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The Abbey Habit

August 5, 2013

It’s a BYOC night at Bangor Abbey tonight. As in, Bring Your Own Cushion. The seating may not offer much in the way of luxury, but the concept is still inviting. It’s the work of Open House Festival in Bangor, Co Down and we’re about to witness Farriers with the Arco String Quartet. So we grab a pew and join in the expectancy with 400 other witnesses. The stained glass is illuminated by the weakening light in August, the faux candles flicker and Farriers begin to enthrall.

Last September, the band’s first significant outing with the Arco String Quartet took place in the tiny Picture House at the Ulster Folk And Transport Museum. That was the most special night. Bluegrass and folk tunes with bonus strings and the singular arrangements of Michael Keeney. And if the early Farriers gigs relied on a Mumford-like stomp, their evolving manner has taken on a delicacy also.

In Uncategorized music

The Life Of O’Brien

August 1, 2013

This shot of Conor J O’Brien was taken on Gordon Street, Belfast on Sept 10, 2010. He had just soundchecked at the Black Box and I’d interviewed him for my Radio Ulster show. The ‘Becoming A Jackal’ album was four months old and was already imprinted in my soul. I was reading Herman Hesse and wiring up my own connection between Steppenwolf and the Villagers’ story of lupine dread and alienation. I was quite lost. No point in trying to say this much to the author. He had heard many other compliments and was playing it courteously.

We had met briefly in 2006 during his time with The Immediate. I liked their album ‘In Towers And Clouds’ but it was over-fussy and too many heads were involved. The live shows were turbulent but not always in the best sense. I guess I must have seen him perform with Cathy Davey but I became a proper fan at sxsw in March 2010 when he seemed to materialise at potent moments, singing about lonesome vigils, rituals, zombies and exile. Elsewhere on Austin’s Sixth Street, there was mass fakery and music with little heart. Meantime Conor was there with his battered Spanish guitar, singing a quiet, true commentary.

In Uncategorized

From Bad To Verse

July 31, 2013

When Mick Jones was evicted from The Clash, he didn’t get bitter. His response was a quality band, Big Audio Dynamite and a tune called ‘The Bottom Line’. The lyric declared that “the only thing to do is climb”. And thus he was refortified, ready to rock again.

I guess Tony Wright can relate. He played guitar with And So I Watch You From Afar until November 2011. His final gig was at the Ulster Hall, when he was literally carried away by the audience. Apparently the split was not so gracious, but neither party has revealed much in public. Tony has since returned as VerseChorusVerse, releasing a collection of punk covers last year and now there’s a self-titled album. The tone is mostly affirmative, the regime is bristling folkabilly and the conclusion is that Tony is largely over it.

In Uncategorized music, versechorusverse

Postcard From A Young Manic

July 23, 2013

In the early hours of May 7, 1992, Richey Edwards slipped a postcard under the door of my hotel room at the Sofitel, Beverly Hills. I looked at it and smiled. We had been shopping together on Melrose two days before when he had bought the Barbie card. It pictured the famous doll in her boudoir, with a speech bubble that read, “Every morning I wake up and thank God for my unique ability to accessorize.”

On the other side, he had written a message in his singular, scattershot style. “Hollywood and Disneyland are the legacy of Europe’s cultural imperialism. We gave them nursery rhymes and they gave us back film. Televised riots are as American as Barbie / Big Macs. Tomorrow the riots will be forgot but Mickey Mouse will still be there. Welcome to Disneyland. Love Manic Street Preachers.”

In Uncategorized manic street preachers, richey edwards

Bear//Face Necessities

July 17, 2013

Bear//Face is Ciaran McDonald from Belfast. He’s been active in Leeds and New York, he remixes James Blake and Justin Timberlake and tours with The 1975. He gets played in Diplo sets and cops over a million listens on SoundCloud. His remix of Timberlake’s ‘My Love’ has hauled in over 800,000 alone and the Bear//Face presence is spattered over social media like a Jackson Pollock action painting.

You may be familiar with his own work. ‘Taste My Sad’ is a junior classic – falsetto soul, warped, filtered and plasticised. It’s that 3am moment when the senses start to smear and the rapture shines in. The Orb went this way with ‘A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain…’ in 1989, slicing up Minnie Riperton, taking her soul to another sphere. Bear//Face furthers the tradition when he refits A$AP Rocky, Ginuine, Atu and other esoteric acts.

The workload is prodigious but he doesn’t sound rushed or slight. Rather his sound, his method and his collaborations are headed towards something immense. I’m reminded of the famous Louis McNeice poem when the writer is peeling a tangerine, watching the snow outside the window and mentally raving by the fireside. However you find it, the buzz is about discovering how things are supremely various.

In Uncategorized Bear//Face, Ciaran McDonald, James Blake, Justin Timberlake

Dr. Simone, I Presume

July 16, 2013

I’m at the door of Nina Simone’s dressing room and feeling apprehensive. We’re backstage at the HQ on Dublin’s Middle Abbey Street. It’s 7 October 1999 and the Hot Press Awards are just over. Sinéad O’Connor is around, wearing her priest outfit, nervy and talking plenty. Yet she is utterly quelled when Nina kisses her on the cheek. Many of the other Irish notables are nearby, including U2, The Corrs, Shane MacGowan, Westlife, and the emergent Snow Patrol. I’ve been interviewing them all for a BBC TV production and everything has gone well. Then it is suggested that we also speak to Nina.

In Uncategorized Nina Simone, Nuff Said

The Abbey Habit

The Life Of O’Brien

From Bad To Verse

Postcard From A Young Manic

Bear//Face Necessities

Dr. Simone, I Presume

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