To state the Siege of Limerick is the cornerstone of metal in Ireland is just pointing out the obvious. A community effort, Bad Reputation’s biannual metalfest is representative of all that is good not only in Irish metal, but in the Irish DIY music ethic. Bands travel from afar just to get to the Siege, while in the spirit of community, local music heads come along and help the crew in the day’s work. So ingrained in the community is the Siege, meanwhile, that carvery-devouring families fail to bat an eyelid as the crowd descends over the afternoon, coming in through Dolans’ restaurant and into the venue itself. This year, though, the big difference is kids. Plenty of them, in all their music-video gear and Roadrunner-band merch, wait at the venue’s door to be let in early, and swarm around people handing out programmes, eager to dig in to the line-up. It’s good to see that tha kidz still give a shit, and other towns’ mallrats could certainly stand to take notes.

It is to this crowd that the day’s openers, We Come In Pieces, walk on stage. And in tired but effusive form, singing drummer Kieran Hayes spends the entire set ragging on the new, young charges bopping about to the band’s math-punk assault (“everyone on this side here is probably far too young to know who Hulk Hogan is”). Comedy aside, the band don’t look or sound like they’re suffering from the hour, and spirited renditions of Beefy Clyro and Irish Fighting Song whip the kids up. Christians vs. Lions’ blasts of industrial-influenced hardcore also meet a hefty early greeting. Sans their synths, and with the addition of Ilenkus’ Josh Guyett on guitars and second vocals, they’re a far heavier and in places almost thrashier proposition. The first of the big guns on the bill headlines the early set, with Greek death metallers Vermingod making their way to stage after a lengthy changeover. Dense, dissonant and surgical in their execution, the band embarks upon a lengthy set of cuts from across its discography to an enthusiastic response from the thickening crowd.

Numerous cancellations force the promoters’ hands in keeping the Upstairs stage closed til three o’clock. It’s a testament to the patience and ability of the Bad Rep crew that after Putrefy, Refraction, Atheos, Vacant and others having to pull at short notice, that the stage still has a tremendous line-up to offer. Kicking off with Cork hardcore boys Harboured, the stage pulls a generous early crowd, and the boys’ cantankerous NYHC-inflected ruckus gets ‘em into it, especially on standout D.D.T. Following them swiftly are one of the surprises of the line-up, Belfast space-metallers Astralnaut, making their debut in the South. Dripping with NOLA blues & sludge influences, and a hefty dose of third-eye visuals, the band’s celebratory bluesy doom sets the tone nicely for the day’s heavier excesses. Downstairs, meanwhile, sees the joviality continue with Northern metallers Bakken making the Warehouse feel like a walk into history, the young ones enraptured with the band’s traditional and respectful thrash reverie.

It’s tradition that the evening band downstairs at the Siege gets a hero’s welcome. Shardborne and Three Hour Ceasefire have been among those who have received a thunderous reception in this role, so it creates precedent, and is an unfortunate turn of events for travelling bands playing upstairs. Greek southern-rockers Phase Reverse give a precise performance, their set taking in a suitably good-time and booze-soaked strain of rock ‘n’ roll, and though they’re greeted with cheers and enthusiasm from the casual metal audience upstairs, they’re victims of a clash with Fivewilldie. The Cork grimcore five-piece, recently reunited, are already saying goodbye to bassist Barry, and have seen to it that it’s a spectacular send-off. That it is, with a hulking, impactful set that betrays no sign of rust on the band’s part. Playing tunes from titanic recent album Worth and Soul, the highlight is a doom-laden Ballad of Rosie Jones. Immense. Unintentional comedy is supplied by the young’uns up front, for whom doom is likely a new concept: some awkward attempts at team headbanging give way to a cackle-inducing pair that seem to be doing the “millions of dollars” dance (un)popularised by WWE comedy act the Prime Time Players.

That earlier-mentioned tradition of bands getting big receptions? This time around, people are staying put and giving the due respect to the entire evening’s line-out. It’s an awesome thing to see, a full house giving props to Irish bands, given the full stage show and extended set times. It’s an important rallying point for bands that give their time and effort solely to their passions, and there’s no band who gives more and deserve this payoff more than prog-metallers Shardborne. Kicking off their set with B141, it’s the only familiar song they play all night, announcing the rest of their set derives from their upcoming album. What follows leaves your writer agape as always, as the technical aspect and sharp, jagged aural edges give way to a fluid, constantly-unfurling sonic sprawl that at once holds true to their metal artillery and is inflected with wondrous musical and compositional mastery. This album can’t come quick enough. It’s going to change Irish metal forever and put them where they belong, quite frankly.

Part two of the review coming up tomorrow, along with photos.

The biggest date on the Cork music calendar rolls around again as Indiependence takes to Deer Farm in Mitchelstown for its biggest and best line-up to date by far. Without any further ado, shilly-shallying, to-do, stalling, delaying or carrying on, here’s four reasons you’d want to be getting to Indiependence:

THE SARGENT HOUSE STAGE:

Rising from the Richter Collective’s beautiful corpse is Sargent House’s new European outpost, the influential US indie serving as the largest active platform for Irish music at the moment, and a stage of its Irish and international talent, including And So I Watch You From Afar, Bosnian Rainbows, No Spill Blood, TTNG and more seems entirely too good to miss out on, if not worth the price of admission. Calling it in advance: this will be the highlight of the Irish festival season.

