District: GUIDE March 2019

March 2019 FREE

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JAMESON CASKMATES AND TONIC. WHY? TASTE, THAT’S WHY.

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Growing up LGBTI+ isn’t all rainbows.

BeLonG To Youth Services is here to support young people.

We run youth groups nationwide, and offer support, information, and free counselling for LGBTI+ young people between 14 and 23 years.

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You don’t have to be alone.

Find out more at www.belongto.org or call 01 670 6223

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For people into astrology, admittedly this is not me, approximately every 30 years the planet Saturn returns to the position it was in when you were born. This cycle is called The Saturn Return and is thought to be a ‘cosmic rite of passage’, the moment when you take the final leap [or quite often stumble] into adulthood, whether you’re ready for it or not. For this month’s cover story Ellis Earl caught up with London vocalist and producer Nao ahead of her show in Vicar Street to find out why her latest project was named after this astrological symbol of growing up, with photography by the lauded Ronan McKenzie.

Elsewhere in the March GUIDE, Aoife Donnellan had the opportunity to speak with Derry Girls star Louisa Harland ahead of season two of the show coming to Channel 4, featuring a shoot by the talented Andrew Nuding. I was lucky enough to have one of the most candid interviews I’ve done to date with Dublin rapper and ex-hardcore musician Nealo whose life has changed dramatically over the last 12 months. We’ve also got features with talented artists from places as far-ranging as Toronto and Cornamona, to Trinidad and Dundalk.

—Eric 6

Editor // Eric Davidson

Deputy Editor // Hannah O’Connell

Operations Director // Craig Connolly

Creative Director // James McGuirk

Additional Design // Annie Moriarty

Culture Editor // Aoife Donnellan

Food & Drink Editor // Caitriona Devery

Photography // George Voronov, Ellius Grace, Andrew Nuding,

Cait Fahey, Fabrice Bourgelle, Katie Ball,

Kayleigh Forsythe, Eamonn Doyle

Words // Rosie Gogan-Keogh, Ellis Earl, Carla Jenkins,

Anna Burzlaff, Karl Guest, Mark Conroy

Advertising // Ricky Lahart / ricky@districtmagazine.ie

Website // districtmagazine.ie

Issue 001-005 Creative Director // Johnny Brennan

Cover Photography // Ronan McKenzie

We want you to keep and collect every issue of GUIDE, because for us it’s a snapshot of Dublin culture that you can look back on. But if you are disposing of this magazine, please be responsible and recycle it.

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10 / Nao Nao 20 / Perfect Perfectday dayininDublin Dublin 24 / Maria MariaSomerville Somerville 28 / WhyDesign WhyDesign 32 / Live Liveguide guide 34 / Maïa MaïaNunes Nunes 38 / James JamesHeather Heather 40 / ÆÆMAK MAK 44 / MorMor MorMor 46 / Paradise Paradise 50 / Nealo Nealo 56 / Skin Skin deep: deep: Kit Kit McDermott McDermott 60 / Louisa LouisaHarland Harland 66 / Artist Artistspotlight: spotlight:Gavin GavinConnell Connell 70 / Club Club guide guide 72 / Long LongIsland IslandSound Sound 74 / D1 D1 Recordings Recordings 80 / Holly HollyDalton Dalton 84 / International Internationalpancake pancakeday day 8

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Words: Ellis Earl / Photography: Ronan McKenzie

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t was a Tuesday, late afternoon and Nao was on the other end of the phone. Her soulful voice ready to discuss all things music. She had not long returned from the first half of her Saturn World Tour and while you could hear the excitement in her tone I could tell she was fatigued. Nonetheless she spoke enthusiastically when she began to tell me about the rollercoaster ride she’s been experiencing so far.

“The shows have been mental. The energy has just been really something special.

Everybody was there because they’ve been able to associate with the album, it’s touched them, it’s carried them through. They sing every word. We dance together. It’s almost like going to church. After each show, everybody would stay around, strangers dancing in unity for half an hour.”

Nao already has 19 dates under her belt and told me that mediation and yoga is the key to keeping her energy up.

“Anything that puts the body into a calm state, it helps me to recharge.”

While those practices aided in maintaining her sanity, it was excitement that really kept the East Londoner going throughout the first leg.

“You just run on adrenaline, when the moment comes, it kicks in and you just go!”

Nao’s spoken voice is as captivating as her singing. Soft, calming utterances were oozing through the phone with each and every syllable she spoke. We moved on to the crowds she’s experienced so far. She doesn’t have a favourite, yet.

“They were all just sick to be honest, the whole experience was merged together… I feel really lucky to do what I do for a living.

In all, being an artist that tours, that writes their own music, it does take a lot dedication.

It means that I miss out on lots of birthdays, weddings, spending time with my family.”

I liked this reminder of how down-toearth Nao really is. As an audience member, it’s easy to lose sight of how a successful artist is just a regular person with a family, friends and chores. We talk about the album, ‘Saturn’, and enter a deeper discussion on the ideology and driving force behind whatfeels like the artist’s most well-rounded body of work to-date. I mentioned that I’d heard elements of the project were centred on the idea of rebirth and I was keen to talk to her about the underlying messages of the record.

“It’s based on this concept called ‘Your Saturn Return’. When you’re born, Saturn is in one place and it takes about 27 to 30

years to come fully back around to the place you were born. When you’re hitting 30 you kind of wake up, like, ‘Woah!’, you might not be exactly where you want to be, work wise, relationship wise... But this can be a chance to deconstruct everything and start again, or even let go of stuff that isn’t working for you.

Leave that job! Move to that country you said you were gonna live in! Make a move on that guy you’ve been in love with for 10 years!”

This is an album about the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

“It’s that point of accepting that I’m not this teenager anymore, I’m a full grown adult, I’m turning 30, and with that comes a lot of changes, which can be really difficult but also really liberating at the same time!”

Nao is undeniably an experimental and versatile artist. Although her sound is more progressive, she was often defined as an R&B artist, but she prefers the term ‘wonky funk’.

“I think because I’m a black singer, the media were kind of like, ‘R&B. Straight up’.

I know there are elements of R&B in my music, but I think what I bring track-to-track is pretty varied, sonically. I think at the time that I used the term, ‘wonky funk, it was kind of like this melting pot of everything I grew up on, everything I was inspired by at the time.”

She speaks of her neo-soul influencers; Erykah Badu and D’Angelo and how artists like these and more aided the ‘wonky’ element of her output. She just loved their chilled out beats and it pushed her to experiment.

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“After every stay a stran danci for ha hour.”

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r each show, ybody would around, ngers ing in unity alf an ”

“With ‘Inhale-Exhale’, it’s like a really laid back snare, but how do I do that without it sounding dated? Like it’s just come fresh from 1998?

So that was the wonky part of it, I’m just gonna mess around with the sound, but electronically, and make it more contemporary.”

A Nao track can often start out like this.

She gets an idea and she’ll begin the production process before taking it to a second producer.

“Sometimes it works, and other times we just start from scratch. There have been people I’ve been really excited to work with and it doesn’t work, but usually it’s down to not having enough time together. We’re all so busy, so sometimes a lack of time just leads to a, ‘wow, we made whole lot of nonsense’ moment. Whereas in four to five days you might stumble across a few ideas to build on, sometimes it can be pot-luck.”

It’s been five months since ‘Saturn’ came out, towards the end of 2018. We talked about what a momentous year it had been for Nao and she recalled how humbled she had felt by the reception she recieved to her sophomore release. It’s filled with love and hard work, and now she’s reaping the rewards. Coming into 2019 she didn’t set any New Year’s Resolutions telling me cooly she canned that concept half a decade ago.

“As soon as I put any rules in place, for me, I immediately want to break them,” for Nao, it’s more about changing your life long-term for the better, as opposed to a temporary fix. I guess I want to live more presently. There’s so much happening around me, and it’s easy for us as humans to get lost in what we don’t have or what’s not good, but there’s some really cool shit going on! I think I’m just trying to be present each day and that’s probably the resolution I’ve being trying to follow through on for the past five years. I’m getting better, I think.”

Nao has still got big plans for the year to come. She even hints at new music.

“Since the album came out in October, creatively I didn’t really have much to say because I’d put it all in the record, and then afterwards I was kind of out of ideas. But I’ve just settled into my new home and I have my piano here, and suddenly the last couple of days I’ve just found a really nice mood. I think I’ve got a sense of what I’m gonna do for the next record. I might put something out towards the end of the year… Maybe!”

Nao plays Vicar Street on March 24.

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Advertisement

SEAN BRYAN

Founder of Cut & Sew

Y

ou’ve been a part of Dublin barber culture for almost six years now, what was the spark for starting Cut & Sew and did you ever think that you’d build up such a dedicated following all across Dublin?

as well, I got booked to play Ibiza Rocks, so when the opportunity came about for my friends at Collective to make a documentary and be there in Ibiza, while also capturing the biggest barbershop movement Ireland’s ever seen, I jumped at it.

I initially did a pop-up shop to get myself out of the normal 9-to-5 working for somebody else and it became so much more than I ever thought it would be. I built the shop to have one chair and to look after myself and my own future. So no, I didn’t plan for it to become what it is today.

Cut & Sew feels like a family at this stage, is that an ethos you feel is important to build when you were growing Cut & Sew from the start?

You’ve moved to a new HQ on Lord Edward Street, how good of a feeling is it to have all your customers from your previous store on Crow Street move with you to the new store? Especially when there are so many other barbershops in the city today?

It was a very tough thing to move on from where it all began. Everyone came with me and joined the movement to Lord Edward Street. It’s our biggest and most central shop. For them to come with me… I’m super grateful and there were definitely a few tears shed.

The main things are that I can keep building the brand to be bigger and better, keep everyone employed, and to keep the buzz going. I shop local, I support local, I employ as many people as I can and I believe they’re all the right people. Dublin’s a small city and I didn’t want Cut & Sew to be franchised, and two months into the new shop we’re an even tighter0knit family than before.

Is there a moment over the last few years that stands out as a real highlight?

There have been a couple, but when the Collective Dublin crew made a documentary about Cut & Sew, that’s the big one! I’m a DJ

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I think people really like the shop because it’s not like your regular place that you just go in and do your days work. You’re handpicked and I hire people based on a personal level and if I like you, that’s not to say that you’re not good enough, but I feel that once you’re working for me you’re working for Cut & Sew, which I’ve put my life’s work into, so you need to represent that. The whole idea is that we’re not in it to make big money, we’re in it to support ourselves. As a result I’m really close friends with a lot of the people who work in the shops.

You’ve built up a solid base of stores in a short period of time, where else can you see Cut & Sew popping up in Dublin?

I feel like we could actually do one in NYC, Dec [Kystal Klear] and Skelly [Together Disco] are over there as well as so many Irish people, I know we’d do super well. To be honest, I’ve been offered by people trying to buy into the brand, but I like to be in control.

Cork and Galway seem like natural destinations for new Cut & Sew shops.

Cut & Sew’s newest and biggest shop can be found at Castle Gate, 5 Lord Edward St, Dublin. @cutandsewdublin cutandsewbarbers.com

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PERFECT

Matthew Thompson

Photographer @matthew_thompson_photography Last place you ate?

The last place was an unknowing final meal in the wonderful Cotto of Stoneybatter, Dublin 7.. Genuine warmth, stellar interior design, rare vintage tunes and amazing food. Tragically they suddenly closed down two days after, I live in hope they will return to the neighbourhood soon.

Head chef Said’s Lebanese salads are literally happiness on a plate.

Last pub you went to?

The Royal Oak [11 Kilmainham Lane] in the fine company of friend and designer Bob Grey. Just behind IMMA is undeniably disorientating, like being transported toKerry whist nestled on a quiet, hilly lane in Dublin 8, always a joy, charming and hospitable hosts too.

Favourite place to escape to?

Where I am now The Village in New York. Or New Quay, The Burren. I spent my childhood summers there and it still holds an un-dullable brilliance for me, not only its sublime landscape, but it’s also hard to disassociate it as my first taste of freedom.

Favourite place to go to in the sun?

I have a fondness for Marseille. I love a good cultural mash up. French grandeur, meets Mediterranean classicism fused with Northern African energy.

What’s one thing you see every day here?

Those who are marginalised economically and socially in an increasingly polarised society. The queue for the The Capuchin Centre in Smithfield appears to grow daily, the range of those who seek care seems to be ever more diverse, it feels all though a total social rethink is necessary.

What would you like to see less of?

Donald Trump mainly. In global context, I don’t need to elaborate. In Ireland I would like to see less ignoring of drug abuse. A more mature drug education and rehabilitation policy would benefit the population as a whole, families, addicts, health care workers, guards...

Best memory of the city?

The city has been unfailingly kind to me. Yet studying in the National College of Art & Design on Thomas Street was a pretty amazing time and place. A small college where fellow students and tutors had big ambitions, each year’s degree show opening has a certain electricity that’s hard to match.

Best place for a Guinness?

In Dublin we are blessed with wonderful institutions to converse and imbibe. The Long Hall, The Oak or Ryan’s of Park Gate Street are all premium locations.

Southside seaside or Northside seaside?

Dublin is lucky to have many shore destinations, but for me it’s Northside for sure. For me Red Rock in Sutton is where it’s at, a secluded spot with enviable Dublin views that also feels removed from urban banality. To me it’s Dublin’s sweet spot.

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Interviews & Photography: Ellius Grace

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Dylan Lynch

Musician @dylanlynchdrums Last place you ate?

A curry with my Dad at Jewel in the Crown [South William Street].

Last pub you went to?

Hartigan’s.

Favourite place to escape to?

The recesses of my twisted mind.

Favourite place to go to in the sun?

The Sugarloaf.

What’s one thing you see every day here?

Pigeons.

What would you like to see less of?

Religious institutions having air-time during radio/television debates on state legislation.

Best memory of the city?

Struggling to walk through the crowds in the city centre after the Marriage Referendum passed in 2015.

Best place for a Guinness?

Neary’s. Quieter than other Guinness spots, but a superior pint.

Southside seaside or Northside seaside?

Southside. The bridge between the DART platforms at Seapoint station.

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Maria Somerville Words: Eric Davidson / Photography: Cáit Fahey

‘A

ll My People’ may be Maria Somerville’s debut album, but don’t get it twisted, she’s been a staple in Irish music for a while. Her first show was in 2013, supporting David Kitt in Galway and she’s since gone on to perform at nearly every festival the country has to offer. Playing every corner of Ireland allowed her to hone her folk/electronica/post-punk hybrid sound, and having met some creative friends along the way now she’s ready to share her first fully-formed body of work with the world.

Six years ago Maria moved from her remote hometown in Galway to Dublin, but never left the spirit of the Cornamona area behind.

