CONCERTO FOR CONSTANTINE: A BRIEF HISTORY 2007 – 2008

Posted in General Tickets There Blog, Music with tags , , , , , , , on July 21, 2009 by Tickets There

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Ireland has always had a reputation for great music. It’s been part of tradition and heritage for as long as any one can remember. However, another more recent element of this tradition is many of our acts getting lost in time and passed over for the sake of another group. Off course this is a common occurrence in the rest of the world and not just an issue within the Irish scene. Unlike other countries though, Irish people embrace American and English music far more than their own. Our country is small too sustain many acts due to most Irish people’s lack of interest in their local scene and therefore these bands are under pressure to make it in England and America or simply disappear if they can’t. With the exception of Aslan, very few bands can survive by touring and releasing albums in Ireland alone.

Therefore, I decided to write up a small piece of my favorite group on the scene at the moment Concerto for Constantine. While the members of the band have all carved out their own place on the Irish scene, they are now working together for something much bigger. National and International acclaim.

The band comprises of Mark Greaney (former vocals and axe man for JJ72, a very successful Irish group for the late nineties/ early millennium). Mark managed to amount great success in his time with JJ72 as they released two albums, selling nearly a million copies, and toured the world for years. An astonishing feat, especially considering that JJ72 was formed while all the members were still in the middle of their leaving cert. Unfortunately, JJ72 ran into difficulties. Original bass player Hilary Woods left to peruse a college degree and a family in 2003, leaving remaining members Mark and Fergal Matthews to carry on with her replacement Sarah Fox. The band appeared as if they were on a hiatus for two years while they wrote and recorded their third album. They returned in 2005 with a single She’s Gone and a tour in support of its release. Later in the year they released a second single entitled Coming Home and promoted it by doing a tour of small venues across the UK and Ireland culminating in a main stage slot of Donnington’s Download Festival.

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In early 2006 JJ72 split under the frustration of issues with the release of their third album. Mark carried on working on solo material after the split and even went on a UK tour in support of Simple Kid to preview some of the material. While Mark was writing material for his solo début in New York, he received a call from old friend Gavin Fox that lead to the formation of Concerto for Constantine.

‘Even, Mark at one stage hinted that I might join JJ72 and play guitar on tour with them, but at the time Turn had just formed and were kicking off and JJ72 worked well as a three piece. Eventually the chance came up when I left Vega4. Mark was in New York working on his solo album and I gave him a call and said ‘Let’s do this, lets form a rock band now‘ – Gavin Fox, 2008.

Gavin Fox has an equally full experience on the music scene as Mark. Gavin first came to prominence with Irish indie legends ‘Turn’. The Kell’s group formed by Ollie Cole, Gavin and Ian Melady in 1998. Gavin spent roughly four years with Turn before leaving to join Idelwild. Like JJ72, Turn experienced many issues from the start of their career with the record industry. Although their first three singles and first EP (Facedown, Beretta, Beeswax and Check My Ears) all came out in quick succession, they were self financed and uncomplicated. It was their début that marked the start of Turn’s problems. (2000’s Antisocial). The album gained high acclaim from most critics, however, lack of endorsement from their label (Infectious) and no advertising or promotion budget forced the band to leave the label and once again try on their own. In 2001 the ‘In Position EP’ was released on their own ‘Nurture‘ label and once again put the group back in the Irish spotlight. Although once again the band didn’t have the funds to advertise or promote the album outside of touring.

While recording their follow up ‘Forward’ in late 2001, Gavin got a call from ‘Idlewild’ with an offer to join their group. Frustrated with Turn’s lack of growth, Gavin left to join the Scottish Rockers and remained art of the group for over four years. After Idelwild, Gavin joined ‘Vega4’, a London based group which he played in for just under a year. It was after leaving Vega4 he decided to call Mark.

The line up was completed by Paul ‘Binzer’ Brennan after an invitation from Gavin to come down and join himself and Mark for a rehearsal. Although Mark had never met ‘Binzer’, he was welcomed with open arms to the group on their first meeting. Paul has played with some of ..Ireland.. best acts and on many famous recordings, including ‘The Frames, Dance the Devil’ and ‘Bell X1’s Music in Mouth’ to name but two. He has toured and recorded with other acts such as ‘Paddy Casey, Mundy, Gemma Hayes, Halite‘ and many more.  His experience and talent behind the kit made him the perfect choice for Concerto and completed the lineup.

Concerto started rehearing new material and songs that Mark had been working on for his sole release were shelved as the band decided to turn back to their roots and starting writing music based on their influences (Early 90’s alt/rock such as ‘Nirvana’, The Pixies ad The Smashing Pumpkins) while also giving the songs a more modern touch. Rehearsals started in late August 2007 and the band started writing and recording demos’ instantly. In September, they were invited to perform on the 2FM 2MORO 2OUR. A nation wide showcase held twice a year in order to give new groups a platform to play their music in front of live audiences and promote themselves. It was this invite that promoted the band to consider a name for their new group that properly reflected their new sound.

‘We were confirming the details and they asked ‘what’s the name of the band’ because they were doing up posters for the tour, so I said yeah it’s ready I’ll call ya back in a couple of Hours‘  – Mark Greany 2008.

The name was completed by using ‘Concerto for’ which Gavin had seen on ITunes while scrolling through song names and completed by ‘Constantine’, A name the Synonymous with a recurring dream Mark’s mother had been having for years about a young boy walking a lobster (on a leash) on a beach at night while a voice calls the name ‘Constantine‘ from beyond the sand dunes. Marks mother had told him only the week before the 2FM call that she had the dream again and Mark felt it was a sign.

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Concerto for Constantine continued rehearsing and on the 28th September, made their radio début on the Jenny Huston show on 2FM. The band played two tracks acoustically which were recorded live on air. On the 15th November 2007, the group played their first live show at the Sky venue, Portlaois. The band later claimed this to be the worst show of the tour. They played a further 10 dates on the tour in venues across Ireland. By the end they had established a basic fan base.

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The group spent a further two months rehearsing and recording before returning to the stage. The future single ‘Minsk’ was recorded between December and February’. An early version was posted on their Myspace along with four other songs ‘Gaps, Killing Fields, WASP’s and Cat’s Cradle’. However, this version was replaced by newer recording featuring a much raunchier bass line. In late January, the band announced that they were invited to support ‘The Smashing Pumpkins’ at their Irish dates in Dublin and Belfast (9th and 10th February 2008 respectively). They were also invited to support ‘The Futureheads’ for a one off show in Sligo’s newest venue ‘The Clarence’. The Smashing Pumpkins support slot fulfilled a life long dream for Mark who had come close to supporting Billy Corgan on to previous occasions while he was with JJ72. The band even managed to find three stage props for the occasion. Three box’s made to look like Amp heads with each word of the bands name in ‘Georgia’ font, that lit up.

During the Pumpkins support slot, the band announced their first headlining show at Dublin infamous rock bar ‘Fibber Magee’s’, an event organized by ‘Muzzle Music’. On February 22nd the group took to the stage playing nine songs, the five that had been previewed on their MySpace and four un heard tracks, ‘Silver, Falling, Everything and Knife’. The show was sold out and promotion for the night included everything from posters and flyer’s to stickers. It was considered a triumph and the band wasted no time announcing another headlining show in the same venue on the 17th March 2008, this time for ‘Secondlife.com’ who were web casting the show. They were also confirmed as special guests for 2FM’s ‘School of Rock….’ showcase. A competition for younger groups to play in a large venue and win prizes such as vouchers for musical equipment and recording time. Concerto played the event on the 9th March making it their second appearance in Whelan’s and also their second day time show (the first being the Village on the 25th November as the last date of the 2FM 2MORO 2OUR).

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Unfortunately, the second headlining show in Fibber’s didn’t capture the magic from the first. The promoters for the event hadn’t advertised the show anywhere and there wasn’t so much as a poster put up about the performance. There was also an issue with stage times as the band were originally scheduled to appear at 8:00pm. However, the pub was next to empty (being St. Patrick’s day and a Monday, most people had finished drinking at 18:00 in order to be able to work the following morning. Instead they went on-stage at 10:30 and played for just under an hour. Their performance was further hindered by problems with Gavin’s Bass head and the lack of a crowd.

The following day, Concerto embarked for London to play two shows, the first at The Dublin Castle (March 18th), a legendary underground venue for Indie and rock talent. The second was at Club 229 (19th). Both shows were described as a massive success.

On March 11th the band announced their first headlining show in Whelan’s on April 15th. The event, which is being promoted by MCD and Phantom FM is the set to be the biggest headlining show the band have played to date. The are also set to play the IMRO showcase on the 11th of April in The Sugar Club. They also announced on the 8th April that they have been asked to support The Enemy at their show on the 9th in Dublin’s Ambassador.

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08-04-2008 Update:

Concerto for Constantine have gotten ‘Minsk’ remixed by classic JJ72 and Turn producer ‘Marc Carolan’. The original recording and mix of ‘Minsk‘ was done by ‘Neil Mitchell’.

After only eight moths together the band have already achieved more than most bands with records and more dates under their belt could dream of in their first two years. Some critics of the band base this on each members already established reputations on the scene. Although this has made thing go a little smoother for the group, it would be very wrong to deny that their music isn’t up to scratch for the offers and acclaim they are receiving.
Fans of the band are hoping to see some material released in 2008 such as an EP or even a full debut album. In the mean time, the band are content with promoting themselves through their incredible live performances which show the work they have been putting in during breaks between shows. They have also amassed an albums worth of material which can only be added to over the year.

Concerto played their first full headlining show in Whelan’s and blew the place away. The venue was packed and the upstairs section had to be opened to deal with the amount of people who turned up. They played 12 songs with ‘Minsk’ opening and closing the show (I assume they played Minsk twice as a result of running out of songs and also to ensure the audience got to hear songs they knew as they still have no Single, EP or album for sale) They truly pulled out all the stops for what I can only describe as their best performance yet.

27th July 2008: OXEGEN Update.

Concerto have played four shows in July without much noise surrounding any of them. The biggest was their début performance at Oxegen. They opened up Saturday in one of the tents and I’m told there was a massive crowd in attendance. The word is (from people who’s taste I respect) that they were stellar and played a fantastic show.

However, the other ‘official report’ from Ireland’s leading U2 fanzine ‘HOT Press’ that they weren’t much of s spectacle. Read Stuart Clarke’s words below.

(Intro about finding an undiscovered gem in the morning and bragging about watching their show with 50 people when their headlining a stage next year)

Unfortunately for me (and therefore for you), the bands I happen upon in the early hours – namely Concerto for Constantine are unlikely to trouble such heights, mainly because their both pretty boring: the former throw all the right shapes but make none of the right noises.

Stuart Clarke – HOT Press Vol:32 Issue: 14, p.40.

This follows on from their last bad review in the Independent by infamous music knocker John Meagher (indecently a man who thought the Flaws released the greatest Irish album last year…J).

Check it out – http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/uninspiring-constantine-a-sight-for-sore-eyes-1352872.html> John Meagher’s Review @Independent.ie

With two of Ireland’s leading respectable Music writers against them, Concerto will have to continue to prove themselves as a band for some time to come.