HEADLINERS AND THE DIVERSITY THEREOF:

Much has been made in the past about Irish festivals’ headline circuits, and a dependence on domestic radio acts to flesh out the bills. This appears to be a criticism Indie have been keen to address, with headline status swiftly bestowed upon US hip-hop legends De La Soul, bolstered by Drop-d faves Funeral for a Friend, Irish electronic insurgents Le Galaxie and Mmoths, as well as prevalence in the line-up going to Limerick folk-rockers Windings and much-fancied Cork electro-poppers Young Wonder. Variety abounds in the early running and is sure to get better as the full line-up is unveiled.

DARKNESS & LIGHT AREAS:

Another new addition to the line-out of Indiependence comes in the intriguing form of the Darkness and Light stages, addressing the eclectic nature of the festival-going crowd in 2013. As implied, there are opposites at play: Darkness playing host to strictly new bands as well as the like of burlesque dancers, while Light sees the non-musical fare happen, with media areas, family japes, comedy and more. Sating the appetites at both ends of the festival-goer spectrum, this idea should go on to be a standard at small fests (and a necessity for big ones). Personally, this Darkness stage sounds pretty cool, and with a good compliment of eclectic and heavier bands at the last Indie, including Brains and the Wizards of Firetop Mountain, this ought to be the natural progression.

DEER FARM:

Though the actual deer will be safely away from marauding festivalgoers, the fact remains that the park is one of the best festival locations this writer has ever seen. Long, rolling fields ideally suited to a summer night’s gigging, with a towering main stage built literally onto the main stable of the huge facility, it makes for a mixture of sights and sounds unlike any other. Plus, the town is down the road for supplies and such (remember to support local business, ladies and germs).

Indiependence ’13 tickets are on sale now. Head here for more info and the what have you.

Drop-d: There seems to be a huge crossover of metal’s sub-genres in Three Hour Ceasefire’s music – elements of black, death and thrash metal seem to be perfectly balanced. Was that the idea heading into jamming?

Martin: It wasn’t intentional per se, but it was definitely something I was aware of as the material was coming together. In fact, I was a bit worried that Cry Havoc, the EP we put out last year, might suffer from a lack of stylistic cohesion and that we might sound a bit all over the place. As it happens, the EP turned out fine and we’re all really happy with it. Our main focus in terms of overall aesthetic was really just to produce an EP that was urgent, aggressive and with good flow and pacing throughout and I think we achieved that. The melding of various genres was incidental.

Alan: Yeah, we wanted a more aggressive, less melodic sound than we had previously. I think the songs on Cry Havoc are a much closer reflection of the stuff we like listening to, whereas perhaps our material before that was less so. That also meant it was a more natural and enjoyable process getting those songs together. The blending of sub-genres was just how it came out.

D: Of course, Limerick is the epicentre of all things heavy at the minute, thanks entirely to Bad Rep’s hard work with the Siege. What is it about Limerick, though, that has seen, not only metal but other genres surge in recent years?

Martin: I’ve no idea (laughs). Of the five bands – Dark Matter, No Man’s Land, Shardborne, Zealot Cult and ourselves – within our own micro scene, three or four are made up primarily of people that have been playing Metal and attending gigs since the 90s. And so in that respect, the burgeoning nature of the current scene is due in large part to the pigheaded refusal of certain people to abandon playing horrible music that pretty much no one wants to listen to (laughs). The exception, of course, is Shardborne whose members are relatively young, but who have played a massive role in terms of their youthful optimism and willingness to get shit done, from putting on gigs to recording bands, when the more weary cynics among us mightn’t have bothered. The internet is a big thing too and I’d imagine is responsible for widening a lot of people’s horizons and spurring us all on.

Alan: It’s certainly correct to give the Bad Rep lads their due, but I think the bands themselves should be given credit for their dogged persistence and hard work too. Another factor that has pushed us all is a sort of fraternal competition. With each new release from each band I think the bar has been raised in one respect or another, which pushes everyone else to better themselves – not in the sense of antagonistic oneupmanship, but in a “ok, that is the sort of standard we need to reach come our next release” kind of way. I think the fact that we’re all friends promotes that atmosphere too. These things just go in cycles too. Hegel talks of the Weltgeist (world spirit) shifting over various historical periods, animating them. Perhaps there is a Metalgeist that inhabits different cities of Ireland at different times, animating us (laughs).

D: How has it been to witness Bad Rep going from strength to strength, Ciaran Culhane’s studio taking shape and in particular Ciaran overseeing some excellent records?

Martin: It’s been pretty cool and fairly exciting at times. Above all though, it’s been a genuine privilege to just be around and playing in a band at a time that things like The Siege are going on in our hometown. It’s been a real boon for everyone involved in Metal in Limerick and, speaking personally, I’m fully aware of the essentially flukey nature of being in the right time at the right place and of how much we owe to the hard work of people like Shane, Ciaran and TJ of BadRep.

Alan: Yeah, right place at the right time for sure. Our first gig as Three Hour Ceasefire was the first Siege, and I still think we owe the Bad Rep lads thanks for allowing us to play it.

D: Speaking of the Siege, you played to a hero’s welcome at Siege VII, last year, in front of friends, family and the metal fraternity. How was that? Were you expecting it?