Her new record is due for release on vinyl and digital on March 1 and will be distributed by Rush Hour. The pieces were recorded across Dublin, Cornamona and Inis Óirr and draws on the nostalgia of growing up on Ireland’s west coast, “smoking ‘on the sly’ down laneways and bóithríns” near her house and exploring the wilderness.

“I wrote it with a strong feeling of place and experience of rural Ireland. Influenced by traditional folk ballads and melodies as well as experimental, ambient and club. It explores the equanimity of rural freedom while touching on it’s supernatural aura and mysticism.”

We caught up with Maria over email to discuss collaboration, the importance of independent radio for alternative music and the instances of duality in ‘All My People’.

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I know you’re super busy at the moment, I appreciate your time. Speaking of being busy, as an independent artist how do you find managing things outside of actually creating?

It’s been a really nice process self-releasing the LP. I’ve had the opportunity to work with great people.

‘All My People’ comes out on March 1. Was it a conscious decision not to go with a label?

I am self-releasing and Rush Hour are distributing the record. It happened that way naturally. It’s good to get a grasp of your own vision before releasing with a label.

Has the process of self-releasing been what you expected?

I’ve learnt a lot. I’ve had the opportunity to work with friends on the release, visually and musically.

Even though you’re a solo artist, there seems to be a collective around you. Do you find it difficult working with collaborators on artwork, visuals, or do you tend to work with friends?

I’m lucky enough to have some very talented friends who worked with me on the visual elements; Mel Keane, Cait Fahey, Gareth Smyth, Frank Sweeney. I’ve really enjoyed working through that with them. I don’t have anything to compare it with as I’ve only worked with people I know.

I can’t think of anyone who’s making music like this at the moment. What was your goal sonically when you sat down to write the new record?

I wanted to achieve a good balance between live and electronic instrumentation. When I write I try not to consciously do anything. I endeavor to be and let be as much as possible. The writing process is the one place for me where I can be in a good flow state.

The single ‘All My People’ made me well up the first time I heard it, it’s really beautiful.

I read that it’s influenced by traditional folk ballads and melodies as well as experimental, ambient and club sounds. What made you explore this concept of duality?

It crops up a lot in your work.

Thanks for the good words. There’s a duality that plays out in the west I feel a sense of hopefulness underlying even in the murkiest of days. It’s transcendental there for me by nature. There are moments when the instrumentation is mimicking the attributes of the west of Ireland both in its beauty and its darkness. For me the contrasts are equally as important. It’s the yin and the yang. Light and dark. Beauty isn’t all about prettiness. I like to explore traditional, pop, avant-garde with little or no division as a way to arrive at a place of truth. I’m interested in a dialogue of sorts between pop, traditional and experimental.

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I also read a quote that said ‘All My People’ explores “the equanimity of rural freedom while touching on its supernatural aura and mysticism”. Can you expand a little on that?

Growing up on the west coast of Ireland, the landscapes and the freedom there was like an invite for my imagination to grow. The west of Ireland historically has a strong sense of mysticism, folklore, tradition and storytelling.

I read that your interest in electronic music stemmed from listening to Donal Dineen’s Small Hours radio show. You’ve appeared on NTS and ddr., what do you feel radio brings to alternative music in 2019?

Platforms like ddr. and NTS radio are so important and vital for artists who aren’t making ‘commercial music’. The shows are free of advertising and playlisting. Each presenter brings a passion and imagination to their show. I have a lot of respect for the people behind them.

The NTS show you did was called ‘The Invisible World’ and was inspired by the words of poet John O’Donohue. The show was a genuine piece of art in itself. Is that what radio is now, with Spotify being the algorithmic curator, has radio become more of a medium to express art?

It’s a good way to avoid advertising being pushed down your throat and a way of discovering great music you might not

normally hear. Presenters of these shows are really championing the artist’s work. It’s a labour of love. It’s how I’ve found a lot of my favourite music.

In the interview with John O’Donohue that the show was based off he talks of growing up on the west coast of Ireland and a “lifelong fascination with the inner landscape of our lives”. How important is the west of Ireland to your work?

The concept of ‘place’ means alot to me personally. Growing up, life in Connemara was very different in so many ways to my life now in Dublin city. There is probably a tension that exists between country and city as well as contrasting ideas of home which gets released through the music I make.

You recorded some of the new record at Inis Óirr and some in urban areas as well. Can you hear the difference in tracks recorded in both places?

I don’t know necessarily if there is a big difference between the physical location recordings of the music, because wherever you go you are the same person. It’s more life experiences that contribute to the outcome of the atmosphere of a piece of music and perhaps the technical set up determine the quality of the recordings. When I was on Inis Óirr I experimented more using the zoom and working with field recordings.

Maria Somerville plays Bello Bar on March 22.

With Special Guests

Callous Crows Daser [Dj Set]

Bellobar 16/03/2019 Doors 07:00pm-12:30am Tickets €10.00 Online Limited Availability On The Door

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WHYDESIGN W

hyDesign is a collective of female designers who showcase their work, and the influential work of other female designers, living and working in Ireland. It provides a space for career testimonials from successful female designers about how they achieved their goals.

Founder, Kim Mackenzie, is hoping that WhyDesign will inspire younger generations to pursue careers in design.

WhyDesign’s event for this year’s International Women’s Day [March 8] will see Natasha Jen, Partner in Pentagram New York and Thierry Brunfaut, Co-Founder of Base Design speak about how balanced teams make for a better workforce. I spoke with Kim about the negatives of Irish humility, gender balance in the workplace, and being a female designer in Ireland.

What inspired you to set up WhyDesign?

Why is this collective important?

I have two daughters and I feel a massive responsibility to make their path a little easier than my own. I moved a lot when I was a child, so I had to make a few new starts in different countries, which was difficult. I have been told 'no' a lot and didn't have the opportunities that perhaps the majority of students have now. I had no female creative role models in my chosen profession, product design, when I first started out. All the superstars were men. I was surrounded by mostly men in college, my lecturers were 99 per cent male. I was the first female designer to be hired in Design Partners, my first step into the industry.

Where were all the women?

During my presidency in the Institute of Designers Ireland (IDI) I introduced WhyDesign; it was an absolute no brainer. I wanted to showcase the amazing female designers we have in this country.

We simply do not see enough of them, it's perhaps not in our nature to promote ourselves and this needs to change. We should be proud of our achievements and celebrate others. WhyDesign helps to share these inspirational role models' stories and lets second level female students know that being successful in the creative industries is achievable. It also helps answer the question, ‘Why Design?’ from parents, teachers and guidance counsellors, key stakeholders in

the college course decision process. There are sustainable, rewarding careers in the creative industries and these stories prove it.

With the Irish design sector being 25 per cent female to 75 per cent male in 2016, what changes do you think WhyDesign has made since its founding?

WhyDesign launched in 2018, so it is early days.

Last year was about pointing out the problem, raising awareness that gender balance is not just a moral or social imperative, it’s a business imperative. This year, we continue that message, highlighting that 89 per cent of leadership roles are held by men in our industry and without them, nothing can change. We are encouraging participation in the conversation, and at our International Women’s Day event on March 8, we hope that we have a 50:50 audience, just like our line up of speakers.

What was the most unexpected thing you learned from the process?

The sheer amount of people who are thinking the same way. Both men and women have been hugely supportive; some of the most passionate feminists out there are men. We really want to have an inclusive discussion and eventually, we do hope to feature men in women-heavy disciplines. For now, the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, so we will concentrate on showcasing as many women as possible on the site.

Creative industries have been proven to benefit from diversity, why do you think they have historically been male-dominated?

It seems unfathomable that it has been so male-dominated. But it has suffered like so many other industries. In Ireland, the Constitution still says a woman's place is in the home, so we have an uphill struggle when applying for a job. A CV with a female name is reviewed more critically than a male's. The majority of interview panels are male, and unconscious bias is an issue. Men hire what they know and that’s men, data proves that. Then if women do get in and decide to have

Words: Aoife Donnellan Photography: Myles Shelly

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“GENDER BALANCE IS NOT JUST A MORAL OR SOCIAL IMPERATIVE, IT’S A BUSINESS IMPERATIVE” 30

children, they 'impact' the business. It might not be said, but until paternity is treated equally in this country we will always be treated differently as an employee. We also tend to do 40 per cent more of the childcare, so if the opportunity for advancement happens, how do we cope with the additional responsibility? Often, we can't or choose not to, so our career suffers. It can be an easy choice, as we are usually paid less than our male counterparts. It’s not doom and gloom though, I hate to sound so negative but they are the facts. Change is happening, but slowly, there are wonderful opportunities in progressive companies. We just need more of them!

Irish society has yet to fully embrace the ‘creative industries’ as a sector that presents viable job opportunities. Why do you think that is? Why do people educated in design fail to take that step into their sector in the working world?

There are quite a few reasons for this, the creative industries have been poorly represented by the government. Funded agencies have been pushing craft rather than design, giving the perception that design is more in

the craft/maker space. Hence there is a lack of understanding of what design actually is and the opportunities and the careers that are available. Great design is business development on every level; creative thinking is the essence of innovation and should be lauded as such.

Millions of Euro have been pumped into STEM [Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics], when really there is a huge opportunity in the creative sector for Ireland. We have some of the best agencies and studios competing on a worldwide stage. Unfortunately, the word ‘design’ is too easily tagged onto many things, the industry is unregulated in Ireland. Design can bring you anywhere. It’s a passport.

What challenges do female designers still face in Ireland?

There are more and more women studying design in different disciplines across Ireland, but those numbers are not transferring into the industry. Where do they go? Are they applying for the jobs? We are trying to find this out. When they do get in the industry, it’s male-dominated, it can be tough to compete when we have been pre-programmed to ‘slow down’, ‘be quiet’, or

grown accustomed to constant interruptions.

There are all too few female creative founders as female role models are usually juggling too much to be visible in the industry. Do we also suffer from the self-prescribed guilty mum syndrome? Is it any wonder there is 89 per cent male leadership in the creative industries? I am not surprised.

WhyDesign speaks with Natasha Jen and Thierry Brunfaut March 8, Twenty Two on South Anne Street.

"IT MIGHT NOT BE SAID, BUT UNTIL PATERNITY IS TREATED EQUALLY IN THIS COUNTRY WE WILL ALWAYS BE TREATED DIFFERENTLY AS AN EMPLOYEE."

R OYA L YELLOW SENU AND

C I D O T and J E A G FRIDAY 15 MARCH THE GRAND SOCIAL

with

Tickets €15 (f lat fee) from w w w.dice.fm

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LIVE GUIDE

March 2019 Æ MAK

BICURIOUS

MC EIHT

KELSEY LU

BRANKO

DOJA CAT

BROTHER ALI

NIGHT LOVELL

P.O.D & ALIEN ANT FARM

ASLAN

For fans of: Le Galaxie, Happyalone., Le Boom Friday March 8 The Grand Social €15

For fans of: NWA, The Dogg Pound, DJ Quik Saturday March 9 The Sugar Club €20

For fans of: PEDRO, Major Lazer, Dotorado Pro Saturday March 9 The Sugar Club €15

For fans of: Aesop Rock, Blackalicious, Deltron 3030 Wednesday March 13 The Sugar Club

For fans of: Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach Thursday March 14 Button Factory €33

For fans of: Bitch Falcon, Vernon Jane, Otherkin Friday March 8 The Workman’s Club €12

For fans of: FKA twigs, ANOHNI, serpentwithfeet Saturday March 9 The Workman’s Club €15

For fans of: Princess Nokia, Mick Jenkins, Chynna Monday March 11 The Academy Green Room €23

For fans of: Ghostemane, Nonzus Magnus, $uicideBoy$ Thursday March 14 The Academy Green Room €20

For fans of: Damien Dempsey, Republic of Loose, David Kitt Friday March 15 The Olympia Theatre €35

SABA

For fans of: Mick Jenkins, Jafaris, Noname Friday March 15 The Academy €20

NICKI MINAJ & JUICE WRLD For fans of: Post Malone, Lil Uzi Vert, Cardi B Friday March 15 3Arena €165

ROYAL YELLOW & SENU For fans of: ZASKA, Nealo, Kojaque Friday March 15 The Grand Social €15

D-BLOCK EUROPE

For fans of: Lotto Boyzz, Yung Fume, P. Montana Saturday March 16 The Academy Green Room €17.45

VALHALLA

ANDERSON .PAAK

SCARY ÉIRE

LOSKI

DRAKE

MARIA SOMERVILLE

For fans of: The Strokes, Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys Bello Bar Saturday March 16

For fans of: Kojaque, A Tribe Called Quest, NWA The Sugar Club Sunday March 17 €20

For fans of: Post Malone, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj Tuesday March 19 3Arena €148

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For fans of: Kendrick Lamar, Noname, Chance the Rapper Tuesday March 19 The Olympia Theatre €58

For fans of: Section Boyz, Russ, Fredo Tuesday March 19 The Academy €16.45

For fans of: J Colleran, Yves Tumour, How to Dress Well Friday March 22 Bello Bar €11

MOLLY STERLING

For fans of: Wyvern Lingo, Loah, Nealo Friday March 22 Whelan’s €12.75

TOURIST

For fans of: Jacques Greene, George FitzGerald, Willaris. K Friday March 22 The Academy Green Room €17.50

JAMES HEATHER & LUKE HOWARD

For fans of: Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds, Lubomyr Melnyk Saturday March 23 Dublin Unitarian Church €25

NAO

For fans of: Mahalia, ABRA, Kelela Sunday March 24 Vicar Street €28

THE INTERNET

For fans of: Frank Ocean, Kali Uchis, Solange Tuesday March 26 The Olympia Theatre €33

ALMA

For fans of: RAYE, Mabel, Vesta Friday March 29 The Academy €23.60

MAVERICK SABRE

For fans of: The Internet, Sampha, Kojaque Saturday March 30 The Academy €26

NEALO

For fans of: Kojaque, The Internet, Loah Saturday March 30 Whelan’s €16.90

Exhibition of the month

IDLES

For fans of: Shame, Iceage, Sleaford Mods Tuesday April 2 Vicar Street

THE SCRATCH

ACHES, ‘DISTORTED IDENTITY’

For fans of: Red Enemy, Junior Brother, Veron Jane Saturday April 6 €18 Whelan’s

One of Ireland’s most respected street artists is hosting his first solo show this month in Atelier Maser. The launch takes place on March 14 from 7-9pm with music from Kobina and drinks courtesy of Jameson Runs March 14-April 5.

ateliermaser.com

Snakebite body piercing and tattoo est. 1996

54 Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1.