**Whelans Review**

Whelan’s – April 15th Set list:

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  • Minsk
  • WASP’s
  • Cats Cradle
  • The Last Swim
  • Falling
  • Everything
  • Knife
  • Silver
  • Gaps
  • Killing Fields (With a drum solo intro)
  • Death in Lisbon (Instrumental)
  • Minsk (‘One for the Road’)

Fibber MaGee’s – Feb 22nd 2008 Setlist:

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  • Minsk
  • Wasps
  • Cats Cradle
  • Silver
  • Falling
  • Everything
  • Knife
  • GAPS
  • Killing Fields

Concerto Gig History: (Tickets There attended gigs in Bold – Pictures and Set lists available)

2007

Nov 15 – Sky Venue, Portlaoise
Nov 16 – Electric Avenue, Watherford
Nov 17 – Cyprus Avenue, Cork (All Ages Show + Evening Show)
Nov 18 – Trinity Rooms, ..Limerick..
Nov 19 – Roisin Dubh, Galway
Nov 21 – Left Bank Sligo
Nov 22 – Spirit Store, Dundalk
Nov 23 – The Stables, Mullingar
Nov 24 – Whelan’s, Dublin
Nov 25 – The Village, Dublin

2008

January

Jan 31 – The Clarence, ..Sligo.. (Heineken Green Sphere’s supporting The Futureheads)

February

Feb 09 – The R.D.S., Dublin (Supporting the Smashing Pumpkins)
Feb 10 – The King’s Hall, Belfast (Supporting The Smashing Pumpkins)
Feb 22 – Fibber Magee’s, Dublin (First Headlining Show) *(See Set list above)

March

Mar 09 – Whelan’s, Dublin (2FM School of Rock show)
Mar 17 – Fibber Magee’s, Dublin (St. Patrick’s Day Show)
Mar 18 – Dublin Castle, London
Mar 19 – Club 229, London

April

Apr 09 – The Ambassador, Dublin (Supporting The Enemy)
Apr 11 – The Sugar Club, Dublin (IMRO Showcase)

Apr 15 – Whelan’s, Dublin (First Headlining show in Whelan’s)

May
May 08 – TBC ***Postponed***
May 09 – The Trinity Ball (Trinity college Dublin)
June
18th June – Red Bull Oxegen Promo Tour – Waterford (Venue TBC) (This show seems to be cancelled)
19th June – Red Bull Oxegen Promo Tour – Ennis (Venue TBC)(This show seems to be cancelled)
20th June – Red Bull Oxegen Promo Tour – Letterkenny (Venue TBC)
21st June – Red Bull Oxegen Promo Tour – Belfast (Venue TBC)
July
12th July – Oxegen
13th July – T in the Park
October
3rd Oct – Andrews Lane Theatre (With the Aftermath, Phantom Show).
18th – The Ambassador, Dublin (Oxjam 08)
November
20th – Heineken Green Spheres – Crane Lane Cork
28th – The Academy (DJ Set Only)

2009

February

28th – Radio City (Revolver), Dublin (With The Aftermath)
March
1st – The O2 Dublin, Supporting Snow Patrol
15th – The O2 London, Supporting Snow Patrol
April
25th – Radio City, DJ Set Only

Recording’s

Four songs were recorded for a 2FM Live Session in September 2007. ‘Gap’s’, WASP’s, Killing Field’s and Cats Cradle‘. All current recordings are considered Demo’s and will be rerecorded for any official release.

‘Minsk’ was recorded between January and February 2008 and produced by Neil Mitchell. Two versions were mixed and previewed on MySpace. On the 7th April 2008 a new mix of the song was posted to MySpace. Mark confirmed this version had been mixed by long time JJ72 and Turn producer ‘Marc Carolan’ who now mixes songs for ‘The Cure’ and ‘Muse’

On April 10th, Minsk was released as a free download on Phantom FM’s official website,

Minsk @ Phantom FM

There has never been any official word of Demos for ‘Silver, Falling, Everything or Knife’ although it’s more than likely that all four songs have been recorded for demo’s along with other unheard tracks especially considering Binzer’s comments about the support slot for ‘The Enemy’….

‘We figure it’d be a good opportunity to road test some new tunes for our Whelan’s gig on the 15th‘ – Binzer April 8th 2008On the 29th May, Concerto confirmed on their MySpace that they have spent the time since Whelan’s writing new material and getting ready to enter the studio to record their ‘first proper single’ the following week.

On August 18th, Binzer posted a blog on MySpace stating that Concerto or now preparing to record their debut album and are hoping to head into the studio in October/November, Currently the band haven’t confirmed if they have a decided on a studio or a producer yet.

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TURN – A History: 1998 – 2006

Posted in General Tickets There Blog, Music with tags , , , , , , , , , , on July 18, 2009 by Tickets There

TURN – A History: 1998 – 2006

Dedicated to everyone that made t  

Oliver Cole | Ian Melady| Gavin Fox

Alan Lee | Ciaran Kavanagh | Terry McGuiness |Martin Quinn | Fiona Melady

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“It’s All Over Now”

16th July 2006, Oliver Cole, lead singer of Turn, posts a blog on the bands MySpace announcing that the three piece have decided to call it a day, citing personal and professional circumstances as the main reasons for the breakup. After eight years of line-up and record company changes and many up’s and downs, the band finally had enough and thus ended one of Ireland’s most critically acclaimed, accomplished and talented acts.  In their time together, they managed to release three studio albums, three EP’s and several singles as well as playing almost every single venue and major Festival Ireland has to offer, including several slots at The Point Depot, Witness and Oxegen. Their mix of alt rock and soulful song writing won over almost everyone who heard their records and their raw/energetic and always engaging live shows cemented a devoted fan base. From their first show in Da Club in Dublin to their very last in Sligo, December 2005, they gave it their all on stage every night and in the studio.

Writing about the origins of Turn is a done thing at this stage. When they started off in 1998, their reputation ad popularity grew so quickly that 11 years later, the internet is still awash with interviews, early stories and press releases. But any good history has to give all…..well, most of the facts so bear with me.

Oliver Cole and Ian Melady grew up in the small town of Kell’s, Co Meath. Both of them had played in bands in their younger years and had developed tastes for all kinds of music. Ollie is well noted as originally being influenced by bands such as AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. The first live show he ever saw was Thin Lizzy and this set his dreams of becoming a rock star into motion. As with most kids, the metal phase wore off and a new door was opened by the Pixies whom Ollie caught on TV one day when he was home sick from school. Ollie was captivated. The Pixies represented a mix of the hard sound he’d grown up with and a softer, more melodic side that he yearned to produce in his own song writing. Everything seemed to make sense all of a sudden and he realized that bands didn’t have to play one style or the same riff for ever.  Ollie’s first foray into the band world was handling singing duties for his brother’s band, Black-Hawx when he was sixteen. Apparently Black-Hawx played spandex, Slayer metal but I think any recordings the band made have long since been destroyed by Ollie. The group disbanded after a short spell together and his brother moved to Boston. Soon afterwards, Ollie moved to Dublin in search of a real band to join.

At the same time Ian Melady and his sister Fiona were discovering their own musical abilities and tastes. Ian learned to play drums while Fiona concentrated on piano and they both worked at song writing. Ian’s first band, Little Palace managed to achieve some measure of success and released two warmly received EP’s before disbanding. Little Palace was also home to future Turn collaborator Martin Quinn.

Swampshack | Revelino | Nero

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Ollie and Ian first played together in Swampshack, another relativity successful band on the verge of bigger things before breaking up. Founded in late 94/early 95, Swampshack managed to release a EP and single in the year they were together. Playing bass duties in the band was John Mulvaney. Despite playing tours with Teenage Fan club, Soul Asylum and Ice-T, the band parted ways and cited ‘musical differences’ as the cause. Ollie admits to taking the breakup badly and rather than forming a new group, he shied away from the ‘band’ idea and reportedly spent two years on the dole playing chess and smoking dope but still writing material. He had also gotten a job in The Factory Rehearsal Space where acts such as U2, David Bowie and Def Leppard used to practice for European tours and store equipment which gave him much of his technical experience and introduced him to a massive variety of industry contacts. Ian on the other hand, went on to join Dublin band Revelino.

While working in the Factory in 1996, Ollie met Gavin Fox, a young bass player from Dublin on work experience. The pair became inseparable and shared a love for music, chess and general mayhem.  Gavin was playing in a band called Nero at the time and Ollie and Ian had just rejoined forces and had started searching for a bass player. As the story goes, Gavin was asked to fill in on the drums for Ian one day because he couldn’t make a rehearsal with a new bass player they were testing out. Not happy with the new member, Ollie and Ian decided to drop him and Gavin suggested he jam with them until they found someone permanent. According to interviews with Ollie, the first song the three lads played together was I Still Believe and suddenly everything felt right. Gavin made the decision to quit Nero and concentrate on playing with Ollie and Ian full time. Since Gavin also played Guitar and drums, he was able to contribute to the song writing which strengthened his position in the group and ensured he became a key contributor to defining Turn’s sound. Years later Ollie admitted that one of the factors that led to Turn’s demise was Gavin’s exit from the band and the song writing duties falling solely on him. Ollie and Gavin shared a love for raw, energetic rock and the trio really started to connect after rehearsing a few times and band started to prepare for the next step.

TURN

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After a handful of rehearsals the band really started to connect and wasted little time before settling down, perfecting their songs and lining up gigs. Ollie and Gavin’s strive for perfection ensured the kinks in their sound were worked out early on and new songs were written and laid down to a T in record time. The band started to line up shows around the country after playing their first gig in Da Club, on South William street in Dublin. According to Ollie there was about two people in attendance. Thanks to Ollie’s connections and the bands infectious sound their second show was playing support to Teenage Fanclub in the Olympia, quite a step up for a new bands second live show together and a tribute to how well the band was performing so early in their career. The band quickly started to focus their attention on the U.K. market with all three members knowing how hard it is to make it big by staying in Ireland. They decided to balance out their raw, slow, heavy sound by adding some theatrics to their live show. This included wearing custom made suits and light makeup. The band feverishly continued writing and rehearsing new tracks such as Beeswax and Gav and Anne.  Not too long after forming, Ollie suffered a massive electrical shock from a mike stand (Reports of the incident vary on where the shock happened. Some suggest it was on stage and others report it was during rehearsals) . The shock was so powerful it left burn marks on his hand and even dislocated his shoulder meaning he had to visit a chiropractor for regular treatment. This incident led to a bout of depression which led to some major life changes for the singer and also altered his song writing and outlook on life. Rather than take the shock as a bad omen or let it develop into a fear of playing, Ollie started to write faster, heavier material while still keeping with the same basics of song writing as before. Tracks like Beretta and Facedown started to become fast fan favourites for the group and they finally had enough material to make a stab at showcases around the U.K.

