Month: June 2017

Applications are now open for Dublin’s first Rock Camp for girls, running this Summer from June 27th to July 1st. The camp provides a positive, non-competitive environment where 20 campers, aged 18-24, will learn to express themselves through a unique programme that combines music tuition, collaborative workshops and a refreshing DIY spirit.

20 Campers: 5 days
> Form a band; Write a song; Learn an instrument; Perform on stage
> Previous music experience not required

Non-profit group Girls Rock Dublin (GRD) are part of a movement of rock camps (Girls Rock) started in Portland, Oregon, in 2001 and now in more than 100 cities worldwide. Driven by the desire to achieve gender equality in the music industry, Girls Rock helps women and girls build self-esteem and find their voices through collaboration in a fun, inclusive environment. Music is the means through which the movement seeks to create a positive impact at both a personal and community level.

Sponsored by MusicMaker, Sound Training College, Some Neck Guitars and Full Aeon, the first GRD camp will be hosted in premium Dublin music facilities Sound Training College and Temple Lane Studios.

Run by an all-woman team, coaches and volunteers include musicians active in the local independent music scene (Niamh Farrell from Ham Sandwich, Naoise Roo, Bitch Falcon, Jess Kavanagh from Barq, Fierce Mild, Maija Sofia and more).

In line with the global movement’s ethos and mission, GRD value diversity: applicants from socially underrepresented groups are welcome. Two scholarships will be granted to applicants with low income.

The camp is for people who self-identify as women (trans* and cis) or gender non-binary, aged 18-24.

Applications are now open at www.girlsrockdublin.com/the-camp/.

Future camps and events for younger and older groups are currently being planned.

For enquiries, to join as a volunteer or to support the project as a sponsor, please reach out to
girlsrockdublin@nullgmail.com or through www.girlsrockdublin.com/contact.

More about GRD:
Website: www.girlsrockdublin.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/girlsrockdublin
Twitter: www.twitter.com/girlsrockdublin
Instagram: www.instagram.com/girlsrockdublin

‘Cotton To Silk’ is the new single by award winning alt-folk band Tupelo and presented against the backdrop of a busy year of live shows in 2016 that included the USA, and the continent, especially Norway, Denmark, Holland & Belgium where the band is particularly popular. In parallel James & Kevin were also working on the band’s third album.

The still to be titled album is penciled for release later this year. ‘Cotton To Silk’ is a stunning album taster and shows how the band’s music is evolving for its previous two long plays. Various friends of James & Kevin feature on this track including Rob Malone (David Gray), Jerry Fehily (HotHouse Flowers), Brian Connor (RTE Concert Orchestra, Van Morrison), and Julia Haile (hailing from Kansas City, and singer with The Buhs). Previously the band has also enjoyed having Shannon Shannon, and Eleanor McEvoy amongst others record with them also.

Tupelo at its core is comprised of Dublin man James Cramer and Mayo’s Kevin Duffy. The band’s name is taken from Van Morrison’s iconic track Tupelo Honey. Tupelo likes to encompass a variety of musical backgrounds and styles. The band’s sound has evolved from more acoustic trad based of the earlier years to its now fuller electric indie / alt folk fusion. The listener can decide themselves how they wish to categorize the sounds. Music is subjective after all.

With two albums behind them of original music written entirely by the band’s singer, James Cramer. In recent years Tupelo has played sold out tours in Denmark and Holland, festivals and shows in Ireland, UK, France, Belgium, Norway, Russia and most recently the Kansas and Michigan Irish festivals in the USA. The band’s energetic and the solid encouragement of crowd interaction during the shows, has led to the enhancement of the band’s live reputation and the sold out show stats it now enjoys on the continent and elsewhere!

Signed to Crashed Records, in addition to its own sold out shows internationally, in recent years Tupelo has also enjoyed performing live on All Ireland Hurling Final day in Croke Park and strong airplay both here at home both at independent local & national radio together with strong support from RTE Radio 1, and BBC Radio 2 in the UK.