(01) 8740011 hello@snakebite.ie www.snakebite.ie snakebitedublin

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Words: Anna Burzlaff

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M

aïa Nunes used to post letters to her family in Trinidad at her local post office in County Wicklow. One day her attempt to send her letter hit a snag when the woman behind the counter refused to believe Trinidad, the Caribbean island off the coast of Venezuela, was real.

An altercation ensued.

“That place doesn’t exist,” said the woman.

“It does,” said Maïa. “I’m from there.”

A 24-year-old performance artist from Dublin, Maïa trained in Textile Art and Artefact at the National College of Art and Design.

Upon being awarded a Fellowship of Creative Dissent at Yerba Buena Centre of the Arts in San Francisco, Maïa worked under Tania Bruguera, a Cuban installation and performance artist, participating in Brugueras’ first Escuela de Arte Útíl (roughly translated as ‘school of useful art’). The project set out to imagine, create and implement socially beneficial outcomes through art.

Maïa can’t quite sum up her practice and, fittingly, that’s the best definition you can give it. It’s a mixture of poetry, song, installation art, craft, movement, set design, painting and much more. One of her biggest aims with her work is to create what she sees as ‘liberated futures’. Inspired by the thinking of the queer, person of colour science-fiction writer and social justice organiser Adrienne Maree Brown, Maïa sees her work as performing a future, or imagining a scenario, that can help create and inspire systemic change in the here and now.

Her most recent series is titled Wish. A three part work-in-progress performance in which each iteration is built upon through text, sound and visuals. In the performances Maïa alternates between song, spoken word and movement to the backdrop of a variety of constructions, props, colours and

symbols. She describes the work as a short post-apocalyptic piece of prose / magic realist myth where the pleasure and grief of a queer wxman of colour gives rise to new life.

“It’s like a post-apocalyptic creationist myth abstracted into poetry,” she says before laughing. “But this is only my story, it’s abstract for a reason.”

Born in London to Trinidadian parents, Maïa moved to Ireland before starting primary school. Her background reflects the lineage that defines her parents’ birthplace: a mix of African, Irish, Madeiran and Portuguese.

This hybrid heritage is part and parcel of the Caribbean’s ethnic and cultural mix. As someone who’s interested not only in the intermingling of different mediums, but in the intersection of different cultural traditions, the Caribbean is an interesting case study for Maïa’s art.

As she talks about the hybridity that is so important to both her identity and her work, it’s hard not to be conscious of the homogeneity of the café we’re in. Maïa’s the only person of colour there. This is hardly unusual.

Despite a steady influx of migrant communities since the early 90’s, spaces in Ireland still feel palpably uniform. The café is, perhaps, relatively innocuous, but there are more pernicious examples. The Irish schooling system has been criticised for “ghettoising” migrant communities to the outer suburbs by including waiting lists and policies which favour pupils of a particular religious ethos.

This occurs while the structural policies set in motion by the state exclude and segregate migrants arriving in Ireland who are seeking asylum. Direct Provision, as Maïa says, “is a classic example of creating a class divide and denying people their humanity”.

Feeling separate has been on Maïa’s mind since she was young.

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“I feel like I spent my entire childhood and adolescence thinking I was white when I was in Ireland, or I was performing whiteness as much as I could to fit in,” she tells me. “And then in Trinidad that’s when I could relax and feel myself because of that a lot of my experiences in Ireland didn’t make sense. I was thinking about myself as the same as everyone else but I knew I was different.”

Since Maïa’s childhood things have been slowly changing. A new cohort of first and second generation immigrants are coming of age. Musicians like Fehdah, Loah and Pat Lagoon and spoken word artists like Felispeaks have embraced the multiple sides of their identity to create new words and sounds that now feel indispensable to contemporary Irish music and art. They, with others on the international stage like Rejjie Snow and writer Emma Dabiri, are challenging the notion of what it means to be Irish, which up until recently felt so deeply ingrained as something intrinsically Catholic, conservative and white. Marriage Equality and Repeal changed that and this new wave of talent is changing that; giving life to new forms, mediums, and ideas that are undoubtedly enriching Ireland’s cultural capital. Music is the prime example. Art is somewhat further behind. Yet, figures like Iraqi artist Bassam Al-Sabah and Maïa are blazing a trail.

Along with Karen Miano, founder of record label DIAxDEM and member of Blackfish Collective, and Esther Mogada, co-founder of production and events collective Creating A Space, Maïa set up ÉALÚ: a podcast by people of colour for people of colour living in Ireland. She says a primary aim of the podcast is to reach young people, living in remote parts of the country who may not know other people of colour. ÉALÚ also provides a space in which Maïa, Karen and Esther [who are Kenyan-Irish and Ugandan-Irish respectively] can unpack what their dual identities mean.

“I think we need to start articulating what it means to be Irish and a person of colour,” Maïa explains. “We’re starting very slowly, partially because we’re still in the first wave of large scale immigration, people haven’t got their foothold enough to articulate their experiences, but it’s a conversation I’m excited to see evolve.”

Maïa wants her work to encompass three key areas: music, art, and social justice.

Her communities, the people she wants her work to speak to, are those that lie on the margins of Ireland’s identity narrative: black and brown communities, queer communities, and queer communities of colour. Through the images of liberated futures she performs in her work, these communities’ hardships can find some resolution.

In Maïa’s work we see forms and mediums merge and blend in a shifting kaleidoscopic pattern in which there is no finality, no ultimate and fixed reality; like that of the communities its dedicated to. This is a story in perpetual motion.

“Performance taps into emotion, it’s an expression that doesn’t need to be intellectualised,” she explains. “My performances are like assemblage art. That’s basically just a way of saying I’m more complex and this is more complex than a sentence that is easily legible. This is nuanced and it’s sometimes painful and it’s sometimes joyful and it can be both at the same time.”

The material for these performances comes from ritual and song, tools through which black and brown communities have drawn and continue to draw on as profound expressions of freedom. We see ritual through the use of cowrie shells and totems, as well as Maïa’s movements on stage, but it’s song that is the shining star.

The use of sound in Maïa’s work is pivotal.

Collaborating with sound designer Hugh Cresswell, Maïa experiments in the aural: pouring water, lifting and dropping chains and coins into bowls, tearing pages from books — morphing and mashing these organic sounds with inorganic electronic tools. And, of course, there’s Maïa’s voice.

Half way through ‘Wish (no.2, narrative)’ she sings “I love her with a thousand lives, A body lives a thousand sighs” before entering into an ethereal harmony with the organic and inorganic sounds she’s produced. It feels like a melding of Irish sean-nós, African drums and freedom songs from the American south.

It creates a sense of a new space, new identities born from the morphing of older ones.

Is this the liberated future? There’s only one way to find out. @maia___nunes

ART & DESIGN STUDIOS

SPACE HIRE

Rathmines Harold's Cross Blackpitts Crumlin Kilmainham

Photoshoots Filming PR Events Meetings Corporate Events

www.mart.ie/studios

www.mart.ie/studios

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Words: Mark Conroy Photography: Fabrice Bourgelle

J

38

ames Heather has been composing music since the ripe old age of 11 after his grandparents taught him how to play and create his own material. Almost 10 years ago a serious road traffic accident almost derailed both his life and career, but he’s turned it around since and found solace in his art.

These days he makes gorgeous instrumentals with just the keys of his piano, contemplative compositions that soothe and satisfy in equal measure.

With some being inspired by troubling current events, the tracks off Heather’s album ‘Stories From Far Away On A Piano’ and the more recent ‘Reworks’ capture an ‘emotional heartbeat’, as he puts it. Above all they are calls for empathy, an impressive feat for music relying solely on the sound of one instrument.

Ahead of his return to Dublin, we speak with him about the power of streaming sites, piano playing as therapy and those pesky comparisons to Nils Frahm.

Do you think the likes of selected playlists made by streaming sites like Spotify have allowed a new wave of classical music to flourish?

The monetisation of online music consumption, after the anarchic early years, has evolved the industry, of course. One area that is doing well is people discovering music via curated playlists, be that on Spotify, Apple, Deezer or other platforms globally. I think this has helped artists find an audience in a quicker way than before, but it’s not just within classical genres, look at how Rap Caviar on Spotify can break a new rapper, for example.

Considering you went through what sounds like a fairly traumatic road traffic accident, one that could have ended your musical career, what’s it like to finally have music out that world that so many are enjoying and hearing?

At the point of the accident in 2008 I was working behind the scenes in the music industry, and my own music was just a serious hobby. Initially, I was fighting to stay alive, and in the recuperation process I had a lot of morphine in my body, I heard temporary voices due to this, which I think came from another part of my brain that had opened up with all the trauma. The voice questioned if my music had merit.

Once I recovered a few months later, I took this as a challenge. Often we tell ourselves we can’t do something, but if you dig deep to take that leap, eventually something might happen. It’s been a long process, not least because having to hold down a full time job has meant it’s hard to find the time. I am over the moon that the music is resonating with people now, I certainly don’t take it for granted, due to my period of being too shy to share my work, I am much more confident now and those memories seem distant.

Following on from that, did you find piano playing a therapeutic process?

Since the first time I sat at the piano aged 11 it has been a useful outlet for me, but after the accident I had some feelings that felt better to articulate through music than words. Of course life presents situations and it’s good to be able to create a response to that. It seems to me that music is perhaps a more innate form of communication than talking.

Your last album ‘Stories From Far Away On A Piano’, is an interesting name for a record without lyrics. Do you think that you tell stories through the music you play? For instance I hear they are inspired by news stories from around the world, do you view these tracks as an abstract representation? Is the state of the world something that troubles you more than your personal issues these days?

Yes, I try to. Sometimes I compose a song and I am just channeling a general feeling at that point in time, but I like to steer away from this. I am more fulfilled as a composer if the mood and composition of a piece is linked to a theme or a recurring thought I may of been having. My debut album was made by directly composing after immersing myself in different world news stories, ones that I found had a strong emotional heartbeat. But I ensure the pieces will work outside of the concept too, on its own legs.

I had mainly written autobiographically before this album, I felt I had mined my own existence as much as I wanted at that time and through some life lessons I had learnt, I felt I was at a stage where I could tackle a concept such as this. Empathy for others is very important. Although not every track was about the troubling state of world stories, ‘Biomes’ for example was a love letter to all the flora and fauna of the world!

I’ve seen you hailed by some as the next Nils Frahm or Yann Tiersen, is that a comparison you enjoy or do you want to be seen as cultivating distinct sound that’s separate from those in your genre?

Those kind of comparisons are flattering of course, although I try not to think about it. Of course I respect these artists, they are amazing but I was playing the piano for years, honing my own thing with no awareness of people in the “post-classical” scene, it’s just due to my busy work life and situations in the personal world that I was late to share my own work, but I practiced and practiced in case this moment ever came.

I listen to a lot of jazz, soul, hip hop, electronic and rock music that I would like to seep more into my sound too, so hopefully I can bring something different to the table.

all been solo piano so I wanted to make it more obvious where the sensibility of the sound was coming from. Whilst on first listen it can sometimes sound classical, and when I was young I did listen to a lot of composers, I actually approach composition more in a meditative state, something I have definitely learnt through experiencing a lot of underground electronic music and its use of ambience and gradual evolutions. I was also keen not just to do another remix album full of similar sounding “bangers”. I approached it sequencing-wise like I would my own album, trying to work in a narrative and I think they stand up as songs in their own right.

You brought out sides to artists we’ve never seen before, particularly DJ Seinfeld’s ‘MHope’ remix. Was it nice to allow artists to explore avenues they’re not accustomed to sharing with the world?

I didn’t brief any of the artists on what to do, I just let them pick a track and do their thing with it, usually the best art comes from allowing a freedom of expression. Obviously with that comes some risk of what you are going to get, but if you choose the right artists, then what comes back will always be quality. So I was surprised when I first heard DJ Seinfeld’s ambient mix, but I really love it, and I think it connects well to a more modern classical listener. It was brilliant that the artists felt able to just do what they wanted to do and step out their comfort zone if needed.

You played the National Concert Hall last time you were in Ireland, this time you’re playing at the Unitarian Church. With the music you play, is being selective with venues and playing beautiful locations important to creating the right atmosphere?

What was the ethos behind creating ‘Reworks’?

I think so yes, although it’s important to be adaptable to be able to play anywhere! For example I would love to support left-field techno one day and morph my sound. But mostly for a solo piano gig you just need a good quality piano, which a lot of venues don’t have in-house, seating and a room with a lot of character, just like the piano!

Often with these gig venues that have pianos, when you are starting out there are no opportunities for visuals or a light show so the room needs to be interesting to add to the occasion visually.

To show some of the stylistic influences on my own music, which up until now has

James Heather plays Unitarian Church on March 23.

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ÆMAK Words: Carla Jenkins Photography: Katie Ball

A

oife McCann’s newest song has a feeling about it. It’s fresh and relevant and is a bit like predicting a February heatwave in January, before everyone has started talking and twittering on about it. Her voice, sounding more vulnerable and stripped back than we’ve ever heard, meets us at the song’s door: we have it all here / tell me it’s real for you / the symptoms of fear

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One line encapsulates the sound of a movement within our generation: that we have everything, that it’s hard to believe that it’s real, and that it terrifies us. And yet, despite potentially coming across as heavy, a synth and some percussion cuts in and the track becomes an anthem. It’s light, it flutters, and it moves away from its own subject matter. It’s an oxymoron of a song; knowing its exact ability but misunderstanding the impact it can make. Æ MAK has perfected the happy sound of sadness. ‘Too Sad o Sing’ is a similar oxymoron as she cancels the validity of its title within the first second. The paradox of singing emotional lyrics against an upbeat, poppy background isn’t a songwriting technique singular to Æ MAK, but it’s certainly one that she has fine-tuned.

“I love it,” she tells me. “I think it helps you embrace and move on from a raw, negative emotion. If it’s an intimate show I feel sad, then elated when performing ‘Too Sad to Sing’; The juxtaposition between the driving electronic soundscape and the melancholic, insecure lyrics.” Æ MAK started off as a platform of performance for McCann and her best friend Ellie McMahon. Both attended music college and both sang together until a time came when McCann was one day performing solo. Her debut track ‘I Can Feel It in My Bones’ hit our ears in 2015.

“I bus it down to Dublin every week to rehearse with the band, record, collaborate, but I grew up and live in Dundalk, and we moved out to the countryside by Carlingford when I was a teenager. The landscape is beautiful there, luscious grasslands, mountains and sea which has a massive influence over my general mental space and capacity to create.

“The Æ MAK sound does not reflect Dublin, or any city on earth. Maybe if there was an Amazonian rainforest on Mars, ruled by a witch queen... I obviously think very highly of myself. Guess I use my songwriting to create other worlds I can run off to.”