In 1998, the band started to make regular trips to London to play on stage with several other bands each night in order to try and secure a record deal and cut a name for themselves in one of the toughest cities in the world. The band describes these visits and essential to the band early success but also some of the hardest shows they’ve ever played. Not being able to afford a roadie or any assistance, they used to use all their money to pay for travel expenses over and back, lugging all their equipment by hand and setting up every night by themselves. This left them drained and exhausted before most of the British shows and sometimes affected the performance. Despite this, the work started to pay off and the British Press started given the band a good deal of attention and their profile started to increase. After one show, a PR from Infectious Records approached the band and said the label might be interested in working with the band. Knowing their live strength was at it’s height in Dublin, the band asked if Infectious would be interested in travelling to Ireland to see them play to a home crowd. Less than a year after forming, Infectious signed the band.

Facedown | Beretta | Beeswax | Check My Ears

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With things moving along for the group, they were given a new lease of life and they continued to play shows across the UK and Ireland, primarily showcase gigs in the UK. In 1999, the band travelled to Wales to record their first proper batch of material (although they had started recording demo’s in Oct. 97)  at Rockfield Studios with Hugh Jones at the helm. At this point, they recruited Ian’s sister Fiona into the band to add more depth and power to the songs. Fiona because a short lived member and departed from Turn shortly after recording was completed but did manage to stay on board to play some of their bigger live shows in order to fill out the bands performance. The band worked for 15/16 hours every day to perfect the recordings. In the biography release by Infectious Records, Ollie Cole remembers these sessions as being quite gruelling.

“I felt really self-conscious”, he says. “Like I was getting too much attention. So I started drinking lots of beer and smoking.  It helped. I just started going into the studio and singing along to the big speakers with no headphones. It was kind of trial and error.”[1]

The sessions resulted with enough recordings to start releasing their first material. On February 13th, 2000. The band released their first single Facedown, on their own Nurture label. Despite it being one of the least obvious choices for a début single, the band jumped to its defence by claiming it as being the “final jigsaw piece” that promoted them to record more.

“When we signed the deal with Infectious, in many ways it still meant that we had to make it happen, not them. ‘Facedown’ is probably the least obvious and strangest choice for a single we could make. ” [2]

“Facedown ties the whole new Turn, old Turn together I think. It sums up that whole time perfectly, when we affected change in ourselves as a unit. The album was nearly there and ‘Facedown’ was the final jigsaw piece that spurred us to record more, even though it’s not on the album.”[3]

Gavin also claims the release was a tactic to stop the band being labelled in the media,

“Facedown was released first so that people couldn’t pigeon hole us“[4]

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Despite a record deal under their belts and building up a respectable fan base around Dublin, mainstream television and radio stations continued to ignore the band and refused to give then any attention except for Phantom FM who got behind the band after the release of Facedown. Again wasting little time, the band released a follow up single in April 2000. The fast, had hitting Beretta quickly secured new fans for the group and was featured on several compilations and promo CD’s. Like Facedown, Beretta was only publicly released as a limited edition clear 7” vinyl by the band. This only added to their underground status and their records quickly sold out due to high demand for their material. In order to continue their success, the band released a third single in May 2000. Beeswax was already a firm favorite among their fans and was also one of the earliest songs the band wrote. Again, it was released only as a 7” and added to Phantom’s playlist. Beeswaxs’ release was followed by their debut EP, Check My Ears, which was a compilation of the three singles and their B-Sides (Truth, Never Needed and Plan, respectively).  The EP was a great success and finally gave Turn a CD format release to sell to a wider audience. Things were going brilliantly for the band and a successful tour around England with Seafood and Wilt in March/Aril 2000 had now provided for their very own fan base in the UK. Melody Maker, Hotpress, NME, Rock Sound and several other publications got behind the band and continued promoting them regularly. Turns crowd started to grow at home and abroad with every show and they still strived to improve every aspect of the band so things wouldn’t waver. The band spent the rest of the summer playing shows and recording material at Roundhouse Studios and Thomas Reed’s pub in Dublin. After 12 months of grueling work, single releases and non stop touring, they were finally ready to release their debut album.

Antisocial | Too Much Makeup | The Christmas EP

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“Antisocial is the best indication of where we are now, for me it’s the best song we’ve done, maybe because of the strange music. Gav (Fox, bass) and Ian (Melady, drums and all-star backing vocalist) are playing a real off beat and I’m playing the most complicated guitar playing I’ve ever done. Something happened with that song. I broke through a wall or something, all of a sudden I was playing a different style and it’s probably the most representative of what the next album might sound like. ‘Queen Of My Heart’ is great. Hopefully we can release it as a single in November or December, although the record company might want to re-release ‘Beretta’ but I hope we don’t have to, you know, if people know it they do. If not, they’ll get to know it. I don’t want to go down a Muse path and release it a dozen times or something. So we’ll see.”[5]

Antisocial was officially launched at the Temple Bar Music Center on the 6th of October. It was met with critical acclaim in both Ireland and the UK. The hard work put in by the band had paid off and a wide range of music publications including Kerrang, Hotpress, Melody Maker and many others gave the album glorifying reviews with an overall agreement that Turn had managed to reproduce their energetic live performance in the studio. After the albums release, the band continued touring around the UK and Ireland to promote it as much as possible. The first official single from the album, Too Much Makeup, had come out in August and proved to be another great success among fans of the band. It seemed things couldn’t get any better for the trio and the buzz that surrounded the band was only getting stronger and stronger. They finished off 2000 by touring extensively which carried into early 2001 and even managed to release a mail order/gig only EP entitled The Christmas EP which featured Teen Star and a cover of Aerosmiths Sweet Emotion. For the remainder of 2001 the group returned to the studio to begin writing their next album and only played a handful of major festivals and showcases including the legendary SWSX Showcase in America.

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By this time relations with Infectious records were turning sour and the label refused to put any financial backing behind the group. Hammered by a lack of activity for the first time since they formed, the band started to become frustrated and after a few months they eventually parted ways.

Nurture Records | In Position | Another Year Over / Summer Song

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The split with Infectious was Turn’s first serious set back but they didn’t let this affect them as much as other bands would. Rather than parting ways and trying again separately, they regrouped and decided to go down the D.I.Y. route. They started touring again in late 2001 and in March 2002, the band released it’s third EP, The In Position EP on their very own Nurture label, which was once again well received by the media and the bands loyal fan base. Despite the maturity of song writing on Antisocial, In Position saw the bands sound develop even more and songs like Catch On You, Heart attack and the title track became massive fan favorites. Being on their own gave them complete control and freedom over their music releases and tours. They followed In Position by releasing a double A-Side single, Another Year/Summer Song in July 2002, which went into the top 30 in its first week. The band continued touring constantly and continued recording tracks for a second album. A nationwide tour of colleges and venues around the country helped push the single and once again it became a favorite on Phantom FM while Another Year Over took over from Too Much Makeup as their live closer. Once again everything seemed to be falling into line until another tragedy struck the group.

“There was always tension when making a Turn record and it was really nice not to have that”[6]

While recording their second album, inner relations in the band started to rapidly deteriorate and shortly before the mixing stage was complete, Gavin Fox received a phone call from up and coming Scottish rockers Idlewild who offered him a poison in the band. With Turn on the verge of cracking anyway, Gavin decided to jump ship and take a golden opportunity while it was on offer. He played his final show with Turn on New Years Eve 2002. Gavin’s departure from the band was a much bigger shock to the band than any of the events beforehand and the one the Ollie took mostly to heart. At the time, he was the glue hoping the trio’s relationship together and the end looked pretty close for Ollie and Ian.

Fortunately, Ollie’s girlfriends’ (Danielle Harrison) band, Skindive, were just after breaking up so he roped their bass player in to handle bass duties for the final mixing stages and the proceeding tour. Alan Lee was officially introduced as the new member of Turn in 2003 when the band started playing some live shows, including a slot on the 2003 Heineken Roller Coaster Tour around Ireland’s colleges, in order to generate some hype before the release of their second full length record.

Forward | Alan Lee | Martin Quinn

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Forward brought about a change in the band. They had stopped wearing the full suits on stage in the previous years and had also ditched the makeup. Now Ollie started wearing leather jacks and Jeans while the other members dressed casually. Turn had lost the theatrics they worked hard on in their beginning and more and more, let the sher power of their performance speak for itself. The release of Forward in March 2003 saw the band achieve their best reviews to date and even managed to reach number eight in the Irish Charts after just a few days of sales.

They launched the record in Dublin’s renowned Vicar Street venue with special guests Mundy and Bell X1 (Turn would return to Vicar street in September 2003 to return the favor by supporting the Bellies at their Music In Mouth Launch), and played a set mostly comprised of material from the new record, a lot of which they had been keeping to themselves in order for it to be a surprise. From the stage, Ollie and Ian were both visibly relieved at the sell out crowd in attendance with Ollie even joking how their road manager (Terry ‘Batman’ McGuiness) had remarked there was only a handful just before the band walked on stage. New songs such as Cant Keep Waiting, Harder, Ain’t It A Love, Dumb As It Is and Even Though instantly became smash hits with the crowd and stood up considerably well beside the old favorites in the ensuing tour. Turn were firmly back on top and doing it by themselves. They followed the launch gig with a nationwide tour consisting of ten headlining shows, all of which were sold out. Press interest started to kick off again for the band and interviews, articles and reviews started popping up everywhere. Forward was one of the most popular Irish albums of 2003 and both Turn and Ollie ranked highly in Best Album and Best Songwriter categories in several Irish publications. Although the success didn’t carry over to their once thriving UK fan base, Turn were once again strong enough to make another stab at the big time, despite the absence of a record label. Their Irish fan base increased dramatically by word of mouth and they returned to play slots at the summer festivals and show case shows including the opening of Dublin Venue, The Village which they headlined with Paddy Casey.

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Turn spent much of 2003 on the road and commenced on an even bigger nationwide tour in September. They enlisted x-Little Palace guitarist, Martin Quinn for the shows, to help boost their live sound. Much like they did with Fiona years beforehand. Martin’s presence with the band enabled Turn to perform a greater selection of their material which otherwise wouldn’t have had the same impact , such as Heart Attach, You Got Style and No More. Along with their own headlining shows, the band also hit the road with the Frames and played several large headlining shows in Dublin, including a headlining slot in Whelan’s.

 

TURN | Ciaran Kavanagh | Setanta Records

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Turn toned things down in 2004 but did manage to play a headlining tour in February/March, most notably, a sold out gig in The Village on Wexford. Once gain the band faced line up issues as Alan Lee left the group. Although Alan was a long time friend of Ollie’s and was more than capable of handling bass duties, the band never seemed to connect as well on stage as the original line up. Ollie had also lost his song writing partner and friend when Gavin left. On stage, Alan and Gavin couldn’t have differed any more. Gavin’s love for classic 70’s rock stars had sharpened his performance to perfection. When ever a technical problem that even slightly threw them off, he’d be on top of it and when everything was running smoothly, he was every bit the iconic rock star he strived to be. Alan on the other had didn’t hold such a presence on stage. Off course being the new member in an established band is never easy and Alan also didn’t get to play with the band for as long as Gavin but the difference was noticeable on stage and the regular banter previously passed between Ollie, Gavin and Ian was now restricted to occasional moments between Ollie and Ian. In June 2004, Alan was replaced by Rags bassist, Ciaran Kavanagh in mid 2004 and made his live debut with the band at Oxegen a month later before Turn fell off the radar. For the rest of the year, Ollie continued writing and recording material for their third, and what turned out to be, final album.

