSON

+ guests When Wanda Jackson, the justly crowned Queen of Rockabilly, recorded “Let’s Have A Party,” a tune she made into a hit of her own in 1958 even after one-time boyfriend Elvis Presley had released a version of it, her delivery of the chorus wasn’t so much a suggestion as a command. As the title – and, more importantly, the contents — of her latest album, The Party Ain’t Over, indicates, this feisty septuagenarian artist is as galvanizing as ever. Jackson was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, honored with a long-time-coming, Early Influence accolade for her pivotal role in the evolution of popular music, especially where female artists were concerned. As a teenager in the mid-50s, the diminutive Jackson was the first woman to perform unadulterated rock and roll – and she one-upped the boys defining this new genre, Presley included, with her exhilaratingly forthright approach. The young Jackson, an Oklahoma native, came across as both gritty and glamorous; a playfully suggestive growl to her voice matched the daring, handmade outfits she wore, short skirts and fringed dresses that have inspired would-be bad girls for decades to come. A tireless touring artist for more than 50 years, Jackson continues to win over new, young fans, including guitarist-vocalist-White Stripes founder Jack White.   On this debut for Third Man/Nonesuch Records, produced and arranged by White at his Nashville studio, the spirited Jackson proves that brash rock and roll attitude need not have an age limit. Her trademark growl remains intact on rockers like “Rip It Up” and “Nervous Breakdown;” she opens the set with an echo-laden sneer on a rollicking version of “Shakin’ All Over” and ends it ten songs later with a plaintive take on Jimmie Rodgers’ “Yodel #6,” along the way gamely tackling country, gospel, densely worded Bob Dylan, and a little bit of Tin Pan Alley. Jackson and White are a remarkably simpatico pairing; their collaboration came together quickly, serendipitously. One of Jackson’s colleagues had originally approached White about doing a duet with Jackson for a proposed “Wanda and Friends” disc, but White demurred. Instead, he offered something better, inviting Jackson to cut a single with him for his Third Man label, and that swiftly led this kindred spirits to put together an entire album.   Jackson admits, “I was scared at first because I didn’t know what this young rock star was going to expect of me or ask me to do. I kind of had shaky feet, deciding whether I wanted to do this or not. Of course I knew about him, I have to admit, from the album he did with Loretta Lynn and how successful that was. That certainly got my attention when he said he was interested in doing one with me. So we began sending material to each other; he sent me the things he thought I should do or he wanted me to do, and I sent him some ideas of things I had put aside for recording at a future date. When I finally got to Nashville, he put me at ease immediately. He’s just so laid back and such a cool guy that I found myself wanting to please him, I wanted to do it his way. My husband (Jackson’s manager of 40 years) and I told him, you do this. If you want a suggestion from me, feel free to ask. Otherwise, you make the decisions. That gave him a lot of freedom and I wanted him to have that freedom. And I think that’s what made it so good as an album. As I began singing these songs and listening to the playbacks he made, I realized he wasn’t wanting to change my style of singing at all. He just wanted me to have new, fresher material. And I said, hey I could do this. I can sing like Wanda Jackson. He just wanted more of Wanda than I was used to putting out. And apparently it worked.”   White and Jackson came up with inspired and wide-ranging song choices that reflect Jackson’s long history with country, gospel, and even the big-band music she remembers from her childhood as well as with rock and roll: Harlan Howard’s woozy lament “Busted”; the Andrew Sisters’ kitschy tropical travelogue, “Rum and Coca Cola”, a fitting companion to her own “Fujiyama Mama”; Dylan’s rockabilly fever dream, “Thunder On The Mountain”. They also recorded a cover of contemporary bad-girl Amy Winehouse’s “You Know That I’m No Good,” which White first released as a single in 2009, paired with “Shakin All Over.” The Winehouse song suits her, Jackson says, but she’s careful to draw the line between life and art: “On the one hand, I’m good, on the other hand, I’m bad. That seems to be the image this new generation of fans that I have has given me. It’s like the title of the documentary about my life that recently came out: The Sweet Lady With the Nasty Voice. Maybe that says that I become a different person, a different persona, when I sing those songs. I have a good reputation, always have had, and respect from everyone as a lady, and that pleases me very much. But the young girls think I’m this hard gal that gets her way and storms in. It’s just because of the material I’ve sung and the way I’ve sung it. And that’s okay. That’s cute.”   White himself backs Jackson on lead guitar, cutting loose with solos that are as ferocious and fun as Jackson’s vocals; in fact, the entire band that White assembled – including pedal steel, a horn section and backing vocals from singers Ashley Monroe and Karen Elson –is similarly uninhibited, matching Jackson’s and White’s intensity and, just as often, their humor. Though the work is carefully arranged, the resulting tracks feel like one unforgettable after-hours session, with everyone in thrall to the woman at the heart of these tunes. The first song White suggested they cut was “Rip It Up,” one Jackson knows very well from her rockabilly days. As she explains, “It shocked me that he wanted me to do that but that was the first one I recorded. He loves that song and I do too. But I think he did that to put me at ease, let me do something that I’m real familiar with and real comfortable with, and he didn’t have to direct me or any of that. I just reared back and sang it. That got me loosened up and made me comfortable.” Not that White simply wanted to make things easy. On the sultry “You Know I’m No Good,” says Jackson, “We’d get through one take and he’d say, ‘Oh Wanda that was great.’ And I said, ‘Whew, I made it.’ Then he said, ‘Now let’s do one more and let’s push a little more.’ I was getting physically kind of tired and probably kind of got angry but he got the take he wanted. It’s funny how you can come up with what your producers want in the strangest ways.” A little bit of their repartee can be detected at the top of the track, just as the analog tape gets rolling.   The Party Ain’t Over is about stepping out, not summing up, but it does touch on important aspects of Jackson’s life and ever-evolving career. “Teach Me Tonight,” a country-inflected interpretation of the DeCastro Sisters’ hit, partly fulfills Jackson’s desire to cut a 40s-style big-band disc. “Like A Baby,” recorded live in the studio with the whole band, allowed Jackson to revive an obscure, bluesy number from her old buddy Elvis. The Jimmie Rodgers tune is the first song she ever learned as a child; her father taught her the chords on the guitar, she figured out how to sing along while she played, and, like any aspiring vocal star of the era, she taught herself how to yodel, a skill she has clearly maintained over the ensuing decades.   Jackson remains too busy to look back – her legend looms especially large now in Europe and Japan, where she is always in demand as a concert performer – but she does allow herself a moment to reflect: “I can’t think of anyone who could be any luckier or any happier than me. I think it’s a blessing from the Lord. I had wonderful parents who gave up so much so that I could have my dreams come true. I was an only child so I had all the love and attention that anyone could ask for. My mother made my stage clothes and a lot of my street clothes too. Dad traveled with me and drove me to all those early dates so I didn’thave to be alone. You couldn’t ask for more, to make your living doing what you love to do, to sing and travel and entertain people all your life. I can’t think of any life that could be better than that.” And, as she notes, the party ain’t over. — Michael Hill October 2010

WATCH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s50Byn86L2o

TICKETS – CANCELLED

REFUNDS FROM POINT OF SALE €26 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings from WaV).