Without sounding cliché, Æ MAK does sound like something from another world.

One already inhabited by the likes of similar electronic vocalists. Think Sylvan Esso, but still entirely unique within its own periphery.

“God, I love Sylvan Esso. Thank you for the comparison. I think electronic music that you can dance to will always be in vogue as people intrinsically love dancing and feeling good bopping on down the street.

“I’m a solo artist. My vision for Æ MAK and my music career outside of Æ MAK goes beyond the boundaries of genre. I think no matter what the sound is if you’re creating something you believe in and are impassioned by that it will transfer over to others.

Not all my music is electronic dance pop. It started as tribal jungle pop, it will most likely end up as something completely different along the way. I’ve been hiding away the more vulnerable songs and ideas.... ‘We Have It Right Here’ is a far cry from that sound. It’s delicate and tender.”

As I write, there is one statement that I can make knowing that it cannot be in any way discredited as untrue: we are living in political times at present. With certain words seeming to float around the stratosphere of every artistic output, it’s hard to neglect the questions that every artist is tired of being asked. We’re walking a tightrope – feeling a mix of boredom and responsibility to keep on keeping on for

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the side we are representing. The same here goes for Æ MAK. Take ‘Love Flush’, for example. It’s a track which ‘champions choosing your ambitions over a true love’. It’s a song about love and loss and longing, yet is also about a woman putting her ambitions first, over her romantic interests.

“We all love loving and being loved,” replies McCann echoing the ubiquitous Joycean sentiment ‘love loves to love love’ from Ulysses.

“I don’t know if writing is becoming more political or less political, there’s definitely a lot more bullshit. I don’t know if we’ll ever have another Bob Dylan, or Joan Baez as times they are a’changing. Gender politics within music is very trendy now. Some authentic and forward thinking, some not. My songs are not politically-fuelled, it’s more of a self-indulgent process for me being honest. But I guess the spirit behind them sometimes is.

“I think this generation of men, and women in particular, are a lot more ambitious and daring when it comes to what they choose to do with their lives, may that be striving towards a professional career in the music industry or becoming a neurosurgeon.

Among other things this is definitely down to the progressive changes within society over the last 10, 30, 50 years; the breakdown of oppressive and sexist institutions; gender equality sitting at the forefront of social and cultural change.”

McCann is, to the extent that one can afford not to be without causing controversy, not interested in the #MeToo era having a place within her work. This isn’t to say that she disregards the movement, of course she doesn’t. But she is disinterested in how the movement has become an interview topic – something to talk about, and not do anything about.

“Male privilege is of course still a blatant reality, but I am personally against dwelling in it or entertaining the drivel that surrounds it. I am looking forward to a time when a question like that isn’t asked, isn’t relevant anymore, but I know the conversation must continue for now. In general, being asked about my gender in music somewhat makes me feel uncomfortable, fed up as of course I want to be critiqued, celebrated, connected with through my work.”

We’re all guilty, and we all trip ourselves over.

I ask does her gender influence her work?

“I would like to say hell no it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter that I am a woman. My gender doesn’t reflect in my work. But of course, it inherently does, as does the creative expression of men, and those who identify as non-binary.

“I have always been defiant and strongwilled, triggered by anything I thought unfair or unjust. This may not have anything to do with my gender, but it definitely feeds into my drive to succeed within the music industry as it is male dominated, so my gender and the politics around gender doesn’t massively affect my creative expression. We’re all human with hearts, brains and dreams, but I’d say my work ethic and drive is definitely affected by it, in this context.”

For Æ MAK, the most important thing is the music, serving as a language that has saved her when verbal communication has failed.

“I don’t have a favourite thing to write about,” she tells me. “I’ve always been in love with melody and harmony, little earworms and hooks; the majority of the time it’s the vocal melody that I start off with. The visual art and the music go hand in hand and influence and shape each other. When I’m writing a song the movement, performance, video and artwork are conceptualised at the same time almost every time. That’s why I see each song, each single release as a whole artistic project in itself.

“I find this is the best process for me and I end up writing lyrics that help me understand how I’ve been feeling about something or someone that hasn’t been clear at the forefront of my mind. I’m not the best at articulating how I feel at the best of times, I just can’t seem to find the right words. A lot of the time, I feel I’m doing myself an injustice when expressing myself verbally in the moment.

Songwriting helps me with that.”

Like every language, the final product is never something that stands alone and the same goes for that of Æ MAK’s work, which is fully realised when all the different parts - sound, lyrics, visuals, influences – come together in live performances. It’s about the energy of the piece.

“The goal is always to create something I’m excited about. Something that gets my chest buzzing, my mind lost in a visualisation of the stage performance for that song.

“It’s honestly all derived from this energy buzz I have in my chest. I can’t explain it any other way than that. I started songwriting to

perform the way I wanted to. I wanted the energy I feel when performing on stage to go hand in hand with the songs and the soundscape, which happens to be at the edge of pop at the moment.”

They say that pop music is like a mirror, always held up to reflect the times in which it’s created. Maybe it’s because it has the power to both unite the quiet voices singing along in a mundane office, as well as the excitable voices of hundreds of people in a club; it is played in cars, planes, trains, shops, dentist surgeries; it’s the backing track to so many days as they chug on, being days. Æ MAK’s music is pop music, yes, the kind of music you’d listen to on the commute as well as in a club or at a gig. But there is a movement about it, an idea that at any moment you could scratch the surface and realise that you had wholly misunderstood the meaning behind the tune you were bopping to. It’s a flux, a lump in your throat where you have to stop your limbs twitching and your feet tapping. McCann agrees.

“I think my sound will be in constant flux which is how it should be for any artist’s creative health and for the excitement of the audience. Each song has a different energy and its own story to tell, so the sound should be a home to that. My voice I feel is also in constant flux, which I’m learning more and more about through recording demos with Dan [McIntyre aka Lullahush].”

There is something about Æ MAK’s music that moves its sound to the edge of pop, placing it on a sort of pop-precipice. It is so close to transmuting into something else, when you make out the strains of her angelic voice acting as drum or synth. Perhaps that’s what it is - the fact that McCann uses her voice as an instrument that gets right to the kernel of your heart?

“I don’t think it knows what it is. Because I know it so well and can shape and move it in different styles and tones, I feel it changes for each song, which I’m learning to accept and embrace. I don’t have to have one style, one voice. I’m excited at the thought of that, it’s freeing.”

Aoife McCann brings her Æ MAK project to The Grand Social on March 8.

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MOR MOR

T

he internet connection for my Facetime with Seth Nyquist was as abrasive as the scream at the beginning of his breakout track ‘Heaven’s Only Wishful’.

That shriek marked the beginning of Seth’s trajectory from underground artist to a true contender for the next indie star.

It was that same track that landed in the inbox of director and co-host of Beats 1 radio show OTHERtone [the other host being Pharrell] Scott Vener. Scott introduced Seth to the management team he now works with; a company who boast clients like Adele.

Since then, things have taken off.

A show in The Grand Social on Liffey Street is just one stop on the Toronto artist’s extensive world tour that sees him visit Paris, Berlin, London, Manchester and finally Dublin before heading back across the Atlantic for a number of North American dates. He returns in summer to play a host of European festivals including Parklife, Primavera and Field Day. ‘Heven’s Only Wishful’, his five-track project released last year recieved widespread media acclaim.

“Since this last release I’ve gotten a dose of the commercial side,” he tells me. “I feel like the last few years have been a whirlwind, but I’ve found my footing so I feel pretty comfortable.”

Reading quotes from Seth describing music as a “delicate” thing, I ask if it’s that balance between artistry and fame that makes it so brittle.

“People don’t realise that they have more choices than they do.”

The ‘Heaven’s Only Wishful’ EP was about the unattainable idea of perfection. Seth’s latest track ‘Pass the Hours’ was released in December and touches on themes of being left behind.

For Seth, his subject matter is in flux.

“I don’t think that it’s all fully conscious [the themes of his music], but there’s more dealing with anxiety and depression now… Being

open about those things and finding ways of emoting that through song.

“For me specifically, it’s about honesty. I hope it isn’t something that I’ll always need to be saying! It’s where I’ve been at, so it’s about documenting where I’ve been at.”

‘Waiting on the Warmth’ the fourth track on the EP is about the feeling of “people looking for something different in the same places”, and was specifically written about the creative masses in Toronto.

Born in Canada’s largest city, Seth explains that while it may be densely populated, there’s a distinct ‘village’ mentality.

“There’s a sense of having to fit in. I wrote that probably a year and a half ago now, but it was from having specific nights in the city and I realised that I’d see the same people in the same places. I felt that it was an obligation for them, that they felt they needed to be there as opposed to wanting to be there.

“Toronto is like a town, in that everyone knows each other. When you have the influence of other cultures, specifically American culture, if you’re into a certain type of music or art, you’re going to take from it what you will, but you’re not at the source.

There are really interesting things that end up happening out of that, but you can end up creating a reality that doesn’t reflect how it really is. Because you haven’t been around the actual culture.”

Toronto is home to a varied mix of artists including Badbadnotgood, Clairmont “The” Second and Peaches, but Seth is weary of holding the weight of the city on his shoulders.

“I think it’s a beautiful thing, where I’m from and the city is important to me. Geography obviously influences artists, and I feel pride in Canada and Toronto, but I don’t feel I need to represent ‘one thing’. For me it’s not a sport, like the Olympic games.”

MorMor plays The Grand Social on April 6.

WORDS: ERIC DAVIDSON PHOTOGRAPHY: PAT O’ROURKE

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Words: Rosie Gogan-Keogh

PARADISE

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I

n a world where nationalism is becoming both increasingly prevalent, and increasingly polarising, it’s time to reinterpret the meaning of nationality. Hen’s Teeth has tasked some of the world’s most exciting design studios to create their own version of Paradise and asked them If Paradise was a nation, where would it be, what form would it take? What is the meaning of a nation, does a nation need to occupy a fixed geographical [or even physical!] space? We spoke to three of the participating studios and designers to find out where their Paradise lies ahead of the exhibition.

What were your first thoughts when you got the brief for the exhibition?

Really interesting brief, a lot of the work we do is for things that end up being small physical objects that you can hold in your hands like record sleeves, books, t-shirts, that kind of thing, so it was really cool to think of quite maximal things that stretch into the horizon of your mind.

Tell us about your Paradise? Are there places/ideas that inspire it?

Our paradise is everywhere, in the current climate there is a dark tone of closing doors and building walls. Our idea of paradise would be an inclusive world that embraces all of the beauty of various cultures from around the world regardless of colour, creed, race, sexual orientation or religious leaning. A mix of wild ingredients has always made for a more exciting meal than just meat and two veg after all.

How have you approached the design of your fictitious place?

Photography: Designers’ own — (Eike Konig by Werner Streitfelder)

DR.ME

We brought our practice of collage into the design in a literal and ambiguous way mixing flags and imagery from our favourite countries to instruct the outcome.

What are the problems that you want to try to solve/ erase in your utopia?

Close-minded behaviour, poverty, greed, education at all levels should be free to all.

How can good design help improve this chaotic world we live in?

Good design can help give people clarity of thought and positivity in their outlook on life. It can also allow for some escapism and for people to dream of unexpected paths in their lives. dr-me.com

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CRAIG OLDHAM What were your first thoughts when you got the brief for the exhibition?

If I’m honest, terror. There’s a phrase that’s long served me which goes ‘without the bitter the sweet ain’t so sweet’, and so I always end up in quite a state of despondency when such extreme ideas and questions (like defining paradise) are posed. One has to remember that one person’s love is another person’s hate, one person’s glue is another’s glory, one’s paradise could be another’s purgatory. Or worse, hell.

Tell us about your Paradise? Are there places/ideas that inspire it?

Given the tension I’ve just outlined above, I thought it might be more interesting, or provoking, perhaps, to consider another’s view of aradise. I’ve always hated the role that many designers seem to take which is essentially enforcing their taste onto others, and though this brief of creating paradise is somewhat akin to a visual Desert Island Discs, I thought I’d try and examine a paradisiac view of another’s world view. Opposite of my own.

How have you approached the design of your fictitious place?

I’ve lifted a certain world view from the world of cinema.

And one movie in particular, Sidney Lunet’s ‘Network’ (1976). The film is famed for Howard Beale, the lead character who loses it, but I’m much more interested in the speech given by Arthur Jensen (played wonderfully by Ned Beatty), one of the bosses of the network. In this speech he makes a damning case for the world as we think we know it, denying, convincingly, that nations and countries no longer exist and that only currency matters. I’ve taken this fiscal idea and hop-skip-and-jumped with it visually.

What are the problems that you want to try to solve/ erase in your utopia?

I’d rather ask questions than enforce solutions. In presenting an opposing visual of paradise, I hope that may raise questions in people about their reaction to something so openly blunt and brazen as money being the only utopia.

Instead of trying to present an alternative to money and a value system, I’d rather ask people that if this is the world without any conceit, can you still love as a citizen?

How can good design help improve this chaotic world we live in?

Good design can play a part, but it will never be the solution. Design is a means not an end, and though it can make the complicated simpler or the complex more engaging, we need to improve our politics, environment, social standing, social equality and financial stability before design can meaningfully be involved in change.

But it can play a part. And must. craigoldham.co.uk

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EIKE KÖNIG What were your first thoughts when you got the brief for the exhibition?

There‘s no place for paradise in human mankind. Good and bad are both part of the DNA. Tell us about your Paradise? Are there places/ideas that inspire it?

I just read this: [links to EGO DEVELOPMENT: NINE LEVELS OF INCREASING EMBRACE Susanne R. Cook-Greuter, Ed. D. Adapted and expanded from S. Cook-Greuter].

How have you approached the design of your fictitious place?

It‘s very simple—I want you to respect me and at the same time you want me to respect you. The biggest problem I have is the language I’m using. It’s a border itself. Some understand it, some not. It would be good to have a language-free version of my utopia.

What are the problems that you want to try to solve/ erase in your utopia?

I just want acceptance for everyone else.

How can good design help improve this chaotic world we live in?

Design is overrated and I don‘t think we live in a chaotic world. @eikekoenig

“There is no place for paradise in human mankind. Good and bad are both part of the DNA.”

Paradise opens at Hen’s Teeth on April 25.

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‘F

riendship, tragedy, emigration, drug use. Not just lyrical themes but all also catalysts on the path to Nealo becoming a hip hop artist’ reads the bio under ‘October Year’, a project the Dublin rapper released at the tail end of last year.