“The writing process was never the same after Gav left. I was doing a lot more writing by myself and bringing completed songs to the rest of the band. We weren’t rehearsing as much as we used to either, so songs were not coming out of jams anymore. People always seemed to be in a hurry somewhere else[7].

The mood in the band was bleak by late 2004. According to an interview with Ollie in 2007, the band weren’t rehearsing nearly as much as they used to and Gavin’s absence from the group was adding a major strain to the song writing, leaving Ollie to write all of the material for their third record. Ollie even admitted that he tried leaving the group around this time. It was beginning to seem that every time Turn managed to get one step ahead in the business, they were instantly brought two steps back and this habit was taking a major toll on Ollie and Ian’s friendship and working relationship.  The situation had gotten so bad that Ollie had stop writing ‘Turn’ material and had started on more acoustic melodic music instead. Things were on the verge of collapse for the band until a saving grace arrived which boosted them enough to make one more stab at success.

When Turn signed a deal with Setenta records in early 2005, everything seemed to be back on track. Ollie, Ian and Ciaran went into the studio to record the follow up to Forward with the hopes that they might get support in the UK once again, something they hadn’t enjoyed since before the release of Anti-Social. Working between the legendary Grouse Lodge Studios in Westmeath and Joe’s Garage (studio owned by Def Leppard lead singer, Joe Elliot) in South Dublin, the band readied the most radio friendly album of their career. The band only took time out to play the 2005 Oxegen Festival where they attracted a massive crowd for a mid day tent performance. Songs such as It’s About Nothing, Stop. No One’s Gonna Change Your Mind were a step in a very different direction that Turn fans were used to. They dropped the dark, raw sound of Forward and the heavy/blistering energy of Antisocial and Check my Ears and instead focused on more poppy songs with a catchy chorus. The band also brought back the idea of wearing suits and promotional pictures appeared featuring Ollie and Ian decked out in white suits and new hair styles. It looked like Turn were being groomed for success and also looked like they really had the goods to tap into the chart world.

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Turn, their self titled third album was released on the 23rd September 2005 at a launch gig in the Village. Their set relied almost entirely on new material and in the proceeding promotional tours, many of the standard Turn classics began to disappear from their set lists. Tracks such as Beretta, Too Much Makeup and Ain’t It a Love completely disappeared, much like Beeswax, Facedown and Never Needed had years before. The album was met with massive critical acclaim, even managing to attract the attention of Irish pop mogul Louis Walsh who praised the new direction. Turn followed the launch with a massive tour of the country that included their own headlining shows and Irish support slots with Weezer(The Point) and Bell X1 on their tour for the massive selling Flock album. The group was now appealing to a much wider audience and their success started to grow all over again. Promotional tracks It’s About Nothing and Stop became regulars on several radio playlists and their support shows gave them exposure to a new breed of Irish music converts who were brought into the scene by Bell X1.

Just when tings were starting to look bright for the band, they got another surprise. On the 30th of October, at the last show of the Bell X1 tour in Sligo, Turn joined the Bellies on stage during their encore to play a cover of David Bowies We Could Be Heros’ and brought with them a special guest. Decked out in black jeans, a black top and Ciaran’s White suit jacket, Gavin Fox made his return to the group. There was a roar from the crowd at the sight of Gavin on stage again with Turn after a three and a half year absence. A few weeks later, Gavin was officially back in Turn and the band announced a December tour of the country.

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The tour proved to be their final effort together. Despite Gavin’s return, Setenta records refused to put any further financial backing behind the group which meant they couldnt release any singles from the album or make any promotional video’s. It also meant they couldn’t travel abroad to the UK or the states to promote the release of Turn there and the band was once again back where they started. The shows themselves proved to be a big success but the mood of the band was beyond the point of saving. Their last show together was in Sligo at a venue called The Left Bank (formally The Garvogue) and for the first time in years, the stress of the last seven years was clearly visible. With technical issues (Their sound desk blew during rehearsals and had to be replaced with one that hadn’t been used in over fifteen years) and a half full crowd, Turn made a shambolic scramble through some of their greatest hits before concluding the set with a blistering and reworked version of Beeswax. It turned out that this was the night Ollie decided he had finally had enough of the chaotic, up down world of Turn and privately made the decision to end the group.

“As some of you might have already guessed, at the end of this year Turn will call it a day.”[8]

On July 16th Ollie made the announcement that Turn was finished and the band were to go their separate ways after one final farewell tour which sadly never took place.

2006 – 2009

2009

 

‘The label we signed to was a joke and we really should have just brought the album out on our own label as we had with “In Position” and “Forward”[9]

Having done nothing together from January to July 2006 before their breakup, Ollie was now solely concentrating on his solo material while Gavin had moved on to join London outfit Vega4 in December 2006 while Ian took a break from playing with a band. None of the bane did much press about the breakup and it wasn’t until December 2007, at the 2FM 2MORO 2OUR showcase in Whelan’s that Ollie finally spoke about the real reasons behind the bands demise. In an interview with Claus.com, Ollie openly discussed the frustrations of the previous eight years, the inter turmoil among the band members and his new solo career. On the same night, Gavin also appeared with his new group, Concerto for Constantine which he and Mark Greaney, formally of JJ72 fame, had formed together a couple of months beforehand.

2008 saw Ollie start to make his live return, playing the HWCH festival and a handful of support and headlining shows around the country. Meanwhile, Gavin and Concerto For Constantine started to attract a massive underground following very quickly and played a handful of sold out headlining shows in Fibber Magee’s and Whelan’s along with a slot at the HWCH festival and the 2FM SKool of Rock.  They also went on to play an early slot at the 2008 Oxegen as well as support shows for The Smashing Pumpkins and The Futureheads. They also managed a trip to London to play a couple of nights over there in order to grab the attention of a label rep. Currently the band are recording material for their first proper studio release with a summer 2009 date on the cards. Ollie is still working on his own solo material and reportedly has three albums worth almost fully recorded and ready to go. He spent much of the summer 2007 in Germany recording songs which will also guest star members of Bell X1 and Therapy. Currently Gavin Fox is filling in on bass duties until he finds a permanent member for his live band. And finally Ian has also made a return to the live circuit with his original band, Little Palace (also featuring Martin Quinn) and they’ve been in the studio and on the road re-building their profile and a solid fan base.

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Conclusion

Turn’s story is like many Irish bands but there is still a lot to learn from their years together. Although the story of new bands being mis-handled and left to rot by their labels is as old as the recording business it’s self, Turns constant determination to struggle through the hard times for as long as they did should act as an inspiration for any new acts in this country. Despite some bad times, the bands dedication and commitment to each other paid off more often than not and the future for all three members holds great things judging by their solo projects. Whether the original line-up will ever re-unite seems unlikely at the moment but for almost ten years, Turn gave Ireland a truly great band we could be proud off and call our own.

[1] 2000. Infectious Records Biography | http://www.turnwebsite.com/biopress/bioinfectious.html

[2] Feb, 2000. Hotpress Interview with Oliver Cole | http://www.irishmusicdb.com/t/turn/turn_pre2.htm

[3] Oct, 2000. Claus.com Interview with Oliver Cole | http://www.turnwebsite.com/biopress/bioinfectious.html

[4] 2000. Gavin Fox Bio | http://www.turnwebsite.com/biopress/bioband.html

[5] Oct, 2000. Claus.com Interview with Oliver Cole | http://www.turnwebsite.com/biopress/bioinfectious.html

[6] December 2007. Claus.com Interview with Oliver Cole | http://www.cluas.com/music/features/ollie-cole-turn-interview-8791.htm

[7] December 2007. Claus.com Interview with Oliver Cole | http://www.cluas.com/music/features/ollie-cole-turn-interview-8791.htm

[8] July 16th 2006. Blog Post on Turn’s official MySpace | http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=4471165&blogId=145122710

[9] December 2007. Claus.com Interview with Oliver Cole | http://www.cluas.com/music/features/ollie-cole-turn-interview-8791.htm

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MYSPACE REVIEW – THE DELORENTOS

Posted in Music, MySpace Review with tags , on July 2, 2009 by Tickets There

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Keeping the momentum going for the special 100th post announcement, here’s Tickets There’s second MySpace Review of the day. The Hassel Merchants weren’t too bad so let’s see how The Delorentos work out.

I haven’t seen them live and haven’t heard their album.

Right, gonna start by apologizing to readers outside Dublin, I picked four names randomly this morning and am determined to get through them all. I only just thought it might have been cool to pick an act from each province Ah well, I’m set in my ways now but may do that again some day. Actually, it might be cool if I cut back to using just to frames on the image. Ya know, one for positive reviews and one for bad ones so you know by the picture what I thought. Nah, on second thoughts that’s not a good idea. Lets move on.

First up is a nice little indie number, You Can Make Sound. It doesn’t waste much time jumping into things and actually sounds quite professional. Honestly I didn’t this band were going to be worth mentioning but a minute into the first track and I’m intrigued. Sounds a little like a band trying to find that idie/hookey pop sound that the Killers and The Flaws strive for (Yes I know there’s no comparison, fuck off. Tickets There doesn’t like either of them anyway).  

All This Time is up next and instead of writing and listening; I kicked back for this one and thoroughly enjoyed it. At first I was preparing for another boring indie/love/wank wanna be but was proved ever so wrong. A good, quiet little number. Two good tracks in a row, I think this may be unchartered territory for Tickets There. I’m not a huge fan of the Coldplay sounding vocals but it isn’t prominent all the way through the song and they sound believable enough to pull it off. Do You Realize brings things back to the dance floor style. Again, that Killers kind of riff is there but fuck it, it’s Sunday and they’re fun. Time to kick back and listen again.

Basis of Everything brings us past the half way mark and once again the band go for the up beat sound. The opening riff is pretty catchy and the only criticism I can make is that they still opt for that generic pop/rock feel that’s everywhere at the moment. Think of the Future Kings of Spain in a reallly good mood. Still though, when a band does something well they deserve credit and the Delorentos do it well. I’d be willing to bet they’re a great act to catch live.

Eustace Street is second last and the intro has that great, bare but full sound I love (Jape – Nothing Lasts Forever kind of thing…without the Piano and samples). Nice simple bass riff and pretty good. I think the main thing making them stand out from most of the other rubbish out there is their ability to construct a song really well. I’m so sick of all the acts in this country who wouldn’t know a melody ..oh, never mind. About three minutes into Eustace Street, a great guitar riff kicks into overdrive. Really good. Shame we’re onto the last song. Stop closes things of and again, it’s a track designed for dance floors. Snare drum and bass offer a gentle frame before the guitar kicks in. Very happy musically and a good un for tapping your foot too.

Tickets There is impressed. As I said, I was pretty sure they were going to be crap and even though it’s not my particular brand of musical enjoyment, they are pretty good at what their doing. Hopefully they’ll mix things up in the future and invest themselves into offering something new. It’s the only way to stand out lads.