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie DJ from 11pm til late or you might even catch the end of Song Cycle, our weekly singer-songwriter showcase in the front bar (9pm, Free).

 

SINCOP’HAT

+ guests Sincop’Hat is an acoustic four piece formed in 2010 in Dublin by 4 French guys: Bertrand, Carl, Christophe & Michael (half paddy). They’ve been blasting their unique brand of colourful Gypsy swing laced jazzed up pop songs displaying a diverse palette of influences (Jazz, Reggae, Rock & beyond) that each member brings to the mix. Armed with a Cajon, bass and 2 guitars they create a truly fresh and original soundscape transporting audiences & winning new fans with every performance. Sincop’hat quickly progressed from playing standards of Django Reinhardt on Dublin’s Grafton Street to taking their unique explosive Bionic Gypsy Swing to pubs and festivals nationwide. They are known for their quirky Gypsy Swing Jazz-esque renditions of popular pop, rock & cinematic themes. Their music often defies categories and many songs can display widely divergent moods providing a unique & absorbing live musical trip.

WATCH

TICKETS

FREE ENTRY

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm or check out the bands playing The Midnight Hour in the upstairs venue (FREE ENTRY, 12am).

Whelanslive.com presents

Sounds of Summer

Featuring

THE RIPTIDE MOVEMENT

PUGWASH

THE SHOOS

Dublin rock quartet the Riptide Movement are renowned for their phenomenal live shows, filling out venues and rocking out festivals all over Europe, they have been dubbed as the best live band to come out of Ireland in recent memory. The Riptide Movement’s new album ‘Keep on keepin’ on’ was released on April 20th 2012 and entered the Official Irish album charts at number 6, ‘Keep on keepin’ on’ has received rave reviews and has been hailed as the best album to come out of Ireland in the last twenty years, be sure to catch them at a festival near you this summer.

‘A highly impressive album, a genuine calling card from the Riptide Movement, the most defiant young band in aeons” – Hot Press

‘Packed with great songs screaming to be released on to a live stage’ – The Sun

‘Keep on keepin’ on’ is a record that sounds as good on CD as it does at their fantastic live shows. Its polished in places, raw when it needs to be and packed with some belting rock n roll tunes’ – The Mirror

‘Magnificent & Raw’ – The Irish Times

‘Renowned for their passionate live performances, the Riptide Movement have finally captured that power and emotion on their second album ‘Keep on keepin’ on’ – The Sunday World

‘The Riptide Movement know how to work their audience. They’re a natural band that fans can believe in. Honest rock ‘n’ roll’ – Ilovesaturday.ie

The Riptide Movement have proved that all the hype is in this case most definitely deserved. It would be a surprise if The Riptide Movement don’t see themselves nominated for a Meteor Choice Award next year. – Golden Plec

‘One of the best rock albums to come out of Ireland in the last 20 years’ – Dublin Uncut

‘It’s an experience. But a good one that your ears will enjoy a lot’ – joe.ie

WATCH

SOUNDS OF SUMMER

It is also : 21st June – REVEREND DEADEYE 21st June – CASHIER NO 9 22nd June – SPOOK OF THE THIRTEENTH LOCK 23rd June – THE NOTAS, BIG SEPTEMBER, THE YIPS 23rd June – DOTT, TELL NO FOXX, REDWOODS 24th June – LITTLE GREEN CARS

TICKETS

€11 (incl booking fee) available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings from WaV).

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm or check out the bands playing The Midnight Hour in the upstairs venue (FREE ENTRY, 12am).

Whelanslive.com & Love:Live Music presents Sounds of Summer Featuring

CASHIER NO 9

+ guests Is there a Belfast sound..? Van Morrison… Stiff Little Fingers… Divine Comedy… Cashier No. 9 sound nothing like any of these, but they’re as innovative and different as anything that’s come from the city. They could be from California, or Manchester, or any number of places, having been variously compared with The Byrds, Beach Boys, Stone Roses, Pavement, CSN, The Flaming Lips and many others. Yet with their rich vocal harmonies, bold guitar textures and supremely catchy melodies, they’ve created a sound that’s indeterminably none of these yet equally vibrant. Cashier No. 9’s debut is produced by acclaimed DJ, film and music producer David Holmes. Combined with the mature, wryly humorous song-writing of frontman Danny Todd, the result is eclectic, layered, guitar-jangling country-laced pop. Within an ocean of standout tracks, opener and single ‘Goldstar’ is resplendent with bells and cascading melodies; ‘Lost at Sea’ skiffles with supreme rolling rhythms and sense of the 60s reborn; ‘Flick of the Wrist’ has an epic, Californian aura; and ‘Oh Pity’ sweeps the listener along with waves of rich harmonies.

WATCH

TICKETS

FREE ENTRY

SOUNDS OF SUMMER

It is also : 21st June – REVEREND DEADEYE 22nd June – THE RIPTIDE MOVEMENT, PUGWASH & THE SHOOS 22nd June – SPOOK OF THE THIRTEENTH LOCK 23rd June – THE NOTAS, BIG SEPTEMBER, THE YIPS 23rd June – DOTT, TELL NO FOXX, REDWOODS 24th June – LITTLE GREEN CARS

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm.

Music Maker Presents:

CHRIS JOHNSON

– DRUM CLINIC –

Musicmaker is lucky enough to have Chris Johnson taking time out between his Stevie Wonder and Rihanna gigs to come visit us Irish drummers once again! This will be the start of a seriously exciting summer of clinics brought to you from your friends at The Maker. For those who missed Chris’s epic clinic in November, DO NOT MISS OUT his return visit to Whelans on Wednesday June 6th. He is a truly inspirational player and person. Check out this article on Music Radar and this footage from his November Drum Clinic with Musicmaker! Endorsed by Musicmaker’s trusted brands Sabian, Vater, Yamaha, Remo, and supported by our friends at DrummingIreland.com

WATCH

TICKETS

Tickets €12 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings)

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie/Electro Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm til late (FREE ENTRY).