Originally a key part of Dublin’s hardcore and punk scene, when Nealo split up with his band in 2015 he had an artistic void he was looking to fill. He says that Dublin changed, and bandmates emigrated, leaving him “creatively stifled”, but hip hop buoyed him. His migration to the genre was one that a lot of contemporary artists have made, from Beastie Boys to Ho99o9, but for Irish artists, it was a relatively new move.

Off the back of ‘October Year’ Nealo sold out The Underground, but 120 people wasn’t enough. He’s now set to take the Whelan’s main stage with his band [including Molly Sterling and ARBU among others] for his biggest headline show to-date.

Ahead of the sold out show on March 30, we had a lengthy conversation with the Dubliner where he discusses how one dark February changed his life.

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Words: Eric Davidson / Photography: Kayleigh Forsythe

nealo

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‘ between work, the depression of life, and the endless sessions, there is so much beautiful art that has been lost around dublin. i just didn’t want to go out that way.’

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Congratulations, on the imminent arrival of your child. You must be over the moon?

I am delighted, but to be honest it’s very hard to know how to feel. It’s my first kid so I think there’s always going to be this apprehension there as to whether I’m going to be a good dad or not. I think I will be. My wife will definitely be a great mam. It’s hard to be really excited when you can’t see your kid either. I’ve been talking to a lot of my friends who have kids and they said that as soon as they saw and held their first child, then it was like a switch turned on in them. I’m looking forward to that feeling, and just meeting my son for the first time. Oh yeah, it’s a boy!

Has the news affected you creatively yet?

Kids often switch the vision for artists...

It hasn’t really affected me creatively much yet. I only found out about six weeks ago. It has slipped its way into a few bars here and there on the new project, but there’s been no crazy switch of vision as of yet. I do expect that to happen though.

A lot has changed for you recently. Take me through the recent journey to becoming a hip hop artist that’s selling out venues and supporting big artists like YG? I guess it started off with me and ARBU [Adam Buckley]. Usually when you meet someone new it can be a bit awkward for a while, but with him we hit it off big style straight away and ended up chatting for hours. We were going to a gig in the 3Arena, and on the way there, he said, ‘You should rap man’. I brushed it off at first, but it did resonate with me. I think it had always been flying around in my mind, and it just needed the validation of someone who had an idea of both hip hop and hardcore to ignite it.

Honestly, I was talking about a switch clicking when you see your first child a minute ago, but that was like a light turning on within me. When I made that first track, and I knew that this idea of being a hip hop artist that I always had was within my grasp, then there was literally no stopping me. From then on, it was just hours and hours of writing songs at home, then I moved into a studio with Loah, Senu and Royal Yellow, which was very encouraging. It was a place where I

could spend the nights writing and my cats wouldn’t be jumping on the laptop.

From there, all the gigs that me and ARBU did together were just me cutting my teeth and learning how to do it live. And every time I wrote a good song or got offered another gig, or a podcast, or an article or something, it was just validation for me that this is the path I am supposed to be on.

What’s been the most significant change in your life of late?

A couple of years back I was doing these really difficult law exams. The FE1’s. They’re basically the Irish equivalent of the bar, but they are renowned as one of the hardest sets of exams in the world. I did them twice and busted my arse studying for them both times, but I just couldn’t get them. I felt like a bit of a failure at that point. I had come back from living in Vancouver, been on and off the dole, working different jobs here and there, but I really wanted to do something better with myself. After I couldn’t get them, I went to Maynooth and did a law degree, and in the third year of that I decided to try my hand at them again. One day I just decided that I was going to pass them this time around and I somehow managed to do it at the same time as starting third year of a law degree.

That was a huge mental shift for me. It was the realisation that achieving the things you want in life versus falling short is just a personal decision within your own head. A lot of the time we self-sabotage ourselves without ever even knowing it. I see it so much in young people around me. You might be working towards some goal, but in reality you’re never going to get there because you haven’t made the decision to get there.

I went from being on the scratcher to getting a 1:1 in a law master’s and passing some of the hardest exams in the world. So, when I transferred that same work ethic over to making music, it made it so much easier to go forward leaps and bounds within a short space of time. The main difference being that with this music I feel a sense of purpose and direction that is really powerful. I am in love with everything about it.

Moving from hardcore and punk to hip hop isn’t all that unusual, Ho99o9, Cities Aviv, Lil Ugly Mane, Beastie Boys and more all made

the jump. Why do you feel there’s potential for crossover?

It’s a strange one. I’m not sure why there is so much potential for crossover between the two genres. I feel like there has always been collaboration between hardcore and hip hop artists. All the ones you mentioned above, and even Trash Talk / Odd Future, Biohazard / Onyx, Sean Price / Cold World, Body Count with Ice T singing and the list could go on.

Even Thundercat played bass in Suicidal Tendencies for a while, which I always think is madness. Then there are people like Lil Ugly Mane, who are actively still part of the hardcore punk scene.

Both genres also arguably originated in New York which is maybe why we see so much crossover. There are major similarities in the way people dress as well. There were times in the hardcore scene where if you looked around and couldn’t hear the music, you would just think you were at a hip hop show or vice versa. Also, there’s a huge DIY ethic in both scenes. A lot of people in the underground hip hop world like to put on their own gigs, run their own zines and publications, and generally do things for themselves and that’s the same in the hardcore scene. I ran gigs in Dublin for years so when it came to putting on my first show, I was well used to the process.

What did you bring over, artistically, from that world?

Lyrics. I’ve always been a lyricist first and a vocalist second. So, all I had to change was the way things are said, but not what I am saying, if you get me? I just had to transfer my cadence from screaming and roaring into a mic to rapping and singing. Now that I’ve managed to do that, I feel like I’m better at this type of music than I ever was at hardcore. Also screaming into a mic for 25 days in a row on tour is so damaging to your throat.

My voice has taken years to recover.

I think that world also taught me to be comfortable on stage. Over the years I’ve played some of the most awkward gigs you could imagine to some of the rowdiest crowds. A lot of those hardcore tours were nuts, one night you could be playing to five people in the basement of a squat in Stockholm, with no jacks except for a hole in the

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floor, and the next night you could be playing to 1500 people at a festival in Germany with full catering and a hotel. It taught me to be comfortable in all kinds of situations, and always try to give it the full whack on stage no matter what was going on around me.

Hardcore, punk, hip hop, these are all genres known for having close-knit ‘scenes’ in every city they exist in. What are the differences between Dublin’s hardcore and hip hop scenes?

One difference that I love about the hip hop scene is that there’s more women involved.

The hardcore scene, I think because of the abrasive nature of the music and the violence of the gigs, can be seriously male-dominated. That’s one big regret that I have looking back. We built this very positive DIY scene in Dublin where there would be 200 people at a local show, but there were very few women involved. They were at the shows. They were our friends, and they did actively contribute, but they should have been made to feel more welcome. That’s my one big regret about my time in the hardcore scene, I should have tried to make the environment safer and more open to women.

The other difference I suppose is the spectrum for growth. In hip hop the amount you can grow as both an artist and in popularity is infinite. Hardcore can be quite limited in terms of sound and growth. There are pros and cons to both. They are both incredible subcultures in my view.

What is one part of the hardcore scene that you’d like to see more of in Irish hip hop?

Community is a big part of both scenes. But in the hip hop scene I’d love to see more artists going to each other’s shows. To me that’s how you build a really strong scene. It’s different creative people just going to see each other’s gigs and generally having a laugh together.

Becoming friends, collaborating, throwing ideas around, putting on gigs and all that.

You guys are great for that, and also Shane [McAuley] from Soul Doubt. I also have to say that one guy who embodies that for me is MathMan. The chap goes above and beyond to help younger artists.

It’s absolutely insane the amount he’s done for me already and I haven’t even had to ask him, and there are 10 other hip hop artists I’ve talked to who say the same thing about him.

Another thing I’d love to see is a bit more lyricism in Irish hip hop. The trap style is hot at the moment, and I do like some artists in that genre, but the lyrical content is fairly one dimensional. I don’t want to hear some chap who still lives in his ma’s gaff talking about how much they’re spending on a chain. That’s a fairy-tale world they’re creating for themselves. It’s their art and they can do what they want with it, but on the other hand it doesn’t appeal to me personally.

Paul Alwright, Costello, God Knows, Denise Chaila, GI, Jafaris, Kojaque, those are all people with something to say.

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‘October Year’ was well-received, not only by media, but hip hop heads in general. Did

you expect that reaction? Have you been welcomed into Irish hip hop with open arms?

I remember putting it up and thinking, ‘This project isn’t amazing, if it gets a couple of hundred plays, it’s a good starting point and I’ll move onto the next thing’. I looked at it as a demo of sorts. I never imagined that it would get the reaction it has. I mean we’re not talking huge numbers, but it’s more a feeling that everyone is on board with me and waiting for the next thing to drop.

Another surprising thing is how open and sound everyone in Irish hip hop has been to me. That says a lot about the people involved.

All the Burner Records lads, Rebel P, Mango, MathMan… It’s turning into a family vibe.

“Friendship, tragedy, emigration, drug use.

Not just lyrical themes but all also catalysts on the path to Nealo becoming a hip hop artist”, can you give me a little background on what that press release means?

Well I emigrated to Vancouver in 2007, came back to a strange mid-recession Ireland in 2009, saw friends die through both suicide and drug use, and done a lot of partying myself, to put it mildly. I had a really dark period last February where I was walking a huge, friendly dog in work and he ended up dying in front of me because he got a tennis ball stuck in his throat. I fought with him for around 15 minutes with my friend Sam [Senu] to try and get the ball out, but I ended up fracturing my hand in 2 places and getting 57 stitches. I was in an overcrowded Blanchardstown hospital for two weeks on oxy and they were telling me I might lose my fingers or that my hand might not work the same again. It was a rough time.

That was just two weeks after Paul Curran died. We weren’t best mates or anything, but I had known him for years and he had also sang in a hardcore band and been involved in our scene. He died on my birthday which was just such a head fuck for some reason, I don’t even know why. So, it was a really dark February, but that dark period for me was a major catalyst in really getting the hip hop thing going.

It was almost a case of, nothing can possibly get worse than this, so maybe let’s actually have a shot at moulding reality into a version that suits me better, and funnily enough it seems to be working. As we speak, that accident happened a year ago tomorrow and the amount of positive things that have happened to me since is actually bizarre. I thank my wife Kayleigh for that because without her, honestly I don’t know where I would be.

One thing Paul talked about in a Burnt Out song was “the art that never gets made”. For me that meant people going out on a session doing a load of patsy and yokes and talking shite about making music, but never actually getting around to it. I’ve seen it a hundred times and I’ve been there. Between work, the depression of life, and the endless sessions, there is so much beautiful art that has been lost around Dublin. I just didn’t want to go out that way.

Nealo plays Upstairs in Whelan’s on March 30.

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SKIN DEEP:

kit

mcdermott Words & Photography: Ellius Grace

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hroughout my life I have struggled with eczema. An unpredictable irritation of the skin, and one that was uncontrollable in years past. I started getting tattoos as a way to have control over my skin. Finally I was able to dictate what went where, what I decided to adorn myself with, who did it, and when. Today, I have my condition under control, but I still use tattoos as a way to decorate myself, tell my story and most importantly be the master of my body in one simple way.

Today, tattoos are a part of pop culture, no longer existing only on the fringes of society. Instagram is filled with artists and inspiration and more people than ever are getting pieces. No longer will a tattoo ostracise you from a job. With this increasing saturation comes more great artists, and through this series, I will explore some of Dublin’s tattooers.

I’ve been doing this feature for four months now, interviewing and photographing tattoo artists while getting a piece from them.

Everyone I’ve met so far has been open, kind and honest with me, not to mention the artists I already knew going in. Dublin has a rich tattoo scene full of international artists. What has become clear is that each of these artists has based themselves here for the community and the pace of life.

Dublin provides a laid back, yet invigorating backdrop which lends itself to the work of its inhabitants. I’m excited to continue delving into the tattoo scene here in the city, and soon look to other places in Ireland for their communities and styles.

This month I talk to Kit McDermott, who has been tattooing for over 13 years. On top of his own practice, he runs Live Fast Tattoo, which he set up over 10 years ago. Born to Irish parents in Ontario, Canada, Kit eventually moved to Ireland where he has remained since. Kit does a lot of large custom work and has effortlessly morphed his distinct style into all manner of smaller pieces too over the last while. His is a name that is eponymous with the Irish tattoo scene, and for good reason.

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When did you move to Dublin and why here?

I moved to Dublin from Canada in 1997. My parents are both Dubs so I came over for what I thought would be about a year, travelling and getting to know my extended family.

I fell in love with Dublin, it had become my home but I hadn’t realised it yet. I travelled a good bit, backpacking around Europe and Asia with some very cool people. Visiting Canada was always important because it was somewhere that formed so many aspects of my life, and I still had so many people I loved there, however, Dublin had become my home. It was the only place I wanted to live.

You set up Live Fast Tattoo in 2009, 10 years ago. Can you tell me about what it was like in the beginning?

In the beginning it was all white walls and a few IKEA trolleys and the like. It was the bare bones of a tattoo shop. It kind of felt like it was waiting to happen. P If you think the shop is hidden away at the moment, I didn’t even have a sign outside back then. I had already worked in a few shops by then, one proper tattoo shop called Art Tattoo.

The other shops were dodgy and absolutely mental, and fun of course, but mostly mental. Because those other shops were kind of crazy, I was allowed do tattoos that were beyond my skill set at the time. Michele and Marco reined me in a good bit then when I came back to work in Art Tattoo.

What made you want to start your own shop?

I always wanted to open a shop and do it my way but it did feel like maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew. But whatever, I was doing it and I was ready to deal with my own short comings if shit was going to fall apart.

It was an amazing time for me as I was painting more seriously and starting to see how it affected my tattoos and really pushed the possibilities of custom work.

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As a long-time owner of a Dublin studio, have you seen the place change much over the last 10 years?

It has changed constantly and I have been fortunate to work with people who inspired me and helped breathe life into this place, turning it into its own thing. My niece started tattooing around the same time as me. Her in Canada, and me here in Dublin. Eventually she came over to work with me here.

That was a turning point, I think. She helped me take some risks with the shop. Nato Byrne was around a lot then, Crystal’s now husband, and it was a lot of painting that coincided with an upswing of the attitude in the city. People were less worried coming out of the recession maybe, and I was fortunate to be getting a lot of clients interested in custom tattooing.

Does Dublin provide much inspiration for your art?

I had moved into the city centre with my dog, Frank. It was a blast of a time where every minute was mine, and creatively it was incredible. Living in the city centre in Dublin was one of the highlights of my life. Dublin has always been an inspiration, but that time galvanised it for me. There is a determination and ruthless humour about Dublin that is always inspiring and obviously everyone falls in love with it. I was living a five minute walk from the shop, I was able to dedicate my life to tattooing without feeling like I had anyone to please.