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MYSPACE REVIEW – THE HASSLE MERCHANTS

Posted in Music, MySpace Review with tags , , , on July 1, 2009 by Tickets There

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Ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time again. Welcome to another Tickets There MySpace Review. The Blog that searches through Irish bands, picks one and random and lets you know if their worth checking out or just another over hyped, under talented pile of wasters. Today’s choice is Dublin locals, The Hassle Merchants. They describe themselves as Energetic alternative puck and apparently won Connected Magazine’s Band of the Year award in 2007. So, with the bullshit PR out of the way, lets get down to brace taxes.

As almost usual with these reviews, I haven’t seen them live (that I know off, don’t remember them anyway) and haven’t heard their album (if they have one).

OK, first song on their MySpace is Friendly Neighbourhood Scumbag. I won’t lie, I like this song title. I also like the intro. Nice acoustic downer in little bursts with a good bass’ed up kick drum, pounding away slowly. Oh, things go a little way wire about a minute into the song and things start to sound a little scattered. The verse is pretty good but the bridge is a little too familiar for my tastes and the chorus starts well but then goes into a nah, nah, nah kind of bollocks and won’t just let loose. An amateur lead guitar and bad production really shit on things more and more towards the end. Little boring and not what I was hoping for. Still a good title though.

Boy Go Home’s up next. Very empty sounding but that’s just the affects. Vocals sound a bit better, kind of a Drop Kick Murphy’s number but not as good. Ah, there’s the bridge again, boring. Chorus sounds like a thousand other bad punk songs so that kind of gives the game away. I can see what they’re trying to do but it aint working.

The worst thing about modern punk bands is that they still try and recreate that anger, angst, rebellion and anarchist spirit kids in the mid seventies harnessed and made work, without trying to develop it. How can a music that’s over thirty years old revolutionize anything? You didn’t see the Sid Vicious sweating about reproducing Frank Sinatra did ya? Sun of A Nun is next. Again, not a bad intro. Even when things kick in it’s not too bad. Very simple and nothing worth shouting about but definitely a marked improvement after the other two songs. They actually manage to make the whole thing sound planned out on this one. The title is probably meant to be their ‘Shocking Number’ but Tickets There see’s no such infamy. Even the guitar solo manages to sound a little more polished and rehearsed this time. Yep, Tickets There is finally enjoying the Hassle Merchants. Let’s hope it carries on because I have another five reviews to write today and I don’t want to lose my caffeine buzz.  

Echoes in Empty Hall’s is next and another good intro, best yet actually. Agh God, until that fucking stupid low toned riff comes in. Bands, stop using that, it’s fucking sickening. (Anyways, In the mean time) things are going pretty well. The Libertines keep popping into my mind for some reason, even though this crowd don’t really sound much like them, I’m just getting this kind of FAKE buzz from their sound. Like their good songs are only good by accident. You can hear the Clash pouring through on this track and that only makes things worse because now I want to listen to them instead. Agh, I’m a little bored.  

Get Your Finger Out brings us to our second last track and it’s pretty bad. The main Riff is so used before, I’m pretty sure they collected the insurance payout. They’ve gone from having two relatively well constructed songs to the standards of the first two and made it a little more childish. It’s short but still manages to drag on longer than Lord of the Rings. Waiter, next song please. The final track is called Acoustic Dublin’s Screaming Murder Live (I’m sure the words Acoustic and Live were added due to this being an acoustic song preformed live. Ya see, Math and Physics mixed with logic does get you places). Now this is alright. Pretty much about people in Dublin getting shot and not much happening about it. I’m not 100% sure, but their blaming it on some pretentious cunts. Not sure if they’re talking about the Whelan’s or Odessa Club crowd on a Saturday night but I hope so. All shit aside, it’s not a bad song. Worth checking out if you’re bored and one of the three half decent tracks here.

Overall…not too bad. As you probably noticed my enthusiasm is waning a little but they definitely aren’t the worst lot out there but also haven’t matured enough yet to deserve the worlds attention. Maybe in a couple of years.

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MYSPACE REVIEW – BOCS SOCIAL

Posted in Music, MySpace Review with tags on July 1, 2009 by Tickets There

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OK, we’re at number four of the five reviews in one day countdown. Now, this next bunch of lads are from Wicklow which breaks today’s trend of Dublin acts which is nice. Hopefully you haven’t felt too inundated today with all the non stop blogging and have the patience to stick it out for another few. Who knows, I may keep doing them until I collapse with exhaustion at eight o’clock tomorrow morning. Before I use up all my intros for the day, let’s get to business and check out Bocs Social.

I’ve never seen the band live or heard their Album (if they have one)

Starting things off is the very badly named, Toasted Luv Sandwich. I’m sorry to say, this would not be top of the list of today’s tracks. Vocals are a little weak and the overall, the track doesn’t pack much of a punch. It’s quite hard to imagine anyone running about taking about how great this is but it could just be the production. Took a wee break there to see if there was anything deeper I was missing but it’s just too wishy/washy for Tickets There’s taste. Bland indie in on the way out so lets not start endorsing it now. Second track, Whoa has a much liver starts and comes across like a Madness number….and this continues as the song progresses. I should point out that Tickets There is not a reggae or Ska fan. I don’t there’s a genre I can’t stand more and this was even highlighted to Sinead O’Connor. In my defence I was set up. I was sitting with my back to her in one of my locals in Dun Laoghaire and one of the lads who knows my hatred of all things Reggae brought the subject up and watched with great amusement while I rated on and on about how crap I think reggae music is, (For those who don’t get the Sinead O’Connor element of the story, she had just released an all reggae album). Anyways, annoying song, thank god the next has started.  

24 Hours (oops, skipped one, will back track afterwards) drops the ska style and goes for a kind of Beta Band feel. My favourite of the bunch so far and it’s nice to hear one of those sixties style organs in the background. Vocals are also alot better with some good harmonies in the chorus. Always nice when a band manages to surprise me half way through a review. Right, back tracking to You Said It All (which isn’t working at the moment.…give me a sec….ok, waited long enough, will try again at the end. Fucking internet!). Aggressive Broccoli (god lads, what’s with the names eh? (Oh, and you’re one to talk TICKETS THERE? – Ed.). Again with the fecking Ska guitars. Don’t want to be too negative today and also, I think I’ve typed the words reggae and ska enough in this review so I will say that the chorus isn’t too bad. There’s a nice drive …until the verse comes back. Not too bad for a ska track but not my thing, not my thing at all. Maybe they’ll say the same about my review.

Unfortunately You Said It All doesn’t want to work for me today which is a little annoying because I was hoping it would..Oh, and it’s just kicked in. Right, no sign’s of Madness or Sinead O’Connor. We’re safe, let’s move in for a listen. You Said It All turns out to be a quieter number. Nice enough guitar picking, little summary. Not a fan of the singing, it sounds a little soulless and light and there’s too much of it. Slow moving and the fact that it’s the last one of the review doesn’t stand in it’s favour.

Would I recommend them? No, honestly there isn’t much substance here. What’s that you said, you’ve read that several times before in my reviews? Well, it’s true. Why have the Lidl brand when you can get M&S for the same price.

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MYSPACE REVIEW – STILLROOM

Posted in Music, MySpace Review with tags , , on July 1, 2009 by Tickets There

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Well it’s Monday. The worst day of the week and a time when music heads need a good, hard fucking dose if Rock N Roll!. I don’t know about you guys how there, but sub-par indie just inst enough this early in the day and hopefully Dublin act, Stillroom, can knock the depression of these reviews. As the Ramones would say, Hey Ho, LETS GO!

As usual, I haven’t seen the band live or heard their album.

Well, well, well. A decent rock band from Ireland, isn’t that nice. The whole sleaze scene is currently buzzing with a handful of hopefuls from the UK who are proving that Rock certainly isn’t dead and Stillroom are definitely a candidate for Irish competition/ First song Alright, oozes with AC/DC influence, something that can only stand to the band due to the Auzzie lads revival in popular culture. It opens with a Let there be Rock style riff. Pounding drum and shreds clanging together in the back ground while the pace picks up before bursting into hard guitar riffs and hooks, the likes Damien Rice will never see. Nothing hugely powerful but pretty strong, will more than likely improve with some stage time. Musically the song is everything a Les Paul can promise ad the only let down are the Bryan McFadden style vocals. Imagine one of the Your A Star males singing AC/DC and you’ve got it. Maybe he’ll work out after a few more Bourbons under his belt. The chorus is catchy and the shredding guitar solo is fantastic. Then things start to slow down before blowing back up with a foot stomping chorus. Really good hard pop rock. (it’s not quite hard rock and it definitely aint pop rock).

Second and final track, Addicted to Sin has more of a Guns N Roses/Aerosmith feel…without the blues. The verse starts off a little quiet before the band all rumble in with pedals on full. Another catchy chorus (and a pretty good title to boot). The bass also stands out more in this song and another ripping solo from the guitar seals the deal. Those vocals though, having a little problem with how clean they are. He’s good on the chorus’s but just sounds too fresh or something and you defiantly can believe a guy with a fresh voice is addicted to anything, especially Sin.

Overall I have to say that it’s a shame they only have two songs up. It’s great to know there’s a decent rock band playing a shit load of shows around the city. Stay tuned for a live review in the coming weeks.

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MYSPACE REVIEW – THE ANSWER

Posted in Music, MySpace Review with tags , , , , on July 1, 2009 by Tickets There

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I’ve got the horn Ryan. After a successful find in Stillroom I decided to finally go and listen to a band many, many people are talking about. The Answer are being hailed as Irelands best Rock export since Thin Lizzy and Tickets There has been surprisingly lax in it’s efforts to find out more. I just haven’t been in the mood until now. More than likely I overdid things back in the Chinese Democracy days. Anyways, let’s move on.

I’ve never seen the band or heard their album.

Fucking Great. First song On and On is a superb example of how rock bands should sound. Real great mix of blues laden guitars, harmony driven vocals and first-class crashing drums. Lets see what second song, Demon Eye’s has in store. Intro’s a little slower than the first track…until about thirty seconds in and the band comes back (didn’t I just say something similar in the last review?). Good rumbling guitars and brilliant bursting bridge before a full on, over the top- riff fuelled chorus tears the song in half. Title’s a bit silly but pretty savage. The drum beat during the verse stands out much better here than the last song and the bass belts a fantastic line over everything. Another standing ovation guitar solo filled with bends, slides and all sorts of treats brings us to the first tame moment before the chorus comes ripping back in. The singer Cormac Neeson really pulls everything together and the gaps in Stillroom’s sound seem a little larger.

Never Too Late opens with an excellent lead intro before the band kicks into a 70’s style psychedelic prelude. The Answer are actually living up to every inch of the hype associated with them and I’m suddenly very glad I didn’t see them supporting AC/DC or they mightn’t have had the same punch. Just as you settle into the seventies buzz, another spiralling solo tears the whole things to pieces as the band display their talents at writing perfect little rock tracks. Defiantly a must for any Chris Cornell fans out there. Walkin; Mat brings us past the half way mark (god, normally the good bands only have one or two track up and shit ones cant fit enough on their page). For some reason, Walkin’ Mat keeps cutting off on me. This stupid, poxy Irish Broadband piece of shit. Have tried restarting three times but just can’t get it going so let’s hop along to the best named track on their playlist, Highwater or Hell. Good, same tone as the other songs with a much rockier chorus and good heavy guitars. There isn’t much more I can say about this sound, it’s just great. While Tickets There prefers abit more aggression and profanity in its tunes, there’s no flawing this kind of rock n roll craftsmanship. A slowed down bridge supported by a pounding drum leads the way for a brief solo before….the fucking internet kicks out again. Fucking pile of shit.

