The Thin Air Magazine: Issue 8

Track Record little xs for eyes’ Michelle Considine // Interview Not Squares The First Time Stevie Scullion AKA Malojian // Primer Dublin artist Sara Bracken ISSUE #008 | JUNE/JULY 2015 | FREE

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BOILER ROOM DUBLIN // LEO DREZDEN // ASIWYFA // DANI // ANGELA DORGAN SCREAMING PARENT // HAM SANDWICH // FIERCE MILD // IRELAND SAYS YES

2 DAYS 4 STAGES OVER 70 ACTS Tickets €80 Ex booking fee available from knockanstockan.ie

24th & 25th JULY, BLESSINGTON LAKES ÁJO ARKESTRA COCOS LOVERS LOAH NO SPILL BLOOD WHITE CHALK TRAVIS OAKS THE HARD CHARGERS ROSS BREEN ELASTIC SLEEP BUNK GAVIN GLASS & THE NEW SHAKERS DISCOPUNKS FIERCE MILD POCKETS LITTLE HOOT THIS SIDE UP YURODNY TONGUE BUNDLE MONGOOSE WIZARDS OF FIRETOP MOUNTAIN THE DRIFTWOOD MANOR VERNON JANE RACE THE FLUX PETE PAMF OTHERKIN PRETTY BEAST WAREHOUSE THE URGES OLD HANNAH MIRIAM DONOHUE ELEPHANT JEM MITCHELL MARKAS CARCAS & THE TRAIL GANG MOLLY STERLING CONOR LINNIE ALRIGHT YOU RESTLESS ROB WALSH NEEV KENNEDY DYLAN WALSHE BOB GLYNN TAYLORS LANE LAURA ANN BRADY RUSANGANO FAMILY HOT COPS SHOOKRAH BATS LAND OF THE GIANTS SINEAD WHITE KICKING BIRD BAGELS KING MODO SARAH RED GREEN MONKEY SYD ARTHUR CULT CALLED MAN ROCSTRONG TWIN HEADED WOLF THE ESKIES BITCH FALCON GASCAN RUCKUS NEW SECRET WEAPON O EMPEROR KINGSTON RED ENEMY TÚCAN CONTOUR MEGACONE BUNOSCIONN MAMA KASBAH REBECCA COLLINS LEO DREZDEN INTERSKALACTIC HECTOR BIZERK THE WITCH TRIALS THE LOOSYSMOKES PERFORMANCE COMPANY SUADELA BELLY DANCE YING YANG THEATRE COMPANY SEAFOOD CHOWDER JACK DANDY’S CELESTIAL CABARET AND MOTHER MOOCH HOOPLA TROUPLA THE BUTTERFLY BRIGADE LOQ SPOKEN WORD FAMILY CAMPING FIELD | WORKSHOPS | FAERIE FIELD | THE BURROW | WISHBONE STAGE | CAMPERVANS DIMESTORE TENT | WOODTOWN | CARAVAN EXTRAVANGANZA | ABNER BROWNS | BYOB | FULL BAR

Foreword / Contents Editor Brian Coney brian@thethinair.net @brianconey Deputy Editor/ Photo Editor Loreana Rushe loreana@thethinair.net @loreana Art Director Stuart Bell @stubell_ Reviews Editor Aidan Hanratty aidan@thethinair.net @adnhnrt Guide Editor Stevie Lennox stevie@thethinair.net @stevieisms

Cover photo: Abi Denniston

Contributors: Laura Carland Brian Coney Abi Denniston Kelly Doherty Mark Earley Aidan Hanratty James Hendicott Joe Laverty Eoghain Meakin Eoin Murray Colm Moore Brid O'Donovan Ryan Richards Loreana Rushe Scan Conor Smyth Isabel Thomas Ruan Van Vliet Dean Van Nguyen Jonathan Wallace thethinair.net @the_thin_air fb.com/thethinair

Soaked To The Bone Sunburnt To The Brows

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ummer. Glorious, unpredictable, technically medicinal summer. A period of boundless activity when we all aim to make the most of some sun-kissed, terminally chill downtime. For me, very few things sum up (or rather, better) this time of year and that’s the annual summer festival epiphany. You know the one. Having somehow passed through several ranks of Heaven and Hell, muddied of person, impossibly underslept, soaked to the bone, sunburnt to the brows, beaten and bruised by

a never-ending torrent of sounds, sights and smells for three days, you find yourself emerging from a mammoth hangover, lain out on a grassy field idly watching strangers pass by, when you’re spontaneously immersed in an intense feeling of insight and calm.

In that brief moment, everything comes into perfect, fleeting perspective. Work, bills and responsibility? Sometimes they can just wait. Summer reigns supreme.

Glorious, unpredictable, technically medicinal summer: enjoy it while you can. Brian Coney

Contents Photo of the Month ����������������� 4 May Kay ��������������������������������� 5 Projection ����������������������������� 6 Inbound �������������������������������� 8 The First Time: Heathers ������� 12 Stacks On Deck ��������������������� 13 Feature: Not Squares ������������� 14 Track Record ������������������������ 18 Feature: Laura Sheeran ��������� 20

Primer ���������������������������������� Feature: Ireland Says Yes ������� Reviews ������������������������������� Live: TTA 2nd Birthday ���������� Live: Boiler Room Dublin ������� Feature: Angela Dorgan ��������� Not Gospel: Success �������������� 88mph ��������������������������������� Agony Uncle �������������������������

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– Photo of the Month

Photo of the Month Brid O'Donovan

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Young Wonder, Cyprus Avenue, Cork Image: Brid O’Donovan

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ach month our photo editor Loreana Rushe selects one stand-out gig image from our fantastic team of hard working photographers. The photographer gets the opportunity to showcase their pic and share a few insights into how they captured it.

Loreana: This is one of the most stunning live images I've ever seen and the attention it got through our social media was incredible. Brid has pushed herself into another level completely and she's amassing a fantastic portfolio of photo work. I'm truly proud to have her part

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of the team and I always look forward to what she produces for us.

Brid: This photo was taken in Cyprus Avenue on the night Young Wonder launched their debut album in Cork city. Being from Cork themselves they have a huge following down here so the venue was jointed. Luckily I had a few moments at the very start to snap some shots right in front of Rachel before the crowd lost their self consciousness and moved right up to the front. I was really looking forward to the gig because it had been so long since I had shot them live. Rachel is so pho-

togenic and always has a great look going on.

Unfortunately my camera's shutter box had gone that week but was still half working. I ploughed on and hoped for the best. RIP little guy. The stage lighting was so atmospheric but super dark and trying to navigate through the dancing crowd made for an interesting night. I was half scared to look at my photos after - a mixture of praying my camera didn't mess up and I didn't mess up. Sure, 'twas grand in the end.

TAKEN ON A CANON 5D MKI WITH A CANON 50MM 1.4 AT 1/320, 1.4, ISO 1250

Insert Coin

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'A P P Y D A Y S

Or that used to be the way of it. Thanks to the booming industry of “casual gaming”, typically found across tablets, phones and browsers, it’s now possible to pretend to be sociable and still get in those solid gaming hours. This burgeoning scene, typified in the last half decade by titles like Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies, is quickly becoming the stomping ground and huge success story of the Irish video game scene.