I’M YOUR VINYL

+ special guests  

I’m Your Vinyl are an exciting new act from Dublin featuring singer/guitarist Dana Donnelly and producer/musician Ken Mc Hugh (AUTAMATA/WE SAW HEAVEN).

Whelan’s Sounds of Summer & Love:Live Music present

REVEREND DEADEYE

_in Whelan’s Front Bar_ The Reverend Deadeye was struck down by an accident that could have sent him to the land of glory eternal…………. ..but The Lord had another plan for the Reverend.

MCD presents

THE PLEA

+ Special Guests THE PLEA: Denny Doherty (Vocals, guitar, piano); Dermot Doherty (guitar); Paul Toland (bass); Gerry Strawbridge (Drums). “Music has to have a connection. If it comes in right, it can punch you in the face or feel like an electric shock. You just know it when a song hits you like that, and these songs all have this effect on me. I don’t need a second opinion on that..” – Denny Doherty Sometimes, trying to analyse the power of music can be pointless – it’s best instead to bathe in the power of the songs and roar your head off to them. For the giant anthems of The Plea, few rationales are needed. After playing their debut album The Dreamers Stadium, it’s difficult to imagine a time when you hadn’t sung along to Oh Ah Yay, leapt about to Feel It Ticking or felt shivers from the majestic Glass Waltz. It’s best that the listener luxuriates in the music rather than try to hypothesise, because its makers aren’t going to offer many clues. As singer Denny Doherty reasons: “The lyrics are extremely personal, and I don’t like explaining them. Would you feel the need to explain what’s written in your diary to a stranger? Not that I’ve ever kept one.” Which may sound diffident but, as Denny points out, no two people get the same interpretations from a painting either. Mind you, the album’s centrepiece – the seven-minute climactic ballad Windchime – is “definitely not about a whore, as someone told me. But if that’s what in the mind of the strange person who thought that, I’m happy to let them believe it. Once your music is out there, it’s not yours anymore.” Music comes so naturally to The Plea, it’s even easier to understand their reticence for picking it apart. They grew up in Ballyliffin, Co Donegal, the kind of place where, according to Denny: “If someone’s born, there’s music. If someone dies, there’s music .” Indeed, Denny and his older brother, guitarist Dermot, had a gran who was a promising opera singer. “She had 16 children instead, which put a hitch in that plan, but she still sings in a choir. “Music is something that enhances life one way or another and I think music has its hand in everybody’s life in some way .” The Dohertys recruited childhood friend Paul Toland on bass and nicked drummer Gerry Strawbridge from another local band, setting about to make music with as much ambition and as little fuss as possible. “Everybody is self-taught in the band,” says Denny. “It makes the music freer. Paul doesn’t even consider himself a bassist – he played it upside-down for about five years, but he’s damn good.” The Dohertys share songwriting duties, though they write separately. As Denny notes: “I don’t want this to sound like the Gallaghers, but if we spend longer than five hours in a room together, we end up wanting to kill each other. But, in the studio, when we’re on the same page we can tune into each other for as long as it takes . “Being brothers is better in the long run. If I didn’t know Dermot so well, I wouldn’t be so straightforward in talking to him. We’re not wary around each other – if something is shite, we can say it direct.” It’s a combative, competitive relationship that drives The Plea’s songs to ever greater heights, but their underlying tenderness is captured in the finale of the carousing Out Like A Light, where they take turns to namecheck their favourite albums and songs by The Beatles , Bob Dylan, The Smiths and co. “It’s nice for both of us to sing that one in harmony when we play it live,” laughs Denny. “It shows how we really feel about each other… before we fuck off to our separate hotel rooms.” The album showcases the classic raw power of four men playing in a room together, with the scope of The Verve, the swagger of The Rolling Stones and the communal stadium mood of Led Zeppelin. It’s topped off by Denny’s wide-ranging, hypnotic vocals. “I love how Jim Morrison was able to croon like Sinatra,” explains Denny. “Before The Doors’ music explodes and shakes you.” The Dreamers Stadium is produced by Chris Potter, who has also overseen albums by everyone from The Rolling Stones, The Clash and The Verve while keeping his enthusiasm by working with new acts like King Charles and The Rifles. “Chris was so chilled, even though we were in a tiny studio for months,” enthuses Denny. “Chris was able to suggest exactly which guitar pedals to use to recreate the sounds in Dermot’s head. He’s got the biggest pedal rack known to humanity, and Dermot was like a kid in a toy shop throughout.” It’s been a long haul to get The Plea to release an album, having had the usual hard-luck tales of label deals that collapsed since forming five years ago. Unusually, they’re signed to Planet Function, an imprint of none-more-dance label R&S, more associated with Aphex Twin and Biosphere than call-to-arms rock. But, as Denny shrugs, “They offered us a proper contract and we trust each other. Renaat and Sabine found our music online and we’ve had great conversations on music and it’s place in both our lives. “We knew we had met the right people for us – Renaat manages the band and his ego and vision might even be bigger than ours.” The deal follows years of “all kinds of shit jobs like labouring, and taking the covers gigs at Irish bars and clubs in England and America.” They’d sneak in new songs in the middle of those shows “and they’d always blend in well” – no mean feat for audiences who wanted to sing along to every word to familiar classics. The meaning behind The Plea’s name is as enigmatic as their lyrics, though not as deliberately. “Me and Dermot got hammered one night in London and woke up with bits of paper all over the place,” recalls Denny. “On loads of them, we’d scrawled ‘Jacob’s Plea’. No idea why but, whatever the hell we’d been drinking, some bright light came in through the window to inspire us. “We started out as Jacob’s Plea, but people around town coming to gigs just called us The Plea and we took it from them. Simple as that.” Having been together for so long, they’ve amassed enough songs for four albums already, but the songs on The Dreamers Stadium are written fresh, simply chosen as “The most personal ones that fit together the best. “All the album’s songs came together very quickly – they were instant and we just couldn’t ignore them”. It’s an album that should see the band go some way towards fulfilling their ambitions. Which are? “World domination,” states Denny instantly. “That’s what every band wants, surely?” Not for The Plea the “If anyone else likes it, it’s a bonus” attitude, then. “We’re going to gig like mad, make a second record, then a third, a fourth… OK, we’ve just finished the first record and that journey was unknown, but now we get to imagine the next one “Getting people to our concerts, have them singing our songs back at us, that’s the best. That’s beautiful.” With songs this infectious, they can look forward to a contented career. It’s a Plea that’s easy to agree on, with no further explanations needed.