Do you still take inspiration from Ontario? If so, how do you think the city has informed your work?

Yes, I am still inspired by Canada. I spent so many formative years in Canada and I think I will always miss it. My last trip to Ontario was after a gap of too many years and I’d like to be visiting more regularly from now on.

working in a tattoo shop, it definitely keeps work interesting. This isn’t so much about a client, there were many walk-ins on this particular day but the story is more about the boss I worked for at the time. One of the guys who helped me out in the early days was a dude in Florida. I’ll leave his name out as I know he has a son out there somewhere. In the time I worked for him, he had traded a bad coke habit for an addiction to oxycontin. It was bad news and this shop was definitely one of the mental spots I mentioned earlier. He lived in his shop, sleeping on a massage bed at night.

He would treat himself and his girlfriend to a motel room sometimes after a busy weekend. Him and his girlfriend had a big sesh night of all sorts. He was in a state on the massage bed and it was Saturday morning. I thought he was overdosed as he wasn’t moving or waking up. This place is in a little tourist hotspot in Florida. He was asleep in the workstation right beside me, separated by a partition wall topped with a stereo. It turned into one of those busy tourist Saturdays. He was going completely silent then doing these long knockout snores, like when somebody sounds in pain. All the while Bob and Sally America are in shopping for holiday tatts. I’m tattooing the usual palm trees and dolphin stuff, just cranking the stereo to try and hide the snores, and then checking to see if he’s still alive when he’d go quiet. It just went on too long and I couldn’t wake him and his girlfriend didn’t want me to call for help as she was already facing charges to send her away for a long time. I ended up closing the shop and she tended to him for the rest of the night. He survived and he was only a little bit angry about me closing the shop early. That place just got too fucked up to work in, bad people dropping in looking for stolen property and money. My boss’ girlfriend was eventually arrested and some time after he did overdose in that shop. He was a good dude.

I always feel a bit closer to an artist after they’ve given me a tattoo. Have you formed many friendships with clients?

There is definitely a bond created between the tattooer and the tattooed. Even the small tattoos can leave a lasting memory with me, and quite often I will remember somebody I have tattooed years previous if they are to drop in for a visit. I have been fortunate enough to have clients requesting large custom work and I can spend hours at a time with them. As a result, I have met some amazing people, heard crazy stories, and made friends for life.

Best/worst tattoo/client story?

There are so many stories you gather

@kitmcdermott @livefasttattoostudio

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LOUISA HARLAND on Derry Girls Words: Aoife Donnellan Photography: Andrew Nuding

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D

erry Girls is as good as you’ve heard.

It’s witty, fast-paced, bizarre and all round entertaining. Season one graced our screens a little over a year ago, and those six episodes have since been watched over two million times. For the few who don’t know, Derry Girls follows the antics of a group of four girls and one boy who live in Derry in the 1990s. It chronicles the brilliance of everyday life in a time remembered for its violence. The real joy of the show comes from the character’s ability to be unselfconsciously enthusiastic. It’s on everyone’s must watch list and I got to speak with Louisa Harland, who plays eccentric Orla McCool, about why.

As a Dublin local, Louisa explains her acting roots.

“I went to Ann Kavanagh Youth Theatre in Rathfarnham, and I used to do the féis. I was obsessed with theatre because I went to this youth theatre and I was obsessed with Shakespeare. I wanted to go to London to the big drama schools and train there… I was obsessed with theatre from a very young age.”

This is what landed her her first job on Love/Hate. She auditioned through the youth theatre and thus began her knack for choosing revolutionary Irish TV series.

“Yeah, I actually forget that I’m in two of the

most successful modern Irish TV dramas, and I’m so proud of that and how different they are. I actually got the job through my youth theatre, I auditioned and I got that and I was actually terrified… Working with Aidan Gillen for my first job, like, it was incredible.”

She followed her Shakespearean dream and went to London to train in theatre, before returning to Ireland to look for work.

As important as training is, she concedes that nothing beats experience.

“I learnt as much on Love/Hate as I did in my three years, so I think it’s so important to actually work to learn, so to work with all those actors like Robert Sheehan, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Killian Scott it was incredible, I wish I could go back and do a better job now, I know so much more [laughs]!”

We move on to speak about the enormous audience that Derry Girls has managed to garner in a short period of time.

“Yeah I know, I can’t fathom that idea. I think there are so many elements, first of all it’s female-lead, and it’s Irish on a UK network. I think that’s endearing. It’s set in the 90’s, which is kind of a cool, ‘in’ era, like people dress like that now. The music we listen to today as well. I think it’s about so many elements, but it ultimately comes down to the writing.”

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Creator of the show Lisa McgGee is a Northern Irish writer is created RTÉ’s Raw, as well as BAFTA-nominated Being Human for the BBC. Everything she touches turns to gold.

“I mean, all the elements boil down to the fact that it’s an incredible script and it was from the moment we read it. It would’ve been incredible no matter what cast we had, but we were so lucky that the cast is also incredible. Yeah, we hit a sweet spot.”

The writing is the highlight of the series; an effortlessly funny, and perfectly idiosyncratic compilation of universal female experience while being specific in its setting.

While Lisa McGee’s script may be the star of the show, the quiet genius of the series comes from its cast. Female-lead comedies are few and far between, let alone ones that have a noticeably dominant female cast.

Harland loves the creative energy it brings to the project.

“I love it, when we were filming season two there was a scene with 11 women in one scene and they all had speaking parts and I think in a comedy that has never been done before. So, yeah it was pretty incredible.

What incredible women I get to work with as well, like Siobhán McSweeney who plays Sister Michael is incredible, not only in the role, but probably the funniest person I’ve ever met in real life. And Kathy Kiera Clarke who plays my mom, and Tara Lynne O’Neill who plays my auntie are incredible women to learn from and that’s even before I start mentioning the main girls, and when I say girls I include Dylan [Llewellyn] in that.”

It’s hard to believe that such a fundamental thing, like having that number of women on screen with speaking lines, hasn’t been done already, but that is the subtle triumph of the series. It’s innovative, surprising and familiar comedy.

Harland plays the endearingly eccentric Orla McCool who is still in secondary school, like all the other main characters.

The thought of the heavy wool jumper and jaded deck shoes gives me shivers.

“Let me tell you, putting on a uniform again?

It instantly does something to you, like any day we’re in uniform the crew and the cast treat you different, you feel very young.”

Harland admits that she has more in common with her character than she thinks.

“I wish I was more like her because she is incredibly carefree and and doesn’t censor herself. She believes everything she says and says it with complete conviction. I would compare her to Tigger from Winnie-thePooh, like, ‘A flibbertigibbet, a will-o’-the wisp, a clown!’. That is what she is. It’s fun to play her.”

Having been in both Derry Girls, and Love/ Hate, Harland is no stranger to touching on sensitive topics. Dramatising historical periods can be risky, especially ones that involve such nuanced debate, but she takes it in her stride.

“I’ve learnt so much more about that time, you think you know everything and you think you’ve learnt it all but actually the feel of it,

working in Northern Ireland and especially going back in time, I’ve learnt so much.”

One of the highlights of the show comes from the final episode of season one where Orla performs a step aerobics routine in front of her school.

“I remember reading the last episode where I get up and dance, and how it was going to interchange with the family watching TV and the dance intercutting. I was terrified, I knew I had to get that right, even though it’s a comedic moment, it has to have some poignancy, because I didn’t want to ruin the incredible writing, so I felt a lot of pressure doing step-aerobics while shining a light on the tragedy of the time!”

The comedy of Derry Girls, laced with the tragic violence of the time, makes for a personal retelling of life in Derry in 1990s.

McGee captures the minutiae of life that continued during The Troubles. Harland understands this pressure and brings it out in Orla.

“I took it so seriously, yeah I made up a dance and took it very seriously, all the girls would tell you like, I would take myself away and just do that dance religiously, which is exactly what happens in the episode, so that was real, I was obsessed with it. I brought a step home to my apartment in Belfast and slept with it. Like method acting [laughs]!”

Derry Girls manages to capture the genuine absurdity of life. The step-aerobics saga is fantastically strange. Harland agrees that Orla “doesn’t censor herself, she’s at that age when she doesn’t care what other people think”. Self-expression is a central theme in the series which comes to the fore during this scene for Orla. This personal understanding of being proud of who you are works in tandem with the violence perpetrated against people for expressing themselves in Derry at the time.

The series is undoubtedly a triumph and Harland owes it all to her youth theatre. Her advice for Irish actors looking to make moves in the industry is to stay close to home.

“I wouldn’t say there is any rush to go anywhere else, like London. What’s happening in Ireland is incredible [in the acting world], and there are so many incredible things going on, so many incredible casting directors and writers, it’s a real moment.

Any advice to Irish actors, certainly, do Irish things, work on Irish projects and work with Irish writers and work with Irish directors, I think that is really important. We are important in this world, and I think that is just starting to show. Don’t feel like running away from home to make it on Broadway.”

I very quickly consumed the first season and am now ready for season two which Harland assures is “not a second album at all”.

“I think it’s better, and I don’t want to jinx it by saying that, but Lisa has really outdone herself. I haven’t seen any of it, I’ve only seen the trailer so I’m really excited, I really think it’s going to be bigger and better.”

Derry Girls season two starts March 5 on Channel 4.

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Irish Artist Spotlight:

GAVIN CONNELL G

avin Connell is a Dublin-based graphic designer and illustrator. He received a BA First Class Honors in Visual Communications from NCAD in 2018. Since finishing college in June 2018, Gavin has been freelancing and has received an IDI Graduate Design award for use of illustration in design and was also awarded membership into the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD).

Gavin worked as a junior designer at H.Y.T studio in the summer of 2017 and 2018 where he has worked on projects for large clients such as Nike and Vans.

Gavin takes a lot of inspiration from vintage comic books, cartoons, graffiti and his love for house music.

These influences mix together to create his poster style which he is predominantly known for. His posters are mainly for gigs all around Ireland and consist of playful characters and bright colours. @gavconl

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B

ray Institute of Further Education has been pushing electronic music and DJ culture since 2002. Starting out with a few 1210s in a prefab, they now have custom built DJ booths, multiple production studios and performance spaces. It is unique in Ireland to find a music college almost completely dedicated to electronic music production. For nearly two decades students have been coached by some of the most influential Irish DJs and producers.

Walking into BIFE college is like walking into any other college until you pass through the doors of the ‘Department of Noise’. In here you hear distorted kick drums from 9 in the morning until the college closes every night.

You hear the scream of analogue synthesisers, records spinning back, and students whooping to their track selections. The range of technology on offer is impressive - Technics, Pioneer, Serato, Ableton, Pro Tools. Students are taught how to mix, scratch, produce, record, master and promote their music. In every room the monitors are set to loud, as students banter, share techniques and learn from the tutors.

(Virtu Studios), Handsome Paddy (XFM), Sunil Sharpe (Earwiggle). This year saw the inclusion of Matthew Flanagan (DeFeKT) and Doug Cooney (Real Sound). Coordinating it all is Ken Harte (Grizzle/AudioLemon). The DJ course has three other sister courses including Music Production, Sound Engineering and Music Performance.

Over the years BIFE has had some standout students such as DeFeKT, Sarah Lennox, Lee Kelly, Quinton Campbell, Orla Feeney, Coleman Buckley, Jan Boland, Mode_1, Dermot Bateman, Nathan Jones and many more. All of them releasing, producing, promoting and DJing.

We’ll leave the last words with Georgia Murphy aka Ôneyra who says, “I owe it all to the tutors at BIFE for providing and guiding me with their knowledge to push me to where I am today. I look forward to making my mark on the scene in years to come”. bife.ie

BIFE has had a singularly impressive selection of tutors, hand selected for their skill, knowledge, love and compassion. Collectively they possess an endless array of musical knowledge and technical expertise, sharing their love of the craft with students.

Tutors have included Jon Hussey (Planet Dub), Dave Splyce (All City Records), Tu-Ki (four year DMC Champion), Barry Dempsey Photography: Fiona Aryan

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CLUB GUIDE

March 2019 PAULA TEMPLE

MAD REY B2B MÉZIGUE

TYREE COOPER

ELKAE & LAYNEE

DAN SHAKE

RED RACK’EM

SHEE

PAUL WOOLFORD

LEE BURRIDGE

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QUINTON CAMPBELL, DART & KARL GUEST

SERIAL KILLAZ

BEN SIMS & CAILÍN

MATADOR & ÂME

D1 RECORDINGS

TELEPHONES

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For fans of: I Hate Models, Ansome, Perc Friday March 8 Index €16.70

For fans of: Inner City, Cajmere, Larry Heard Friday March 8 Yamamori Tengu €13.60

For fans of: Big Miz, HAAi, O’Flynn Saturday March 9 Wigwam €14

For fans of: Brame & Hamo, KETTAMA, Subjoi Saturday March 9 Wah Wah Club €8.85

For fans of: Guy J, Nick Warren, John Digweed Friday March 15 Yamamori Tengu €16.60

For fans of: Denis Sulta, Ejeca, KETTAMA Saturday March 16 Opium Club €13.60

For fans of: Dave Clarke, Luke Slater, Slam Saturday March 16 Index €16.70

For fans of: Fatima Yamaha, Kenny Larkin, Green Velvet Sunday March 17 Yamamori Tengu €22

For fans of: Objekt, Dorian Concept, Lapalux Sunday March 17 Wigwam €15

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For fans of: Folamour, Baltra, DJ Boring Friday March 8 Wigwam €17

For fans of: Le Boom, Kaz9, Daithi Friday March 8 The Underground €11

For fans of: MCDE, Midland, Eli Escobar Saturday March 9 Yamamori Tengu €13

For fans of: KiNK, Floorplan, Mella Dee Friday March 15 Pygmalion €17

For fans of: John Digweed, Guy J, Max Cooper Friday March 15 Opium Club €22

For fans of: Congo Natty, General Levy, SHY FX Saturday March 16 Wigwam €12

For fans of: Joseph Capriati, Pig&Dan, Guy Gerber Saturday March 16 Pygmalion €33

For fans of: Hunee, Axel Boman, MCDE Sunday March 17 Pallas Projects & Button Factory €22

For fans of: Detroit Swindle, Terrence Parker, Hunee Friday March 22 Yamamori Tengu €17

CC:DISCO

For fans of: Late Nite Tuff Guy, MCDE, Honey Dijon Friday March 29 Wigwam €18.70

JENNIFER CARDINI

For fans of: Âme, DJ Koze, Miss Kitten Friday March 29 Pygmalion €10

WOWEEMBEEM WEEKENDER

For fans of: Nabihah Iqbal, Djrum, Auntie Flo Friday March 29 & Saturday March 30 Bello Bar & Hang Dai €17

HONEY DIJON & LUKE SOLOMON For fans of: Dennis Ferrer, Palms Trax, Peggy Gou Saturday March 30 Pygmalion

ACRYLIC X JUNIOR SPESH For fans of: Conducta, DJ Q, Flava D Saturday March 30 Wigwam €11.50

25.04.19 An exhibition of utopian worlds by some of our favourite design studios.

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13 Fade Street, Dublin 2

L

ong Island Sound is a name Irish dance music fans should be very familiar with. The pair have been packing out clubs and festival stages up and down the country for a number of years now. The duo have been going from strength to strength with their reputation continuing to grow both here and abroad through their diverse DJ sets and highly-regarded productions, which have racked up thousands of streams and downloads.