The final song on the playlist is Memphis Water and it’s a live recording from Japan. Again, the band returns to the 70’s style of Never Too Late but it’s got more a blues feel this time. Surprisingly authentic for a northern Irish band writing a song like this is the new millennium. I was pretty sure it had been done but The Answer do it well, not to mention the fact that the Japanese seem to be enjoying themselves. There’s yet another savage guitar solo just a minute in which send the recorded audience into a frenzy.

Well, one of the best I’ve found since starting the reviews. My only criticism would be the lack of a seal the deal style song here. They haven’t got a Welcome to the Jungle, Sweet Child O’Mine or a Paradise City so the albums probably no Appetite. Saying this, it’s important to remember they have everything else. Hopefully things will only improve and The Answer will become the stadium rock

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MYSPACE REVIEW – JADED SUN

Posted in Music, MySpace Review with tags , , on July 1, 2009 by Tickets There

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Well, you may have noticed extensive reconstructions on the Tickets There MySpace this weekend. After toying with the notion of moving everything to WordPress, I’ve decided not to bother so I’m staying here instead. Plans are in the making to launch an actual ticketsthere.com website in the coming months but for now we’re staying put. Now, enough shameless self promotions (TURN competition agh, cough), you came here to read about Jaded Sun.

Dublin five piece Jaded Sun seem to be getting a good few mentions in the press these days. When I first heard their name I thought it might be just another indie band but apparently I was wrong. I’d been avoiding listening to them based on this but after I heard they were full on rock n roll, I decided a MySpace review was in order. So, without further filler, let’s get started. As usual, I’ve never seen the band live or heard their album/E.P.

First track Breaking Through starts like a Led Zeppelin set opener. Wow, what ever about the music being spot on, what’s most surprising is this band have a pretty savage singer. Very rare for an Irish rock band to have one these days. This track could have been ripped straight from Aerosmith’s debut with blues laden guitars, smashing drums and a steady building riff. A blues fuelled guitar solo half way through confirms this band definitely have something to offer. A pretty deadly song. What’s next?

Next song Higher has more of an early eighties rock feeling. Solid muted guitars with melodic bursts and soaring vocal harmonies that could stand out well in any arena. God, Irish bands are really starting to play rock well again. Fuck Fight Like Apes, this is the next generation. Third track Can’t Stop reverts back to the Zeppeling bluesy style during the verse, a foot stomping Aerosmith styled chorus and a another blues driven solo drive the song home. The vocals remain like a mix of early Steve Tyler and Chris Cornell (yes I know more bands but I’m not trying to be obscure, just blunt) but they don’t diversify much from the standard style. Still, this doesn’t affect things much. Fourth song Hey You has a good AC/DC kind of riff. Slow beats and alot of little lead moments fill the verse before a Rolling Stones-esque chorus give the song it’s full character. Just having a look through the gig calendar and I have to say I’m a little pissed I haven’t checked this band out before when they might have actually been playing in Dublin. The verse continues to kick on before the second chorus speeds the tempo up before a melodic bridge leaves the gates open for a piercing harmonica piece that goes on to jam with the lead guitar. Very, very, very impressed.

Unfortunately there’s only six songs and we’re at number five. Crave changes the pace completely. It starts like a sappy acoustic song with mediocre, wanna be meaningful lyrics. I’m afraid Tickets There just can’t trust a song that sounds like Nickleback wrote it. Next tune! Do It Again bursts in with all guitars rolling and the band return to what they do best, full frontal, clean sounding rock n roll. I always secretly miss the danger sound that acts like Guns N Roses bring to this sound but there ain’t nothing wrong with what Jaded Sun are doing and I think I’ll have another run through the tracks before jumping to the next review. Defiantly a band worth checking it out if you’re a fan of 70’s rock.

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MYSPACE REVIEW – THE RAPPORT

Posted in Music, MySpace Review with tags , , on July 1, 2009 by Tickets There

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Moving slowly along from the excellent Jaded Sun, I’ve had a look at my online friends and found what sounds like a great act from Louth. I’ve never even heard of The Rapport but a few seconds into their first track, I was sold.

As usual, I’ve never heard their album or seen them live.

First song Solid Gold starts like an early nineties grunge bruiser. Heavy gruelling guitars banging a slow beating riff out while gritty vocals belt out fast straight to the point lyrics. A strangely placed bridge interferes for a few seconds before a bursting sing along anthem style chorus trips in and leads to a short but energetic guitar solo to close things of. Another emptyish moment slows things down again and the song is filled out with another roar of the chorus. Not a bad little track by any means. Second song, A Certain Superficial European Humanbein changes things a little and sounds more like a hardcore moment. The song is lyrically blunt and it has more of those awkward quiet moments that are obviously placed for tension building. There are some funky bass fillers but nothing too special. The build towards the end and proceeding chorus does a good job of rejuvenating a song lacking in structure.

Third song, What Happened to the Independent Women has a little more melody than the others. I can only assume that’s one of those dodgy Zoom pedals accompanying the guitars and I’m sure a good prouder could do wonders for this number. The singer doesn’t really build the verse properly and before you know it the chorus jumps in without giving any time to get comfortable. There’s a little more sleaze in this one but the instruments just aren’t standing out enough this time and the song falls over it’s self a little. It does manage to deliver the best solo of the three tracks and the chorus feels a little more constructed as the song finishes.  

Stars May Fall brings things to an end and this time the band have dropped the gritty guitars for a cleaner intro. It’s a little slow and the first verse seems to drag on for sometime before things start to pick up. The vocals in the bridge sound a little out of tune and another Audioslave sounding chorus makes the bands sound a little less impacting. Overall, it’s probably the best structured song they have and the guitar-less moments are phased out and several complementing riffs are tossed in throughout the track.

Not the worst and much better than my criticisms make them sound. Tickets There would recommend The Rapport as a ‘one to watch’ and we’ll be looking for a live show to see how they sound in real life.

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MYSPACE REVIEW – BURNING SHADES

Posted in Music, MySpace Review with tags , , , on July 1, 2009 by Tickets There

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After a day spent watching Def Leppard Video’s, series 2 of Yes Minister and writing, I think one more review is in order before I switch the computer off ad relax for a few hours. Today we’ve had Jaded Sun from Dublin, who turned out to be one of the best bands I’ve found since starting these reviews. We’ve also heard The Rapport from Louth who have the potential to be a great grungy rock band if they keep at it and now it’s time to visit Sligo and see what Burning Shades are like. These guys have been picked because they’re online and that’s good enough for Tickets There (remember, low standards).

As usual, I haven’t seen the band live or heard their EP.

First track under the knife is Last Star and there seems to be a problem, it won’t play. OK, moving along to second track, The Soft Hours. Again, it’s not working. Time to refresh and see’s what happens.

This time I’ve had more luck as second last song, Light of the Shadows works…ah shit, its crap. Well I guess this ends my hopes for a trilogy of great bands. Just sounds like a cheap, badly produced, second hand Pumpkin/Alice in Chains number. The vocals are piss poor and the music is so dull it’s hard to believe the band could have any enthusiasm writing or playing something like this. Last but not least in the list of awful things about this song, the lyrics are terrible and the it’s four and a half minutes in length. Awful, Awful, Awful. Next song!. Nightangle is worse than the first one and the band seem to delve further into this Nirvana styled acoustic sound. Out of tune harmonies and a complete and total lack of musical ability or originality. Next fucking song, please because lads,’ I don’t feel like crying’ either.  

Splinter Vision’s intro is a little livelier than the other two. The singers voice is so ripped off and weak there’s seems little point than going further in…but this is Tickets There and we always soldier on. The Chorus is another attempt at deep, meaningful waste of space nonsense that is the defining characteristic of any shit band like this. Lyrically, the song is impotent and it’s filled with pending applications to the international database of cliché’s (much like your reviews Tickets There – Ed). Finally it ends and we can proceed with this massacre of the senses.  

Murder on the High Sea’s suggests that this next track will be a jolly old sea chantey. Instead, it’s yet another slow moving, boring as fuck acoustic number. The vocals are impossibly boring and the music is more depressing than Joy Division, with none of the talent. One credit I will give the band is this. If these guys can be a band who records material, there is hope for everyone out there. Want an extract? Burning Shades are the kind of band that make bad musicians feel better about themselves.

While they may not be the worst of the worst musically, their songs are so riddled with overly mediocre, beats, lifeless lyrics and guitars that have the character of a sock. I’m hoping next song, Anira Ramana is bringing things to an end so I can publish this piece of shit review. What can I say about this one eh? Surprise, surprise it’s awful? I think you might have seeing that coming. I am pretty much reserved to the fact that there won’t be any opinion changing tracks out of the seven they have. Once again I’m annoyed that the worst bands always seem to have an abundance of material while the really savage ones generally have fuck all. Skipping straight along to Sailors Map, Tickets There feels this has to be the end. I don’t care if there’s another song left, I cant hold out I’m afraid. Again it’s crap, review done.

Tickets There advices all readers (that means you, guy who reads these reviews) to have a listen and see what you think. Not sure if I made myself clear but the official TT opinion is this music isn’t fantastic….to say the motherfucking least but if you’re ever thinking of heading to Sligo, this music perfectly captures the ambience in that town.

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MYSPACE REVIEW – ADEBISI SHANK

Posted in Music, MySpace Review with tags , , on July 1, 2009 by Tickets There

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After the dreadful nonsense I inflicted on myself with So Cow, I decided to go back and check out another of Ireland’s supposed underground treasures. Now, I’ve seen mentions of Adebisi Shank around but aside from seeing a few photos, I really haven’t a clue about them. According to their MySpace, the band hails from Wexford, which I think is a first for Tickets There’s MySpace Review but don’t quote me on that.

Let’s go, haven’t seem them live or heard their album/E.P

Snakeships may be second on the list but it seems to want to be first so why not indulge. Fast drum intro, guitars kick in after a few seconds, defiantly nothing to hate yet. Nice electric melody that sets a good tone and they don’t seem to be rushing anything. Things break down in a good hard driven riffy break before the guitars explode back with the drums. Not too bad, certainly an improvement on the last few bands. 1.28 in and no lyrics, Tickets There suspects we have an instrumental act on our hands. Rather than sounding a little tired and boring, it’s pretty damn good. Hard, fast n heavy. Lets see how second track Horse holds up. Crunchy, scattered bass lines and some amazing guitar. Tickets sat well back for this one and rather than trying to go into detail, all I say is there is some incredible musicians in this group, really fucking good to be honest. The absence of lyrics is barley noticed as the band plough through different riffs and solo’s with ease, bringing them all together is a tremendously heavy style. Looks like ASIWYFA have some competition.