“…Grade A acoustic musicianship…”
Jackie Hayden

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Tupelo a great band from Dublin. They have a wonderful sound, great musicianship and fantastic songwriting. They have a rootsy sound of great mixtures from blues and country to trad. They move the audience from mood to mood with ease from heartfelt patriotism to pure good auld fashioned fun with their brilliant songs. With their lead singers charm and the bands sense of fun they’ll have you in the palm of their hand. What more could you want?”
Imelda May

“A Refreshing Irish/Americana blend, part-traditional, part-Nashville with a trickle of folk…beautiful.”
Sunday Times

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/tupeloireland
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/tupelomusic
YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/tupelomusicireland

Road Wives, otherwise known as Jack Quinn, is a DJ, producer & recording artist, who cut his teeth on the club circuits of Dublin, France, Spain and the US. In 2015, he teamed up with his brother, producer Declan Quinn (exRepublic of Loose) to start recording new material. June 2017 sees the release of his EP ‘This is Happening’ with the single Miracles as the lead track.

Jack wrote, co-produced, sang and performed on all tracks along with some other choice guest talent including CC Brez on guitars & bass, Zamo Riffman (Sing Street) and Eve Macklin (Cats, Les Miserables) on backing vocals. Road Wives performs live shows with a band as well as DJ sets.

Hotpress.ie called his debut 2016 single “This” “a brilliant electronica 80’s stomper” and later featured Road Wives in their ‘Rising Act’ section in the magazine. RTÉ Entertainment online called the single “The coolest new Irish track you’ll hear all week.” His track “It’s OK to Lose It” featured in RTE’s smash show Striking Out, starring Amy Huberman. Road Wives also went down a storm on the Earthship Body & Soul stage at Electric Picnic 2016.

Website: https://roadwives.tumblr.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoadWives/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roadwivesmusic/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6WKNG5gH2pivrJRGs8kf7w
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7D0vMdFSLG98oddC1XftoZ
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RoadWives

Congratulations to Katie Carpenter and Gary Burke on winning Clancy Brothers Songwriting Competition 2017 with their song ‘Like Home’.

Katie and Gary, who perform as Jezzebelle, played their winning song at a concert in Carrick-on-Suir at the Clancy Brothers Festival on the June Bank Holiday Sunday. Runners up on the night were Declan Carruthers with ‘Shots at Dawn’ and Siobhán Franks and Rob Shiels with ‘Don’t Let Me Go’, and the concert was headlined by folk singer songwriter and former member of the Clancy Brothers group, Robbie O’Connell.

‘Our song ‘Like Home’ is a very special song for us and it holds great personal memories so it has made the win even more special’, said Gary. ‘We wrote it for my sister and her husband who were married last November. The wedding was in Florida so we wanted the song to embody that beach feel. Danny and Natalie are very close to their families and home, so we wanted to give the song a good heart and a feeling of something big happening for them. The lyric is full of images of their planned ceremony and lives leading up to that point, it’s all about the love.’

Katie and Gary, from Dublin, win €500 sponsored by IMRO and the Clancy Brothers Festival, recording, mixing and mastering at Crossroads Recording, Kilkenny, and CD duplication by Duplication Ireland. The runners up each received €250.

‘The Clancy Brothers Songwriting Competition is such an important competition’, continued Gary. ‘It’s all about the music and run by people who support and love original music, and it gives songwriters an outlet and an opportunity to write and perform original songs. We love the fact that all finalists receive both a prize and stage to play their original songs. The Clancy Brothers are such an immense part of musical history, both in Ireland and internationally, so having it in their name brings another level of achievement to the contest’.

Katie Carpenter and Gary Burke are currently writing a new batch of songs and plan to record later this year. First stop: Crossroads Recording Studio in Kilkenny. The duo is constantly gigging and about to embark on a 2 month cruise residency in the Gulf of Mexico. Their winning song can be heard here, and you can learn more about the duo at www.jezzebellemusic.com.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Clancy Brothers Festival, ‘A Song for Carrick’ was launched this year, a new competition category inviting songwriters to submit songs about or connected to Carrick-on-Suir, the home of the Clancy Brothers. ‘A Song for Carrick’ finalists also performed their songs at the Clancy Brothers Songwriting Concert with Frank Callery, from Tullahought, Co Kilkenny taking first place with his song, ‘Alleys Run Down to the Quay’, winning €200. Runners up were Jane Ross Fallon, (USA), with ‘Tragedy at the Old Bridge’, and Darragh McDonagh, (Sligo), with ‘Diamond of Carrick-on-Suir’ who each received €50.

