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Corner Boy Conquer Europe and do reality TV

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Cornerboy by Colm Kelly
Cornerboy by Colm Kelly

“Four and half beards and a van “ is how Michael D’Arcy frontman describes his band Corner Boy. He’s so modest, this Waterford ambassador for the arts. It’s Friday night and we’re having a chat in between kit load in and soundcheck for a gig at the Clonmel Busking Festival. Their new single “Untie The Noose “ has just dropped. So far they’ve had over eight thousand views of the video in one day. Oh my, what a beauty it is. Directed by highly accomplished writer David O’Brien, he of the “Blood Red Turns Dollar Green” trilogy. The film has a distinct Tim Burton flavour, superb storytelling stylishly framing this stomping tune. Michael reveals the song was written under a bridge in Waterford, adding yet another layer of lyrical intrigue.

Now firmly formed as a five piece, the band have totally self funded all their releases to date. They invest all funds from playing back into the band whilst juggling jobs and weekday routines. Hitting the road on Fridays, they’ve played every county in Ireland. Except Clare for some reason. But there’s a gig planned for that one. Enjoying the freedom to make their own musical decisions, whilst building a massive fan base has ensured Corner Boy maintained their own artistic integrity. Unlike many other aspiring artists it’s not all about a label. Michael preaches the word of the independent music maker. He’s not seeking a magic formula. “We do it because we love it. We love travelling, meeting all kinds of other bands and musicians, artists writers and filmmakers. We’ve met people from all over the world touring Ireland. Yeah I’m sure the day will come when a label will be there but for us it’s not just about that.”

In a bizarre twist, the band found themselves with a top five in charts in Holland. They had taken part in a reality show about two Dutch guys made learning Irish folk music. They played with The Young Folk and other remaining members of The Dubliners as part of the show. It was aired in The Netherlands on primetime tv as the two fellas were part of the panel for The Voice. So, Michael comes in from the farm at 4 am, (it was calving season) only to find their facebook page had gone mad with new Dutch fans and top five hit in the charts. Hence the reason Corner Boy are hitting the road to Europe in September.

I’ve been lucky enough to witness their True North and “Morning Morning” EPs live several times. From the energetic, uplifting, rousing “Morning Morning” to the romantic, ambling melody of “Move To Paris”. These guys are no one trick pony. There’s a big range of influences apparent, whether is blue-grass or alt-rock. We were lucky enough to have them for the finale of the youbloom Dublin 2015 festival in June. If they show up in your part of the world go see them. They will rise you like no other. In the mean time you can watch “Untie The Noose” here.

Running riot: Dublin band The Riot Tapes fire things up with new single and video. World appropriately sweats.

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“Goodbye my faith, goodbye my heart.”

Ah, Elaine Doyle, c’mere, would you ever stop being such a fantastic ride? Look at you there, running around the countryside, looking winsome and windswept, not a bother on you as you purr lyrics in perfect time and stare down the sunset like some badass bog Madonna.

Are your legs tired? Cause you've been running through my mind all day.
Are your legs tired? Cause you’ve been running through my mind all day.

Well then, at least put a scarf on, dear, you’ll catch your death of cold out there. Yes, even in August; this is Ireland, after all.

–
Just two months on from their ravishing show at youbloomDublin 2015, Reekus Records’ Riot Tapes are are off and running – rather literally, actually – with their latest release, a single called “Hello, Insanity”.

Recorded at Westland Studios in Dublin’s south inner city, and initially intended as a work-in-progress recording, the since-polished song has been receiving critical praise from fans and industry swingers alike; Joe Donnelly of TXFM has called it “…a thunderbastard of a song.”

Well.

You can see where he’s coming from. As Irish mainstream music goes, this is top stuff. The production is so clean and well-considered, it’s as if the group are aliens – seductively frank aliens – dropped off here to totally steal the show. And this is what they do, with cannonball drums and electro-effect guitar thrum burning up the reel. Donnelly goes on to liken the track to “Heads Will Roll”, by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, quite the comparison, and by all accounts spot on, if the response from listeners of his popular radio show Cheer or Sneer are anything to go on. Riot Tapes, are, quite frankly, killing it right now.