At this stage we inhabit a near Mecca for the growing art of pick up and play gaming. Led from the front by developers like Digit Game Studios, their Kings of the Realm is largely considered the pinnacle of casual strategy/tower defense titles today. Another important and top billed player is post – PopCap team SixMinute Studios who boast success with their Bejeweled-esque title Pick A Pet. Though both games draw influence from disparate parts of the canon they are linked by a clean craftsmanship and an ingenious eye for accessibility that is the first post of an ‘unputdownable’ title. Working to the same degree of excellence but with a more niche market in mind is Studio Powwow whose background in animation has inspired them to chase the younger market. Yet again, we find the markers of this new

scene in their flagship title ShipAntics. It’s simple and effective but also strikingly attractive, drawing plenty of influence from the likes of Cartoon Network’s Craig McCracken.

It’s not the whole story; don’t forget we’re hosts to internationals like BioWare and Activision but what this growing niche shows is that, for the short term future at least, the talent and creativity of the Irish games industry is (largely) wrapped up in neatly packed, succinct, addictive, casual video games. While the scale of games like this may mean tempering creativity with profitability it’s a challenge many studios are willing to take on. It is a niche. But one in an ever expanding industry and, with our current productivity, one we can shape to our own nascent goals.

Eoghain Meakin

– Insert Coin

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s summer surreptitiously rears its head, so begins a time of difficult choices for gamers. Put away the controller, step outside and banish some of the ghostly pallor built up from the first real winter with a PS4 or, alternatively, close the curtains and accept the position of social pariah while patiently waiting for each day to slip into night.

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Projection

July Releases

– Projection

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here’s the strangest rumour going around: Pixar may have actually made their best film yet. There’s nary a talking vehicle in sight in new animation Inside/ Out, with Amy Poehler, Bill Hader and other great comedic talent voicing the rival emotions inside a young girl’s head. Anger, joy and the rest jostle for controls, Numskulls-style, and deliver some deep truths about this business of feeling. Warning: it’s going to be the start of Up all over again. Elsewhere, in John Maclean's funky, bold and beautiful debut Slow West, Michael Fassbender is the frontier-man guide to a young Scottish exile trying to stay alive in the American plains.

Ever since Edgar Wright’s departure, Marvel’s AntMan has been regarded with the patronising suspicion you might direct at a one-legged orphan going

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for the triathlon, but Paul Rudd’s diminutive super hero gig could provide a nice comedown after the crash-bang-wallops of Age of Ultron. Ben Kingsley’s dying billionaire downloads himself into Ryan Reynolds’ hot young vessel in Self/less and Tom Cruise straps himself to a fighter jet for another Mission Impossible. The dependably industrious Arnie’s been doing the rounds promoting the timey-wimey Terminator: Genisys but fans of the Austrian Oak are better keeping an eye on Henry Hobson’s sombre horror piece Maggie.

Breakin’ The Law, Breakin’ The Law: Classic Crime At The Strand

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s far back as I can remember, I always wanted to watch gangster films.

Belfast’s Strand cinema’s season of classic crime films, running through the summer, has gotten underway, serving up a rich

line-up of crooks, thieves and exceptionally glamourous law-breakers. In June, Richard Attenborough is hot-headed hoodlum Pinkie Brown in John Boulting’s adaptation of Graham Greene’s British noir Brighton Rock. Michael Mann’s masterfully controlled Heat, screened in a 20th anniversary 35mm print, is basically the Godzilla vs King Kong of men-of-code testosterone, with Pacino on the tail of De Niro’s bank-robbing troupe.

Heck, may as well rename it the Bobby De Niro season, with July hosting two of his finest collaborations with Martin Scorsese. Goodfellas goes for the glamour and grime of Mafioso life, with Ray Liotta and a never-better Joe Pesci caught up in its inevitable moral compromises. De Niro and Harvey Keitel are small-time hoods in 1973’s Mean Streets and in August there’s Alan Parker’s 1976 gangster-musical Bugsy Malone, a Depression turf war with an all-child cast that includes a 13 yearold Jodie Foster. Concluding duties go to Fargo, the Coen brothers’ chilly classic of criminal ineptitude with Frances McDormand on the case.

Tickets available at strandartscentre.com

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Inbound Fierce Mild

Fierce Mild Own Ships’, which functions as the band’s disclaimer. It’s an LGBTQ+ anthem-in-waiting, although the same could be said of ‘Not Broody’, in all its sardonic glory, about feminism.

Be it the confrontational discussion of the wider societal issues in ‘Equal People’ and the aforementioned, or ‘Small Talk’, a Seinfeldian exploration of one of our more frustratingly mundane daily pasttimes, there’s a thread of cynical optimism and wry awareness underpinned

by an unpredictability and near-tangible energy that parallels the controlled rage of their live shows.

Unafraid to speak - nay, scream in unison & harmony - their mind, the trio straddle the thin line that separates pop sensibility from Raw Power.

It’s a tough ask to stare a sensitive topic so directly in the eye and expect a singalong, but the fact that Fierce Mild accomplish this with such aplomb is a testament to their craft.

The hooks are strong – and sink deep - with these ones. Stevie Lennox

Photo: £Isabel Thomas

– Inbound –

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esides having one of the finest band names in Ireland, Dublin’s Fierce Mild have just released one of the most finely detailed statements of intent in their recent debut EP, down to its presumably referendum-referencing title, Yes n Yes n Yes. Weighing in with five tracks in under fifteen minutes, it’s a concise burst of righteous indignation set to unpredictably danceable, angular post-punk, perhaps most accurately conveyed via its closer, ‘We Sail Our

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Inbound Screaming Parent

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Photo: Isabel Thomas

hen he’s not busy fronting one of the country’s most consistently impressive bands, The Dudley Corporation, Dudley Colley has his head down in the spare room concocting all sorts of solipstic lo-fi wizardry as Screamingparent.

Tagged on his Bandcamp page with terms including “bad glitch” and “cubase disasters”, Colley’s debut solo release, The Completist, is an album of self-proclaimed “spare-

room recorded bedroom classics”. Of course, knowing self-deprecation aside, it’s most definitely not a “disaster” from the Dublin musician at all: with ridiculously infectious, often subliminally burrowing melodies, Of Montreal-esque harmonies and trickling, Postal Service-like beats melding very nicely throughout, The Completist evokes the likes of The Books, Pinback and Metronomy in equal proportion, whilst retaining its cosy and - after a few

listens at least - rather distinctive charms.

According to Colley, the album – released in advance of The Dudley Corporation’s fifth outing – is his first solo “misadventure”, recorded in between school runs and nappy changes. Whether he continues in this vein of modestly downplaying his solo talent or not, we’re equally as excited about future Screamingparent material as we are the next record from his band. Brian Coney

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– Inbound –

Screaming Parent

Inbound DANI / Leo Drezden

DANI

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asily one of the country’s most curious alt-folk prospects, DANI is a fast-rising singer-songwriter who rarely takes the easy road when it comes to composition and tale-telling. Despite tipping its proverbial hat in the general direction of traditional Irish folk, the Belfast-based Armagh musician’s sound is ever more governed by a forward-thinking approach that sees wonderfully considered instrumentalism and complex - yet

never overbearing - guitar-playing breathe life into her increasingly inimitable ethos. Released at the tail-end of May, there is an almost touchable candor to DANI’s latest release, the all-too brief A Whisker Away, an EP that manages to masterfully confine the ripe sincerity and natural triumph inherent in the young musician’s voice - both vocal and musical - across a mere four songs. At the natural risk of entertaining cliché,

from the first few bars of opener ‘Balloons’ - with its contemplative, beautifully-delivered pace, tone and delicately-woven narrative - you can just tell this is brutally honest, brilliantly-realised music, devoid of affectation or uncertainty. A whisker away, indeed. Sarah Gourley

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uch like fellow Wicklow success stories God Is An Astronaut and Enemies, Leo Drezden are a tight, technically stunning instrumental act that

might prove a touch too leftfield to get quite the respect they deserve here in Ireland.