Rushes debut single “Wild High”  is released now through Diffusion Lab’s in house label, DFL Records who has artists like Soulé, Jafaris, AikJ and many more on their roster.

An alluring blend of electro-RnB infused with smooth wavy vocals and perfectly polished production.With “Wild High”, Rushes launches himself into the eye of the music industry with the intent of being heard.

Contrast would be the best word to describe singer-songwriter/producer Rushes. Growing up in a small rural town in Ireland isn’t something you normally associate with soulful cutting edge electronic sounds. The time had finally come for Rushes to fly the coop and explore his opportunities by moving to Dublin permanently to refine his craft and link up with innovators who understood his vision.

In 2017, Rushes joined creative collection Diffusion Lab, who has the likes of Soulé and Jafaris in their ranks to bring his diverse ideas alive. Rushes draws inspiration from artists like N.E.R.D, D’Angelo, Frank Ocean, Radiohead, Jai Paul, Kanye West, Marvin Gaye and Prince but never limits his sonic palette.

http://dflrecords.com/

Released ahead of David Virgin’s “The Beautiful Album”, the single and music video, The Weir, is a celebration of natural beauty, produced by Rohan Healy with the help of Leslie Dowdall (In Tua Nua), who not only added her iconic singing voice to the track but also lent her skills to orchestration and production. The track also features the talented, up and coming harpist; Caoimhe O’Farrell.

The theme of the Beautiful Album, due for release summer 2017, is is mostly poetic, melodic David Virgin compositions, produced as duets utilising the significant talent of Ireland’s foremost female artists. This includes multiple award-winning singer-songwriters Kate Dineen, Leila Jane and Elga Fox, with more exciting artists to be announced in the lead-up to the album’s release.

The principle musicians on the album are Al Quiff (double bass) and Rohan Healy (guitars and additional instrumentation), better known as alt-country and ragtime duo, The Dublin City Rounders, of Busker Abu and The Voice UK fame. A departure from their usual antics, the lads have joined their Dublin-born father David, performing on and producing this special family album. While the stage names may differ, David, Rohan and Al all belong to the notable Healy music family.

Hanging in the Bridle Bar of the Aras an Uachtarain (official residence of the President of Ireland) are the framed, original, hand-written lyrics of one of David Virgin’s songs. He was instrumental in the creation of industrial music in the late ‘70’s with his group SPK in Australia. He has lived the world over and in a career spanning four decades has performed with the likes of Mary Black, Nick Cave, INXS, Lloyd Cole, Billy Bragg and Cat Power, to name a few.

“The Beautiful Album” will release physically and digitally Summer 2017 with a launch show to be announced. The Weir is out now and available to purchase on Bandcamp: https://davidvirgin.bandcamp.com/track/the-weir-feat-leslie-dowdall

Rusangano Family’s new single, “I Know You Know” was recorded in Clare with Bob Gallagher coming on board to direct the video.

Released on 16th June, this is the band’s first release since winning this year’s RTE Choice Music Prize for their 2016 debut album ‘Let The Dead Bury The Dead’.

“The track is about how we all face various challenges in life, and our inability to speak about these issues. In one sense, it’s about opening up and engaging in conversation”.

The single will be launched next month in D-Light Studios with a screening of the video, spoken word performances from MuRli and God Knows, a DJ set from mynameisjOhn and a talk by Blindboy Boatclub on mental health in Ireland.

“We wanted to do something special around the release, and knew that a strong visual aspect was important. James Kirwan kindly got on board and supplied some artwork. We reached out to our friend Bob Gallagher and asked if he would work with us on a video. Bob had some exciting ideas and decided to walk from Dublin to Limerick to chat to us about them.