Martin: Man, we were actually embarrassed by the reception (laughs). Fact is, while most of the set was grand, we made a couple of schoolboy fuck-ups – I couldn’t look certain people in the eye after we came off stage (laughs). That said, the reception was amazing. Hopefully the next time we’re afforded a similar opportunity, we’ll be less nervous and better able enjoy the moment and just let loose.

Alan: Nerves for sure. But it was a privilege to play to such a crowd.

D: Releasing through Savour Your Scene sees yet more support for one of the few dedicated metal labels in Ireland, alongside Into the Void’s collective. How do you see Irish metal progressing and getting to, say, educating the Kerrang! kidz, etc.?

Martin: I don’t really think about “reaching the kids” or Metal “progressing” anymore to be honest (laughs). The kids are into their thing and the rest of us are into our thing. It’s the people that understand that metal is dead as a youth movement that are putting out the best stuff. Anyone trying to “reach the kids” or to “progress” Metal invariably ends up producing the most woefully transient crap that often has more in common with corporate culture than anything else. For me, progression is just people continuing to work together in a spirit of solidarity without falling out and killing each other (laughs), regardless of the perceived “success” or otherwise of their endeavours.

Alan: All we can do is play the type of metal that we enjoy playing, and try to better ourselves. It’ll either resonate with people or it won’t. I agree with Martin, educating kids can’t be what bands are about.

D: On a larger scale, what are the major issues for metal in Ireland to overcome?

Martin: For me, it’s the Balkanisation of Metal. I know it’s nothing new, but Ireland is too small for it and the divide between youngfellas into their breakdowns and older heads seems to me to be wider than ever. Not that I’m doing anything to fix it (laughs). Couldn’t be arsed getting into it any further really, ’tis only music at the end of the day.

Alan: I don’t know if there are major issues for Irish metal. I think it’s in its healthiest state now more than ever. There are a few really excellent bands doing stuff outside of Ireland and that’s good. The standard of material being released by local Irish bands has increased massively. I don’t think anything can be done about the Balkanisation. It’s a pity but I can’t see a situation like in the 80s of a few bands uniting all. The internet has allowed people to satisfy whatever niche they’re into and I don’t see that changing.

D: What next for Three Hour Ceasefire? Hitting any of the summer all-dayers?

Martin: We’ve been taking it fairly handy recently owing to new jobs, children, final year college work and weddings etc., but we’ve managed to start work on some new material. I think we’ve the bones of four new tunes ready and once things settle down in our personal lives, we’ll try and knock out another couple and start putting together a new release.

As for all-dayers, we’re heading back to Clonmel in August for the Bellybang weekend, which was one of the best outings we had last year. It’s a wee fest that’s put on by the lads from ZhOra and Crow Black Chicken with both an indoor and outdoor stages at the Piper Inn. We played outdoors last year in broad daylight, but people were going nuts. Some craic (laughs). We’re heading up to Dundalk at in August as well for NSx Fest with Gacys Threads and Only Fumes & Corpses and a load of other bands. We’ve never played in Dundalk before so we’re looking forward to that one.

Alan: We’re all pretty happy with the new material, so getting that recorded for me is the priority. When that will happen we’ll have to see. But I’m looking forward to it. I personally really enjoyed the process of preparing for and recording Cry Havoc.

D: Three Hour Ceasefire. Nice initialism there.

Martin: No comment (laughs).

Three Hour Ceasefire’s EP, Cry Havoc, is available now from their Bandcamp. Here’s a stream:

Drop-d: Sixes/Three Suns was another development from Depths and another step forward for CoD, more forceful and certainly more dense and distilled. Is this a sign of things to come?

Matt Crothers: Sixes/Three Suns was definitely a step up for us in terms of where we’re heading as a band and what we wanted to achieve sound wise but it also represents a transition from what came before and what’s to come. We wrote those songs after Depths and before we really started writing for the next record so they kinda represent a period of time that’s neither then or now if you get what we’re saying. We all agreed that they didn’t sit with what we’ve been coming up with for album number three but that they were strong enough to sit on their own hence the single release. They do however give an indication of where we’re heading, maybe more of a snap shot of the journey on the way to a very different and heavy place.

D: It seems as though the noise up North has cooled in recent times, though we know this to be untrue – you lot, Axecatcher and others in Northern punk and metal have been brewing under the surface and certainly fixing to boil over in Axecatcher’s case, as well as the impending return of ASIWYFA. What say you to people who saw doom when funding cuts started affecting music and art in the North last year?

MC: The funding cuts are a big blow, that’s for sure but where there’s a will there’s always a way. We all have been about in other bands for years before CoD, way before there was the huge cash injection that seemed to benefit music and the arts of the past lot of years. Even then there were still great bands who were doing it because they either wanted to or had to, funding or no funding. The same is the case now. Whilst it might make it more difficult for bands and artists to operate, they’re still doing it and doing it well. If there’s good music to be made it will be made and will get heard. I think that the lack of funding will probably force and has forced bands and artists into being more creative as to how they operate and that can only be a good thing for everyone.

Ian: There’s a healthy enough underground up here, and quite a few promoters who operate at a DIY/Grassroots level, so although we have had cuts in certain sectors, there are still plenty of gigs happening both for local and touring bands.