Unlike their counterparts, though, this four-piece are very much riding on the sunshine bus. Featuring Rian Trench of Solar Bears, theirs is a meticulous jaunt, both live and on the gorgeously delicate debut album Multi-Moment, released back in early March.

Walking that fine line

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between rock, a jazzy soundscape and electronica, they pulse their way through whirling, ambitious melodies, only pausing to add gorgeously fluid slow-groove dynamics to the mix. The very idea that jazz can be blended so seamlessly into the world of post-rock deserves credit for originality, and in some corners the jazzy angles here scream.

Another admiral act to file, sarcasm free, under ‘big in Japan’. James Hendicott

Photos: Dani - Ryan Richards, Leo Dresden - Scan

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The First Time Malojian

– Malojian –

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First album you bought?

Let It Be by The Beatles on vinyl, from Virgin Megastore in Belfast. Everything up till then would have been copied tapes. Though I remember buying a cassette of Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush from Wellworths in Lurgan but it was a present for my Dad. First live concert/gig?

Oasis at The Limelight, Belfast, on September 4 1994. I was only 16 so I was really nervous in case I didn’t get in. It was the day their first album went to number one so it has gone down in folklore as a bit of a legendary gig. Ride were playing Belfast on the same night so we had to decide which gig to go to. One of my friends made the wrong choice!

First album you properly loved?

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses. I found a tape belonging to my brother. On one side it said, ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ and on the other side it said ‘I Am The Resurrection’. So I was intrigued before I even

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put it on. As soon as I heard it I was hooked.

First song to make you cry?

Whigfield – ‘Saturday Night’. My first band’s bass player used to play it all the time. He stopped our first gig mid-set and got the crowd singing along to the bass line. Awful!

First riff/song/piece you learnt from start to finish?

‘Hey Joe’ by Jimi Hendrix. My Dad must’ve taught me it. I remember being forced to play it in front of all the family one Christmas morning on a Fender Squier Bullet.

First musical hero/idol you ever met?

Liam Gallagher. I met him in The Limelight at that first gig. He was signing autographs and chatting away with people. He seemed really sound. I got his autograph and during the gig I also got one of Noel’s plectrums. Class!

Photo: Joe Laverty

– The First Time

Photographer Joe Laverty shoots and delves into the music-making, listening and loving firsts of Northern Irish singer-songwriter Stevie Scullion AKA Malojian

The Love Movement:

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Illustration: Aoife Dooley

izarre Ride II the Pharcyde is both the name of one of the greatest west coast hip-hop albums ever made, and because a various legal wrangles, a touring outfit that features a chunk of the creative team who put the record together.

Like all great groups who end up opposing each other in court, it’s been a sorry saga, but before all the bickering beef you had The Pharcyde, a neon-lit LA rap foursome that boasted an eclectic musical palette and wicked sense of humour. The highschool friends put out their debut album in 1992, and with their surrealist shit-talk, street corner energy and candy-coloured beats, the piece proved completely out of step with the bleak Californian rap records of the day.

To mark Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde’s 20th anni-

versary in 2012, members Slimkid3 and Fatlip – who had lost the rights to the Pharcyde name to their former bandmates Imani and Bootie Brown – teamed-up with the album’s producers J Swift and LA Jay to perform the LP in its entirely show at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles.

Such was the event’s success that they’ve pretty much been touring the LP ever since.

“At first it was just one show,” Slimkid3 told me in 2013, “but once we started rehearsing, I think that is when we realised that, all the fun we had when making the first album, those energies were there again. I think that the feeling, it was a good feeling – the good jokes and all the good times really inspired us to see where it goes.”

July 4 sees the collective return to Dublin’s The Sugar Club after their

2013 performance at the venue, and with them no doubt will be the energy that powered not just Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde’s creation – making it plain that the album is like no rap record made before or since – but the dozens of live shows they’ve absolutely killed these past couple of years.

“I think it’s our energy that makes it a fun experience. We basically have no filter, y’know?” said Slim. “But one thing that we do have is the respect for the music, the craft and the energy itself that made Pharcyde from the beginning. We know that we’re supposed to be here in this moment to do this, and all that it pushes through us, and that’s from energy.

That’s honest energy.

That’s humility, that’s celebration, that’s everything.”

Dean Van Nguyen

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– Stacks on Deck

Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde returns to Dublin, Dean Van Nguyen looks ahead to the hip-hop legends’ July 4 Sugar Club appearance

NOT SQUARES – Bolting Ahead – Words: Eoin Murray Photos: Colm Moore

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Feature Not Squares

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ith the release of their highly-anticipated, well-received second album, Bolts, the return of Belfast trio Not Squares had made for a very welcomed re-emergence indeed. In a candid conversation, Eoin Murray talks to Ricki O’Rawe from the band, touching upon forthcoming festival shows, the recording and release of Bolts, as well as the five-year gap between its release and their seminal debut, Yeah OK. So, the album’s been out for a little while now and some of the tracks have even been part of your live repertoire for a few years. How has it felt to have tracks like ‘Fall Far’, ‘Can Opener’ and ‘Simpler Vibe’ finally out on an LP? How have you found the response to be?

Those tracks in particular arose at a moment of transition for us as a band and represented a new angle from which to explore the Not Squares project. They have been in our set for a while and have generally been well received live, despite doing different things as songs. It is gratifying to have them presented on record finally – there our listeners can get a sense of the aesthetic we have been exploring in the period since we finished touring Yeah OK.

“There is always the danger we will groove on a particular beat for 20 minutes and completely lose the audience.”

The album came out on Gugai’s Strange Brew Rekkids, how did that collaboration come about?

Gugai has been an energetic supporter of the band ever since we first played in Galway.

He is genuinely committed to Irish music and plays our songs at his club nights, which makes a big difference to the vibe when we play live there.

Our gigs in the Roisin Dubh over the last few years have been some of our favourites and we developed many of the new songs at shows there. I think of Galway every time we play 'Fall Far', no matter where we are. We enjoyed working with Richter Collective on the release of Yeah OK because they were friends and excited about the band. Gugai offered the same relationship so we were very pleased that he was keen to put out Bolts.

So, moves to London and fatherhood resulted in a bit of a gap between releases.

Do you reckon these changes and the general passage of time caused changes in the music you wanted to make?

Was the change in sound conscious or very natural?

The sound has definitely tamed somewhat from the frantic punk elements of Yeah, Ok. Inevitably. Principally we are music fans – that is how we met, that is why we are friends, and that was what inspired us to try our hands at making tunes together. We are all diverse in our tastes but have a common interest in dance music in its many guises. The first record is made up of songs we had gathered while experimenting with a more visceral palate that was principally intended to be experienced live. This time around we spent more time thinking about structure, melody and the private listening experience.

Bolts, when played through, sounds a lot like a flowing

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Feature Not Squares

DJ set, and seeing the way it was performed live almost completely without pause adds to that sense of flow.

When it came to recording the transition tracks like ‘M2’, ‘M4’, ‘M6’, and ‘M8’ was there careful structuring or was it largely improv based?

On Yeah OK the majority of the songs emerged from 15 minutes jams in our practice room that were subsequently cut up and doubled in speed. This time around there was still an element of jamming but the tracks tended to be more carefully conceived and structured before reaching the studio.

We did more production inhouse before passing them on to Tom Fox, who then worked closely with Keith on the final production in a studio they built in their basement in London. This part of the recording process was really another creative phase when the tracks were adjusted, or sometimes even reconceived. The segue tracks were put together in this final stage. Keith and Tom took elements of the tracks and made what are effectively remixes of the entire album. The idea was to preview and reprise phrases across the entire album, to make the listening experience more cohesive.

