Upcoming Concerts and Gigs

Music Correspondent Holly Hunt breaks down upcoming concerts and gigs for February and March.

The Button Factory

In anticipation of their latest album, shame will perform two gigs in the heart of Dublin’s Temple Bar. For fans of indie-rock and alternative rock, shame are the perfect addition to any playlist. Even if you have yet to hear a song by this band, you will not be disappointed by their concert.

Songs To Listen To Before You Attend:

Water in the Well Human, for a Minute One Rizla

Alex G, March 16th, Vicar Street

Idiosyncratic artist Alex G will return to Vicar Street to perform an unforgettable set this March. Following his hugely successful al- bass and an exhilarating keyboard. Fizzy Orange is constantly performing, mixing new sounds, and releasing new music, making them a band you must keep your eye on this year.

Just Mustard

After just landing back from a string of gigs in the United States, this Dundalk-born band feels like they are finally about to make it big. The band relishes in a dark shoegaze aesthetic with songs such as “Mirrors” featuring eerie guitar solos and the atmospheric vocals of Katie Ball. Since the release of their sophomore album Heat Under, the band has gone from playing in small pubs to touring with Fontaines D.C and opening for Wolf Alice. Just Mustard are mesmerising to listen to and it feels like they are finally capturing the audience they have always deserved, 2023 is the perfect year to capitalise on this newfound appreciation.

bum, God Save the Animals, Alex G will be sure to provide prospective audiences with a highly memorable and enjoyable evening.

Songs To Listen To Before You Attend: Gnaw Brite Boy Runner Mis

Music Correspondent, Holly Hunt, interviews popular Irish band, modernlove.

Hunt sat down to have a chat with the band members to discuss a range of topics - from their favourite songs to what they love most about making an EP.

Ahead of their biggest headline show to date, I sat down with Ireland’s latest indie-pop band, modernlove. Modernlove. bandmates, Barry Lally, Cian McClusky, Daniel “Danny” Rooney and Graham Fagen. sat down with the College Tribune to discuss topics from their favourite modernlove. songs to their thoughts on Ireland as a musical landscape. The budding rockstars offer the College Tribune great insight into what it is like to be a contemporary musician on the Emerald Isle.

HH: So, you guys are called modernlove., what is your favourite modern love song or the song that you think best represents modern love?

BL: “This Modern Love” by Bloc Party, it’s the reason that we’re called modernlove.

CM: “Crush” by Ethel Caine.

DR: “I’ll Come Too” by James Blake.

HH: Who are your biggest influences, which singers or musicians do you look towards for inspiration?

BL: I’d say we all listen to a lot of different things that we individually take influence from and that kind of comes into the band in weird ways. We all kind of come together on a lot of indie-rock and indie-pop, like Bloc Party, Bombay and a lot of UK new-age stuff like New Order and The Cure; The Smiths. That kind of stuff.

HH: What is your favourite aspect of being in a band and the overall EP-making process, from recording, writing or touring?

CM: I think the best part is the writing and recording, because we write and record together, like it’s one kind of process a lot of the time. I think when we are all sitting in Danny’s room and just kind of coming up with stuff, that’s my fa- vourite.

BL: Particularly when the day is over and we all go home and listen to what we have done.

CM: And it’s not shit!

DR: When something clicks and it’s like “oh, that’s really good,” that’s my favourite.

BL: We always hound Danny afterwards like, “Danny do you have a bounce for that yet?” Danny’s trying to mix it like yeah.

CM: And we have left his house about five minutes before.

GF: My favourite aspect I think is playing gigs. You don’t get any better feeling than when you’re performing in front of so many people.

DR: It’s a more immediate reaction, I guess, when you play gigs.

BL: I think playing a gig in front of people and then hearing your music and get[ting] excited by it, is kind of… It’s like the first time you write the song, and you start to be like, “aw man this is a banger, this is class,” and then yeah, when you get to play it in front of people and they have that same reaction like you get to relive the writing of it.

HH: A lot of your music encapsulates what it means to be in your 20s and the experiences entwined with it. Do you guys find a sense of catharsis when you write these lyrics?

BL: Yeah, like, we are only writing songs as these things sort of happen to us, like altogether. And because we are so close, anything that one of us experiences, we are all sort of there by proxy to experience it as well. So, yeah it is very cathartic and especially just having people hear it and sort of understand it and get it and then you have those feelings reciprocated with a crowd and stuff, it makes you feel, you know, it’s alright.