So what does a sassy band of audio assassins do when they’re not busy slaying from the airwaves and the stages of Ireland’s best fests? Why, drive up the mountains and get up to all sorts of antics, of course:

“The shooting of the video (for “Hello, Insanity”) was unusual,” says vocalist Elaine.

“Myself and Chris (our guitarist) agreed on the concept which was basically me running up the Dublin mountains singing along to the song. So one cold sunny morning the two of us headed up to the mountains in Chris’s little Fiesta. We had a camera, a tripod, and some red rope. We put the camera onto the tripod, tied the tripod into the boot of the fiesta and began shooting. Chris drove as slowly as he could and I ran after the car whilst trying to sing. The whole point of the video was to do it in one take.”

“One minute in, we had a problem: my jeans were falling down quite rapidly when I ran. Chris cut off some of the red rope and made me a belt. You can kind of see it in the video if you look really close. We did four or five takes, and used the last one for the video. It didn’t take too long to do at all.”

Talented, tenacious, quite obviously full of creative energy; it must have been off to win over more listeners after the shoot, surely? Actually, uh, not quite:

“We spent longer looking for 50 euro that fell out of my pocket while I was running than we did shooting the video!” Doyle laughs. “We never found it.”

 

Check out all the pants (and panting!) -related mayhem right here in the video:

 

Riot Tapes play The Big Viking Picnic, a gig for charity, in Kells, Ireland August 29.

A3-Poster_print-viking-picnic1

 

youbloom HEADROOM #7: Featured Artists from the Dublin 2015 Music Festival

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One more sleep ’til youbloom!

That’s right, music freaks! Tomorrow is the June 12th, official starting date of the youbloom Dublin 2015 Music Festival & Conference, set to turn your average weekend into a bona fide rockfest you’ll be talking about for months. It’s been a wild year so far for us at youbloom HQ as we’ve geared up to bring you the best in independent music, here in Ireland as well as from across the seas. And we’ve certainly played while we worked – surrounded by all these bands and artists, you’d be crazy not to!

youbloom: HEADROOM was born of the importance of play. It’s based on the desire to get to the silly nitty-gritty; to find out more about all of the strange and interesting people who’ll be taking to the five stages this coming weekend. To put names with faces, and stories with songs, and find out how similar we all really are. youbloom is the global music village, and we’re all – artists, fans, or simply curious – part of it.

The eve of the festival marks HEADROOM’s seventh post, so we added a couple more artists’ stories to this one to give that “lucky number seven” thing a fair – fine, cheesy – shake. (No regrets!!)

We’ve had such a fun time getting to know all of the artists, and thank them heartily for calling forth their weirdest formative horrors (some maybe not so much) with us. Onward! To the Dame district! I’ll see you all there to hear how far these folks have come.

Meanwhile, for the final time, guys: Tell us about the first band you were ever in. We want the good, the bad, and the snuggly (?!?).

 

“My first band was an imaginary one! There were three of us, two who shall remain unnamed. It was New Year’s Eve, and we were all alone. We had a mic stand, so we were pretty well set. For the night we became Stiff Little Fingers, Talking Heads, and all the rest of our favourite bands. We spent the night miming, pretending we had an audience, at the age of 35. I knew then this was for me.”

– Clodagh Rooney, Reverend JM’s Panic Worship

One of the best things about music in Dublin is that since the city is so small, bands from wildly differing genres often find themselves drawing influence from all the other unexpected sounds around them. Reverend JM’s Panic Worship is one of the best examples of this uniquely Irish “genre-less” sound. Dark, playful melodies wind out of an assembly of unexpected instruments, played with intimate know-how. A second-to-none act, they play the Mercantile Stage on Friday, 12/6, at 9.30pm.