Is there much improv involved in the live show? Did you find it tricky to get back into the mode of perform-

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ing live in general after the break or was it as if no time had passed at all?

There was never really a break.

After Yeah OK was released we played gigs in Japan, Europe, the UK, and Ireland for a couple of years. In the last two years we have played less but continued to play in Ireland. I think the idea that we took a break of some kind is due to the fact we haven’t played in Belfast. It is also true that we have released very little since the first album.

In regards to improv – there have always been parts of the set that we deliberately leave unstructured. It tends to be a section of a song or an outro that we allow to morph into a different jam every night. Even since we have introduced a midi setup that uses Ableton Live as the brain, we have continued to leave sections of songs open to the whims of the band on any given night – the flexibility of the technology we use has meant that we are able to compose and arrange even our midi controlled instruments on the fly. It keeps things interesting for us but there is always the danger we will groove on a particular beat for 20 minutes and completely lose the audience.

You have always operated as a trio and the sound has always been huge. With the

new album having a more refined, tight sound than Yeah, OK though I’ve found myself imaging what it would be like to see you guys perform with, say, live brass players. Have you guys every considered collaborations in any way or has the cohesive way you operate as a three-piece always just made more sense for you?

We have engaged in a number of different collaborations in the past. We did a gig with brass once in the union. Members of Pocket Billiards played trumpet and saxophone and Barry Cullen (Barry’s Electric Workshop) played his clarinet and electronics. Michael also played trombone! I really enjoyed that and would love to experiment more with live instrumentation on a grander level. It appeals to our interest in funk/soul/afrobeat.

Unfortunately, it is tough to gather people for such collaborations these days. There was a point when the people around us were up for anything. We

Feature Not Squares

“Principally we are music fans – that is how we met, that is why we are friends, and that was what inspired us to try our hands at making tunes together.” played a couple of shows in collaboration with a band called What What (members of Kicks Blue and Third Man Theme). We got together for a couple of practices and then played the songs we had put together. The first time we did it we played after Two Door Cinema Club at Curfew Fest and got an amazing reception. Sometimes it’s good to just throw caution to the wind. It keeps the enterprise honest. It’s very easy to become very self-conscious about the ‘brand’ of a band.

Luke Abbott, and Andy Stott when it’s dark, and Pylon, Sleater Kinney, and Holly Herndon when it’s light.

You guys obviously have a very broad scope of influence from house and disco to the more punk and rock elements. Are there many new artists from any end of the style spectrum that you’ve been enjoying a lot?

On the last tour we did we were listening to Museum of Love in the van (car). Personally, I am always moving between new and old music. Most recently I have been binging on The Gaslamp Killer after a friend recommended his recent live album, which I am really digging. Alongside that I have been listening to Giriu Dvasios,

Your music fits incredibly well with the energy and dynamic of the festival atmosphere. Have you many festivals planned for the summer? Any treats in store for coming live shows and for the months ahead in general?

We have a couple of festival dates coming up. The live show includes new tracks that haven’t been played much and some new jams that have grown out of recent practices and gigs. Eoin Murray

I finally took up Michael’s recommendation to listen to Giles Peterson’s show on a Saturday afternoon and regret not having done so sooner. He plays a range of tunes that are right up the Not Squares street.

Also, a favourite podcast for left field electronic music is Mirror Rim (mirrorrim.com.au) run by Deformative/ Go Bang alumni Sean Walshe.

Bolts is out now via Strange Brew Rekkids

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– little xs for eyes – Prince and the Revolution Purple Rain

Björk Vulnicura

I’ll start my list on pretty much my favourite album of all time. Every single song on Purple Rain is a masterpiece and I’m loving the fact that there’s a huge embracing of this album still today with the likes of Bantum regularly performing his Purple Rain remix gigs and venues like the Sugar Club screening the film and holding Prince nights - the list goes on.

Björk is a true artist and her latest album Vulnicura is another example of her genius.

It’s an album weighted down with sadness, in its lyrics, drum and bass beats and the instrumentation has a heavy air to it. Her voice cuts through a concoction of rhythms and noises often twisted and distorted, pushing our ears to the max but giving an uplifting, hopefulness to the music.

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Photo: Abi Denniston

Michelle Considine from Dublin indie pop band little xs for eyes handpicks a selection of records that have left an indelible imprint on her music and life.

Track Record little xs for eyes

Italians Do It Better After Dark 2 After Dark 2 (2013) is a brilliant collection of dark, sexy disco gems from a range of the IDIB bands including Glass Candy, Desire, Chromatics, Mirage, Appaloosa, Symmetry, Twisted Wires, Farah and Mike Simonetti and it’s a definite inspiration for me.

Patrick Kelleher and his Cold Dead Hands Golden Syrup One of my favourite vinyls in my collection. Influences from the early 80s are obvious in his vocal approach and synthy, electro instrumentation and drum machines but he gives it a confident, contemporary twist with loops, reverb and technique.

The Human League Dare This is the perfect pop album for which Phil Oakey is very much responsible. A band known to undermine themselves a bit, Oakey is quoted to have said they’ve “an embarrassing lack of talent” as none were trained musicians, yet this may have led to the wonderfully

stripped back sound. My other band Colour Canyon’s first release was a cover of ‘Open Your Heart’ on this.

The Books Lost and Safe Harry (from little xs) introduced me to The Books’ Lost and Safe and I adore this album. I’ve always had a big interest in bringing everyday sounds and samples into music and they’re a great example of how to do this well.

Ultravox Vienna Two albums in my collection reflect my love of 80s electro-pop and they’re Duran Duran - Rio and Ultravox - Vienna. Ultravox’s album Vienna’s title track has been one of my favourite songs for as long as I can remember.

The album is worth a listen if not for just this beautiful track but it’s also a fun album.

Future Islands Singles Future Islands brought a lot of the 80s sounds and styles I love into a more contemporary feel and because they’ve just so many good hits. I can’t pick any favourite songs on this album as they’re all amazing. It sounds like it’s a Greatest Hits album (especially with that title) but they’re just a hugely talented band.

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ŁAURA SĦEERAN

– WORKING HER MAGIC – WORDS : MIKE MCGRATH BR YAN PHOTOS : ABI DEN N ISTO N

Feature Laura Sheeran

T

he music of Laura Sheeran is laden with complexities under its initial impression of noirish genre-play. Walking a line between ambience, chamber music, darkened folk and the spaces in between, this sonic diversity is the product of a life immersed in sound. “My earliest memories of sound would probably be the sound of Galway,” she says. “My parents had a house on Quay Street, right in the centre of town. I have lots of memories of lying in bed and listening to the sounds outside, car engines, bicycles, the hustle and bustle. There were always pigeons cooing first thing in the morning, I loved it.”

Composition followed, and came as natural as listening.

“We were given a piano by our neighbour when I was around 5 and I couldn’t stop playing it, so my mum organised for me to get some casual lessons when I was about 6 to learn the scales and that was it, I started making up songs. I moved on to guitar when I was 10, and took up the flute when I was 13. When I was around 14 or 15 I got an 8-track recorder and a microphone and that’s when I started experimenting with recording.”

Sheeran’s songs and body of work veer into the deeply per-

sonal, in terms of both emotional and experiential content, but also a wider cultural palate, and the filtering of one through another. “I guess everyone has a different approach when it comes to that.

I’ve always used music as a way of processing feelings I have that are usually based on real experiences, but sometimes I will get overwhelmed by an external event, and feel compelled to write something to try and process it. For example, I remember when I found out about the Fritzl case in 2008, I literally could not get over that story. I spent days and days thinking over all the details I’d read from it.