D: You’ve mentioned in interviews previous that you’re purposely not part of any scene per se, as more heavy bands emanate from your neck of the woods, do you see that changing at all?

Michael Smyth: I don’t think anyone who has any kinda creative vision necessarily wants to get tied in along with anyone else, certainly, with the way we sound, there isn’t a sort of insta-crowd you can appeal to like there might be with, say, some of the retro thrash or even doom that’s out there. They sound a certain way and there’s a crowd there that wants to be catered to in some regard.

We don’t really fit into a specific genre as such so that makes it difficult for us to be tied in along with other bands even if we wanted to. Certainly, when I started playing music the idea was to be as original as possible to stand out from everyone and while I’m not necessarily saying that we are an original sound, we have our own sound that borrows from many different places and isn’t easy to place.

I don’t feel its necessary to be a part of any scene for us to be considered relevant or good as a band I think the music speaks for itself. A lot of the bands that were part of ‘the scene’ have broken up and died off now. I like the idea of us against the world in a sense as well.

D: Is it a balancing act, creatively, between more sludgy tendencies, and more frenetic, punk-rock pace, when writing? What really makes sense to you initially and what do you work harder on when writing?

MS: More recently we’ve had a lot of time away from each other and the band so left to my own devices I write in a certain way and certainly with the upcoming record I’ve had a sound in mind that I’ve been working to achieve. That said, although I’ve maybe 6 or 7 songs that have the sound, and more importantly feel to them that I want, but then there’s maybe another 2 or 3 that sound kinda different, but they’re still good solid songs. Then when we get in the room together then Matt and Ian add their stamp on their instruments and that can change things and then we work on ideas and jam things out. How we sound when we write songs together can sound incredibly different from how we sound when I write on my own or when Ian writes on his own. The new album will see us step away even further what from the punkier post punk hardcore stuff and into heavier territory. Im very excited about the songs that were working on now and I think they’ll make sense in terms of progression of the band, from the first album to the EP and then Depths there’s been a progression, and this is the next step. It will be fast and slow, it’ll be heavy and spacey and sometimes all within the same song.

I: I rarely set out to write a particular style of song when I’m working on ideas, most of the time the song will choose it’s own direction. With the tracks we are working on for the next album there’s all kinds of things going on, some things are more complicated than what we’ve done before, some get stripped back to basics, along with still trying to have the space and looseness for noise and psychedelics.

D: After a full release for Depths, and a limited CD for Sixes, what’s the prognosis on Comply or Die on physical formats, especially as independent shops and Bandcamp make their way to the fore from the weakened/leaner HMV?

MC: As a band, the physical side of things is still important for us in terms of funding the band when on tour and when not on tour to a lesser extent. People still want to pick up something physical at shows and CDs/vinyl are therefore important in this regard.

MS: Recently there’s been a resurgence for vinyl and tape, vinyl is really coming back in a big way now and I think what this shows is that people want to hold something, they want to be able to pore over album sleeves and not just in a jpeg format. We haven’t had a vinyl release yet so really that’s what we want to do next. Bandcamp is great for letting people immediately access your music but even then I think we will have to be smarter about how we approach that, you want people to listen but maybe not have it all up there to stream, who’s gonna buy the cow when they get the milk for free?

I: I think the compact disc as a format is becoming less popular, as said above more bands now are putting out vinyl releases, so I think the future lies therein and also downloads for handiness. Not everyone has a portable turntable they can strap to themselves for the trip to work.

D: It’s been about a year since Depths made its way out, and you’ve finally hit the road in short bursts and put out a double a-side in the interim – what next?

MC: Album No.3 is in the advanced writing stages. We’ve a lot of songs and we’re trying to finalise them and get to a position in the next few months so we can record and get them out this year either as part of the album, or on some other potential releases we have in the pipeline. It’s exciting times! Ultimately the new album will dictate the live activities but all being well we should be making another jaunt down South and hopefully across the water to UK mainland before the year is out. In addition to this we’ve also been working on some side projects, Michael is drumming in Tusks and me and Ian have been working on our own noise side projects (Man’s Hands/Devonian) over the past while with new releases in the pipeline.

D: Nirvana’s In Utero is remastered and reissued this year. How do ya reckon they’ll fuck it up?

MS: The way I look at all these re-releases and reissues and whatever is that if there’s more music or different versions of the music we already have, I’m happy to listen. The Pearl Jam re-release of Ten with the re-mix and re-master was interesting and it sounded dramatically different but I still prefer the original mix. If the band is involved with the process then great if not then I’m not so sold. I love Nirvana and so anything new that comes out I’ll always be interested in it but if it’s some £200 package just to hear a new version of an old song not so much. I guess what I’m saying is I’m excited but apprehensive, kinda like how I feel about the new Star Wars films.

MC: The original still sounds good to me 20 years on or whatever it is now. Do they need to re-master and re-issue it? It’s all a bit of a money making exercise really, although if there’s something different, maybe some unreleased tracks bundled with it to make it a worthwhile package, then my ears are always open and potentially my wallet. There have been some worthwhile re-issues over the past few years, a number of the Cure reissues have been worthy of note in my opinion from a package point of view. Although some suffered in terms of the re-mastering and seemed to lose something that the originals had in terms of the sound, presence and feel.