CM: It’s also really nice when, like, if Barry writes a song, or one of us writes a set of lyrics, we’re listening back to it like, “Oh I remember that!” You can hear the experience in the song which is kind of cool.

HH: Do you guys have a favourite lyric that you have written?

CN: The lyrics for “Take Me Far Away” are very personal to me, obviously. I couldn’t really pick a favourite one, but that song is very personal to me.

BL: I have too many favourites. I’m too good at writing lyrics. (laughing)

CM: Good answer!

BL: (laughing) All of them!

HH: At the moment, there are a lot of Irish artists making waves internationally, what are your thoughts on this?

BL: We want to be one of them.

DR: That’s what we’re striving for.

HH: Do you have any favourite emerging Irish artists at the moment?

CM: I love artists like Ev Carm and Passersby, and who else? Henry Earnest is amazing. And then there’s that Girlfriend band that I love. There’s loads of great Irish artists…

BL: NewDad as well!

CM: It’s really hard to make a proper name for yourself, you kind of have to go away and come back.

BL: Yeah, I think it’s getting harder. A few years ago, with like U2 and The Cranberries, there’s always been one Irish band that is big in the world.

CM: Yeah, and now there is so many good Irish artists, so many that deserve to be doing so much better, it’s kind of annoying to see them not get the support they should get.

Undoubtedly, modernlove. have solidified their place as one of the most exciting bands to emerge from Ireland, with their latest release “Ruin Your Night” already receiving great support from many of their fans. The College Tribune looks forward to their progression as artists.

Talented UCD On a Quest for Redemption: The Return of the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cups

DARA SMITH-NAUGHTON SPORTS EDITOR

Championship football and hurling have returned at long last to the Belfield campus and is it just me or has anyone else got a case of GAA fever these days? Well, besides from having an actual Winter flu that is.

Speaking of high temperatures, the competition in both the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cups look red hot this year. Perhaps the two most anticipated and covered university tournaments in Ireland, they consistently showcase the best of young Irish talent in both hurling and Gaelic football.

Our Sigerson Cup representatives will have something to prove after some disappointing results over the last year. Following their failure to reach the quarter finals in the same cup last year, the squad will strive to improve this disappointing outcome this time around. Not to mention the heartbreaking one-point loss to Maynooth University in the First Division Senior final on the 30th of November of last year. There is no shortage of motivation at the team’s disposal if they want to make a push for the cup.

There is no question that UCD holds the talent to achieve such a feat, with several inter-county players lining out in the light blue this year. Those names include Tailteann Cup winner with Westmeath’s Jonathan Lynam and Kerry’s Ronan Buckley. An Irish Independent article reports that due to an untimely injury suffered at training, this will likely keep under-20 All-Ireland Champion Cormac Egan out of the squad for the entire Sigerson Cup. The mulleted maestro was tipped to be a key player for the college in this year’s campaign thanks to his exploits in the under-20 inter-county scene. He may have to watch from the sidelines unfortu- nately unless he manages a speedy recovery.

Despite the absence of Egan, UCD managed a 4-point win at an away game against MTU Cork to tip off their quest for the cup, with Daire Cregg and David Garland particularly impressing in attack, combining for 2-8.

Being 34-time winners of the Sigerson Cup and not managing to win the tournament since the 2017/18 season, UCD will look to return to the glory days and get their hands on the trophy once again.

Often slightly in the shadow of the Sigerson Cup in recent years as far as media coverage goes, but the skill and intensity of the Fitzgibbon Cup makes it a much watch. Beginning on the 26th of January with an away fixture to Maynooth University, the UCD hurlers will also hope to improve on the year prior.

Like the Gaelic footballers, they failed to make the quarter final in last year’s campaign. Their final Fitzgibbon cup game last February finished with a ludicrous scoreline of 6-15 to 6-15 against Mary Immaculate College. This result denied them entry into the next round of the competition, a tournament which the UCD boys have not managed to win since 2001.

This year’s team fields names such as Dublin youngsters Cian O’Sullivan, Dara Purcell and Liam Murphy; and of course Donal O’Shea –the son of Tipperary hurling legend, Eamonn O’Shea. Donal is currently a member of Galway’s senior roster after impressing at lower level for the hurlers in maroon. Perhaps these lads can inspire the Belfield boys to end the 22year drought, which has prevented the Fitzgibbon Cup taking a trip down to South Dublin.

There is clearly an abundance of talent between both Senior teams, and who knows, maybe the two cups will sit side by side in a cabinet by the end of the academic year in a sports centre near you.