Across the line Feed

Other Voices 2014 Preview - Rigsy & Stephen McCauley

2014-02-04T18:14:05+00:00

Stephen McCauley from Electric Mainline joins Rigsy to chat about some of the acts to look out for at the upcoming Other Voices Festival set to take over Derry/Londonderry.

The Gloaming – Hunting The Squirrel
Stephen: ‘I came across their debut album and I was completely knocked out by what they were doing…it appeals to those who are fans of tradition music on the one hand, but also even God Speed You Black Emperor fans as well.’

Wood Burning Savages – Long Good Friday
Rigsy: ‘Retro vibes, which is carried over to their live set, which is also progressive enough for it to be deemed specialist.'
Stephen: ‘I saw one particular gig of their's last year which completely floored me… it was one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen from a Derry band. Paul (Connolly) is an incredibly literate frontman... when he’s performing live he’s wired, it’s like he’s plugged-in Joe Strummer style. Wonderful band.’

In Their Thousands – Vive La Revolution
Rigsy: ‘Regular listeners to Across The Line will know how much I love this band! Big toms, that indifferent vocal and dreamy vibes, it’s really kinda Villagers which is a very good thing in my book.’
Stephen: ‘One of their great strengths is the fact that the two brothers (McClafferty) have such different voices, such radically contrasting vocals. When the other brother takes lead vocal it could tear paint off the wall it’s so powerful!’

Slow Place Like Home – Dr. Astro Goes Ballistic
Stephen: ‘One of my favourite artists on earth right now. He’s incredible!...He was in his room messing around on the keyboard and he tripped, fell and hit the keyboard. And the note which he made with his arm hitting the keys was such a beautiful note that he based a song around it.’

Ego The Jackal – There Go The Lights Again
Stephen: ‘He performed a session on my show two weeks ago and don’t think a microphone has been created which can properly cope with his voice. It’s one of the strongest voices I’ve ever had to record. Make a point of seeing this guy as he is something special.’

CPNHGN – Inhale/Exhale
Stephen: ‘It’s kind of part of that tradition that is in and around Dublin with bands like Jogging. That kind of post-hardcore but slightly more melodic… it retains that jagged wired intricacy that is associated with that kind of music. The more I listen to it the better it gets.’

The Yips – The Wind Blows
Rigsy: ‘They’ve got a reputation for being great live. So this is a band I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to see but you hear they’re great live so you go out and see them at a festival and you expect then to get it. So they’re down as my wildcard on Friday night.’

New Tune Disco - Rigsy & Niall Byrne - Jan 2014

2014-01-29T11:31:50+00:00

Influential Irish blogger and DJ, Niall Byrne (aka. Nialler9) called into RTE studios in Dublin to chat to Rigsy about some of the best new and under the radar music.

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The Academic – Bear Claws
Niall: “When I was in Dingle they (The Academic) were there as well and there was seventeen A&R people who travelled from the UK to see them! A very strong command on melody and harmonies… you can see that they clearly have been playing for quite a while and they know what they’re at.”

The Kid – Alone
Rigsy: “Very much a 21st Century artist. Impact is the word…whenever you hear it, it blows you away. Brilliant stuff!”
Niall: “I’m into that straight away, it’s histrionic for sure…very impressive.”

Castlestreet – Stepping Stone
Rigsy: “Big Irish trad background as far as I can see which is very ‘In’ at the moment…five years ago this wouldn’t have been very fashionable to make a track like this but suddenly it is.”
Niall: “Now is the time to capitalise on it if you sound like this. You’ve get the best opportunity when people’s ears are open.”

Gaze Is Ghost – Invisible Cities
Rigsy: “Right up my street with the orchestral vibe. It reminds me of other local female acts Alana Henderson and Katharine Philippa, it could sit on various other show on Radio Ulster. It’s just got that tiny hint of that alternative vibe.”
Niall: “I’m definitely getting Daughter off this track in particular, but then again there are a lot of subtlies in the arrangements.”

Adultrock – Chants
Naill: “ A total Nightrider theme-tune buzz of this one…has been heavily supported by Annie Mac which has helped raise his profile.”

Krystal Klear – Squad
Niall: “A real dirty big room synth-shaker. So I love this…it’s nice and subtle…incredible.”
Rigsy: “You get the hints of disco and house coming in. Big fan of Krystal Klear.

Irish Steph – Breathe
Rigsy: “A half French, half Irish classically trained multi-instrumentalist…it’s a concept which is very new.”
Niall: “Definitely sounds like a guy who’s been hanging around France a lot.”

NewTunes Disco: Rigsy & Jonny Tiernan

2013-10-30T11:27:43+00:00

Rigsy is joined this week by promoter, former AU Magazine editor and general manger of the Oh Yeah Centre, Jonny Tiernan to discuss the best new releases and more.

