Month: July 2019

People in Clare are in for yet another great musical treat with Leitrim based folk singer Charlie McGettigan set to play in Liscannor. The gig, on Sunday July 28th at the Cliffs of Moher Hotel, is part of the popular Anam Music series of concerts. 

Charlie McGettigan started his musical career in the 1960s in various rock bands in Donegal. Moving to Dublin in 1968 he honed in on the thriving folk scene there at the time. In 1973, Charlie formed the highly successful group Jargon, which went on to win the prestigious Letterkenny Folk Festival, following in the footsteps of bands like Clannad and Pumpkinhead.

Charlie has worked with artists like Maura O’Connell and Eleanor Shanley who both recorded many of his songs including ‘Feet Of A Dancer‘, ‘A Bed For The Night‘ and ‘If Anything Happened To You’.

Charlie joined forces with Paul Harrington and Brendan Graham to win the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland with ‘Rock n Roll Kids‘. He has released many solo albums including ‘In Your Old Room‘, ‘Family Matters‘ ‘The Man From 20‘ and ‘Stolen Moments‘ produced in Nashville by legendary producer Bil Vorndick.

Charlie’s songs have been recorded by many artists including De Danann, Mary and Frances Black, Ray Lynam, Daniel O’Donnell, Sandy Kelly and Hal Ketchum to name but a few.

These days Charlie tours both here in Ireland and abroad. He presents “The Saturday Connection” on Shannonside/Northern Sound Radio, a two hour programme where he previews live music and theatrical events, interviews guests from the world of arts and entertainment and plays an eclectic mix of music and song on CD. As well as serving on the Board of IMRO, Charlie is also a member of the Board of The Dock Arts Centre in Carrick on Shannon, Co. Leitrim.

Charlie McGettigan performs as part of the Anam Music series at the Cliffs of Moher. Anam was founded by Ennistymon music lover Pat Ryan with musician and Clare FM presenter Eoin O’Neill, was created to offer a unique family-friendly listening experience for people who are passionate about good music. Previous Anam Music gigs with John Spillane, Declan Sinnott and Don Stiffe attracted rave reviews and listeners are sure to enjoy what looks set to be another great evening.  

Hotel in Liscannor on Sunday July 28th at 7pm. Tickets are priced €15 + booking fee and are available online via Eventbrite.   https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/charlie-mcgettigan-tickets-63593898061

‘Footprints On The Moon’ is the second single from indie-pop artist Rowlette, which was released on July 12th. The lunar-loving artist is sharing the track on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Mission.

“I love the moon, stars, and sky. I grew up in the countryside in Co.Mayo away from the city lights and you can see literally thousands of stars. Even though the moon landing happened long before I was born, I’m still amazed by it. For me, it is the epitome of anything being possible.” Rowlette says.

The percussion-driven dark and vibrant pop track is a motivational anthem, for anyone questioning what’s possible. Despite its acoustic feel, the cleverly lyricised earworm is full-bodied, thanks to its intriguing instrumental arrangement and subtle harmonies.

Talking about the inspiration for the song Rowlette explains; “For some reason, we are all accustomed to believing we have to live our lives a certain way and write so much off as impossible. When you think about the fact we are a tiny little planet in an infinite universe, and all that mankind has done, your dreams suddenly seem somehow achievable”

“I wrote the chorus one summer afternoon as I was taking a long walk alone in New York. I happened to meet lots of cool people and I was looking at these gigantic buildings and bridges. It was at a time in my life I was making lots of decisions and everything seemed so impossible, and I just thought, ‘Nah, you need to cop on’.”

“The song is addressed to myself as much as anyone – every time I am being dramatic, I’m like ‘There are footprints on the moon, you can do this!'”.

‘Footprints On The Moon’ is Rowlette’s second single, first releasing ‘Howling At The Moon’ at the end of 2018. An unusual niche, she laughs “I think this could be my last moon song! Definitely not my last sky song though.”

Rowlette is well known on the Dublin live scene, with performances this summer in Workman’s, The Grand Social, The Wiley Fox and providing support to Jack L.

Rowlette will be releasing her debut EP later this year.

Website: www.rowlettemusic.com
Instagram @rowlettemusic

Cork singer-songwriter Mick Flannery debuts at Number 1 on this week’s Official Irish Albums Chart with his new self-titled record, making him the first independent Irish artist to reach the top since January 2018, and the third homegrown Irish act to hit the helm of the Top 50 this year, following Picture This’ ‘MDRN LV’ and Hozier’s ‘Wasteland, Baby!’. 2019 has now seen more Irish artists hit Number 1 on the Official Irish Albums Chart than 2018, last year The Academic and Kodaline were the only Irish acts to reach the albums summit.