 

“The first proper band that practiced more than a couple of times was really exciting for me. It was my first time being in a band as a bassist and the first time that I felt truly comfortable in a band. We played countless gigs over a few years and recorded a couple of EPs and singles. We were fairly good and people seemed to like us.”

– Brian, bass, Beware Of You

 

“Beware Of You isn’t my first band experience, actually. My first was a young band called Insomniac, which (formed) when I was 16, I think. Yeah, we were all pumping full of ego – me, mainly – because as we all know, drums are the loudest instrument (and the best). For about two years we rehearsed every week, which is some dedication, but in that whole time we only ever played, like, two gigs. So that band was doomed to fall (apart) from the start, I guess.”

– Anthony, drummer, Beware of You

Gutsy, ambitious new act Beware of You have been busy this year drawing blood from the stone of pop punk and creating something earnestly elemental with their loot. Showing their colours, with influences the likes of All Time Low and Paramore, they’re ones to watch. See them on Sweeney’s downstairs stage on Sunday night, 14/6, at 10.30pm.

 

“I (was) in a rock band called Rampant, playing shameful versions of Iron Maiden and Blink 182. I used to wear a sailor hat at all of our gigs. Cringe.”

– Fergal, violin & mandolin, The Quakers

Yes. Just yes. If you’re not hooked from the count-in; blasted into the Quakers universe like a pistol shot in a gunfight over an insult to your Pa, and buoyed along by the gospel-meets-football-hooligan dynamism, then you, my friend have no ears. Possibly also no soul. Seriously good music. These boys are riled up and fit for fightin’, and they’re not leaving without making you dance like your boots are on fire. Get shanghaied at Sweeney’s Upstairs stage on Saturday, 13/6, at 10pm.

 

“The first band I was in was called Java Dawn. I played bass and sang, and we sounded like a fifteen-year-old version of Bloc Party. There was something amazing about being so young, thinking after every band practice (that) you were destined (to play) Wembley Stadium within a few months.”

– Edwin Pope, Mutant Vinyl

Mesmerizing, kinetic one-man electronic act Mutant Vinyl will be playing Sweeney’s Basement stage on Friday 12/6, at 1.30am. Hotly-tipped and irresistible, the live shows have attracted tons of praise – even from Sir Paul McCartney himself! Don’t miss this one.

 

 

“My first band was called Volume 2, a covers support band or as it was known then,  a “relief” band who played support to any show bands that played in our area. The fact that we did pretty appalling versions of Zeppelin and Black Sabbath among others – at what was mainly a country and western gig – probably explains why we lasted about six weeks, our short but turbulent careers ending in ignominy when our drummer put his foot through Larry Cunningham’s (well-known Irish country music singer from the 60’s-70’s) drum kit whilst trying to save himself from falling off stage! It took me forty-five years to form my second band; the one I’m in now having been formed just over a year ago. So far all drum skins are still intact and we don’t do covers!”

– Ronan Gallagher, singer/songwriter/guitar magician, The Ronan Gallagher Band

“Siderodromophilia – an obsession with or fixation on railroads, trains or train travel.” The music of the Ronan Gallagher Band seems to summon the wanderlust in us all, with wailing strings, blues cat vocals, chugging tempos, and a whole lot of things to reminisce about as the track goes by. As though the songs are merely turns of the radio dial, picking up on a permanent station; what they capture is raw and beautiful in its simplicity. They top off the night at Sweeney’s Upstairs stage on Sat, 13/6, at 1.30 am.

 

 

 “Although I play jazz and folk music now, it maybe a little surprising (to know that) the first band I was in was a metal band I started in Seattle called Aperatus. I was 16.  At first I was only singing in the band. Later, after a ferry ride from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, I heard someone playing beautiful melodic music with a guitar, so I sat down next to him and asked him if I could join and he said yes. The next day I bought a guitar and have been playing ever since.”