Here's what they discussed:

Sleep Thieves - Sparks
Jonny - "Juding on this track, I'm really excited about what their debut album is gonna sound like. And if you like this, you should check out Kiss Me Deadly, who are from Montreal".

Monkeeman - In It For The Money
Rigsy - "The German [frontman]...decided that the best way to replicate success in Germany over in the UK, was to recruit a band entirely made up of UK residents, entirely made up of Belfast residents, entirely made up of Belfast residents called Martin".

Urban Avenue - Bethany
Rigsy - "They reference influences such as General Fiasco, Wonder Villains and Ash...part me thinks are they looking for a wee sneaky support, and part of me thinks that's really, really class because thats the bands their going to see that are regularly playing in Belfast".

Replete - Never This Way
Jonny - "[It's a] off kilter groovy kinda house sound...I really just dig this housey vibe. It's a bit glitchy, a bit off centre. it's really cool"

Polytekk - Blazing Fog
Jonny - "[It] kinda reminds me of other producers at the moment like Ryan Vail and Unknown. Its got a good electronic beat, it's got a good thump to it but its also kinda spacey and a bit ambient at the same time".

The Soft Look - Stay in the Dark
Rigsy - "He's just always had this knack for a quirky pop hook, hugely talented and creative songwriter."
Jonny - "That is absolutely brilliant. I actually think thats the best thing Paul's ever done".

GUEST BLOG - The True Vaults recording in LA

2012-03-22T12:22:33+00:00

Across the Line has been playing music written and performed by Tanya Mellotte (originally from Scotland since her time with Belfast Peel faves Tunic and more recently Skibunny. Recently Tanya packed her belongings in a little knotted hankie on a stick and jetted off to Los Angeles. Within weeks she was Djing and plotting a new record and ATL has been playing the fruits of her labour on the show. We're a curious bunch though and demanded more info....

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I'm not really sure why it's taken me so long to get around to making my first solo record. Maybe I just wasn't ready until now, maybe I was just having too much fun making records with other people, but finally it felt like it was time and so I found myself in the City of Angels in the far more pleasant climes of California.

Los Angeles is a great place for a musician, you are surrounded by amazing, hard-working, creative people and most of them are getting by just fine.

Everyone is following his or her own particular dream and that in itself is very inspiring. Great opportunities are there for the taking, and as a music fan, bizarre meetings happen on a regular basis (did I tell you about the time I walked in to my friend's house to find Wayne Kramer from MC5 sitting there? Super nice guy by-the way!).

I stayed in various places, from the hills of Echo Park to the historic Laurel Canyon (just a short walk from the legendary country store where everyone from Jim Morrison to Joni Mitchell used to hang out) and I was curious to see what influence my surroundings, and the beautiful weather, would have on my writing. I would later discover it had definitely crept in there, both sonically and lyrically.

Anyway, after several months and a few pep talks, I eventually emerged from my Garageband cocoon with more than an album's worth of demos. Soon I had a producer on board, studio dates booked and a band in place. On arrival at the studio I learned from owner/engineer Pete Min that De La Soul had just been in for a session. Sweet.

My band was led by producer Chris Bruce on guitars. Chris plays with everyone from David Holmes to Meshell Ndegeocello and My Brightest Diamond. Jebin Bruni, formerly of Public Image Ltd, was on keyboard duty, on all manner of synths including the awesome Prophet 5 and Deantoni Parks from Mars Volta played drums. These guys are all such amazing players, every song was recorded quickly and the vibe was very relaxed. A few special guests dropped in, including Gabe Noel on cello and upright bass and Stuart Cole (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) on trumpets as well as some beautiful guest vocalists. Everyday was a complete joy, I genuinely felt so lucky to be doing this and to see my dream realised, it was a super emotional experience!

The mixing is now complete and I'm about to move on to the mastering stage. I'm currently back in the UK, hanging out with family and friends, and trying to get used to the cold again. I'm really excited to start letting people hear the new music and to start getting some feedback, so please feel free to get in touch and let me know what you think!

Tanya Mellotte, March 2012

www.facebook.com/TheTrueVaults

www.reverbnation.com/TheTrueVaults

www.twitter.com/skibunnymusic

(photos courtesy of Claudia Bruce)

GUEST BLOG - The Making of Window Seats 'Local Superhero' and other stories

2012-02-13T16:22:27+00:00

ATL gave the very first play of a demo of 'Local Superhero' in April 2008. Now almost four years later, it's just made it onto MTV Rocks, Kerrang TV and BBC Big Screens UK wide. The good folk at ATL asked us to share a bit about making the DIY video and how we got it onto MTV with no label, manager, PR or money!