Mick’s sixth studio album is his third chart-topper in total, following 2012’s ‘Red to Blue’ and 2014’s ‘By The Rule’. Mick edges out Lewis Capaldi’s ‘Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent’ (2) by just 171 combined sales.

Hearing about the result, Mick said, “This is great news, I’m chuffed at the success of this week. I’d like to thank all involved from the album’s side and also everyone who bought a copy.”

An award-winning, double-platinum selling artist, Mick Flannery’s self-titled sixth album, was released last Friday 5th July. Today’s chart results marks his continuing development as one of the very best Irish singer-songwriters of his generation.

Mick began to write songs as a teenager in his home of Blarney, County Cork. As musical influences from albums by the likes of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell and Tom Waits seeped into his creative DNA, Mick absorbed, learned and honed the craft that would send him on his way into the world. The path was smoothed somewhat when, at the age of 19, he became the first Irish songwriter to win the Nashville-based International Songwriting Competition. By the time he turned 21, he had signed to a major label and released his debut album.

With his latest release, Mick touches on loose themes of ambition and the search for a meaningful life in the context of a musician’s sometimes feckless and dysfunctional lifestyle. The central character, he reveals, is someone like him, “although this person achieves more notoriety than I have. He is properly famous, and he has to deal with that.” The loose theme is just that, however. “I’m not going to hammer it home. Facets of the theme are on the album, but the storyline itself isn’t an overarching one – each song can stand on its own, and not need to be part of a narrative.”

Mick Flannery’s self-titled album out now via Warner Music Ireland.

See Mick on tour across Ireland, the UK, and USA this Summer/Autumn, at:

July 19^th – Dolan’s, Limerick, IRE – Tickets
July 20^th – Galway Arts Festival, IRE – SOLD OUT
July 21^st – Claremorris Folk Festival, IRE – Tickets
July 28^th –  Connolly’s of Leap, IRE – Tickets
Aug 2-4th – All Together Now Festival, IRE
Aug 18^th – The Blue Arrow, Glasgow, UK – Tickets
Sept 4th –   The Pie Shop, Washington, DC, USA – Tickets
Sept 5^th –  The Word Barn, Exeter, NH, USA – Tickets
Sept 8^th –  Rockwood Music Hall, NYC, USA – Tickets
Sept 26^th – Cork Opera House, Cork, IRE – Tickets
Oct 10th –  Lost Lane, Dublin, IRE – Tickets
Oct 11th –  Lost Lane, Dublin, IRE – Tickets
Oct 12th –  Spiegeltent, Wexford, IRE – Tickets

Luunah are delighted to release their new single that screams summer, radiance and excitement!

Producer Brian Casey has succeeded in capturing Luunah’s unique musical vision in studio. They are currently busy working on new material.

‘Heart On The Left’ is a song that will inject sunshine into your life. Dreamy electronic textures are backed by a driving rhythm section, which set the tone for lyrics rich in metaphor, imagery and rhyme. The lyrics speak of balance in one’s life, authenticity and the celebration of the individual.

Get ready as Luunah take you on the next step of the journey!

Luunah are an Alt-Pop band based in Cork, Ireland. Atmospheric textures, groovy drum patterns and fluid bass lines combine to support lyrics drawn from life experience and the imagination.

Their sound has been compared to Bat for Lashes, Bjork, St.Vincent, Metronomy, Tame Impala and Gorillaz.

Having formed in Music College 2018, Luunah is a collage of diverse musical backgrounds with the band members’ experience ranging from R’n’B to rock, jazz to folk and most things in between. Luunah make music that gets you thinking and makes you want to move.

https://www.facebook.com/Luunahmusic/

Dublin based Irish Singer-songwriter Ivan Nicolas has released his brand new single ‘Sicily’ today, 12 July 2019, across all streaming platforms and digital formats. The single is only his third ever release – and the first of 2019 – as he starts to paint a picture of his strength as a songwriter.

This year so far has seen Ivan supporting Brian Deady at Live at St. Luke’s in Cork, The Sugar Club, Dublin and he had his own sold out show upstairs in Whelan’s in March. His single ‘Moving On’ is still getting radio play and his debut single ‘For The Weekend’ was championed by the highly sought after BBC Introducing.

Ivan is doing things his way, slowly releasing singles with an album already completed with acclaimed producer Dani Castelar (Paolo Nutini, REM, Snow Patrol) and with another album in the works and a side project of electronic music, there is so much more to come from this Irish artist. 