– Shelita Burke, singer/songwriter

Seattle native Shelita Burke is something of a perplexity, raw of voice and precocious, charmingly facebook-shy; a warrior of the ideas kind. We can’t wait to welcome her to Ireland and be transfixed. She’ll take to Sweeney’s Upstairs stage on Sunday, 14/6, at 8.40pm.

 

CHECK OUT THE FULL LINEUP HERE: http://www.youbloom.com/dublin-2015/. We’ll see you there!

 

 

 

youbloom HEADROOM #6: Featured Artists from the Dublin 2015 Music Festival

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Hi, it’s youbloom from the future (one week into the future, to be precise)! On our mission of music-loving mischief, we managed to get our paws on an old Eircom phonebox, and with a little help from some bleach, and a wise-cracking, inter-dimensional chaperone, we’ve been downright zipping around through time, jamming to tunes and having the major lols.

That story may or may not be a total lie. It may or may not have also been 100% ripped off of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. But this I can tell you, dear readers: we really do love jamming to tunes; we really, really do wish we had a phonebox time machine; and on this day in one week’s time, you really are going to be feasting your eyes and ears on an absolute torrent of new, exciting, crazy talented bands and performers.

The youbloom Dublin 2015 Music Festival & Conference is a mere week away, coming to Dublin’s Dame district next Friday – Sunday, Jun 12/13/14, hosting over 60 mint condition acts – for free – over five stages. So with that in mind, it’s time to take that time-travel-inspired trip back to the roots of music for a fresh muckraking session with our latest crew. (Quadruple air guitar solos)

 

So, guys, tell us the story of the first experience you can remember having with music. Feel free to spill all the beans.

 

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“I like to think that my first ever experience with music was in my mother’s belly a couple weeks before she was due to have me. She was at a Peter Gabriel concert. I was kicking and dancing like mad, and she almost fainted during it. I still love listening to Peter Gabriel.”    

– Christian Collins, singer/songwriter

With a voice that betrays a rich humility and fervent depth; reminiscent of Jeff Buckley’s greatest years, Christian Collins is not to be missed. This is triumphant poetry at its touchable best. He plays Sweeney’s Upstairs stage on Sunday, 14/6, at 10.05pm.

 

“It was summertime and me, my brother, and my cooler older cousin were staying at my aunt’s house in the country. There was an old caravan out the back so we snuck out there late one night with an old cassette player. (My cousin) put on The Doors and Led Zeppelin. I’d never heard music like that before! I was completely awestruck by Jim Morrison’s deep, wise voice, and found it so hard to comprehend (that) he had died really young. It was a magical music night!”    

– Miriam Donohue, singer/songwriter

Like something unearthed from a time capsule buried in the early 60’s by a still-green Bob Dylan, Miriam Donohue’s music feels like a gift from a time when pop music was still silly enough to be bypassed by those with more on their minds than twisting and shouting. A capable writer, with a sublime delivery that will leave you speechless. She’s on the Mercantile Gallery stage on Saturday, 13/6, at 8.30pm.

 

 

“Music was always part of my life. I don’t remember how it all started, but I do remember following my mum around the house and harmonizing with a vacuum cleaner, driving kids in school insane by tapping on every possible surface, and walking in beat with (every) song.”        

– Djollie, drums, WOB!

The latest in an esteemed line of technical wizards and engrossing Irish instrumental bands, WOB!’s spin on the genre is lighter, more ebullient; all the while respecting and commanding its complex formula and precision whomp. WOB! deliver a lively set from the Mercantile stage on Saturday, 13/6, at 8pm.

 

“When I was 3 years old, I was given a little violin. Apparently, I played with it by pretending it was a rocket ship and throwing it into the sky. Perhaps this was an early indicator that no, I would not enjoy attending classical lessons.”

– Amano Miura, singer/songwriter

Amano is such an enchanting musician, with a voice like an elegant ninja, and lyrics draped in a sweet, alarming know-how; fascination barely concealed. Great videos, too. She performs a beguiling set on Friday, 12/6 at the Mercantile Gallery stage, at 8pm.