I: I could care less. It’s a good record but I don’t see the point in reissues, it’s just another way to make money off people. Maybe they should just release the raw Albini mixes on heavyweight vinyl instead.

Comply or Die are in the process of writing their third album. For more, check out the stream of Sixes/Three Suns below.

Tuesday 26th March 2013:

Amplify – The Business of Music #2

Amplify is an organisation that provides valuable information for bands/musicians/entertainers of all genres regarding ever-changing music industry.

Guest Speakers:

Eamonn Barrett (Royseven)

Róisin Dwyer (Hotpress)

Marty Miller (Radio Nova)

Pete Murphy (EMI Ireland)

The Grand Social, Dublin

This event will be free and all are welcome.

Please sign in upon arrival at the venue so we can keep you up to date with all the latest music news and related events. We look forward to seeing you there.

Amplify #1 video ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeB_wRlJl9I

http://www.thegreyfederation.com/

https://www.facebook.com/events/1690432594428380/

Wednesday 27th March 2013:

Gacys Threads/Vermingod (GR)/By Any Means/Phase Reverse (GR)-Voodoo-Belfast

Savour Your Scene Records- Pandora’s Box Booking & One Metal Nation Presents:

GACYS THREADS (Belfast chaotic hardcore) (FFO: Converge / All Pigs Must Die / Norma Jean)

VERMINGOD (Patras/Greece) (Greek death metal FFO: Dying Fetus / Death / Suffocation)

BY ANY MEANS (Belfast straight up Hardcore FFO: Madball / Sick of It All / Terror)

PHASE REVERSE (Athens/Greece) (Heavy Rock from Greece – FFO: Pantera / Black Label Society / Clutch)

VOODOO Belfast

Doors 8pm/Admin £4

50 FREE ‘GACYS THREADS’ CDs ON ENTRY (First come first serve)

https://www.facebook.com/events/149060781917758/

Bloodstock “M2TM” HEAT 1

Bloodstock Festival 2013 is proud to present “Metal 2 The Masses Ireland”. This years festival sees the likes of Slayer, Lamb of God, Anthrax and Municipal Waste join 100+ acts.

“Metal 2 The Masses Ireland” will pick 1 Irish band to represent Ireland at the festival itself. The band will win the coveted slot on the festival and play on the same line up as metals greatest such as Slayer, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Municipal Waste, Devil Driver, Whitechapel and 100+ other amazing acts

Heat 1 – 27th March:

The Boy In The Attic

Alablaster

Edenfire

Dead Aeon

Uproot Chaos

AeSect

Fibber Magees Upstairs

8pm/€6

https://www.facebook.com/events/297800473680811/

Thursday 28th March 2013:

Double-Dose: Charity Concert in Aid of Volunteer Work with Suas Ed Dev, Delhi, 2013

To raise funds for my volunteer work in India this summer:

Six bands.

One venue.

One night.

Two Doses.

1st Dose! (6:30-8:30)

Headliners:

Bloody Mondays (a mix of 60′s Music, Punk and Brit Pop)

With support from:

Little Boy Hero (modern/indie rock)

Veteran Fraud (acoustic/

singer-songwriter)

2nd Dose! (9:00-11:00)

Headliners:

Axial Symmetry (thrash metal)

With Support from:

Negativ Result (Galway thrash metal)

The live debut of ‘Crossfire’ (thrash metal)

The Pint, Dublin

Doors open at 6:00pm/Admission €5 on the door/All ages gig until 9:00pm. 18+ after

https://www.facebook.com/events/251604681638724/

SHOCTOPUS: DEBUT ALBUM LAUNCH

The launch of the Shoctopus debut album, Brand New Kind Of Madness.

The gig will feature:

The Orchids, the tribal fusion belly dance group, as the support act, and it will be filmed and recorded for a live DVD release. The show will feature lasers, video projections and guest artists, and the debut album will be on sale on the night, as well as brand new full colour T-shirts.

Button Factory, Dublin

https://www.facebook.com/events/478392892217542/

And So I Watch You From Afar @ Dolan’s, Limerick

Dolans / Youth of a Nation Present:

And So I Watch You From Afar

FOX JAW BOUNTY HUNTERS (Limerick)

FORMER MONARCHS (Cork)

Dolan’s Warehouse, Limerick

€12 presale/ €15 on the door

https://www.facebook.com/events/533502770003881/

VERMINGOD & PHASE REVERSE (GR) w/SCREENREADER & more TBC

Drop-d.ie Presents:

VERMINGOD (GR death-metal)

PHASE REVERSE (GR Southern Rock)

SCREENREADER (Cork Grunge)

FRED ZEPPELIN’S, PARLIAMENT ST. CORK

DOORS 9PM, E6 AT DOOR

https://www.facebook.com/events/431222450293759/

Saturday 30th March 2013:

Electric Taurus (Dublin) + Baleful Creed + Fastlife, Limelight 2 Belfast

The Distortion Project Presents:

ELECTRIC TAURUS

BALEFUL CREED

FASTLIFE

The Limelight 2, Belfast.

Doors 5pm/Admission: £4

https://www.facebook.com/events/475755419137810/

The Hallionati Present…

4 band showcase:

Astralnaut (Stoner Groove)

Nocturnal Trip (Stoner/Grunge Rock)

Anti Depresants (Ska/Punk)

Only Escapades (Grunge)

Arthurs Bar, Keady, Armagh

Doors 9pm/Music 10pm/Tax £5

https://www.facebook.com/events/161169930703078/

The Bonnevilles Super Secret Gig

What better way to mark the resurrection of Jesus than with a bit of Garage punk blues? (It’s what he would have wanted.)