 WATCH

TICKETS

Tickets €8 available from www.wavtickets.ie or call the WAV Box Office [Lo-call 1890 200 078]

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm.

Whelanslive.com are having a

RECORD FAIR

Saturday 16th June at 1pm-5pm

BUY | SELL | TRADE all your old VINYL | CDs | TAPES

Come to Whelan’s on 16^th June and show the 21^st century that you won’t be intimidated. There will be a vast range of LPs, Cds, cassettes, cassingles and possibly even the odd cartridge for sale from every genre imaginable. Spend a few quid, feel good, have a pint, hang out.

Musicmaker presents…

RUDDER

+ Tongue Bundle

Rudder has been blowing away audiences worldwide for several years now. With their unique instrumental sound, this tour-de-force jazz/jam ensemble takes it’s listeners on a new journey every night with a body of original music that weaves through jazz, funk, rock, electronica, ambient and exploratory music.

Secret Boutique presents…

VALENTINE BLACK

KEVIN CASEY

RUSSELL HOGG

BREWSTER HAMILTON

CHRIS BRADY

NELLA DWYER

Valentine Black’s debut album ‘Desire Lines’ has been described as, ‘a love letter to the power of the humble hook…as catchy as anything you’ll hear all year’ (Hot Press) and ‘amazing with superb vocals and lyrics’ (2uibestow). He wants his body of work to mix the heart of Springsteen, the head of Dylan, the guts of The Clash and the imagination of Bowie…throw in plenty of melody, and a nod and a wink to more contemporary artists like Arcade Fire, The National, and Elbow and you’ve got his musical ambition!   PRESS: “Black’s sound is a sort of folksy indie-rock: influences like Dylan and Springsteen are there, but with a more modern, poppier twist. Here, he has delivered an accomplished piece of work, with a lot of love and dedication obviously put into it…” www.goldenplec.com Feb 2012 “With a more than a dash of Springsteen in these songs about love, loss, and post-Tiger Ireland, Valentine Black is probably a lasher in a live setting…capable of moments of genuine brilliance.” www.culch.ie Feb 2012 “Desire Lines is like a homage to the 70’s folk-rock of Dylan, Bowie and Elton…an honest album…filled with catchy songs, good vocals and fine lyrics. 9 out of 12” www.2uibestow.blogspot.com Feb 2012 “Each song is seeping with talent and emotion, perfectly intertwined. On each listen you will find a new cleverly placed lilt, a new hidden meaning and beautiful poetic construction you have not realised before. The album is a wonderful example of the kind of talent that is missing from Irish music.” clairekanedub.wordpress.com April 2012   Kevin Casey is a Singer/Songwriter from Dublin Ireland. For over eleven years he fronted a band called “Jaker”, which gigged extensively in Ireland, Germany and the UK racking up near 1200 gigs, several singles and an album release. In 2011 Kevin decided to focus on his solo career and so far he has maintained his habit of extensive gigging, he has also released his first solo track “I’ll be back someday”. As with most folk singers Russell Hogg’s music is all about storytelling. Be it about breaking up, making up, being hurt, being in love, loathing, friendship or family life, the listener can be sure that each song comes straight from the heart and will strike a chord. Brewster Hamilton has been playing around Dublin & Ireland for the past seven years. He has recently completed his first solo Album “Nothing Left to Lose, a mix of Indie/pop with a lot of soul. Nella Dwyer is a 24 year old singer/songwriter from Cork. She writes her songs of personal experiences and her Celtic contemporary vocal is just as distinctive. Chris Brady is singer/songwriter from Drogheda who cites Tracey Chapman and Newton Faulkner amongst his influences. He is currently working on his debut album and is set to release his debut single in the next few months.‘

TICKETS

Tickets €10 at the door

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm or check out the bands playing The Midnight Hour in the upstairs venue (FREE ENTRY, 12am).

Whelanslive.com presents

OZRIC TENTICLES

+ Special Guests

[This gig was moved from The Village to Whelan’s, original tickets still valid]

Ozric Tentacles are, simply put, legends of the UK underground. One of the most influential bands to emerge from the UK’s festival scene, “The Ozrics” layer ambient and ethereal landscapes with freeform dub trips, incredible rave grooves and psychedelic progressive rock.

Musiclee.ie presents

I SEE HAWKS IN LA

+ guests With the February 2012 release of “New Kind Of Lonely,” their sixth CD, I See Hawks In L.A. wade deeper into the river of the Southern California folk and country rock tradition. The early Hawks albums tweaked the genre. Their later releases seem to redefine it.

Musiclee.ie presents

MICK HANLY & ARTY McGLYNN

+ guests Mick Hanly is one of Ireland’s finest singer/songwriters and is best known for his song ‘Past the Point of Rescue’ made famous by Hal Ketchum in the USA and Mary Black in Ireland. Mick has been singing and writing since the 1970’s, which included a time as lead singer with “Moving Hearts”.

CRAYONSMITH

with very special guests:

Ginnels + Owensie (Out On A Limb)

“Heaven In An Aeroplane” single is the first release from Crayonsmith since 2008′s acclaimed sophomore indie album “White Wonder”. The release also marks the first released recording of the new Crayonsmith line up – founder Ciarán Smith is joined by Richie O’Reilly (Guilty Optics) & Wayne Dunlea (ex Waiting Room). It gives a timely taster of what to expect as the trio prepare the third Crayonsmith album, due for release on Out On A Limb in 2012.

Ginnels is Mark Chester (Grand Pocket Orchestra, No Monster Club) plus friends. Like your dickhead neighbour drowning out your Byrds and Feelies records with his poorly recorded noise ‘jams’ with his stoned mates, except actually good. Ginnels’ self titled debut album was released online in Feburary 2011 and has garnered critical acclaim and praise ever since. ‘Instantly lovable, happily and unashamedly insane’ **** Hotpress

Owensie’s first ablum of classical guitar based folk, ‘Aliens’, was released in February 2011 by Out On A Limb Records in Ireland to broad critical acclaim. He is currently recording his second album at The Hive Studios with James Eager and plans to preview his new material this summer with full band of brass, electric guitars and drums.