Speaking of ‘Sicily’ Ivan Nicolas said:

“I wrote ‘Sicily’ quite quickly, I sang it into my phone while sitting in a park in Palermo watching locals and refugees playing football overlooking the ocean, they were so happy and free.”

‘Sicily’ the brand new single from Ivan Nicolas, is out now on all streaming platforms and digital formats.

www.facebook.com/ivannicolasmusic/
https://twitter.com/_Ivan_Nicolas
https://www.instagram.com/ivannicolasmusic/

Today, Gypsies On The Authobahn release the official video for ‘Gonna Be Strong’, taken from their sophomore album, ‘Suspended’ – out now on Universal Music Ireland.

Speaking of the video, James stated, “It’s a collection of memories with the same universal threads running throughout. Inspired by home videos hoarded away in presses and phones, this is one is for Iza.”

‘Suspended’ is out now, listen to the album here!

Tipperary Indie rockers Jester return with the third single ‘Summertime’ from their debut album ‘Shadows Need A Light’. Following on from the success of Jester’s last single ‘In The Meantime’, which received huge support Irish radio with a whopping 180 airplays from Beat 102-103, KCLR FM, Eirwav, Northern Sound, Shannonside, Galway Bay FM, Carlow FM, Midlands, FlirtFM and 8 Radio.

2019 has been in Jester’s favour with strong support for ‘In The Meantime’, their album release ‘Shadows Need A Light’, and growing their fan base with shows in Whelans, De Barras Clonakilty, Crane Lane Cork and The Source Arts Centre Thurles selling out six weeks in advance! Jester show a softer side with this simple but thought provoking summer tune. 

The band are known for throwing a few surprise covers into their lives shows – a great version on Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ always gets a huge response!

Their last single ‘In The Meantime’ has collated over 30,000 Spotify Streams.

Upcoming shows;

27.7.19 Cork, Clonakilty, De Barras 
4.9.19 Thurles, Feile Beag
21.9.19 Tipperary, Tipp Classical (Jerry Fish Presents Stage)

www.velvetmoronrecords.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/JesterMusik/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/jestermusik?lang=en
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/4JMyx1atQ42BBajNch9b1J

‘So Little Time’ is the new single by Rory And The Island. The single follows the Abbey Road recorded ‘Call My Name’ from earlier this year and is now live to stream via Spotify.

A cracking underlying dance beat, the lyricism of front man Rory, and Sean Magee’s fiddle playing makes this a foot stamping summer track. 

Tickets for Rory’s next headline Dublin show are now on sale from tickets.ie. The headline Dublin Show, will take place on Friday October 25^th at The Workmans Club, the same date as the release of Rory’s new solo album. The gig will be a celebration for this (to be titled) new solo album!

2018 was quite the landscape changing year for Rory, founding member, lead singer and co-writer with The Revs.

The Revs got back together to play some sold out Dublin shows in 2017 and followed this with a further two in 2018, Rory himself started writing material for a new solo album, he moved home to Ireland during the winter, a change of scenery from Lanzarote where he and his wife made their home for ten years, and they also welcomed their second child.

With this as the back drop you would be forgiven for thinking there was no room to squeeze in anything else. Not so! Rory Gallagher, named after (another!) icon of Irish Music records and gigs under Rory And The Island. He stopped using his birth name in 2007, it was getting too confusing. “Lads were turning up to gigs expecting a totally different kind of show”, says Rory. “I really liked bands like “Florence And The Machine” and “Noah And The Whale” at the time, and quite frankly like the name too. Rory And The Island.”

The band has had a strong run of sell out shows since December 2018 in particular, including a series of four sold out shows in Ireland’s Northwest and Dublin’s Workman’s Club, followed this spring by sold out shows in Scotland and England, including Dublin Castle in Camden, London and again two further sold out shows at The Workman’s Club in Dublin.

Rory released his first solo album, ’20^th Century’, when he was nineteen years old.

With The Revs, Rory had two top 5 albums here in Ireland and with some storming singles released and loved at radio (‘Wired To The Moon’, ‘Take It All Back’, ‘Alone With You’ amongst them). The band also scored a Top 30 single in the Australian chart. 