 

 

 

youbloom HEADROOM #5: Featured Artists from the Dublin 2015 Music Festival

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We’re back, snoopers and meddlers – – I, uh, mean fans! We’ve dug up more dirt and uncovered the bones of the bands that started it all for a second batch of youbloom Dublin 2015 Music Festival artists and musicians. They’ve all been incredibly gracious in sharing the deets of the awkward years (burns death threat; laughs nervously; files restraining order), and as ever, we’re super proud to show them some HEADROOM blog love. Be sure to check out your favourites at the Festival, coming up before you know it this June 12/13/14.

So, tell us about the first band you were ever in. Was it good? Cringingly bad? Is this the first one!?!?! Gahhh!! How exciting!!!

Leah (Singer) - 3

“Beware of You is the first proper band I’ve ever been in; they’re fine I guess. I let them talk to me sometimes…KIDDING! We gelled really quickly and we’re (like) a creepy little family who will send you picture postcards every Christmas. We love each other and have unreal craic, so making music comes naturally.”

– Leah, vocals, Beware of You

Gutsy, ambitious new act Beware of You have been busy this year drawing blood from the stone of pop punk and creating something earnestly elemental with their loot. Showing their colours, with influences the likes of All Time Low and Paramore, they’re ones to watch. See them on the Sweeney’s Downstairs stage on Sunday night, 14/6, at 10.30pm.

 

dk

“The first band I was in was at the age of 13, when I discovered The Libertines. I listened to their second album on my bed one night through a Walkman and it sounded like NOTHING I had ever heard before. The next week I bought an electric guitar and started to seek out like-minded souls. I found a few and we actually recorded an EP in a local studio. (It was) very “Libs” inspired; all Reebok Classics and funny walks.”

– David Keenan, singer/songwriter

Yes, he really did become famous for singing in a taxi. (Don’t believe it? See for yourself here: David Keenan taxi serenade) When voices like David’s come along, well, they usually clear a path through the musical landscape that takes years to fill back in again. It’s hypnotising, mighty stuff. Don’t miss his Sweeney’s Upstairs stage set, first on on Sunday, 14/5, at 8pm.

 

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“My first band was a street punk band: fast and raw with lots of attitude. I always thought it was really bad, but all sloppy riffs aside, people loved to come to our gigs. I recently found that someone had uploaded our tunes on YouTube. It’s amazing that (the music) is still being listened to more than 10 years later.”

– Djollie, drums, WOB!

The latest in an esteemed line of technical wizards and engrossing Irish instrumental bands, WOB!’s spin on the genre is lighter, more ebullient; all the while respecting and commanding its complex formula and precision to deliver serious whomp. WOB! deliver a lively set from the Mercantile stage on Saturday, 13/6, at 8pm.

 

“A few of us in school formed what you might call a band, causing considerable mirth amongst everybody else. We couldn’t really play or sing, a fact that escaped us all. Our cheerier tracks used Emily Dickinson’s poetry for lyrics.”

Jerome McCormick, The Man, Imploded View

Imploded View is a one-man electronic alchemist and connoisseur of all things catchy. From the ethereal to the downright funky, his set’ll have your hips a-shakin’ before you can say “Why yes, I WOULD love more sneaky Bucky.” His appropriately late-night set kicks off on Sweeney’s Basement stage on Friday, 12/6, at 12.30pm.

 

“Well, I was never in a band. I started solo and remained that way for 14 years! I do have my own band now, which is kinda cool. I love the mix of doing solo gigs and then having (a) band with me. It’s the best of both worlds.”

– Rachael McCormack, singer/songwriter/badass

The Dublin powerhouse that is Rachael McCormack wields her talent like a barely tamed wild beast, chomping at the bit to give you all of what she’s got. Every shred the entertainer, with serious guitar chops and a voice that, no, will not sit down or shut up, she’s a whirlwind. She’s first on the Busking stage on Saturday, 13/5, at 4pm.

 

 

 

 

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