WATCH

TICKETS

€10 at the door

AFTER THE GIG

DJ sets by Magic Pockets + No Monster Club

TOMMY HALFERTY

DAVE REDMOND

KEVIN BRADY

+ guests

Tommy Halferty has been playing guitar for the last 30 years and in that time has gained a wealth of experience performing with musicians from all over the world. He has performed in France, Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Israel, Argentina with such luminaries including Benny Golson, Lee Konitz, George Mraz, Ronnie Cuber and Martial Solal. Tommy has also been a guest lecturer at Berklee College Boston, Conservatoire de Paris, Conservatoire Salon de Provence and Conservatoire Saint-Brieuc, France. Tommy’s latest trio features One of Ireland’s leading rhythm sections Dave Redmond (bass) and Kevin Brady (drums); he has recorded 3 CDs with The Keith Copeland, ‘In Two’ with guitarist, Mike Nielsen, ‘Breathing the Air’ and ‘Anda’.

‘There are few Irish Jazz Guitarists that can deliver with gusto & taste at this level, Halferty is one of them’

Newsletter Belfast

TICKETS

€8 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or credit card bookings)

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie DJ from 11pm til late or you might even catch the end of Song Cycle, our weekly singer-songwriter showcase in the front bar (9pm, Free).

TWIN TERRACE

Support from Seeping Into Cinemas “Dubliner Gavin Redmond specialises in dreamy rock and pop tunes which will remind you a little of what Elliott Smith sounded like back in the day.” Jim Carroll, The Irish Times “You’ll find yourself racking your brain to find out why you know this sound, where you heard that progression, what band a certain moment sounds like, but the answers are elusive.” Justin McDaid, Goldenplec Twin Terrace debut album Plural was released in early April. We Will Decode magazine called it “a brilliant collection of atmospheric, melancholic indie pop tracks,” The Irish Independent’s Day Night Magazine called Plural “an assured, highly promising debut that finds Redmond mining an appealing brand of ethereal indie.” Since making some songs available online in January 2012 Gavin has been featured on RTEs Arena and supported Hal at the Button Factory. This will be the first full band appearance of Twin Terrace. Confirm on Facebook HERE

TICKETS

€8 incl booking fee available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings)

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm or check out the bands playing The Midnight Hour in the upstairs venue (FREE ENTRY, 12am).

HARMONIC presents

JD McPHERSON

+ guests

WATCH

TICKETS

€16 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or credit card bookings)

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm.

TOMMY MOORE BAND

+  Guests Tommy Moore band release their first EP June 6th. The band is a vehicle for Tommys musical ambitions and visions. Fusing Folk and elements of jazz, combined with some of Ireland’s top musicians there is no limit or boundaries to the music that this band can create.    

TICKETS

Tickets €5 available from www.wavtickets.ie or call the WAV Box Office [Lo-call 1890 200 078]

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie/Electro Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm til late (FREE ENTRY).

Tender Objects & Whelanslive.com present a post-Ireland Vs Croatia late show with…

INNERGAZE

(USA/100% Silk)

– Doors 9:30pm –

Steve Summers (Innergaze) (Dj set) + Special Guests

Meet Jason Letkiewicz: Fabricator of abstract house music under many different names — Steve Summers, Rhythm Based Lovers, and Malvoeaux are just a few of his aliases. With releases on labels as L.I.E.S. and Clone, he has explored the funky, the unnerving, and the lo-fi areas of the house zone. The fusions of old analogue instruments and newer technology have filled various vinyl records with his jacking body music.

Now meet Aurora Halal: Contributor of the New York nightlife and an alluring VHS-manipulator. While throwing underground parties that bring the finest of the electronic dance scene to NYC, she also made videos for the likes of Ital, Protect-U, and Friends.  The Halal-seal can’t simply be brushed off of these visual performances and it takes the music of these artists to an even higher level.

Together they form Innergaze. This productive couple put out an album on Touch Your Life, an EP on 100% Silk, and just released an LP through Cititrax – a sub-label of the renowned Minimal Wave imprint. Using mostly analog synthesizers and drum machines, their sound is raw, psychedelic and spontaneous, with an influence of minimal synth, disco, Detroit techno and Chicago house.”

WATCH

TICKETS

Tickets €7 available from www.wavtickets.ie or call the WAV Box Office [Lo-call 1890 200 078]

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie DJ from 11pm til late or you might even catch the end of Jaime Nanci and the Blue Boys in the front bar (9pm, Free).

APPIAN WAY

+ THE DEAD FLAGS

Appian Way, are a four piece band based out of Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Ireland, with Keith hailing from Roscommon. Formed in January 2012, with members Elaine, Keith, Ciaran & Daragh.

THE JIGSAW JAM

+ guests The Jigsaw Jam launch their highly anticipated debut EP ‘There Was A Time’ in the intimate surrounding of the upstairs venue in Whelans. The Jigsaw Jam are a recently formed 4 piece currently gigging the acoustic circuit in Dublin. The band consists of Shane Davis (guitars,vocal), Gráinne Noone (fiddle), Caroline O’ Sullivan (keyboards) and Brenda Weir (vocals). The full band came together early 2011 when Shane, who has been gigging solo for about 2-3 years, asked Gráinne to join the setup. From there Gráinne introduced Brenda and Caroline into the group bringing a distinctive folky vibe to the songs. So far, all the original material has been written by Shane and adapted and varied with the others, however, the group are working on new original material together and have just finished putting their debut EP together. Their style of music, as classed by the band is alternative acoustic folk.Whatever the style, the songs are easy listening and written honestly and in a way that draws you into the story. We are sure to hear much more from this band. You can  find the group on facebook by searching the jigsaw jam or entering www.facebook.com/thejigsawjam

TICKETS

€10 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (500 per ticket service chargeapplies on phone or credit card bookings)

 AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm.  