He imprisoned his daughter 3 years before I was even born!

I was imagining key points in my life, starting school, birthdays, holidays, moving house, break-ups… all that time she was down there, trapped. I often become really obsessed with these horrific things and torture myself going over and over them in my head and mu-

sic is the only way I can pull myself out of it.”

From a background of theatrical composition and early musings, Sheeran began in earnest with the Fovea Hex collective in 2005. “Ooh, that was a really exciting time.

Fovea Hex is still going, but there were a few years where the collective was very active and that time had a massive influence on me for sure.

Clodagh, the songwriter at the heart of Fovea Hex, first brought me in to the studio to sing when I was 15, it was just after I’d started doing my own DIY recordings at home. She introduced me to Logic, which totally blew me away because I’d been recording and editing everything on an 8-track and didn’t even know that kind of computer technology existed outside of massive recording studios.”

Soundtrack work forms both an important of her identity as a developing artist and a criti-

"ULTIMATELY WHAT I WANTED TO DO WAS MAKE A BODY OF WORK THAT'S TRUE TO WHO I AM AS A WHOLE, NOT JUST ONE SECTION OF ME."

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Feature Laura Sheeran

cal part of her discography, something she’s adamant about. “I’ve always really adored working on soundtracks.

To be honest, I’ve always struggled with lyrics in my own music, I’m not a natural poet. I think removing that element from equation frees me up and allows the ideas to flow more naturally. Creating music to enhance a visual piece of art is a really, really satisfying thing to do. It broadens the spectrum of the sound and expands the meaning without the need for a built in lyrical narrative in the music.

I think if I let myself be more free, a lot of my solo music would end up having no lyrics in it at all! Maybe I’ll get to that point one day.”

As a multi-instrumentalist, looping and improvisation are key to Sheeran’s live excursions: “All my music and songs start out as improvisations and I’ve always felt that those first sketches of any song always have the best energy. You definitely lose something one you start editing and arranging, but unfortunately releasing a song as ten minute long improv session, complete with coughs, sneezes, gobbledygook lyrics and phone noises in the background doesn’t quite work.

Sketches like that definitely need to be refined to be releasable but I do find myself revisiting them long after the songs have been polished and released, because they just have more magic in them.”

New album Spellbook will be a marked departure for Sheeran, three LPs into her solo tenure. “For Spellbook I wanted to do something different to what I had done before, to challenge

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“I ALSO REALLY WANTED TO WORK OUT, ‘WHO THE FUCK AM I, AND WHAT THE FUCK DO I WANT?" myself. But I also really wanted to work out, ‘who the fuck am I, and what the fuck do I want?’ OK, so I present myself as a musician, but inside I know that my passion for video, photography and other visual mediums is just as strong as my love for making music. I’d also learned a lot from performing with Nanu Nanu about having fun on stage and playing with performance, using lights, building sets, turning a gig into a show. Ultimately what I wanted to do was find a way to combine all those aspects of creativity together and make a body of work that’s true to who I am as a whole, not just one section of me.”

Sheeran goes into detail on how she accomplished this. “I thought it would be an interesting challenge to write an album of songs the same way I would go about writing a soundtrack, to start with visual material and create music that fits the visual. All I needed was video footage!

So, I got my camera, started filming, and that’s how the album began. A lot of the shooting was improvised at first. I used my body a lot and after a while I started to have very clear images in my head of what I wanted to do, creating a scene or playing with light, painting my body, whatever.

Feature Laura Sheeran

So for the past 18 months I’ve been filming various scenes.

Once I’ve filmed something I think is good, I import the footage and watch it on a loop over and over while I came up with the musical ideas.”

Talk comes around to Sheeran’s album releases, and her affinity for limited physical editions. “The most common theme for me with all my releases is…‘how am I going to pay for this?’ Since I finished school, music has been my main source of income, so I’ve always had to be creative when it comes to funding albums. I managed to release my first album LOPATFB on vinyl and CD through crowdfunding.

Fundit didn’t exist back then, so I went with a UK group called Pledge Music. I raised just over €8,000, which was unbelievable. For my next release I decided to make a small run of hand made limited edition physicals, maybe 30 or 50, with bonus items like photographs and illustrated lyric booklets etc. and sell them on pre-order for a much higher price than I could sell a regular CD and see how it goes.

They all sold out and with the income they generated, I was able to pay for the mastering and printing/materials for the EP and give it a bit of a push when it came to releasing it.

I’ve followed this same pattern for all my other releases since

then too and it really works.

All you need are a few really dedicated fans who genuinely want to support you and what you’re doing. In turn, their support makes it possible for you to get your music out on all the other free platforms for the people who don’t feel comfortable paying for it.”

When asked what’s next, Sheeran’s excitement is palpable. “Spellbook coming out and we’re finishing the new Nanu Nanu album, Neptune. Having the craic! As for her legacy as an artist or how she might be remembered, she simply fires back: “Janey Mac! What a question. I have no idea… no idea at all.” Mike McGrath Bryan

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Primer Sarah Bracken

Primer: Sarah Bracken

I

n the latest installment of Primer - a regular feature looking at some of the country's brightest artistic talents we chat to Dublin-based artist/designer and founder of independent art press, Sarah Bracken.

Hi Sarah, can you tell us a little about yourself and your work?

I'm an artist and designer based in Dublin. My work is project based, rather than working in one medium. My latest work is a stop motion animation commissioned by The Ark called "Spectrum", it is currently on show until the 2nd May, in The Ark in Temple Bar. I make artist books and zines under the name Baby BEEF and I founded the Dublin Zine Fair in 2011, it runs annually in August.

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You run Baby BEEF, an independent art press. How did it start? Where did the name come from? What does BB publish?

Baby BEEF began with a pure experiment. I was in art college at the time and was disillusioned by how boring and controlled it was. How it was more important to write a complicated artist statement than making the work itself. I made hundreds of flyers with random works of my art on one side and my address on the other with very little information other than "Send me your art". I didn't know what to expect but was intrigued to see if anything would come of it, if anyone would make the effort to send me art by

real post. While I was in New York I picked up lots of zines in independent record stores.

When I got home, packets started to arrive. It just sort of clicked. I decided to make a zine from the art.

Baby BEEF organises the annual Dublin Zine Fair.

Tell us about how that came about and what it entails.

I sent time going to zine fairs in London and Berlin and knew that for a scene to thrive here we need a fair. A fair to build a community around and to give people a goal to work towards, and outlet to motivate them. Up until that point there was no fair that was exclusively for zines. I was working in Ranelagh Arts Centre at the time, so I had a venue at my disposal and was already booking and running all sorts of events there. So I decided why not try it out.

Photos: Mark Earley

I also run a craft business called Rosie's Rags selling embroidery kits online and to selected boutiques.

Primer Sarah Bracken

Below: £A job for a steady hand

I thought it would be a one off, but people loved it and were asking when the next one would be as soon as it was over. So I kind of fell into running it, because I didn't want there to not be one!

Organising the fair is a lot of work, and up until last year I did it all alone. But thankfully I hooked up with a few other zinesters last year who helped me out.

How big is the zine scene in Dublin? Which other publishers' work do you follow?

The scene in Dublin is pretty small, but it is getting bigger every year. The fair really helps the scene to grow, I have more booking every year.

Lots of people have some to the fair not knowing anything about DIY publishing and the next year they have their own stall. People often email me asking for advice on how to get started and I'm happy to help anyone interested in making their first zine!

What design projects are you working on at the moment?

I always have a few projects on the go. I now make zines and artist books just twice a year, specifically for the Dublin Zine Fair and the Dublin Art Book Fair. I just finished an animation for The Ark, and definitely plan on making more animations very soon.