Dates this summer include: 

Thursday 11th, Friday 12^th, Monday 15^th July – Germany
Friday 19^th July – Wigan, England
Saturday 20^th July – York, England
Friday 26^th July – Limerick, Dolans 
Sat 27^th July – Co Donegal, Mary From Dungloe Festival
Sunday 11^th August – Enniskillen Festival, Feeder

F: www.facebook.com/roryandtheisland
W. https://www.roryandtheisland.com

Alex Gough is a 20 year old Drummer/Producer/Rapper and member of the influential ‘Anomaly’ collective. Hailing from Waterford, Ireland Gough is one of the most promising artists of the new rising Irish music scene. Drumming since the age of 6, he quickly became a well-respected master of his craft and soon turned his hand to producing while also attending Cork school of music. 2018 saw his first proper outing as a solo artist with the experimental ‘The Infomercial Tape’ EP and hugely popular ‘Afraidofmoney.’

His music is currently turning heads nationwide. While ‘Afraidofmoney’ launched Gough’s solo career as a Hip-Hop artist, before that he was seasoned as a drummer and producer, crossing effortlessly between scenes. Current single ‘Breakfast’, released in February of this year, is no doubt the standout track to date racking up over 250,000 streams and entering the Spotify Irish viral chart at number 41. Garnering immediate support in high profile playlists such as Spotify’s influential New Music Friday, Free Form and Alternative Hip-Hop along with additions to YouTube Music’s ‘UK Hip-Hop’ and Deezer’s ‘Trending Ireland’. Early praise from numerous online blogs, being added to the B List (and charting) at Amazing Radio alongside various other highlights are helping to bring in new fans from as far as the US.

2019 has seen him take the project to the live circuit with a brand new 4-piece band, with Gough front and centre on drumming and vocal duties. This 4-piece Hip Hop/Jazz experience is sure to take the festival circuit by storm with the unique live sounds of Alex Gough’s production.

Of ‘Step To Me’ Alex says –

“Growing up, music was never seen as necessarily the ‘cool’ thing to pursue. Most people around me were way more into sports etc. and not much else outside of that. Music culture, playing and making music were my main focus from a very young age and in the early days, it was often overlooked that this was something I wanted to do seriously for the rest of my life.

‘Step To Me’ is kind of a reflection on those moments. No matter what you do, not just with music but with most things, people will find something to pick at or give out about and always will. This song is my way of saying to myself and to others that, some people are always gonna have something to say so why bother listening to what that might be.”

The track is written and produced by Alex himself and mixed in Dublin with accomplished producer Sam Killeen, of SENU. With the official video going live alongside the release, filmed in Cork with acclaimed London/LA director Debbie Scanlan (WOLF JAMES) and DoP Charlie Fleetwood (Vikings, The Young Offenders) Step to Me is a progression in sound and vision that you would only expect from the current trajectory Alex finds himself on.

‘Step To Me’ is out now on all Digital platforms through AWAL.

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The O’Malleys have just released their long awaited debut album, ‘Can You Hear Me’ .

The O’Malleys started out as a three piece band playing a mix of country, blues and folk. They recorded an EP in Germany and were a main feature in the large folk scene across Europe. They returned to Limerick and like Dylan went electric. The full band really gelled together with the legendary gigs in the Savoy.   

Under the stewardship of Brendan Murray they began a comprehensive touring schedule of Ireland, playing all the main venues (Midnight at the Olympia, Whelan’s, Dolan’s, Lobby, Cork City Hall, The Waterfront). They released ‘The O’Malleys, The Record’.

Then the television appearances, The Late Late, Pat Kenny Show, Sunday night at the Olympia, the Brendan Grace Show and Shay Healy’s Nighthawks weekly show.

As the band got bigger, so did the tours, Europe (in a red V.W. Van, God Bless it), the States, England and Russia. The current line-up has been together for about thirty years, with other people coming in when certain members were unavailable. The members are, Peter Donnelly, AKA Peter O’Malley, Ger Costelloe, Dave Keary, James Hanley, Ralf Lindheim and Brian Mulcahy. Their big exposure was them featuring in the massively popular Father Ted series as the backing band for Ted and Dougal’s arch rival Dick Byrne in the famous Eurosong episode!

The band has always been open to all types of music and this is reflected throughout this album, through the nine originals and the four specially chosen songs by different artists. The originals reflect these influences brilliantly, from the soulful Irishness of ‘Can You Hear Me’ to the Louisiana swing of ‘One Things For Certain’.  The eclectic range of songs continues from the cinematic ‘Man On Wire’, the mesmerising instrumental ‘The Resilient Sun’ to the anger of ‘Denmark Street’. 

This  unique album by long travelled song writers and seasoned musicians, is beautifully captured  and produced by Dave Keary and James Hanley in ‘The Red Door Studios’

‘Can You Hear Me’ was released on 6th June at the sold out concert at The Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick, Ireland.