Third track (fourth on their list) Jump Cut once again stats with the drums but this time the guitars aren’t as heavy. Not the most inspiring start to a track and certainly not as ‘in your face’ as the other two but not too bad. This one sounds more like an indie number rather than metal. The problem with instrumental indie is all too often, it just sounds like a normal, wordless song rather than something that stands out clearly by itself like the previous two tracks. Ah well, could be a hell of alot worse. lets see what we’re missing from the final and first song, You Me. Well, well, well sounds good, but my net crashes once again and it keeps skipping to Snakeships.

That’s all from me then. Certainly a band worth checking out for all rock fans looking for something a little different.

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MYSPACE REVIEW – THE DEAD FLAGS

Posted in Music, MySpace Review with tags , , on July 1, 2009 by Tickets There

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I’m going to have to be honest with you all, Tickets There is originally from Sligo, Co. Arse Hole of No Where and after reviewing my first ..Sligo.. band, Burning Shades last week, I feel compelled to find an act with a little more talent and a lot less shit from my native home. Hopefully, The Dead Flags will provide me with an opportunity to reflect on Sligo a little more fondly than Burning Shades did.

As usual, I’ve never seen the band line or heard their album/E.P.

Aright, short and sweet for this one. This is my third review today and I’ve other stuff to be getting on with. First song, I Cant be Held Responsible opens with a semi-crunchy bass line before the all too familiar sound of indie guitars..ect comes in. They’ve geared towards a kind of sixties pop sound with a little more noise. The vocals are pretty annoying and sound kind of like a few cats screaming. Not the best, not extremely catchy but a marked improvement from Burning Shades (Jesus I hate that band). The song actually gets a little better three and half minutes in when the vocals start to sound normal and with a bit of rework, you could have a decent track on your hands. Lets move on shall we.

Second song, Gentleman’s Club opens with a very simple guitar riff (would you even call it that?) before the band swank in with a seventies styled rock riff. Not too bad, a little lacking in character but a huge leap forward from the first song. As the song progresses it actually starts to grow on you. Ya there’s nothing new here but what their doing isn’t half bad. It’s good old fashioned poppy rock. Maybe there’s something in these lads. You Will Never Love Again brings us to the half way point. While the song lacks the energy of Gentleman’s Club, it does show the band have a knack for writing semi-catchy tunes. It seems to drag on in places and the music is a tad stale, but I feel so relived there not as bad as Burning Shades (yes, I thought they were that fucking bad) that I’m willing to praise this crowd. I do like the downbeat chorus. Not bad.

O My Love!, O My God!! Starts off like a gospel choice. It’s a poppy little piece about some guy getting some sexy little thing and describing the goings on with such witticisms as ‘doing the no pants dance’..etc. Not great and possible something Tickets There would generally hate. Must have caught me on a good day. Also seems to really drag on even though it’s just three and a half minutes long. Before finishing, the weak, annoying backing vocals manage to kick in one more time. Last song, How Long is a little more melodic than the previous tracks. It’s not too bad, not much you can say. Other people have done it before but others have done it better. Singers voice is defiantly not strong enough to pull of the high notes.

Eh, better than some but fairly boring. One of those reviews you can read the lack of enthusiasm from.

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AC/DC – Punchestown Racecourse Review

Posted in Gig Review, Music with tags , , , , on June 30, 2009 by Tickets There

Well, Well, Well. It doesn’t get much better than this. Standing with a cold beer, with a gentle breeze watching the mighty AC/DC pile drive through some of greatest rock songs known to mankind on a stage filled with more props than Alice Coopers duffel bag.

Thanks to the fine people at Dublin bus I fortunately missed the Blizzards and more unfortunately, missed The Answer and surprisingly enough, anyone else I talked to didn’t see them either. How strange considering the majority of the Dublin fans in attendance paid a professional bus company to arrange the transport for us. Ah well. At least Tickets There was in time to see a giant moon appear on the massive screen around the stage sending eighty thousand people into a frenzy.

The roars and cheers throughout the opening video were astonishing and there are very few bands who can get away with a five minute long video about a train. With a massive explosion and a train/stage collision, Brian, Angus, Malcolm and co run across the stage and explode into Runaway Train from last years Black Ice album. Rather than lose momentum, the band continued to enthral the crowd with Hell Ain’t A Bad Place to Be and the massively popular Back In Black. New song, Big Jack sits a little silly on stage but everything’s rescued with the awesome Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and Thunderstruck. Black Ice shows it weakness beside the Auzzies classics while War Machine proves its might, sandwiched in between Hell’s Bell’s and the iconic You Shook Me All Night Long.

The band perform each song with such extreme passion and energy, you’re almost distracted from the massive props, amazing lightening set up and theatrics that fill all two hours of the bands set. From the full sized train crashing onto the stage to the massive bell Brian likes to swing from during Hell’s Bells and the massive inflatable woman for Whole Lotta Rosie, not to mention the constant explosions and the scenes of some young Irish ladies proving their here for a good time during the dirtiest den of them all, The Jack.

Being on the road for so long after such a lengthy absence hasn’t held the guys back on bit and Angus still isn’t afraid to strip of the uniform and bear his AC/DC undero’s to the world. With an explosive performance of T.N.T., A boisterous Whole Lotta Rosie and a foot stomping, cigarette smoking, fist shaking, all round legendary Let There Be Rock that includes a ten minute guitar solo from Angus that sees him running down a ramp, climb up to the sound desk roof and face the back of the arena with six floodlights reflecting the pouring rain aimed on him. Before we could leave, the band come straight back for a crowd driven Highway to Hell and a incredible performance of For Those About to Rock, accompanied by twelve full sized cannons.

All in all an incredible show. Tickets There may not be AC/DC’s biggest fan but there’s denying they put on one amazing show.

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Rest In Peace Michal Jackson

Posted in Music, News with tags on June 25, 2009 by Tickets There

Tickets There has just heard the sad news. Rest In Peace Michael, you will go down in history as one of the greatest entertainers of all time.

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Friday June 19th 1992/2009 – THE MIGHTY LEPP (Seventeen Years Later)

Posted in General Tickets There Blog, Gig Review with tags , , on June 19, 2009 by Tickets There

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Today (Friday the 19th June) is the 17th anniversary of the first time I saw Def Leppard in concert. I don’t remember massive amounts from it since I was eight years old, but I clearly remember walking into the Point Depot and being more excited than I’d ever been before. I also remember being very surprised at the fact that a band as big as them would actually be playing a show in Ireland. I don’t recall (starting to sound like Forest Gump now :D) as much about the show as I’d like and much of what I remember is just based on fact checking rather than real memory. One thing I will never forget is sitting on the balcony facing that stage with my little leather jacket on that I got in Birmingham (Leppard and Guns N Roses influence). The walls were dark and the arena felt more like a massive theatre rather than a cold empty hall. The red velvet curtains, yellow railings and trimmings and carpet added such class to the character filled Depot.

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I’ll also never forget the moment when the house lights went black, surrounding the crowd in darkness. A voice shot out from the PA as the classic Dirty Harry intro boomed out while the massive black curtains surrounding the stage lit up as strobe and laser lights exploded behind them. The stage was in the round and the curtains remained hanging even when the guitars burst out playing the opening notes of Stagefright. With the anticipation building and the curtains still hanging, things hit fever pitch when they eventually dropped to reveal the mighty Leppard just as the bridge kicked in. Classic!!

After that I don’t remember a whole pile. Same with the second show I saw them play in 1996, also in the Point. Over the years, I’ve managed to see them a total of ten times and every time they play I try to absorb everything I can so in seventeen years time I don’t have to base my memories on facts from the web.

Here’s to another seveteen lads, I’ll have a pint tonight!!

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Live Review: Man Raze, The Academy 2, Dublin

Posted in Gig Review with tags , , , , on June 18, 2009 by Tickets There

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On a quiet Wednesday night in these recession times, surprises are welcome treats to break our attention from the constant news update about how screwed we all are. Tonight there’s more than one in store as The Academy fills up with members of Whitesnake, Def Leppard and their entourages to watch Man Raze in action.

Formed in 2004 by Phil Collen (Def Leppard), Paul Cook (The Sex Pistols) and Simon Laffy (Girl), Man Raze have been working on and off ever since. Because of the members touring and recording commitments with their other bands, they have only recently managed to release their debut album, Surreal and play a hand full of shows around the U.K. Tonight see’s them in Dublin for their first ever Irish gig which they’re using as a warm up performance for their set at this years Download festival.

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Live Review: Def leppard / Whitesnake / Journey – O2 Arena, Dublin

Posted in Gig Review with tags , , , on June 17, 2009 by Tickets There

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With the arena world filling up with reformed pop bands and mediocre indie acts like Coldplay, Snow Patrol and the Kings of Leon, it’s about time the people who do it best return and show the kids what a live performance is all about. When you take two bands like Def Leppard and Whitesnake and put them in a venue like The Ambassador or The Olympia, they’ll give you an incredible show, but when you throw them into an arena, they’ll put on a concert worthy of the gods.

These aren’t guys used to playing a corner stage in a tiny venue with an acoustic guitar, they’re road trained, crowd pleasing beasts who’s command of the crowd and stage only grows with a bigger space to fill. The last time Leppard played a big show in Ireland was 1996 at the Point Depot, tonight they return to the new O2 Arena to reclaim their crowns as kings of arena rock….

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Marilyn Manson – The High End of Low (Album Review)

Posted in Album Review, Music with tags , , , , on June 4, 2009 by Tickets There

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‘Forbidden in Heaven, useless in Hell’

Anyone who knows me has a pretty good idea that I hold Def Leppard up high as the greatest rock band of all time (well, my personal favorite) but few know that I attribute Marilyn Manson as being directly responsible for my association with the music world today. How, you ask, do tell eh?? Or shut the fuck up and talk about the album maybe? Well I’m reminiscing so skip a couple of paragraphs if you don’t like it.

In 1992, I was introduced to Leppard, something I’ll write about in much more detail some other day. From there I discovered Guns N Roses, Meatloaf and Iron maiden. I was eight at the time and before these bands I had only ever heard Kyle Minogue, R.E.M., Michael Jackson, Madonna, Dire Straits and a hand full of others. In 1993, I discovered Nirvana and Green Day which left little room for Leppard and Guns. As I got older, Nirvana just seemed to make more sense and off course, for a kid trying to act like a surfer by the beech with a bunch of sixteen year olds, you had to like the coolest band or you were just a kid. After Kurt’s death, the MTV unplugged album and Green Day’s Dookie, my attention was diverted with new schools and soccer. Before long I was twelve listening to nothing but the radio on the school bus, passing no heed to the music world around me and things stayed like that until 1998 when I first heard Antichrist Superstar.