I've been running the Letterbox Dublin Project since 2008 and am finally doing a solo exhibition of the letters at Mart in Rathmines in May. The current theme on the Letterbox is letters to the dead.

If you'd like to be a part of the project, post your letter into the box in Dame Lane (the end beside the George Pub leading the Dublin Castle).

I'm always working on new designs for my embroidery kits and have a children's book under construction as well as a series of embroidered prints.

You've included a piece for us. Can you discuss it for us?

I’ve included an image of me working on a wooden USB with my animation on it, which was included in my latest artist book, Threshold.

The book’s pages are paper cut-outs. I was delighted that it was bought by NIVAL (the national Irish visual arts library), it was one of five, one for my own archive and then 3 that I will be sending to international art book fairs later this year.

What would make 2015 a year to remember for you and your career?

Getting the animation commission from The Ark was already a pretty cool thing to happen this year. But I'd also love to bring my work to an international platform this year, so I'm keeping an eye out for opportunities and applying to everything! I'd love to do an art project next year to commemorate the 1916 rising too.

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Feature Ireland Says Yes

M

Illustration: £Brian Coldrick

ay 22, 2015 saw a historical change in the Irish mindset. Our nation voted, resoundingly, in favour of Marriage Equality and, for the first time in our history, the LGBT community of Ireland was seen as no different from their heterosexual brothers and sisters. Ireland voted against bigotry and hatred. We broke free from the traditional shackles which have restrained progression and said a massive 'fuck you' to those who want to hold us back. Rainbows descended over Ireland and, days later, we're all still feeling that buzz.

However, as wonderful as Marriage Equality passing has been, let's not trick ourselves into thinking that full equality has been achieved. The LGBT community is more accepted now than ever before, however there are still major issues.

Homophobia isn't going to go away until education stops catering to one target demographic. There needs to be greater supports in school whether it be through sex ed, counselling services or just general teaching that instructs inclusion not otherisation. Enough people voted No in the referendum to show that homophobia is still rife.

There are other major issues still facing the LGBT commu-

“Now, for the first time in years, we've got the momentum for change.” nity. The ban on gay men from giving blood completely lacks any scientific backing. Our constitution, which exempts the Church from discrimination legislation, means that there are teachers who must keep their sexuality secret for fear of losing their job. Catholicism’s grip on our nation continues to hurt our gay community and it's important that we don't allow the passing of the referendum to lessen the political capital that the community has had because to believe that complete equality has been achieved would be a disservice to the experiences of the LGBT community.

Another issue is women's rights and bodily autonomy.

The Irish constitution views women as no more important than the foetus they may be carrying. Aside from problems that women deal with on a daily basis such as the pay gap, sexual harassment, slut-shaming; every time a woman in Ireland has het-

erosexual sex she must deal with the risk that this act may irreversibly change her life forever. Women who have been sexually assaulted may have to have their lives irrevocably changed by the product of the worst moments of their existence. That, or they go to England to have their pregnancy terminated in secret, feeling like a criminal when they need help the most.

Basic level legal equality is yet to be achieved for all. The only difference between us and the revolutionaries of the 1970s is that somewhere, somehow, we got sedated. We got quietened down; afraid to publicly share our views for fear of being seen as needlessly radical. Now, for the first time in years, we've got the momentum for change - we've got a high number of student first time voters and we've made the government realise that the youth vote is something to be reckoned with. Let's not waste that capital. Kelly Doherty

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Reviews Releases

– Reviews

And So I Watch You From Afar Heirs As erstwhile post-rock/mathy machine And So I Watch You From Afar head into their tenth year as a gang, the North Shore quartet have had a lot to look back on: albums dropping, labels folding, lineups changing, and countless miles on the road. In that time, they’ve become one of the biggest bands in the country and have left their mark worldwide among a still-growing and dedicated fanbase.

Fourth album Heirs, then, comes as an odd juxtaposition, taking the sunny disposition and hyperkinesis of previous LP All Hail Bright Futures and welding it to such weighty concern.‘Run Home’ feels familiar, while an over-long build into the

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final coda of the song robs it of momentum slightly. While it’s great to hear ‘These Secret Kings I Know’ take the band into proggier territory and its vocabulary into full compositions, it’s the steps away from their comfort zone they take that serve them strongly, in more reflective offerings like ‘Fucking Lifer’ & ‘A Beacon, A Compass, An Anchor’, as well as the strident ‘Animal Ghosts’ making for more compelling moments than the more upbeat stuff. What’s there that’s genuinely new is great, but what a shame there isn’t a little bit more of a challenge to it overall. Mike McGrath Bryan

Young Wonder Birth Emerging from the fertile undergrowth of Cork’s electronic scene in 2011, Young Wonder

have slowly built up an immense profile, culminating in the hype behind the release of debut album, Birth, this month.

Comprised of the duo of vocalist Rachel Koeman and producer Ian Ring, Young Wonder have, more than any other outfit in recent years, explored the lines between music and visual aesthetic, with a live show anchored by elaborate costumery and visuals courtesy of director extraordinaire Brendan Canty (Feel Good Lost), who also provides the cinematic scope for their series of videos, most notably the video for breakthrough track ‘To You’.

Influenced by the broader spectrum of electronic pop, with an admitted tip of the hat to Scandi-pop mastery in particular, the whole thing is tied together by Koeman’s remarkably sweet vocal timbre, while ‘Birth’ takes the steady progression the band have made and put it in widescreen with 5.1 surround – ‘Intergalactic’’s dreamy drones give way to a sultry gem that plays out at its own pace, while ‘Enchanted’ is a layered wee mover of a tune.

Young Wonder have the substance to match the style, and outlive the hype.

Mike McGrath Bryan

Reviews Releases

Malojian Southlands It’s high time that we all started preparing our playlists for the summer, by which I mean that one Tuesday in June when the sun decides to show up for 20 minutes. Still, tunes are required for those minutes, and fortunately NI singer/songwriter Malojian has recently presented us with a gift, his latest LP Southlands. From the earthy, beautiful ‘It Ain’t Easy’, the album follows a clear line of influences, with flickers of Neil Young, The Byrds and an array of 60s folk icons. These sit comfortably alongside production that takes a number of cues from Elliott Smith’s XO. Smith’s influence is particularly evident on the excellent ‘Communion Girls’ and ‘Southlands’, both of which covet his vocal stylings, with-

out aping them. This influence appears again on album highlight ‘No Alibis’, which uses its booming synth bass to inject an extra kick into the proceedings. The likes of ‘Bathtub Blues’ and ‘Together Alone’, meanwhile, play out like a much better Mumford and Sons. As gentle and reflective as it is energetic and exuberant, Southlands is a beautiful record from start to finish. Will Murphy

HamsandwicH Stories From The Surface In what appears to have been an exercise in catharsis, Stories from the Surface emerges from the embers of broken relationships as the first HamsandwicH album in five years.

The vocal partnership of Niamh Farrell and Podge McNamee has been retained, however, this time Farrell's softly sweet vocals take centre stage. She shines particularly brightly on songs like the sparkling single 'Illuminate' and among the dancing piano and swaying strings of the joyous 'Satellite'.

Heavy with candid lyrics like, “You'll try to unravel me until all is forgiven” and “Can you tell me why I put my eyes on someone else?”, the album hints at tales of personal woe, yet theirs is a reflective but strangely optimistic tone. The songs flow elegantly throughout an interesting variety of styles, from indie rock to folk, to the hints of electronica seen on tracks like 'Broken (Start Over)' and the disjointed disco-lite rhythms on 'Apollo'.