Whelanslive.com presents

DIANA JONES

+ guests DIANA JONES ‘High Atmosphere’ Proper Records – out now High Atmosphere, the third album in the remarkable career arc of singer-songwriter/visual artist Diana Jones, hits with the force of a revelation, further deepening an unprecedented body of work that began in 2006 with My Remembrance of You and continued with 2009’s Better Times Will Come. On her new release, recorded entirely live with simpatico musicians at Quad studios in Nashville and co-produced by Jones with Ketch Secor (from the band Old Crow Medicine Show), this single-minded artist continues to hew to an austere, plainspoken aesthetic, yet its timelessly homespun frameworks are embedded with distinctly topical subject matter. As Bill Friskics-Warren so aptly pointed out in his New York Times profile, Jones “approaches the mountain-ballad tradition not as a curiosity or antique but as a renewable vernacular that’s just as capable of speaking to the human condition now as it was 80 years ago.” “The songs I write,” says Jones, who has a second career as a portrait artist, “are informed by my experiences within a certain time frame, so they become a sort of world within themselves. For this new record, I was on the road a lot, trying to catch up to myself and the things that were happening in my life. This was very different from my previous experiences. For example, I wrote most of the songs on My Remembrance of You in a cabin in Massachusetts by myself. Then I was mining really old things, focusing on the traditional, whereas these songs happened to me as life happened to me.” The central metaphor of the title song, which opens the album, was triggered by the most literal of experiences. “I had come home to Nashville from a tour in Texas on the night the big flood happened,” Jones recalls. “When I got to the airport in Dallas, CNN was showing news footage of the Cumberland River overflowing, and it was two blocks away from my house. Luckily, my flight did manage to come in, and we took a circuitous route to my house; all the streets were blocked off — it was very dramatic. I live in a shotgun shack that was built in 1900 on top of a hill, and I suddenly realized what an incredible gift it was to be on that hill, because people lost instruments, cars, all kinds of things, and my house was absolutely dry. It was then that it occurred to me to write ‘High Atmosphere,’ along with the fact that I was writing so many songs on planes — I’d spent the last year in the high atmosphere. That’s what was different about this project: It was about being on planes, about coming home and not knowing what you’ll find.” Jones got the title from an old Rounder LP that her co-producer Ketch Secor had given to her; it was called High Atmosphere, and the title song was a banjo instrumental, but the phrase resonated, and she subsequently made the connection. That is but one of a dozen haunting songs whose strikingly drawn characters take on lives of their own within the album’s severe cosmology. These include the chilling “Sister,” which Jones describes with Gothic humor as a “pre-murder ballad”. “My sister is younger than me, and I’m very protective of her, so I was imagining the guy that she would end up with, filtering it through that Appalachian tradition where everything is so serious and black-and-white. But at the same time I was watching a lot of those terrible TV shows like America’s Most Wanted, where you hate yourself for watching but you have to find out what happens. So that was a little fantasy. I thought that whoever she gets together with, he’d better be a good guy — or else.” In 2009, Jones previewed another linchpin song, “Funeral Singer,” for English journalist Alfred Hickling during an interview for The Guardian. His piece ended with this anecdote about the song, fully realized on High Atmosphere as a duet with Jim Lauderdale: She opens a bulging exercise book full of lyrics and offers to play me a new song that she is considering for the title track of her next album. “It’s called ‘The Funeral Singer,’” she says, “because I’m of an age where every week I seem to get asked to play at someone’s funeral.” She picks up Rosebud, her tiny, Depression-era, four-stringed tenor guitar, and strums a quiet lament about the pain of not being able to grieve properly, which is so exquisitely personal it is difficult to hold back tears. “Hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry,” she apologizes. Yet Jones is increasingly going to have to get used to making people cry, whether she intends to or not. Jones’ back-story is itself as full of cathartic moments, ironic twists and intricate connections as her narratives. During her childhood and adolescence, she felt an almost mystical, seemingly inexplicable attraction to rural Southern music, while growing up in the Northeast with no art or music in her home, the adopted daughter of a chemical engineer. It wasn’t until her late 20s, when she located her birth family in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in east Tennessee, that Jones’ deep affinity for Anglo-Celtic traditional music began to make sense. Specifically, it was hanging out with her grandfather, Robert Lee Maranville, that brought on her life-changing epiphany. “He was a guitar player from Knoxville, Tennessee, who played with Chet Atkins in the early days,” Jones explained in 2009. “He told me that if he had died, his one regret would have been never to have known the granddaughter who was given away. He took me driving ’round the Appalachians, reintroducing me to where I came from. And whenever these old-time country tunes came on the radio, he’d be singing along — he knew all the words. This ancient mountain music was completely in his blood and, I suddenly came to realize, in mine, too.” It was then that Jones — who’d recorded a pair of well-crafted contemporary singer/songwriter albums during the second half of the ’90s — decided to start anew, armed with her birthright and a newfound sense of purpose. When Maranville died in 2000, she holed up in a cabin in the woods of Massachusetts and wrote the songs that wound up, six years and many filled notebooks later, on My Remembrance of You, which she fittingly dedicated to his memory. The album earned Jones a nomination as Best Emerging Artist at the Folk Alliance Awards, leading to tours with Richard Thompson and Mary Gauthier, appearances at folk festivals on both sides of the Atlantic, and covers of her songs by Gretchen Peters and Joan Baez. “There’s some kind of channeling from some other lifetime going on,” Baez marveled. “I don’t know the answer to these things, but all I can think of is that it must come from some mysterious part of her soul.” Jones views her connection to this tradition, and her place in it, as “that simple and that complex. If I try to look from the outside at how my life’s panned out, it seems strange even to me. I grew up on the East Coast, and I didn’t know my life would take that turn. When I came to the South and I met my family, it started to unfold for me, which took awhile. And then I found my own voice through my grandfather; his kindness and the time he spent with me led me to something that was authentic for me — that I didn’t even know was in there. And once I started writing these songs, it wasn’t like I thought about them; they came through in what felt like a channeled sort of way, as if they’d come from somewhere else.” “When I initially went to that cabin in the woods,” she continues, “I had the same certainty I experienced when I found my birth family. It was the thing I had to do at that moment. I knew that I had to give it a sincere shot, and clear everything else out and find that core thing. So I sat there and literally asked for help, because I didn’t want to write in the way I’d written before — I knew I had something new and deeper that I wanted to write if was going to get back out there and sing again. So I asked my ancestors to help me; it sounds kind of woo-woo, but I figured, what the hell. I don’t know if it works or why it works, but I do know there’s something there that, when it did come through, I felt was authentic and something I wanted to sing. And that was really the most important thing, because, if I’m onstage every night, what do I want to say to people?” Jones now has the answer to this pressing question well in hand — and deep in her soul. While the cover portraits on her last two albums reveal Jones at her most serious, she appears on the cover of the new record with hand over heart and eyes closed in a smile of apparent contentment. That image “speaks to the internal process of writing for me,” she offers. “That the High Atmosphere is as internal as it is up there in the sky. Maybe even a spiritual place. That’s the place I write from.” “Increasingly compared to the likes of Iris DeMent and Gillian Welch, Jones just might be the best American songwriter most people have never heard of.” Chicago Tribune “It goes without saying, Diana Jones is a consummate singer and writer,who totally charms audiences.   What sets her apart – and this is the highest praise in a crowded music profession – is her originality. Her music doesn’t sound like anyone else’s.” Richard Thompson

WATCH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7aQUGy_XYw

TICKETS

€15 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings)

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm.