In the years that followed that first spin of the 'Local Superhero' demo, we've busied ourselves with various things including getting better at recording and producing videos. Last year we re-worked 'Local Superhero', giving it the production it deserves and took on one of the largest projects we're ever likely to - the video for it!

Home recording has been a great thing for loads of bands and especially for us. Nobody has much money but we decided a long time ago that if we got some essential recording gear together, learned how to track properly with no time restraints, our records could stand up against anyone else's.

Bands have been taking this approach to recording for a long time, and it seems as if the same thing has happened quite recently in the world of video production. Camera gear is increasingly affordable and computers are now of high enough spec to cope with HD editing. So it's natural that more bands are jumping head-first into the world of video production.

We've been heavily involved in the making of our own videos since our first one 'No Show' which we shot in 2009. The most recent milestone of this unintended avenue of concentration for us has been 'Local Superhero'. On average we have put a month or two into each of our videos, but we started the ball rolling on this one over a year ago, in January 2011, giving it a ten month production schedule. We wanted to see what was possible producing a zero-budget video locally. A bit like getting a home recorded track to sit alongside commercial releases, we wanted to see if we could make a video that could stand up to the stuff the big bands put out.

We planned and refined our ideas for the video many times and pitched the concept to Marty Stalker, who is one of the best and most prolific directors on the island. His debut music video for Black Bear Saloon remains our favourite locally produced video as it has stacks of ambition and a really good look. Marty saw our passion and the hard work we were willing to put in and jumped on board. He developed our script further and locked down the narrative. In the ten months of production that followed we got thirty-six people involved in the making of it. A collaborative effort, some people helped in small ways and some in massive ways. A lot of our time in pre-production was finding people to fill roles, finding people who were passionate, positive and shared the same vision for the video we did and bringing them all together.

Among everybody key to the video, we are lucky enough to count Ciaran at imakeanything.co.uk as a close friend. His life has always revolved around superhero and movie props, so it seemed natural for the video to revolve around his props. He's worked on all our videos as far back as 'No Show', and can actually be seen in it - our main actor ironically pulled a no-show that day and Ciaran stepped in last minute! For 'Local Superhero' he had quite a few props already built, such as the arc reactors, proton pack, spiderman suit and batarangs. Revelling in the chance to make new props, he built new things from scratch for the video such as the spider webbing and light sabers. We had a lot of fun custom-fitting my Wolverine claws when we realised I'd have to be able to play guitar with them on!

Building the props took time, for instance the claws took three of us over a week to make. The distortion pedal that our Hulk crushes is actually a sprayed soup box, sprayed black with the 'Rat' logo painted on and then loaded up with all the knobs, jack input/outputs. Because we'd only be able to use them once, as they'd get crushed on every take, we made fifteen of them. This took a few days, and the shot is essential but just half-a-second. Little did we know that we would nail the shot in two takes and be left with 13 pristine cardboard replicas! All that time spent making individual props added up and was a large chunk of our pre-production time.

This external content is available at its source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpZCGWIPTyo

Casting took time too, and we were meeting with actors quite early in the pre-production. We confirmed our Hulk character about six months before shoot, because we needed him to grow out his beard to match Didsy's! We made him a custom-fitted dreadlock wig using a Bob Marley costume wig with some of my own hair woven into it so it looked authentic. You get funny looks when you ask to take your hair home with you from the hairdressers!

We knew the shoot would take two days to complete in order to get the coverage we needed. As no comic book shop could close for two days, we decided early on that we would need to build a set. We arranged to get the use of an empty room for a week in July, setting up for Monday to Friday and shooting on the Saturday and Sunday.

Setting up a shop from scratch is no easy task, not least when there's no money available. In the weeks before we moved into the set we gathered up lots of shelving and furniture from our houses, all our childhood toys, and the borrowed treasures belonging to our most geeky friends. We travelled all over the country picking up bits of glass and furniture off Freecycle. Although The Stack comic book store had graciously loaned us boxes of comics, as well as the use of their shop front to use as our exterior, we had no appropriate shelving to put them on. So we broke apart our own bed frames at home and adapted them into shop fittings! Luckily, we have girlfriends and housemates who understand this behaviour, or are at least used to this kind of madness and accept the fact that they're sleeping on the floor for a few weeks. We tied the bed frames together and attached planks that we collected from scavenged palettes. We built the shelves in the middle of the shop from more broken up palettes. Obtaining discarded palettes is a risky procedure any time of the year, but in a July in Belfast it involved some creativity!