HamsandwicH have delivered an album full of extremely likeable, indie-pop songs that charm from the very start. With glorious vocal harmonies, up-tempo riffs, mature layered productions and bursts of positivity, this is a confident and refreshingly honest album that is quite possibly their best work so far. Laura Carland

June/July 2015

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Live The Thin Air's Second Birthday

The Thin Air's Second Birthday Party: No Spill Blood, Robocobra Quartet, Night Trap and Rusangano Family THE TWISTED PEPPER, DUBLIN

L

Top left: No Spill Blood, top right: Rusangano Family, bottom: Little Gem Records. Photos: Isabel Thomas

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The The Thin ThinAir AirMagazine Magazine

Photo: Joe Laverty

ast month we had a celebratory soiree of sorts to mark our second birthday at Dublin's Twisted Pepper. Culminating in a scintillating, propery unforgettable pop-up performance from Rusangano Family in the cafe, the show featured wonderful sets from headliners Dublin cosmic heft overlords No Spill Blood, Belfast jazz-punk maestros Robocobra Quartet and Dublin electro-pop duo Night Trap.

Fun was had, beer was drank, shapes were thrown and photos were taken. Thanks to eveyone who came out.

Boiler Room

Photos: Aine O'Hara £

B

HANGAR, DUBLIN

oiler Room is an institution. From weekly nights in London to a near constant livestream revolution, its rise has been exponential. What’s been surprising then, has been its absence in Ireland.

That changed, finally, last month, when Glacial Sound launched Boiler Room Dublin.

the scene for years, so it was appropriate that their man Bob set things up before Glacial took over. There followed an hour of heaters, from unknown gems to rap hits and grime classics. Next up was Gemma Dunleavy, who performed a bunch of seductive tracks that fall somewhere between The xx and Jessy Lanza.

The drive and passion of Glacial’s Paul Purcell is unmatched, which is why after just a few releases Glacial has become a force of international repute. Techno and house may be more familiar forms for Dublin clubbers, but the response to this event shows the appetite for grime.

Standard's Major Grave ramped things back up, but if he had people in party mood, Shriekin’ brought it up to 11. The young Carlow man brought together bangers recent and classic before things got dark - but no less energetic - with Bloom’s closing set.

Standard have been repping

it’s a welcome respite to taxi fares and bleary-eyed hangovers. That this was facilitated by a global brand is a touch surreal, but the event was an undoubted success. Techno fans left disappointed by this opening salvo won’t have any need to feel affronted for long, as the first Boiler Room in Dublin surely won’t be the last. Aidan Hanratty

It’s a strange experience to go clubbing after work, but

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Feature Angela Dorgan

D o a l rgan e g n A

– Hardworking, Class, Hero –

H

ard Working Class Heroes is one of the great success stories of the Irish music scene.

The Irish independent music showcase, organised by First Music Contact, is going into it’s twelfth year and is stronger than ever before. From its birth, Hard Working Class Heroes has been a labour of love for Angela Dorgan and that’s clear from the enthusiasm Dorgan has speaking of both the good times, and the hard, for the festival. “Hard Working Class Heroes began as a project put on out of frustration at how Irish bands weren't being booked for any big festivals at the time. There was all this money being spent on music but none of it was going to Irish bands and the scene was very fragmented.

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We saw from this night how you could bring bands from all over the country to Dublin so that was how it went from 40 [bands] to 100 and from locally to national. Our dream was for it to be a SXSW type event for Irish bands only.”

The last few years has seen HWCH partnering up with the likes of HMV, Enterprise Ireland and other big names.

However, as can be imagined, it wasn’t always so easy running a festival driven solely by national talent and small, independent names. “In terms of growth, if I'm being honest, I don't know how we got past year three.” says Dorgan, frankly. “We bartered everything, people were so good. It was 2005 and we all walked out of that week-

end saying 'yeah, fuck this'.

Someone once said to me that running a festival is like childbirth. There's something that makes you forget the shitty bits when it comes around to doing it again, and that's the only reason you could be willing to do it again. But you do do it again.”

“The reason you do it again is because, for all the people you owed money and all the

Feature Angela Dorgan

Photos: Abi Denniston

people who were very patient with us, and some people were incredibly patient with us - it was by the time of the next year's event that we were paying some people - but was involved people and we always paid. I think at this stage they [venues] shouldn't be charging us rental, but that's just my opinion. Other city festivals are far better supported by their infrastructure but we don't just put on a festival. We create an event where everyone's working - the engineers are getting paid, the backline services are being hired. I suppose the reason we were able to sustain was people’s generosity but also because we saw it working and didn't want to let people down by not putting it on again.”

It wasn’t just the beginning of HWCH that came across stumbling blocks. As with the rest of the country, the showcase found itself rocked by the recession and cuts to arts fundings. “In 2010/11, our funding was cut really

badly for FMC. No direct Arts Council funding goes into the festival but we're funded to be here to deliver it.” However, rather than let the difficulties overshadow her memories of that period, Dorgan takes an optimistic view of it. “Getting 2012 off the ground at all was a huge personal achievement for me and Brendan and Darragh and Steve because it was hard.

While following years were better and had better partners and all that, it was great because we didn't not do it when everything was under threat.

So, personally that was a great achievement.”

to the stage where responses were easier to get. The venues worked, the bands worked.

And, it's the year that All Tvvins, Girl Band and Hozier came out and those are three bands doing it now globally for Ireland and people hadn't a clue who they were. Those are the festivals I love. It all looked a little more polished, a little more grown up - we went from scrappy teenagers to maybe a 'taking ourselves very seriously' 18 year old. We're not quite adults yet. 2013 was big for all that and 2012 was big for just staying alive.”

Unlike most of the stereotypes of figures in the music industry, Dorgan is refreshingly honest and driven by the right motivations - a passion for good Irish music. She is quick to dismiss music industry figures who claim a band’s success as their own. "I don't like people who say 'we got them signed'.

No one get's a band signed, a band's music gets them signed.

If band's weren't writing great songs, there would be no HWCH. There was nearly a year where there wasn't 100 bands (because not enough good bands applied) so if there wasn't enough great bands we'd do 70 instead of 100 and we've always been honest and straight about that. We can do good things because the bands are so good and not the festival. When festivals say they

In comparison the difficulties of 2012, Dorgan remembers 2013 fondly as one of the greatest years of the festival.

“The greatest year in terms of everything going well was 2013. The level of investment from Culture Ireland to get the level of delegates was amazing. Fáilte Ireland had got on board, helped us get some media and did a video for us and we were getting

"I don't like people who say 'we got them signed'. No one get's a band signed, a band's music gets them signed."

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Feature Angela Dorgan

broke bands, they didn't break bands, they gave them a platform. We're very clear about our role in that. We didn't get Hozier signed, the beautiful voice of his got him signed.”

Dorgan is similarly frank when it comes to discussing the recent criticism of mainstream Irish media for not giving enough coverage to Irish, independent music. “We have to be careful that we don't ghettoise ourselves and that we're not just giving out to each other all the time. We have to grow up and live in the big boys world and the big boys world is, and this no disrespect to anyone who's trying to do anything, but people think they're [television and radio companies] in the business of doing the right thing and they're not. They're in the business of doing the money thing. We need to get away from the idea that they

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owe us. They don't. First of all, there's no 'they' and second of all, no one owes anyone anything. They're in the business of selling advertising - to sell advertising you need a lot of people watching your shows. For a lot of people to be watching your show, you have to be hitting the common denominators. Good music, unfortunately, is not a consistent common denominator.”