The album wasn’t really knows in Co. Leitrim and I only heard it after a new guy started in school and shock things up with his long hair and Slayers logo printed across his folder. Before him there was no interest in heavy Metal in my year, or any other can I can remember. The summer before he arrived, I’d been in London and one of my cousins had mentioned Marilyn Manson and how disgusted she was by him. Now, I had never heard of the man in my life but obviously I wanted to know more. Leitrim is quite a closed off place, even for someone who watched TV as much as me and since the internet wasn’t as prevalent as it is now, there was no-one I could ask for info about this illustrious monster. That was until (let’s call him – Metal Head 1) arrived. One of the first conversations I had with Metal head 1 was about MM. ‘Who was he? Why was he so hated? Oh, he’s a musician, what sort does he play? Metal eh, I used to like Def Leppard ya know, so I know I thing or two about metal’. Glad of someone to adopt as a protégé (or annoyed by the pesky prick asking him questions), he brought me in a very rough recording of Antichrist he made from Vinyl to Tape. The sound was distorted and muffled but absolutely incredible. Manson’s music was dark, frightening and, at the time, anything but cheesy or done before. He painted a horrifying world filled with the worst evils and bleakness man can force on its self. From the opening beats of Irresponsible Hate Anthem, to the fade out of Man That You Fear, Antichrist is one of the angriest, dirtiest, assaulting albums of all time. Sure there’s heavier out there and more graphic lyrics, but very few to compare to the tearing hatred behind Manson’s wastelands. Forget the singles and video’s, this was an album to be listened to in full, not a handful of hits that would ever fit right on a 4.99 greatest hits completion in Tesco. Needless to say I was hooked and couldn’t listen to anything else for months. Not even when Mechanical Animals was released could I stop, but eventually I moved on and spent another two or three months devoted to Animals. Needless to say, I became a fan.

Fast forward eleven years and as Billy Connolly put it, “in an uncertain world, it’s good to know that some things never change”. Manson has managed to produce another mind-bendingly great album. Although his last album, Eat Me Drink Me, managed to earn him a shocking amount of negativity, it also managed to disappoint all the emo’s looking for another album like The Golden Age of Grotesque (without a doubt, Manson’s worst to date) and lifted the public pressure a little. Instead, it saw him writing a full albums worth of unique love songs and moving his focus from the usual religious and social targets to a more personal topic. It wasn’t a typical MM release which put him right back on track as, no Manson album should be a typical MM album, it defeats the purpose. With the Billboard Number 1 phase over, he’s put the head down and managed to produce some crackin tunes with a few surprises thrown in for good measure.

The High End of Low catches Manson in rather a weird place. Instead of trying to reinvent himself as he’s done with almost every album beforehand, he’s decided to take the music back to a mid way point between Portrait of an American Family and Antichrist Superstar. It isn’t as wacky or theatrical as Portrait and isn’t as horrifying as Antichrist, just a nice even mix. Although similar in styles, the music’s over all feel is that of upbeat anthems trying to escape the clutches of hell. Twiggy;s bass is a welcome return to the band and he’s rejuvenated the overall feel of the songs. Instead of tired old Beautiful People rip off’s, The High End of Low sounds like a band working to regain their creditability…with a few misses along the way.

Right, lets get the shit stuff out of the way first. Songs like Arma-Goddam-Motherfuckin-Geddon, We’re From America and I want to kill you like they do in the Movies are not the best. AGMG grows on you but still manages to sound like a poor attempt at recreating those Beautiful People, Fight Song moments. While We’re From America and I.W.T.K.Y.L.T.D.I.T.M. have the shock value of a librarian working on a Sunday.

In sharp comparison, tracks like Devour, Leave A Scar, Four Rusted Horses, Running To The Edge of The World, Unlikable Monster, I Have To Look Up Just To See Hell and Into the Fire are some of the best songs the band have ever written. The number of different styles on this record is not typical of a Manson album as the band jumps from hard riff driven animals like Pretty As A Swastika, Arma-Goddam-Motherfuckin-Geddon to more stripped back rock and roll sing alongs like Leave A Scar and Black and White before tearing through some brooding, slow, bellowers such as Running To The Edge Of The World, Wight Spider and Unlikable Monster before confusing everything with the likes of Wow.

On first listen, this album sounds a little weak and takes several listens to adjust but it’s worth it afterwards. When released, Leave A Scar will become a major airplay song and Manson will once again surprise his audience. While the likes of Despite first sounding like laid back versions of previous songs, The High End of Low really manages to carve out it’s own identity, one that doesn’t go out of it’s way for shock value or a character behind it like previous release and for the first time since the early nineties, Marilyn Manson sounds like a band again, not a decaying antichrist leading his devotees through hell.

Well worth your attention for the next few weeks and a welcome addition to the MM discography.

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TICKETS THERE – ‘BROKE AND BLOGGING’

Posted in General Tickets There Blog, Interview, Music on June 3, 2009 by Tickets There

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After months and months of pestering different publications and E-Zines to do an interview with us, we finally had to lie…and it worked. None other that Trebor Harrington from Rolling Stone magazine, agreed to meet us over the phone and conduct a short but published interview (take that Enya!). Read on..

‘Hated by the mainstream, loathed by the independents and feared by newer bands, Tickets There has climbed it’s way from being a gag MySpace into the supremo of the Irish music journalism market‘…at least that’s what the press release they handed me says. I find myself taken aback by this interview. After spending the last year and a half working hard to become a semi-decent music journalist, my path seems to have taken several steps back. Not only had I never heard of the so called ‘God Blog’, (Tickets There), but after I looked though some posts, I still didn’t get it. What I see is spelling and grammar mistakes, hastily put together images using characters from Eyebrowy.com animations, repeated claims of ‘Championing‘ Irish music and ten times as many posts damning every Irish band under the sun except for a half a dozen or so. So, despite my lack of interest, the unresponsive nature with the lads behind Tickets There and the smell hanging in the air when I meet them (Ed – You had a phone interview Trebor. Please do not add insult to injury), I decided to go through with the interview.

According to the rest of the press release, Tickets There was started in 2007 by two of Ireland’s pioneering live entertainment promoters and sales representatives, as a voice for unsigned and local acts who weren’t getting the support they deserve or need from the Irish media. However, according to the lads, it was all originally started as a joke.

“When we started Tickets There, it waz only because we were fucking bored, ya know. Eyebrowy had based these two lads on us and we tried suing em, but they told us to fuck off. Den we realized they hadn’t gotten the rites to da MoiSpace so..Score!”

Rolling Stone: And what was your original purpose with the site when you started it?

Tickets There: We didn’t really know at first. Anto came up with the idea of adding some of the eyebrowy clips n dat to the page, let people know who we are and wat we’re up ta and shit. Then a few months went by and we started heading into some of the shows we were ehm, promoting and realized ders all these fucking deadly bands in the country ya never hear off”

Rolling Stone: But surely if they’re good, they will be heard of eventually?

Tickets There: Listen bud, your in Ireland now. Just because something’s fucking deadly doesn’t mean people are gonna like it or even hear about it. Don’t forget, we’ve had Home and Away and Pat Kenny on our screens for years and they wont go away”

Rolling Stone: What about the accusations that you illegally sell tickets for concerts?

Tickets There: Ah no, that’s shite. I mean, we used to all right but haven’t done that in weeks. Ever since the site took off in a big way, there’s been no point. Between the dole and advertising, we’re bringing in over four hundred euros a week between us. No need to sell the tickets any more. But if you’re asking, I could get yaz Slane Tickets?

Rolling Stone: No its fine, thanks. So tell me a little about how Tickets There developed. You claim it to be Ireland’s leading music blog. Quite a strong statement to make, considering the number of ones out there, how do you justify it?

Tickets There: Just look at da bleeding stats man, they’re of the fucking charts. Some days we could get up to ten hits from all over the county. That’s fucking success ya can’t measure bud.

Rolling Stone: Well, our website gets up to ten thousand hits a day.

Tickets There: Again man, you’re in fucking Ireland now. No site in dis country gets dat many fucking hits, except maybe U2.com, and that’s probably in Holland or somewhere now. It’s all politics, ya no what I mean?. The main stream doesn’t want us to succeed so they fabricate all this nonsense bout us and the site.

Rolling Stone: What are you talking about, how does that affect your blog statistics?

Tickets There: I don’t know, you’ve lost me.

Rolling Stone: Ok, moving on. I’ve read your manifesto and you claim Tickets There! to be a champion of Irish talent. Yet when I read your MySpace Review blogs, they seemed to focus more on slating the bands in Ireland and pulling them apart for bothering to get of the couch and make an effort at creating music. Don’t these ideals clash?

Tickets There: Bollocks. We don’t go out looking for bands to tear apart, they just seem to keep popping up. Da MoiSpace reviews were originally started to find random Irish bands and give them a bit of unbiased exposure rather than harping on about the select few we already like. It wasn’t meant to be about ripping every bands songs apart for our readers entertainment. It’s meant to be a real search for good Irish acts.

Rolling Stone: Was finding so many bad acts the reason you took a break from writing the reviews earlier this year?

Tickets There: Ya, we were becoming so frustrated and demoralized that there didn’t seem any point doing any more. We almost always choose acts we hadn’t heard or seen before so there wouldn’t be anything but their music to praise or criticize but after so many bands like Grand Pocket Orchestra, Fight Like Apes, Bats, We Should Be Dead..etc. Der didn’t seem any reason to continue. We did manage to find a few good ones like A Lazarus Soul, One Day International, Mass Extinction and Le Galaxie but then there just seemed to be so many we refused to go through with (Such as The Script) and the reviews ended.

Rolling Stone: Does it look likely that you’ll start doing them again soon?

Tickets There: Since we’re getting near the 100th post on the site, we decided to hurry things along a little and we did a couple of special reviews which included Bell X1’s new tracks and the new ASH single. They turned out to be fucking wicked.

Rolling Stone: Those are very well established acts in this country, don’t you think you should have given the space to a more unheard of act like the others?

Tickets There: No.

Rolling Stone: So, you’re now in your second year of running Tickets There. Have you got anything special lined up for the future?

Tickets There: Well, the main thing is our Turn History Blog which will be fully published on July 16th, the third anniversary of their split. We have a lot of surprises in store for that one including a competition to win an original 2000 copy of Antisocial and the Beretta 7″, and possibly, exclusive comments from the band. But all that’s under wraps at da moment and we’re still working everything out. Hopefully we’ll have all the details posted soon and we’ll start previewing extracts from the blog when the final copy is finished. Currently it’s over five and a half thousand words so be prepared.

Rolling Stone: Have you any plans to bring back your monthly ‘Wall of Shows’ and gig calendar?

Tickets There: We only ever really did dat when there was a good pile of shows on and this years been shite. But it will return wither this month or June. Also, the fucking Moispace calendar keeps acting the bollocks on us and deleting it’s self every bleeding time we sit down for three hours, looking through hundreds of bands for up and coming shows and that’s gets a bit tiresome.

Rolling Stone: One final question, we only know one of your names, can I ask the other?

Tickets There: Anto.

Tickets There will continue celebrating it’s 100th post with more MySpace reviews, previews from the Turn history and more in the coming weeks. Find out more @ www.myspace.com/TICKETSTHERE

Words: Trebor Harrington.

Photo: Eyebrowy.com and Tickets There Studios Inc.

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TURN – A History: 1998 – 2006

Posted in General Tickets There Blog, Music on June 3, 2009 by Tickets There

TURN – A History: 1998 – 2006

Dedicated to everyone that made

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Oliver Cole | Ian Melady| Gavin Fox

Alan Lee | Ciaran Kavanagh | Terry McGuiness |Martin Quinn | Fiona Melady

Coming July 16th 2009

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