'Ticket's There' – Irish and International Music Blog

If you’re going to start a band in Ireland there are several bench marks of comparison. Do you aim for the hard rock hero status of Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy? Or go a traditional direction and aspire to bands like The Dubliners and Planxty. Maybe, since this a recession and we’re all broke and the dreams of five star hotels, a house on the Vico Road and a stage set bigger than your national stadium appeal leaving the U2 option open. There are many choices depending on the style you want but one fundamental stone needs to be put in place first, the fine art of writing a good song.

Ireland is crammed with bands, so many that unless you’re working full time in the industry you’d be hard pushed to know them all and even then it would be a struggle. Unfortunately, a lot of our national bands expire before they ever truly get going and this is down to one simple reason, style over substance. Too many bands focus on the cult status elements of their heroes and forget that behind every Joy Division there’s a Love Will Tear Us Apart Again. Bands need to re-learn the simple art of writing songs that appeal to the masses or they have almost no chance of surviving long. To learn this art, there’s no better instructors than the legendary brothers, Steve and Joe Wall.

In their time, The Stunning were the biggest act in the country and to this day they’re remembered more fondly than almost any other rock band we’ve ever produced. In cities, tows and villages all across the country you’re always guaranteed to find Brewing Up A Storm playing somewhere every night. Unfortunately The Stunning eventually split under the pressure of international acclaim eluding them but their music has lived on a lot longer than anyone could have anticipated and each time they reform for a few shows, they pack the venues out.

Since the demise of The Stunning, Steve and Joe have been working on another musical project together, The Wall’s and hit another high point with 2002’s To The Bright And Shinning Sun. Working more as an experimentation model than The Stunning used to, The Wall’s have released two massively acclaimed albums in their 12 years together and this year looks set to see their third finally hit Irish and international shelves.

In the build up to the release, the band have put up some previews of the new material and we can happily inform you that Carrying the Fire continues the lads long tradition of writing poppy, simplistic and catchy as hell tunes. The whole track flows so nicely and it’s instantly catchy. Nothing to flaw here and an easy contender for this summer’s feel good hit.

The B-Side, Phantom Power is equally enticing. Described by the band as the song The Walls, MGMT and Flaming Lips would come up with if they were stuck in a room together. Another feel good, upbeat hit put across in The Wall’s defining stripped back coolness. It’s gentle, it’s non-invasive and it’ll stick in your head like superglue.

We’re not going overboard on the descriptions because there’s a full album to come but judging by these two tracks, the lads have something very special up their sleeves and Tickets There for three cannot wait to hear it. Young bands of the country, time to sit up and take notice. This is how it’s done.

Carrying the Fire will be available to download from thewalls.ie from 1st June.

Both tracks will be available to download from i-Tunes and most other digital store in late June. Click Here to hear both tracks on the bands official Facebook Page.

Click Here to read The Walls – Live @ The Odessa, Dublin (July 8th – Live Review)

This entry was posted on June 1, 2010 at 1:40 am and is filed under IRISH NOISE!, Music, Single Review with tags Brewing Up a Storm, Joe Wall, Steve Wall, The Stunning, The Walls, the walls 2010, The Walls Carrying the fire, the walls new material, The walls Phantom Power, The walls reviews, the walls third album. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.