We decided to have an event. We wanted to launch the video and track properly, but we also wanted to have an event that makes people think, talk and open-up. We asked D-Light Studios if they would support the event and allow us to host a launch there. They kindly agreed. We asked Blindboy Boatclub from the Rubberbandits to come along and give a talk around the idea of mental health in Ireland, and he kindly agreed”.

Fresh from a rigorous workshop with filmmaker Werner Herzog in Cuba director Bob Gallagher undertook a journey on foot from Dublin to Limerick, conducting interviews and seeking participants:

“I wanted to perform an open- heart surgery of the land. Werner kept re-iterating the phrase ‘the world somehow reveals itself to those who travel long distances on foot” so I wanted to test that for myself. The core of the project is about engaging in conversation, and addressing things that are uncomfortable to say, but shouldn’t be. Truth should be freeing, not bound by fear or stigma. What started out with the goal of being more open about mental health on a personal level has expanded to include a lot of people who were willing to join in that conversation, which has been very inspiring.

It made sense that we would create a video and put on event that brings people together to think, talk and open up. Our ambition with this is that the conversation has a life beyond the video and the event. It should be a starting point and not a conclusion”.

Rusangano / Bob Gallagher / D-Light Studios present
‘I Know You Know’ Video Release Party – Wednesday 14th June
BYOB / 7pm
@ D-Light Studios, 46 North Great Clarence Street, Dublin 1.

There is no cover charge for this event, but donations on the night are greatly appreciated. To apply for tickets please email iknowyouknowevent@nullgmail.com (numbers are limited).

Rusangano Family are – MuRli, God Knows and mynameisjOhn.

Rusangano Family Tour Dates

June 9 – Carlow Arts Festival
July 29 – Labyrinth Presents Rusangano Family @ Project, Waterford
June 22 /23 – Luminato Festival, Toronto, CA
Aug 5 – Beatyard Festival, Dun Laoghaire

http://www.rusanganofamily.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RusanganoFamily/

In celebration of the release of his new single, “I Believe”, Kormac is inviting his fans to create a summer remix of the track.

Written by Kormac in his Dublin studio last year, “I Believe” combines spiritual jazz and old gospel recordings with a modern, electronic touch.

Now, the multi-instrumentalist and DJ is handing the stems over to you, the fans. The winner of the competition, selected by Kormac himself, will get their remix released to his extensive audience (including 80,000 monthly listeners on Spotify).

Stems and all terms and conditions can be found at: www.djkormac.com/ibelieve

Get mixing – remixes will be accepted until June 23rd!

Jealous of the Birds is the solo project of hotly tipped Irish songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Naomi Hamilton.
​
Hailing from County Armagh in Northern Ireland, Jealous of the Birds emerged from the vibrant suburban folk scene, alongside acts such as Ciaran Lavery and Silences. Naomi quietly unleashed her debut EP Capricorn in March 2015, where her wonderfully understated bedroom indie-folk won her an ever-growing legion of support. The entire EP is a stunning lo-fi collection of tunes recalling Girlpool, Karen Dalton, Cat Power, Laura Marling and even The Moldy Peaches at times.

Her debut album Parma Violets, matched introspective indie-folk with fiery post-punk. Equal parts light and shade, the songs are poignant and vulnerable, bursting with honesty and raw passion. Describing her music she has said; “My only hope is that the songs sound like a real friend talking.”

This new song, “Mrs Dalloway” is a development of Naomi’s songwriting, arrangement and production ideas and was written after listening to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles.

Naomi on Mrs Dalloway:

“It grew out of my fascination with Virginia Woolf’s novel and the dichotomy between how a person presents themselves to others and how they actually feel. Part of Mrs Dalloway’s desire to be the perfect party host is motivated by the need for a distraction from her turbulent inner life. That’s something I often recognise in myself and other people which coloured the song.”

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3S8P24WjZtVNaPLeXjaCJm
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzlhLTZUJIs0Z5XUOHwXayQ
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/jealousofthebirdsofficial
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/jeliofthebirds