The future is looking bright for the Berlin-based duo and we’re excited to see what comes next for them.

We caught up with Long Island Sound for a quick chat ahead of the debut release on their new Signs Of Space label, the aptly named ‘Initial Ascent’ EP which is due out at the beginning of April.

You’re about to launch your own imprint. What led to you starting a label?

Yeah, we’re super excited for this. We had talked about starting a label, but never had an exact idea of when or how. We were sending some music around to some friends, and Bobby Analog suggested that we could maybe just press some records ourselves. He’s been really good with giving us advice too. Then the general look of the label started to materialise really naturally. It’s been really nice to have basi-

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“Always making, never made!”

cally full control of everything from the logo to the artwork to the music.

Is there an ethos behind the label or a particular sound/style you’d like to push?

We’re trying to bring people on a bit of a trip with the label. We arranged and named the tracks with the idea of ‘exploration’ in mind, and the tracks are all part of a bigger idea. We’ve been exploring different ways of making music, and we’re really enjoying using more machines and electronics in the studio.

The label’s debut release comes from Long Island Sound. Will you be using the imprint as a home purely for your own music or will you be looking for other artists too?

For the time being, we’re going to use it to put out our own stuff. We might ask some friends to do some remixes, and take things further from there.

Who knows!

How did you approach making the EP and do you feel an added pressure that it’s coming out on your own label?

Our approach was pretty simple - we basically just made music for a year, but at that stage we hadn’t

even thought of starting a label. Then we realised we were sitting on a pretty big bank of music. From there, we noticed there was an underlying feeling running through the tracks, a sort of subconscious, natural idea. There’s definitely less pressure on this release. We’ve just been able to go with our gut and explore whatever sounds we like.

How do you find having complete control over the release from start to finish?

It’s been really enjoyable to watch the idea grow from nothing to something. The more we talked about the general aesthetic of the label, the more the idea grew naturally since we agreed on so many aspects of the artistic direction.

What kind of musical influences can we expect to hear on ‘Initial Ascent’?

We’ve been taking inspiration from a lot of different places and labels. There’s some sick music coming from Vancouver and Montreál on labels like Mood Hut and SOBO. Discovering some of the 1990s and 2000s breakbeat and techno has been really eye-opening too.

Lobster are putting out some great music. A lot of the labels coming through All City are really inspiring to us.

There’s been an evident change in the style of music you’ve been putting out over the last while, from the jazz-infused house sound you were so well known for to a darker, more electronic style of house/techno. Was this a change that you had planned on making?

In short, no, we hadn’t planned it. Everything changes - our tastes, the way we make music, the way we DJ. It’s all about development and it feels like you will never reach the end of your musical journey. Always making, never made!

What’s to come in the future? Are you guys remaining Berlin-based?

We’re gonna keep working on SOS releases for the next while. We’re definitely excited to come back to Dublin in the near-ish future. Berlin is obviously a great place to live and be creative, but the music scene in Dublin has a sense of community that’s very hard to beat.

The ‘Initial Ascent’ EP is out April 6.

Words: Karl Guest

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D1 RECORDINGS From the studio, to the club, to the afters

Rob Rowland at D1 Studio - 1994

Carl Craig - Innerzone Orchestra playing for D1 - 1997

Mark Broom and Rob Rowland driving

74 Steve Rachmad at D1 Club - 1995

Kenny Larkin - D1 radio interview - 1998

Green Velvet and Rob Rowland at D1 house party - 1996

to gig - 1990s

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Graham O’Sullivan and Eamonn Doyle at D1 - 1995

Envoy at D1 Club - 1996

Eamonn Doyle in D1 shop - 1999

Eamon Doyle DJing at D1 - 1995

Eamonn Doyle and Claude Young - 1995

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Donnacha Costello in studio - 1990s

Richard Brophy ties Green Velvet’s shoe laces - D1 house party - 1997

David Donohoe at D1 studio - 1996

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Dave Angel at D1 house Party - 1996

D1 Club - 1995 Daniel Jacobson aka Zoid with Graham O’Sullivan and Martin McKay [Rubadub Glasgow] at D1 - 1999

D1 studio - 1993

Photographer, producer and D1 Recordings label founder Eamonn Doyle will be celebrating his work with a 25th anniversary exhibition and party. It will feature a multi-media immersive installation designed by Niall Sweeney and music by David Donohoe, with words by Kevin [RHA]. It’s running, in association with St Patrick’s Festival and Fundación MAPFRE, from March 14-18.

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Claude Young and Green Velvet at D1 house party Parnell Street - 1996

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Gertrude f at e Ch

fE has been having fun. There are now a mini family of 3fE sprogs around the city. New girl on the block Gertrude joins vintage kid Daniel and their older siblings Grand Canal Street and Sussex Terrace [weird names, but it’s 2019]. With Gertrude, things have shifted from café to a more restaurant-like vibe. Holly Dalton, who worked in Grand Canal Street, has the reins of the kitchen at Gertrude. Clearly Colin Harmon, the man behind 3fE, allows his employees the freedom to be creative: the food in Gertrude is unique in a playfully personal sense.

They started with the promise of an all-day menu, but while that has been shelved for now, there are now different menus for different times of day. The aim is still to cater for more than just traditional appetites, and accessibility is key.

The set menu for dinner is two courses for €30.

If that’s beyond your budget the breakfast, lunch and nibbles menus are more affordibly priced. Gertrude’s snack game is strong. There’s Cooleeny croquettes, insanely good bacon and cabbage dumplings and a salami Scotch egg made with Irish sobrasada .

When we ate dinner, there were wild cards as well as crowd pleasers. An intense starter of lamb tartare with preserved lemons and a cured egg yolk, which is now off the menu, gave me a dopamine kick. There was a buttermilk chicken and waffles dish that came with addictive fermented hot sauce. The Korean Fried Chicken is also a winner. For vegans, a humble carrot and tofu dish is elevated by the execution: miso glazed carrots, whipped tofu and pinhead granola. To finish we tried spiced sugar dusted apple fritters with custard; they were sublime.

This is food that wants you to love it, with delightfully idiosyncratic reference points.

I met Holly in a quiet Library Bar over a pint to talk about career paths, cooking and having the craic in the kitchen. To start, we are distracted.

Well, Holly is. There’s a couple on a date, and they have started enthusiastically kissing. I can’t see but they are directly in her line of vision, “Ugh. Children are still awake”.

Holly is frank, and funny. In fact the interview recording is probably about one-third my laughter.

Holly explains how a teenage interest in Japanese food fuelled her journey to professional kitchens.

She experimented in her home kitchen with Japanese cookbooks from the Book Centre and ingredients her parents would buy for her. Food got her hooked and after school she joined the Culinary Arts programme in DIT [now Technical University Dublin].

Everyone on the course came from different food backgrounds. A practical exercise in first year got students to identify and locate food items around the city. ‘‘I was with Cúán Greene [now at Noma],” she remembers. “He did his work placement in Marcus Wareing, and I didn’t know the fuck who Marcus Wareing was. He was like, ‘He has two Michelin stars’. I didn’t know what a Michelin star was. But then when we went to the Asian markets on Parnell Street, I was streets ahead of everyone else. ‘This is a kumquat, or this is whatever’.”

Her push for high-end was there from the start.

“In DIT if the lecturers saw potential in you, they pushed you to do fine dining. And to be honest I agree.” But it’s not always easy. Her first experience in a top level restaurant was a disaster.

“That’s when the bubble well and truly burst. That was a horrendous experience.

It’s all fine now, but it was bad.”

She doesn’t counter the stereotype of professional kitchens as volatile environments. Holly mentions one restaurant where she was constantly berated for unsatisfactory work.

“I only cried once, when I was on my own in the kitchen,” she says.

In another she didn’t eat for 48 hours. I put it to her, she must have known she was good ather job to keep going, to persevere?

“You don’t,” she admits. “You keep going because people in college are telling you push through, it’ll pay off. It was one of the darker periods in my life for sure. But it definitely did pay off.”

Are all kitchens this harsh?

“It was really common when I was training. I was surrounded by chefs so it was normalised, which is terrible, but it’s kind of a support as well.”

What pushes people through the shit parts of a cheffing career path are times when they get to explore what made them love food in the first place. In her second year, Holly heard that Japanese legends Yamamori were opening Izakaya. Her teenage love for gyoza found expressionand she got a job in the kitchen on her days off.

“I couldn’t believe my luck. My entire job was just to make dumplings.”

Her college placement in Stockholm in three Michelin Star restaurant Frantzen was also transformative.

“Frantzen was the opposite of a bubble being burst. My faith was restored completely in hospitality. If I hadn’t done that, I don’t know what I’d be doing now. It was fine dining, people paid hundreds of euros to eat there, yet we were messing all the time.”

In the end, it was a stint after college in Dublin Restaurant Forty One that gave Holly clarity on what she wanted, or didn’t want, from cooking. She is full of praise for Graham Neville, who was then her head chef.

“He is one of the best chefs in Ireland. He taught me that soon as you start cooking for other chefs and not customers, you might as well just close. You want to make people feel welcome.”

Nonetheless, the writing was on the wall.

“I’d been in Restaurant Forty One for about two years, I was looking into the dining room and I didn’t really relate to anyone sitting there. It was all suits. They were just there to spend money. I wanted to work in a restaurants with people I can relate to, with customers I can relate to.”

There’s something direct about Holly, in a punkish kind of way, so I wasn’t surprised to learn she played bass in a punk band [Too Tame, they’re on Bandcamp]. The formality of Restaurant Forty One just didn’t match her buzz.

“I wanted to play music and make ramen.

I couldn’t get any of my friends to go there.”

She finally found the home she was looking for in the much more casual café kitchen of 3fE. “Graham thought I was throwing my career away,” she says. She learned the ropes of logistics and sustainability in Grand Canal Street. The project to open Gertrude

Words : Cai

trio na De ve ry

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was ambitious and long-delayed, but the concept stayed with her.

“The only brief Colin gave was we want to be as accessible as possible. I knew I would love to own or go to a place like this.”

I asked her about Irish food and whether she feels any sense of culinary patriotism.

She criticises the banality of the whole conversation.

“I’m Irish so it’s Irish food. I’m so bored and tired of talking about Irish food and producers and sustainability. Is that the only thing you have to say about your food? That’s like an entry level thing to talk about. I want to talk about how I was on Munchies and they made this deep-fried pizza, or I was in Japan and had this pork sandwich in a newsagents, and I want to cook that.”

It’s a deliberately flippant comment; at Gertrude the chefs work with the best Irish ingredients and make a point of not being a dick to producers or the planet. But it’s clear Gertrude’s menu is Holly’s rather than tying in with other agendas.

“At the end of the day, not to be a wanker about it, the food I make is based on my experience and my identity as a chef and a human and travelling and what I eat and my lifestyle.”

This individuality shines through on the menu and Holly points out that menus should be identifiable as created by individuals, giving Galway’s Jess Murphy as an example.

“If you handed me the menu from Kai, you’d know it was her.”

“That’s why I love Jess, one minute she’s talking about turnips from down the road, the next minute she’s smoking a fag in PJ’s eating a chippy. She’s so real. That is something we don’t see enough of in Irish food. If I was organised, I’d be going to the farmers’ market all the time, and I do love that. But at the end of the day, we’re all tired.”

‘We’re all tired’ is the kitchen mantra of Holly and her sous chef Niamh Durkin. It’s a kind of ‘right lads, none of us wants to be here but let’s get on with things’ approach.

“Me and Niamh are like soulmates. I’ve never worked with anyone that I’ve been so compatible with. She’s also really critical and not afraid to say say, ‘This isn’t good enough.’

She’ll never bullshit you.”

I end my consultation of the wisdom of Holly Dalton by asking her what she thinks of Dublin these days.

“I think Dublin is absolutely brilliant. A lot of people have glorified cities like Copenhagen for food. I think it’s the most overrated food destination on the planet. Dublin has any number of really high quality excellent restaurants where you can go and spend thirty quid and eat well: Etto, Uno Mas, Bastible, Clanbrassil House. We need to stop looking so much at what London and New York is doing. You know how they say we’re five years behind London and 10 years behind New York? We need to break away from that.” @hollydalton17

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HAPPY INTERNATIONAL PANCAKE DAY! Words: CaitrĂ­ona Devery

I

used to keenly feel the gap between the fantasy of TV pancakes and Irish pancakes, IRL. The TV versions were ginormous American fluffy fat discs covered with blueberries or bacon, loaded with maple syrup. Irish pancakes by comparison [the non-crispy variety at least] seemed thin, frugal affairs, grudgingly made after much badgering of parents on Pancake Tuesday.

The perceived austerity is ironic because in Catholic countries pancakes were historically meant to be the last hurrah before Lent: using up all the luxurious butter and milk before you ate bread and water for 40 days, like Jesus.

Now we live in the era of pancake pluralism.

American-style ones are only the tip of the iceberg. If you want to venture beyond lemon and sugar you can find all manner of multifarious manifestations: sweet, savoury, filled, stacked, fried, baked. This year Pancake Tuesday falls on March 5. Time to find yourself some polymorphous pancakes.

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Russian Blinis

French Crêpe & Galettes

If you want to pretend to be a supermodel from the 1990’s, blinis are the ultimate pancake accessory. They’re also small and super cute. Like a lot of foods, the blini had humble peasant origins, but over time has become associated with luxury. Its identity as the highlife party snack du jour was cemented by its pairing with smoked salmon, caviar and champagne. It’s a pancake truism, but toppings are key. Oleysha’s do a trio of blinis with salmon: smoked salmon, pink salmon caviar, and wild Siberian salmon caviar, served with crème fraiche. Treat yo’self.