The bars may be shutting early but that’s when we’ll only be getting warmed up as we bring a special show to a special venue right in the heart of Belfast city.

So it’s going to be an one-off intimate gig and we are encouraging you to bring down your own beers and join us for an unforgettable performance! The party continues into the small hours courtesy of the Stereo Circus DJs too!

Make sure you click “attending” and you’ll be messaged details on the day!

Belfast

https://www.facebook.com/events/483355828379065/

AXIS OF “Finding St Kilda” Belfast Album Launch

AXIS OF

“Finding St Kilda” Album Launch

Pocket Billiards

The 1930s

Pigs As People

The Belfast Empire, Belfast

DOORS: 8pm/Advance Tickets on Sale in Empire: £6 (Which gets you album half price)/Door Price: £7

https://www.facebook.com/events/436551669756581/

Triggerman and Bakken

Triggerman

Bakken

Diamond Rock Club (Upstairs), Ahoghill, Ballymena, Antrim

https://www.facebook.com/bakkenband?sk=app_123966167614127&app_data

Only Fumes & Corpses – 200th Gig!

ONLY FUMES & CORPSES celebrate their 200th gig.

We’ll be playing some new songs!

With support from:

THEM MARTYRS (Galway Hardcore)

VACANT (Dublin Hardcore)

CZECH STREETS (Westport Hardcore)

OVERBITE (Galway Hardcore)

Roisin Dubh (Upstairs), Galway

Doors 9pm/adm €5

https://www.facebook.com/events/496576803735385/

Sunday 31st March 2013:

SIEGE OF LIMERICK IX – 31/03/13 – Dolans, Limerick, Ireland

Bad Reputation Ireland Presents:

Sponsored by Bavaria & Jagermeister:

MOURNING BELOVETH (Doom/Death)

MAEL MORDHA (Celtic Doom)

DARKEST ERA(Celtic Heavy Metal)

BLOODSHOT DAWN (Melodic Death Metal)

Shardborne (Prog Metal)

Brigantia (Doom)

Zealot Cult (Death Metal)

Vermingod (Greece Death Metal)

Putrefy (Death Metal)

Bakken (Heavy Metal)

Atheos (Death metal)

Astralnaut (Stoner Rock)

No Man’s Land (Doom)

Borderline Prime (Dark Metal/Industrial)

Celtachor (Celtic blackened metal)

Phase Reverse (Southern Rock from Greece)

Christians Vs Lions (Tech hardcore)

FiveWillDie (Sludge)

Harboured (Hardcore)

Only Fumes & Corpses (Hardcore Punk)

Twisted Mass (Crust)

Rocket Surgery (Prog Rock)

Castero (Heavy Rock/Metal)

Ceasless Blight (Black Metal)

Refraction (Prog Metal)

Two Tales of Woe (Sludge/ Doom)

DOLANS, Limerick.

ADM: Free/12pm

https://www.facebook.com/events/478205002225275/

When Good Pets Go Bad, The #1s, Superblondes + The Northern Drones

Alliance Promotions Present:

The Easter Bunny is delivering a special treat on March 31st!

WHEN GOOD PETS GO BAD (off kilter power pop with raucous noise)

THE #1s (Powerpop\punk)

SUPERBLONDES

THE NORTHERN DRONES (Psychedelic Garage Rock recorded under the stairs!)

Triskel arts centre, tobin st, Cork

ADM only 5 euro/9pm

https://www.facebook.com/events/392088360885785/

The album starts off with the first track, Eunoia as a prologue to the second track, which is a softer opening than the rest of their album catalog. From the first track, we can already tell that this will be a different album from Gangs and their debut, but then BOOM. The next track Big Thinks Do Remarkable reminds us why these guys have gotten this far as the best post-rockers in Ireland. Big booming loud guitars doing crazy riffs to complex rhythm patterns while chanting “THE SUN IS IN OUR EYES” over and over again over an increasingly heavier sound until the lads goes absolutely nuts. From listening further, there is a fairly Irish sound coming from the main melody in the last 30 seconds, reminiscent from Irish dancing music, as strange as it might seem.

The most memorable tracks are bundled into a trilogy entitled The Stay Golden, which is possibly the most ambitious sound that ASIWYFA have ever made. From steel drums which give a Hawaiian flare, to trumpets, to more welcome chants from the lads, it is balanced well in sound, and is equally melodic, even the last track remains consistent with the others. It’s jolly, and definitely sounds off the fact that the band had fun making these tracks.

One of the more experimental tracks on the album has to be “Ka Ba Ta Bo Da Ka” which starts off as an acapella track that evolves into a heavy sound. It is a good track, but feels slightly detached from the rest of the album from listening to it for the first time. However, the second part “Things Amazing” remedies this with a 90 second assault on the eardrums.

My favourite track on the album by far is “All Hail Bright Futures”, which begins with a fantastic reoccurring melody which is played in both the background and foreground of the track. This is essentially ASIWYFA in a nutshell: Experimental, talented, and riddled with complexity. The last minute of the track sends shivers down my spine as the melody intensifies and is joined with an explosion of guitars and drums, and of course, the new addition of chanting. It is their most feel-good track on the album, without a shadow of a doubt.