Tender Objects presents

PATRICK KELLEHER & HIS COLD DEAD HANDS

+ CATSCARS

A skin-of-our-pants show, just to keep you guys on the skin of your pants.

Vinyl/Cds/Cassettes from PK&HCDH, Catscars, School Tour, Rhino Magic, Children Under Hoof, Squarehead & Last Days of 1984 will be available

Confirm on facebook HERE

MCD.ie presents

KATE NASH

+ GUESTS

Get up, close and personal with Kate Nash at her Dublin headline show at Whelan’s, July 3rd.

British singer, songwriter and musician Kate Nash burst onto the scene with a UK no. 2 hit with debut single Foundations in 2007, followed by the way platinum selling UK number 1 album Made of Bricks.

Harmonic presents

DESTROYER

+ Sleep Thieves

Tickets on sale Monday May 14th priced  €18.50 (including booking fee) from www.whelanslive.com,  www.tickets.ie,  www.ticketmaster.ie & Ticketmaster outlets nationwide.

Whelanslive.com presents

HONNINGBARNA

+ TheObjectorZ

“Well i’m a man that has seen some punk rock bands in his time and some rock and roll bands in his time, and let me tell you: One of the finest I’ve seen in many, many years is Honningbarna.” – Vic Galloway, BBC Radio Scotland

“Easily our favourite band at Eurosonic 2012. Fast, furious and fiery Norwegian punk rock from a bunch of wild-eyed yahoos who had all the right moves and sterling tunes too. Few will forget their demonic frontman in his blue jumper wielding a cello like a machine-gun in a hurry.” –  Jim Carroll, The Irish Times

“I knew very little about these Norwegian kids before I walked into Vera to catch them apart from three different people recommending them in a week. I was blown away. A bunch of brats playing political punk-rock in their native Norwegian language who all looked 16 yet played like they’ve been doing it since they were born.” – Nialler9 (Eurosonic review)

“These Norwegians have an expertly honed coil/release thing going through the songs and even the introduction of a cello into the singers hands doesn’t stop him almost destroying it when the song inevitably hits the most rock of moments. Our eyes were glued to every second.” – State.ie

“Honningbarna are probably among the best acts to see in the flesh, as their youthful exuberance rarely leaves their shows lacking any punch or  vigour.” – Luke Slater, Drowned In Sound

HONNINGBARNA – THE REVOLUTION WILL BE CELLO-VISED

Cello & Hammond organ would make terrible weapons in a revolution but they may just provide it’s visceral & surreal soundtrack if Norway’s Honningbarna have their way. Six musical firebrands driven by punk rock fury, most still under twenty years of age, have got all of Europe salivating at their high intensity and all-consuming live shows. Having taken Eurosonic by storm and captured the imagination of every critic who crossed their path, Honningbarna (Honey children) are now set to take on the rest of Europe as they set out to export their ferocious musical insurrection across the continent.

WATCH

TICKETS

€11 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings) – ticket prices maybe be higher from other ticket outlets.

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm or check out the bands playing The Midnight Hour in the upstairs venue (FREE ENTRY, 12am).

Whelan’s Newest Music Night

THURSDAY SPECIAL | 3 BANDS | €5

THE COLD 100

THE GET UP

GREG CLIFFORD (ELAVATOR)

Whelans New Music is a series of shows each week that embraces the amazing new music in Ireland. Each week see’s the best in up and coming in the country perform. Expect to be blown away!

Thank you for supporting local music.

———————-

CONTACT

If you are interested in playing one of the upcoming Whelan’s New Music nights please email newmusic@mercantilegroup.ie

HAT FITZ & CARA

+ DAVE HOPE

The Legend of FitzMulholland

Our tale begins nearly 10 generations ago in a place once known as Eire.

Twas in 1822 that Robert Fitzpatrick, the son of a poor but honest stonemason was sentenced to a life time of hard labour in recently colonised Sydney, Australia.

THE 4 OF US

– ACOUSTIC SHOW –

An Evening With BRENDAN & DECLAN MURPHY of The 4 Of Us.

THE 4 OF US, hailing from Newry, Co. Down are one of the biggest bands ever to emerge from Northern Ireland

JULIET TURNER, ROSE COUSINS & ORLAGH DE BHALDRAITHE

in a special ‘Round’ style show                                 Juliet Turner, Rose Cousins & Orlagh De Bhaldraithe in a ‘Round’ style concert, Whelans Dublin June 25th 2012. A rare opportunity to have three huge songwriting talents share the stage in a special ‘Round’ style setting later next month. Multi-Award winning Canadian artist Rose cousins has spent the last year in a series of collaborations with the Boston music community, The result is her new record ‘We have made a spark’ which gets released in Europe on May 28th. To celebrate it’s release Rose has been invited to play the big ‘Canada Day’ concert in Trafalgar square, London. Rose makes a welcome return to Ireland before this performance and keeping the spirit of collaboration up with the Irish music community is joined on stage on June 25th with Irish song-writers Juliet Turner & Orlagh De Bhaldraithe. Since the release of her Meteor award winning album ‘Season of the Hurricane’ Juliet Turner took an extended break to complete a BSc in Clinical Speech and Language Studies at Trinity College, Dublin. Now successfully graduated her fourth studio album titled ‘People Have Names’, is a deeply compassionate affair — noticeably less fiery than her previous work, but no less engaging as a result. Juliet has been touring country wide in support of the record of late, The show will hopefully se her play songs from all ends of her catalog. Mayo native Orlagh De Bhaldraithe has been writing and recording songs for her long over due Sophomore album due to be complete during 2012. Since the release of her first record in 2001, Orlagh has been heavily involved in all corners of the arts in Ireland from acting roles to wearing various production hats. Most notably in the last three years Orlagh has been the musical director for ‘Macnas’. Writing and performing scores for the tremendous shows that have been coming out of the Macnas traps. The June 25th show will be the first outing for many of Orlagh’s new songs, a treat is in store for all. Tickets for this show are very limited early booking is advisable.