There are lots of Asian pancakes, but Europeans are in on the action too. Scoop in Ranelagh and Aungier Street do crêpes which they stuff with banoffee, Nutella, chocolate and all manner of sugary goodness. My tooth is salty, so I prefer galettes, the savoury version. Originating from Brittany these are light yet luxurious, paper thin pockets. Classic is the ‘complete’ which has ham, Emmental cheese and an egg, but other fillings include Cashel blue cheese, pear, honey and walnut, or a smoked salmon, crème fraiche and caper option. These crêpes are traditionally made with buckwheat flour, which is gluten free. Try it in Scoop for sweet, Voici for savoury.

olesyaswinebar.com

Pancakes for your Instagram Instagram has massively shaped the visual presentation of food. It has helped to create an aesthetic of excess epitomised in those giant freakshakes with cream and gunk oozing out from all sides. Póg make extremely photogenic pancakes that also tick the box of being vegan friendly and protein rich. They come stacked and filled, with loads of chocolate or cream cheese drizzle, fruit; myriad toppings including flower blossoms. Super indulgent but with an eye on health as well. ifancyapog.ie

Korean Pajeon Korean pancake, or jeon, is a savoury flat item traditionally made with a mix of wheat and rice flour. They are usually served as a side dish or a snack. The most common type is pajeon, which is made with charred spring onions, or haemul pajeon which has seafood mixed in. luxurious, paper They are deliciously fried and served with a sharp soy, vinegar and sesame dip to dunk your morsels of pancake in. The best kind of crispy pancake. Try it at Kimchi Hophouse or Hailan. hailan.ie

scoopgelato.ie

Japanese Okonomiyaki Japanese pancake or okonomiyaki has been called the ‘Japanese pizza’ and it is the ultimate hangover food. There are two types. Osaka-style is probably the most common and made with flour, eggs, dashi and cabbage as the ‘batter’ base to which is added a range of ingredients – vegetables, seafood and meat. Hiroshima-style involves more layering. Both varieties are topped with okonomiyaki sauce which is piquant, tangy brown sauce, and kewpie mayonnaise, sometimes with seaweed flakes [aonori] and dried tuna flakes [katsuobushi]. Try it in Lucky Tortoise or Okayu. okayu.ie

Irish Boxty I was a little afraid of including boxty in a list of pancakes. Not being from a boxty part of the country, I feared it might be a terrible faux-pas to categorise it as such.

However, boxty kingpin Pádraic Óg Gallagher from Boxty House reassured me it was okay. Boxty is made from grated potato and mashed potato and it’s a traditional food in north Midlands counties. The pan-fried is the most pancake-like, but you can get it boiled or baked too. It’s definitely one to go for if you want to explore Ireland’s culinary heritage.

Try it with traditional pairings like corned beef or mix it up with a Mexican veggie chilli. boxtyhouse.ie

Indian Dosa Dosa are Southern Indian pancakes made from a fermented batter of rice and black gram. These delicate, crispy thin crepes are served with sambar [a vegetable stew made with lentils, tamarind and sambar spices] and different chutneys. Masala dosa is filled with spiced potato and other versions including cheese, onion and tomato. Condiments are key here and elevate the simplicity of a potato pancake to something sublime. madina.ie

Chinese Pancakes Chinese pancake choices were difficult here. We could have gone for cong you bing, which are a bit like green onion pajeon but in the interests of pancake heterogeneity, I’ve included Peking duck, which is traditionally served with light flour pancakes. The crispy skin and soft roasted duck meat is enveloped in the pancake with crunchy scallions and cucumber strips and a delicious, sweet rich hoisin sauce. There are tons of places to get this in the city including M&L and Hang Dai but I recommend giving Duck a go. duck.ie

Vietnamese Banh Xeo Korean and Vietnamese pancakes have a similar dry crispness to the batter, but the Vietnamese version is stuffed rather than having the filings within the batter itself. The Vietnamese version is called banh xeo and is made with a yellow rice flour and coconut milk batter that is sizzle-fried until crispy and then filled with fresh herbs, pork or shrimp, bean sprouts. The pancake operates as a giant crispy crêpe that you eat with your hands and comes comes with a spicy chili fish sauce dip. Lots of hand pancake to mouth action. Try it at Aobaba or Viet Pho. aobaba.com

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Advertisement

THE ART OF BREWING & DISTILLING

Ireland’s largest craft brews gathering, The Alltech Craft Brews and Food Fair returns to the Convention Centre Dublin from Thursday March 14 to March 16.

For punters there’ll be food, live music and over 300 craft beers, ciders, gins and whiskeys, but the truly special thing about Alltech Brews is that leading independent brewers, distillers and cider producers gathered under one roof.

In the lead up to Alltech Brews we got in touch with 10 of the best independent craft drinks producers who will be exhibiting at the event to give us their number one piece of advice for someone looking to try their hand at micro-brewing/distilling.

“Nothing is new. It’s hard to break new ground. I think a great tactic is to take a fresh approach to an old idea, or even better, take two old ideas and merge them into something resembling a new one!

We’re currently building out our brew-pub in Athlone and I think it’s a real first for the craft beer community in Ireland. It’s nothing new… Just a collection of proven popular elements. Craft beer, pizza, coffee, spirits, brewery tours, etc. The long and short of it is this: it’s no fun being like everyone else. Cut your own path, regardless of how tough it is.”

“It’s hard work and you need to enjoy that hard graft.

Cash flow is king in the first three years or until you achieve breakeven. Your accountant might say your business is in profit – ignore them! It is all about your cash flow, how much cash you have in your account to pay your suppliers, wages and overheads. Your bank balance will go up and down, but a good cash flow on Excel will give you a fairly accurate prediction six to eight months ahead and it will also give you a kick in the ass to get selling.”

Liam Mc Donnell, Legacy Irish Cider

Liam Tutty, Dead Centre Brewing “After beer quality, I think the two most important things to look after are your branding and your distribution. The importance of branding cannot be underestimated. It’s the first thing that any customer will see when they look at a wall of beer bottles or cans. Then you need to work out where your customers are and how you’re going to get to them. If you’re spending all your time in a van dropping beer off, you won’t have time to brew any more or do all the other jobs that need to be done.”

David Walsh-Kemmis, Ballykilcavan Brewing Company “Drawing off seven generations of experience in the brewing and distilling industry, the Pearse Lyons Distillery always places the customer at the centre of product development. In any product we release, we have to be aware of what the customer wants and the flavour profile they are looking for. With any of our spirit lines, be it Pearse Whiskey or Ha’penny Spirits, it is down to us to exceed customer expectations and always give them something more.”

Conor Ryan, Pearse Lyons Distillery

“In an industry where there is a competitive passion for comparing capacity, hectolitre output and tank size, we have always focused on how much beer we can sell rather than how much beer we can make.

For somebody whose heart is set on brewing, it’s important to recognise the difference between making 3000HL of beer a year and selling it! An honest analysis of these figures can throw a very useful light on any business plan.”

Libby Carton, Kinnegar Brewing “Commercial craft brewing is vastly different to what people might imagine. While thoughts of endless recipe creation and beer tasting sessions might come to mind, the reality is far less dazzling.

I love brewing and starting a brewery has been an incredible experience, but be prepared for insanely long hours, a continuously sore body and much more cleaning than brewing. Would I do it again?

Absolutely, the feeling when you see a beer that you made being enjoyed by others never gets old.”

Alex Loudon, Loudons Brewing & Distilling “Be prepared to give up every ounce of free time you once had had, but then this is true of every start up! Realise your social life now revolves around drinking beer [if it didn’t already!] Cold-calling is a key part of selling your product, so don’t be afraid to ask, especially people you already know. Put as much energy into marketing as every other aspect of the business. Brewers are famous for over-emphasising production!”

Jeanne Mahony, Hope Beer “When it comes to deciding what types of beers to brew when starting a new brewery, lots of companies will spend time [and money] analysing the existing market, the competition and looking at new trends that are coming down the line. We have always taken the approach of making a beer that you personally love! We brew a lot of IPA style beers at Blacks Brewery [six of our eight core range are variations on IPA] and that is primarily because I love hops and IPA is my favourite style of beer. We always try and drive innovation with new product releases, but if the idea of a new product doesn’t personally excite you or make you want to drink it, then it will always seem like hard work to brew it, and hard work to sell it.”

Sam Black, Blacks Brewery “Focus your energy on building a strong local support network of loyal customers. This will allow your core business to develop, as exports take time and always longer than you think. Build flexibility into your brewing and packaging kit as the craft beer world is constantly changing and evolving.

In a crowded marketplace you have to stand out.

Innovation is key to success.”

Sally-Anne Cooney, Boyne Brewhouse “Craft beer is a capital-intensive sector. It is important to understand the true cost of the infrastructure required and to consider that as you grow, you need additional capacity and as you grow into that capacity, you have to start thinking about expansion again.”

Tom Cronin, Rye River Brewing

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Kinnegar Brewing

alltechbrews.ie

Dublin restaurant of the month:

LUCKY TORTOISE z

A

tortoise carries its home on its back, which for a few years now Lucky Tortoise took literally: operating as a pop up in the Hill Pub, then Hobart’s in Ranelagh with stints at Eatyard and Dame Lane. All this popping up hasn’t done the nomadic tortoise any harm, but it finally put down roots in a cosy nook of a spot on Aungier Street in December.

The menu has been tweaked here and there, but the intention has been maintained: modern dim sum inspired by the Chinese style of eating lots of small dishes together. It’s not traditional in any purist sense, but is a generous presentation of Asian dishes and everything is handmade. The emphasis is on sharing and it’s affordable, unserious, and very tasty. The ‘all in’ menu for €20 per person combines a variety of Hong Kong style dim sum, like pork and red cabbage siu mai or a perfectly slippery chicken and shitake mushroom jiaozi. It also ventures into Korean and Japanese staples like kimchi, or the ultimate fried pancake flavourbomb, okonomiyaki. Addictive peanut chilli oil and soy come on every table. There’s an Eat With Your Hands menu section featuring Taiwanese bao and the “messy eating” part will soon include whole Singapore chilli crab.

Originally from London, Thom the owner is a mad professor of food ideas with more plans in the pipeline. He’s positive about the dining scene in Dublin these days, saying that diners increasingly prioritise “having a good time over flashing the Amex”. He places Lucky Tortoise within a casual, accessible set of local restaurants that are “great value, great quality and open to everyone”. Wine is available and a full booze license is coming soon. @luckytortoiseco 87

e h t f 5o bes t & d o o f drink spots

Lists aren’t just for clickbait, they’re actually pretty practical sometimes. If you’re new to Dublin use these selections as a guide to the places you should hit up. We add new ideas to this index every month.

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BURGERS Bujo Sandymount bujo.ie Bunsen Wexford St., St. Anne St., Essex St. East & Ranelagh bunsen.ie Wowburger Wellington Quay, Wexford St., Parnell St., Wicklow St. & Ranelagh Wowburger.ie Generator Hostel Smithfield Generatorhostels.com

MEXICAN Masa Lower Stephen St. masadublin.com 777 Georges St. 777.ie Picado Mexican Pantry Richmond St. picadomexican.com

SEAFOOD Fish Shop Smithfield fish-shop.ie Rosa Madre Temple Bar rosamadre.ie Bastible South Circular Road bastible.com Klaw Temple Bar klaw.ie Catch-22 Clarendon St. catch-22.ie

OYSTERS East Café Bar/King Sitric Howth kingsitric.ie

Storyboard Islandbridge storyboardcoffee.com

Musashi Capel St. musashidublin.com

3fe Lower Grand Canal Quay 3fe.com

Ukiyo Exchequer St. ukiyobar.com

The Fumbally Fumbally Lane thefumbally.ie

BRAZILIAN

ICE CREAM

Plus 55 Bakery Bolton Street plus55bakery.ie

Murphy’s Wicklow St. murphysicecream.ie

Wigwam Middle Abbey Street wigwamdublin.com

Scoop Aungier St. & Ranelagh scoopgelato.ie

Café Mineiro Crown Alley

Storm in a Teacup Skerries Gino’s Grafton St., Henry St. & South Great Georges St. ginosgelato.com Sun Bear Gelato Dawson St.

COCKTAILS Drop Dead Twice Francis Street dropdeadtwice.com Delahunt Lower Camden Street delahunt.ie Drury Buildings Drury Street drurybuildings.com Peruke & Periwig Dawson Street peruke.ie The Liquor Rooms Wellington Quay theliquorrooms.com

CHINESE Lee’s Charming Noodles Parnell St. Hang Dai Camden St hangdaichinese.com

Real Brasil Capel Street realbrasilfoods.com

PIZZA Coke Lane Pizza Lucky’s, Meath Street and The Glimmerman, Stoneybatter @cokelanepizza Big Blue Bus The Bernard Shaw, South Richmond Street thebernardshaw.com Dublin Pizza Co Aungier Street dublinpizzacompany.ie The Yarn Liffey Street Lower theyarnpizza.com Sano Exchange Street Upper sano.pizza

COFFEE Coffee Angel A number of locations around the city coffeeangel.com Network Aungier Street networkcafe.ie Two Boys Brew North Circular Road twoboysbrew.ie

Seafood Café Temple Bar klaw.ie

Hilan Capel St.

Shoe Lane Tara Street shoelanecoffee.ie

Matt The Thresher Pembroke St. Lower mattthethresher.ie

Mak Ranelagh mak.ie

Nick’s Coffee Ranelagh @NicksCoffeeCo

Oyster Bar at the Shelbourne St. Stephen’s Green shelbournedining.ie

Lee Kee Parnell St.

VIETNAMESE

JAPANESE

Pho Viet Parnell Street phoviet.ie

The Bull & Castle Lord Edward St. fxbuckley.ie

FERMENTING Fia Rathgar Road fia.ie Meet Me in the Morning Pleasants St. mmim.ie

Yamamori Tengu Great Strand St. yamamori.ie Michie Sushi Ranelagh michiesushi.com The Ramen Bar South William St. theramenbar.ie

Pang Kevin Street lovepang.ie Jolin’s Vietnamese Coffee House Portobello Bun Cha Moore Street buncha.ie

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June 29th

Navan Racecourse Co. Meath

Higher Vision Festival

www.highervision.ie highervisionfestival 90

highervisionfestival

ACTS ANNOUNCED SO FAR:

June 29th

J E FF

M I L LS NI

K K i N

CO L E

M O U DA B E R

K E T TA M A

SOL AR D O

KA R E

NN

V E

C L AR K E

PLUS MANY MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED.

Navan Racecourse Co. Meath

DA

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Boycott the Eurovision.

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PROBLEMS FEEL SMALLER WHEN YOU SHARE THEM Talking about your problems is proven to have a positive impact on how you feel.

Little things can make a big difference

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