To put it simply, All Hail Bright Futures is a work of art. The complex nature of the instrumentation and melodies with far more vocal integration within the tracks remain consistent and fully welcome throughout the album. Out of the three studio albums produced by these musical mathematicians and shredders, this is by far the most ambitious project they have ever given to their fans. The future is looking bright for And So I Watch You From Afar, and as a fan, I really hope they succeed in their mission of bringing this sound across the world during their tour, beginning soon.

You can listen to “All Hail Bright Futures” and purchase the album with two bonus tracks at http://asiwyfa.bandcamp.com/ 

Drop-d: New tracks have been slowly making their way around via YouTube, leading up to the release of a studio session officially entitled Thunder. The songs seem a lot focused and condense a lot of the disparate elements of Adebisi’s sound. Can we expect this from the new record?

Vinny: Well the record is a living animal and still evolving so it’s prone to surprise us right up to the eleventh hour. I’m reluctant to analyse it too much right now but it feels really good. The sounds went straight from our imagination onto tape. It’s our Waterworld.

D: The themes of the second album were travel and the expansion of horizons. With Adebisi hitting the road much harder in the wake of the album’s release through Sargent House in the States, is that a theme you wish to further expand upon?

V: The sights and sounds we experienced driving coast to coast in America definitely inspired us. But I think this time around the geographical space we explored mostly was inside our own heads, alternate dimensions, that kinda thing. Spells and incantations, summoning various entities. Some kinda internal geometry. I can’t really say any more than that at this point.

D: Being part of Sargent House, and Mick taking part of Sargent House in Europe, how does it compare to being part of the Richter Collective? Did ye think years ago when ye were getting the band together that you’d be in the States and Mexico?

V: I’d say it’s quite similar, in that there is a legitimate sense of family with Sargent House. It’s another quite surreal aspect of this band, in that we suddenly discovered an overseas extended family. And the roster is so strong, it’s inspiring in itself just to find yourself alongside these formidable musicians. Where it differs from the old days is the infrastructure and benefits of having a larger, dedicated team. I mean this band literally started as three friends making noise in a very small room in Wexford. The only audience we ever anticipated having was ourselves, and a horse called Ben who would look in the window at us from time to time (our first fan). The fact that we’ve somehow been able to take this thing we do from that room in Wexford around the world and back again is something that we will never take for granted and always be thankful for.

D: Lar, you’ve also struck out with No Spill Blood and your electronic E.P. How does it differ being in a comparatively heavier band and working alone with your ideas, from being in Adebisi? On the topic of No Spill Blood, have you heard Turning Down Sex’s cover of No Retreat?

V: Unfortunately Lar can’t come to the phone right now as he’s going Hog Wild in Crash Bandicoot. I do know that he enjoyed Turning Down Sex’s cover very much however.

D: Vin, anything from your end solo upcoming?

V: Yeah, there’s (takes a drink of water, mumbles something incomprehensible) looking forward to it!

D: Who has your attention right now, in Irish music? Who are you listening to, and anyone to recommend to our readers?

V: Space Dimension Controller is blowing our minds. Pretty psyched on what I’ve heard so far of the new Solar Bears record. The I Am The Cosmos record is pretty amazing too. Magic Pockets. And Enya.

D: When will we see the new record? And on the note of things upcoming, any plans for 2013 festival season and beyond?

Got a lot of plans for the next few months that we’ll be announcing soon. Thank you for your patience. We shall return. (-_-)

Adebisi Shank will be back soon, as stated. Until then, get a listen to new tracks Thunder and Untitled (which we adore), in the widgets below.

Limavady hardcore lads Axecatcher have been catching quite the fancy among genre fans in Ireland since their download single The Odalisque unveiled a raw and unhinged hardcore sound, stylistically indebted to bands like Every Time I Die, but taking lo-fi production cues from the genre’s DIY roots. It is these crucial elements that are dialed up on this, their debut physical release, taking in some rock ‘n’ roll snarl along the way.

“Grating” and “visceral” are two words that get thrown about in pressers, a lot, but they take on life in the less than ten minutes this EP takes to run its course. Circle Pit Roller Derby is dirty and direct, a d-beat blast with more swagger than should be possible at such velocity, while 50-second lasher Methuselah is just that. Seismic Toss does what it says on the tin, and if it doesn’t send bodies flying live, it’ll truly be a dead crowd. Meanwhile, EP centrepiece Youfinder distills everything about the band into one goer of a track, relentless and seeing the band tear voice and instruments apart in a flurry.

Short, sharp and to the point, the four-piece have laid a foundation for better things here. Any sort of long player or further exploration of Axecatcher’s oeuvre would lend itself to brevity anyhow, so complaining about the brevity of Sparks & Spears is likely too much. Otherwise, a venomous statement of intent that you’d be a fool to miss.

There’s feck-all here tonight at Nancy Spain‘s. The side-street, hill-top bar’s stone interior rings with the laughter and banter of the assembled core of Cork gig-goers, but ’tis Wednesday night in Cork City, lads.