It’s easy to see how Hard Working Class Heroes has gotten where it is today. Dorgan’s “we're too quick to go to 'we deserve', no, we don't deserve anything” attitude shows a woman who takes nothing for granted and believes in hard graft and going out and chasing your dreams, not expecting anything for free. “It's like a band, if you keep writing good songs and your stats are high and people are listening to you and you're going up the iTunes

chart, the labels have no excuse not to engage with you.

Similarly, if you're building a great little niche show like Parlour TV and you're bringing the numbers in then the RTEs, the TV3s and the MTVs will come to you. The argument should be 'we want you to use Irish music because it's good, not because it's Irish’.

As for the future of Hard Working Class Heroes and what the music scene should be expecting from this year’s showcase, Dorgan is keeping quiet. With the only mischievous hint being, “We'll be welcoming a country very near us that isn't the UK. They’ll be doing a little invasion. I can’t say more than that,” she leaves us waiting.

Whatever it is though, we can be sure Hard Working Class Heroes 2015 will be bigger and better than ever before.

Kelly Doherty

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Not Gospel Ditching Social Media

– The Big Shutdown: Ditching Social Media

– Not Gospel 36

You see, after years, I found that social media had corroded my soul.

And what had been left behind wasn’t particularly pretty. Day and night, I’d find myself watching videos of funny animals, looking at pictures of food, listening to music that I didn’t understand, and reading about things that don’t really interest me. And all because of you, who somehow presumptuously assumed that this is the kind of thing I’d care about.

Funny thing was, though, that you were right. All this junk and clutter became very appealing, and as the world continued to spin off its axis, I – and many more like me – continued absorbing all this useless information like a particularly grotesque sponge, thirsty for more. The fact that it was transient and shallow didn’t seem to matter, and I went along with it all, because somehow it had become part of our culture. Like rock and roll, movies, and cheeseburgers, social media is here to stay, and you better go with it, buddy.

The Thin Air Magazine

But whilst the minutes and hours of my life peeled away, lost to the internet, I discovered myself becoming unsettled. I’d wake up in the morning, and feel angry, but not know why. I’d go to sleep exhausted, without having done anything. And as my skin dried and wrinkled, and my hair became thinner and thinner, I realised that I’d become poisoned.

By information.

The anthropologist Robin Dunbar suggested that we could only have 150 friends. He came up with this theory long before social media, and as I struggled to digest the constant torrent of information and opinion that I voluntarily allowed to vomit into my mind every day, there’d be-come no room left for me. At this stage, not only do I appear to have more than 150 friends, but I know what all of them think about everything.

So I pulled the plug on myself, and went cold turkey. And whilst most people have been seething about election results or scandals or whatever the flavour of the month is, I’ve been back in the real world. And it’s a great place to be. Being dead never felt so good. Steven Rainey

Illustration: Ruan Van Vliet

I

t might not be apparent to you, but recently, I ceased to exist.

After a (reasonably) long and (reasonably) fruitful life, I flickered, and disappeared forever.

June/July 2015

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88mph The House of Love

(NOVEMBER, 1974)

– 88mph

The House of Love The House of Love (JUNE, 1988)

O

ver the past 30 years, indie music has diversified so much that the term, that clumsy, much misunderstood moniker retains little or no meaning. And yet, a quartet of twenty-somethings with guitars, fringes and cheekbones remains the recognisable archetype of an indie band. This is, in part, down to The House of Love. The growing sophistication of the genre over those years could have dated their debut badly but despite (or more probably because of) the underlying simplicity of Guy Chadwick’s songwriting, the album has aged with remarkable grace.

By ‘88, The J&MC were mixing their tunes above the

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The Thin Air Magazine

feedback and The Wedding Present were winning favour with their high-tempo heartache songs, but the enormous void left by The Smiths was still wanting. The House of Love had just the level of gravity, melody and mystery to make the band sweethearts of the UK music press and (along with MBV’s Isn’t Anything) solidify Creation Records’ early reputation.

The songs may be simple but the arrangements afford the album an impressive dynamic range. Over a basic chord structure, guitarist Terry Bickers typically adds an effortless two or three note figure as the song’s calling card. These glistening hooks are layered with effects to build a wall of sound (which surely became an influence on the immanent shoegaze scene). Through admirably diverse tempos, the band deliver time after time with melody as king.

Chadwick’s words, while clearly meaningful, are pre-

sented as oblique vagueness, his voice flitting between brittle vulnerability and emotive baritone. The language of non-committal, poetic soul baring was ideal in appealing to his audience, but there is more here than just playing to the crowd.

Already 30 when he formed the band, he’d had a personal life with plenty to draw upon, lending a discernible edge to the lyrics. Autobiographical or not he provocatively presents himself as prone to violence and capable of delight in the suffering of others.

The potential shown by this stunning debut eventually proved to be the band’s downfall. Leaving Creation for a major was their big mistake, the expectations growing from “new Smiths” to “new U2” proportions.

Though soon without Bickers, they released more great music through the early 90s, but that early potential was mismanaged into the history books. Jonathan Wallace

Agony Uncle Festivals

Agony Uncle Agonising? Le Galaxie mainman Michael Pope is here to help.

tivals This Month...Fes

T

urn on your TV. Turn on your radio.

Turn on your laptop.

Put on 3 different types of music. Loud. Stand in your back garden. Drink 12 beers.

Do all the cocaine. Shit in a bucket. Sleep in the garden.

Do that for 3 days. Festivals.

Illustration: Loreana Rushe

I love festivals, but hate tents, camping and people.

What should I do?

Christopher, Belfast Come to Mikefest this year. For €500 per head you can come to my house and smoke crack with me while we watch The Old Grey Whistle Test.

I woke up crying in my tent on the Sunday morning of Oxegen 2007. Someone was pissing against my tent, it was raining really and I was really missing civilised society. What the hell happened to me? Louise, Dublin Hi, Louise. You were a victim of what is commonly known as ‘Mundy’s Surprise’. It’s

when an overweight Irish male in his 20s, wearing only a cowboy hat and playing an inflatable guitar, relieves himself on the the nearest fabric shelter or human person.

Le Galaxie are playing a few Summer festivals this year. What are your mustbring essentials to those?

Sarah, Dublin Well, it’s always wise to bring all your equipment to festivals. One time we forgot it all and ended up performing an episode of Scrubs in its entirety for a bemused, then angry, crowd. In hindsight, blackface was a mistake. Anyway, once we have all our gear then usually we just need beer, cake, jeans and someone to look after all our asshole children.

If you could mud wrestle anyone at a festival who would it be? Yvonne, Clare The ma from Crystal Swing.

What’s the best festival you’ve ever been to outside of Ireland? Agata, Poland/Dublin The Berlin Festival. It’s on the runway of Tempelhof Airport,

which means taxiing and taking off can be quite problematic for aircraft.

Somewhat inexplicably, Michael Eavis has offered you a threesome with ex-weather woman Sian Lloyd in exchange for a headlining slot at Glastonbury 2016. Do you accept? Keith, Athlone You people and your threesomes. It was Bill and Hillary last time. Bono before that. I barely have time for my real life threesomes because I’m always answering questions about threesomes. Also, Sian Llloyd went out with Lembit Öpik so I wouldn’t touch her with yours, Keith.

What’s your three favourite things about Electric Picnic?

Brian, Derry Arriving, playing, leaving.

A friend of mine once said, “What happens at an Irish summer, stays at an Irish summer festival.” Do you agree? Mary, Dublin It sounds like someone may have had one too many ‘Mundy Surprises’.

NEXT MONTH’S SUBJECT IS...SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS. SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO ASKMICHAEL@THETHINAIR.NET June/July 2015

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