WATCH

TICKETS

€10 incl booking fee available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings)

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie DJ from 11pm til late or you might even catch the end of Song Cycle, our weekly singer-songwriter showcase in the front bar.

HARMONIC presents

THE LOW ANTHEM

+ guests

Tickets on sale Thursday May 10^th priced €20 (including booking fee) from www.tickets.ie, www.whelanslive.com, & Ticketmaster outlets nationwide 0818 719 300 – Republic of Ireland customers // 0844 277 4455 – Northern Ireland customers // 00353 1 456 9569 – International customers

featuring –

THE ALTERED HOURS

Upstairs@Whelan’s from Midnight. Doors: 11:30pm Whelanslive.com is proud to bring you The Midnight Hour. Showcasing the best new talent in Ireland. ——————

TICKETS

FREE before 10:30pm, Club entry applies after 10:30pm (Thur/Fri/Sat)  

MCD.ie presents

BETH JEANS HOUGHTON & THE HOOVES OF DESTINY

+ Goodnight Lenin

After the release of her debut album in February, Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves of Destiny will headline Whelan’s Dublin, September 17th.

A benefit night for Zest 4 Kidz

GINA McDONALD

DEBBIE REID

JACK RYAN

ELLIOT CANAVAGH DOYLE

JESSICA SUPPLE

ANY SUGGESTIONS

Whelanslive.com presents

LA FARO

+ NO SPILL BLOOD

plus AFTER SHOW upstairs with BEFORE MACHINES

Lafaro It’s useless to fight LaFaro if you are attacked. If they have you between their jaws they will not let go. If you do decide to put up a fight, LaFaro are likely to do a death roll. Polar opposite to the delicate poise of the influential jazz bassist Scott LaFaro from which this Belfast quartet take their name, LaFaro are a wrecking ball of a band. Their rhythmic post-hardcore is designed to pulverize dance floors and leave no bottle of beer undrunk – this is music as it should be ‘We hark back to time when rock music was still fun’ states lead rabble-rouser Johnny Black. Recalling Jesus Lizard, Shellac and Helmet and NI melodic rockers Therapy? LaFaro have character, chops and emotion oozing through every seedy riff ‘I love to write about life’s dark little secrets – the things we all know happen but never get discussed’. Set to release their sophomore effort on Smalltown America in March 2011 – many more will be snapped in LaFaro’s jaws. If you can’t get close enough to gouge their eyes out try whacking LaFaro on the snout. We fear however, that resistance is futile. This will be loud and fast and heavy and loud and faster and louder.

No Spill Blood No Spill Blood is the new band from Matt Hedigan (Elk), Lar Kaye (Adebisi Shank) and Ruadhan O’Meara (Magic Pockets). Formed in the winter of 2011, they gained notoriety for a number of small, secret gigs (sometimes under a different name) in and around Dublin. Recently the band garnered feverish acclaim at the annual Whelan’s Ones To Watch event and played their first Cork show to a packed audience in Triskel’s TDC room. The band are going against the grain by avoiding the traditional route of release/tour and concentrating entirely on building a reputation from live gigs and word of mouth. Their debut EP will be released on Vinyl and Digitally via Sargent House in late Summer 2012.   Before Machines Belfast-based Before Machines formed in early 2008 and quickly set about earning a reputation for fearsome, energetic live shows around the country. Their three releases to date, one Ep, one double A-side and their new single “Stalagmites”, have since won them more converts; displaying a combination of angular riffs, powerful bass, inventive drumming and sing-along vocals. 2011 saw the band tour UK and in session with the BBC for a second time as well go into the studio to work on their début album. The album was mixed by Rocky O’Reilly who has worked with the likes of And So I Watch You From Afar and Axis Of. The album is due for release in late 2012. Before Machines embarked upon their first European tour in April 2012 and have plans to tour more throughout UK and Europe in the Summer and Autumn.

WATCH

TICKETS

€8 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings)

AFTER THE GIG

Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm or check out BEFORE MACHINES playing The Midnight Hour in the upstairs venue (FREE ENTRY, 12am).

MCD.ie presents

FUNERAL SUITS

‘Lily of the Valley’ Album Launch

+ Gypsies on the autobahn & Moscow Metro

Funeral Suits are a four-piece from Ireland consisting of Brian James, Mik McKeogh, Greg McCarthy and Dar Grant . The music they make is expansive without being overblown, heavy without being menacing and all the more thrilling for its restraint.

Whelanslive.com presents The star of Police Academy and man of 10,000 sound effects

MICHAEL WINSLOW

Barking dogs, squishing soggy sneakers, Jets roaring, spine tingling scratches from a chalkboard, radio noises, guitars screaming, cell phones, and so much more! Noises, every noise you can imagine but is it real or the vocal cords of Michael Winslow? He spent more time in the principal’s office than in class.

Whelanslive.com presents

RUTHIE FOSTER

+ guests

Those who have followed Ruthie Foster‘s eclectic musical history know that she can burn down any stage with her combustible blend of soul, blues, rock, folk and gospel. And when Grammy Award-winning producer John Chelew suggested she record an album in New Orleans

THE FRESH KILLS

+ TOY SOLDIER & THE KARTELS

The Fresh Kills are a Dublin based Indie rock/electronic band and have been together since august of 2011, since the launch night in September The Fresh Kills have released 2 EPS.

THE FRESH KILLS are a joining of members from 4 Dublin bands, The Tracers, The Shady Boys, The Cades & The Psyches.

The bands main influences in our sound are Primal scream , Radiohead, The Prodigy, Kasabian, The Who, The Beatles, The stone roses, Arctic monkeys

The fresh kills aim to keep the people dancing at all our live shows with massive drum beats , thunderous basslines and our very own distinctive sound of three main vocalist and catchy dance synth riffs.

WATCH

MCD.ie presents

INGRID MICHAELSON

+ Gavin James

Ingrid Michaelson returns to Ireland following a sold out show at the Academy 2 in May 2010. She has earned enviable name recognition thanks to her knack for crafting beautiful, idiosyncratic songs, many of which have wafted out of your favourite television show in handfuls of Grey’s Anatomy episodes

Whelanslive.com & Flaming June records are proud to present

LAURA SHEERAN

+ MARGIE LEWIS

LAURA SHEERAN‘s only performance this year of material from her new album, WHAT THE WORLD KNOWS, takes place at Whelan’s, Dublin, on Saturday, May 19. The 24-year-old Galway native has made a huge impact with the release of this her second studio album last month.