Not that Terriers care. They’re among friends and aren’t shy of making small talk with the handful in attendance, openly discussing the band’s rehearsal arrangements, and among other things, Seb‘s lunch the following day. All this, of course, inbetween songs in a newly-refined set, with authoritative stick-work courtesy of new drummer Ted (he of Lamp). The whole E.P. from last year gets aired in its entirety, tightened up here and there with different fills thrown in, and in the case of early demo/bonus track Get Over Here, altered entirely, retaining its intro and from there almost unrecognisable, the hints of cheeky indie displaced in favour of raucous post-hardcore. It works. New tunes are aired also, the most notable of which is a mid-paced stomper entitled We’re Coming to Save You, the story behind which is teased before ultimately remaining a mystery. It’s a good shout all the same. A great set from a band coming back from a prolonged quiet spell.

North Shore post-hardcore lads Axis Of aren’t deterred by the turnout, either, it would seem. On the road and launching debut album Finding St. Kilda, the band is in a mood to showcase its pragmatic noise, and do so they do with admirable gusto. More than a match for Terriers in the banter department, the boys regale the remaining handful of people with stories of previous excursions to Cork and address the few people that leave mid-set (“All the best, lads! Right, so we’ve got rid of the posers, we have the optimum crowd now!”).  It’s been a long road to get this LP out, as they remind us, and while the set is sadly bereft of single Port Na Spanaigh, blasts of noise like Aung, and singalong highlight Mendelssohnstrasse keep the pace of the set up. Not taking the attendance as an excuse to half-arse anything, Axis Of instead give us a loud and lairy set in their inimitable fashion. More for us, I suppose.

Axis Of’s debut album, Finding St. Kilda, is out now on Small Town America. Get a wee listen below.

Drop-d: The Sleep of Reason isn’t too ambiguous a name, really, a lot of the album seems themed around a lot of more backwards or traditional elements in society today, as particularly demonstrated in, say, Stem Cells. Was the album always intended to be a comment on the stasis in Irish society and the general state of affairs?

Rupert: Not just Irish society… human society! Yes, after Red In Tooth & Claw I wanted to develop the science versus superstition even further and distill it into a more focused and articulate attack/commentary. I think we achieved it. I didn’t want to be subtle anymore as this shit is getting serious. Civilisation is at war with bad ideas.

D: The album is a bold step forward from your first, it seems that there’s more of everything distinctive about BATS, yet more finely balanced. Were there any conscious ideas for a “heavier” album or to place more emphasis lyrically on what are now established BATS themes?

R: “Heavier” wasn’t a word we used, but “darker” certainly was. Sequels should always be darker. We wanted this to be our ‘Wrath of Khan”. At same time as being darker though, it’s still just as catchy, if not more so. I think alot of the darkness comes from the subjects discussed, as well as the melodies and soundscapes.

D: Speaking of themes, you’re probably blue in the face by now of journalistic overemphasis on science in your music. Obviously, it’s an important part of it, but do you ever get sick of journalists using it as an easy point of access or perhaps overstating its role in the art you create, using it as a talking point?

R: Quite the opposite. I welcome the use of science as an access point when talking about BATS. I wish journalists would do it more! Because the fact of the matter is, conversely, BATS is an access point to SCIENCE! I feel the most important thing we can do with the band is the promote science and reason. It’s basically the primary function of BATS in my eyes. The opposition gets quite enough promotion. And although more and more people are standing up for science, reason and free-thought, we still have a long way to go!

D: Have you ever gotten shit from interviewers or reviewers for the views you’ve expressed on the records?

R: No! I wish! Perhaps we shouldn’t be writing such niche music if we wanted God-botherers to hear and complain about it. I suspect some correlation between enlightened thinking and alternative music listeners/journalists. Now if Taylor Swift came out with a song called “God Loves Murdering Babies”. Maybe we’d see some backlash. That would be cool.

D: A wee side to all the hubbub has been the emergence of MoonCleanser, Rupert’s sideproject with members of Down I Go. Two tracks debuted recently, both of which seem very rooted in an ongoing concept. Will we be hearing more from MoonCleanser?

R: Nothing planned at present. Ben lives in America and Alan lives in Canada so geography’s against us, I’m afraid. Those were actually recorded along time ago at this point. However I have another project with Vinny from Adebisi Shank called Speed of Snakes that will be released in a few months.

D: With the demise of the Richter Collective, what next for BATS’ future physical releases, if any? When did you find out that The Sleep of Reason would be its last release and what was your reaction?

R: We found out a couple of months before the album came out. It was upsetting but not wholly surprising. It’s become harder and harder than ever for independent labels to sustain themselves. People just aren’t spending money on music like they used to. And with things like Spotify etc. the desire to purchase physical copies has been seriously undermined. Which is grand if you’re a hugely successful artist, but for us little folk it’s a death knell. I would encourage people to support artists as much as possible.

D: Any word on festival spots this summer? Looking forward to your UK excursion next month? Any plans for the latter half of 2013?

R: We’re playing 2000 Trees festival in Oxford in July, so that should be cool. No Irish festivals planned yet but hopefully we’ll get a few. Really looking forward to the UK tour. We’re playing with some great bands like Them Wolves and Shapes.

D: Who is Wolfwrangler?

R: The wolfwrangler is a scientist. The wolf represents nature.

BATS have just finished a run of Irish dates. Their newest album, The Sleep of Reason, is out now on the Richter Collective, and streaming below if you’ve missed it…