Dozens of people worked hard for half a year to put preparations in place and finally when all the preparations were in place, we got the keys for the room on the Monday and began to set everything up. Lots of current and former retail wage slaves took great joy in using the tricks of the trade to set up a convincing-looking shop, but with a lot more satisfaction and pride. I was helping Didsy try his Hulk contacts in when I got a call to say my mother had taken ill. She had battled illness for years, and was being cared for full-time. Not sure if this would be a scare from which she would quickly recover, I travelled home to Fermanagh and all the guys kept working to our target shoot day of Saturday, setting up the room and organising everything. I was with my mother as she peacefully passed away in the early hours of Tuesday morning, surrounded by people who loved her. Devastated, I took my time at home to deal with the loss and took time to decide if I'd be emotionally solid enough to shoot the video or not. Everyone involved in the video kept working in my absence, willing and happy to postpone the shoot, but still prepared to go ahead with it if I felt up to it.

I made the decision on the Thursday to go ahead, as we had planned. I'm not sure if everyone understood, but going ahead with the video shoot was one of the best things to do at that time for me. After such a tragic loss, there was nothing more positive I could wish to come back to than this. I felt like everybody and everything was in place for the shoot to take place and that it was meant to be.

I came back at the end of the week just in time to pitch in for some last-minute setup. The guys had worked around the clock to make the set look perfect, make sure all the props looked great and the layout was spot on. I was astounded when I saw the set that had been put together. On the Saturday we began shooting as planned.

We did two full days, twelve straight hours each day. The buzz of positivity on the shoot was amazing, everybody who walked onto the set was immediately blown away by how good it looked. As we filmed, we were all like kids let loose in a toy shop. It's every guy's dream to play with light sabers, proton packs, wolverine claws and all the other props (read: big boys' toys) that were in the video.

All of us threw ourselves into the shoot with an added zeal, absolutely wanting to hammer it for every take. When we wrapped on Sunday night it was unbelievable, we'd got every shot we'd planned and nothing went wrong, which is a very rare thing.

In the months that followed it was largely out of our hands as we were waiting on the edit and some effects. During this time we jumped in and did some VFX work ourselves. There was nobody to do the Wolverine claws or the fake shopfront on the opening shot. So, we jumped in, learnt some techniques in After Effects and took care of them.

When we had the final cut of the video in October we launched it online, did a bunch of gigs and began contacting everybody relevant to music videos that we could think of. As weird as it might seem, MTV were bottom of our list, purely because we didn't think they'd bother with us, an unsigned band. We got a great local response to the video, throughout Ireland and a few places further afield. We got round to emailing MTV in December and thought nothing of it. At the start of the year they requested a broadcast copy off us, and began giving it play. In the same week BBC Big Screens made it their national 'film of the week'. Kerrang TV were considering it and started showing it a fortnight after MTV Rocks started broadcasting it.

Now it's out there, we're doing as much as we can to get the word out about it. We're also using it as an example to show the hard work we put into the band, and what we are achieving without a manager, label or plugger. We're working on lots of material for a release down the line and we've two more videos currently in pre-production.

We're also focusing on live dates this year. Last year was very concentrated on the video, this year we're getting out there and ripping the songs out live for anyone that'll listen. There's a kind of cumulative passion that's captured in a three and a half minute video/recording which a lot of hard work and time has gone into. There's a different kind of passion that's of-the-moment, when that same song is played live in a more raw and concentrated burst of energy. We're confirming shows for later in the year, so keep an eye out for those!

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The video, and lots of behind the scenes videos, can be seen at youtube.com/windowseatsofficial

facebook.com/windowseats

twitter.com/window_seats windowseatsofficial.com

GUEST BLOG: Daniel Johnston - Triumph of a Troubled Mind

2012-02-09T10:34:27+00:00

In advance of Daniel Johnston's show in the Empire Music Hall, Belfast on April 4th, we wanted to find out just exactly why the singer provokes such reverence amongst music afficianados. Francis Jones tells us why the Texan is an inspiration for many.

Often, when musicians talk about their struggle with adversity they're simply living up to a clichÃ©. Not so, Daniel Johnston, a musician who's battled manic depression and schizophrenia all his life. It's a fight that was unflinchingly detailed in the 2006 documentary, The Devil and Daniel Johnston.

Now in his early 50s, Johnston began making music whilst still at high-school. By the mid-1980s, his ramshackle recordings - complete with his own distinctive artwork - had gained him a cult following in his hometown of Austin, Texas. In the early days, distribution was as primitive as his home-recording equipment - basically Johnston sold cassettes at shows, or handed them out to strangers. Those lucky enough to have one of his tapes thrust into their hands were struck by the unique rag-bag of influences the music contained - DIY attitude, a love of melody inspired by the Beatles and lyrics that betrayed his obsession with comic books and the Bible.

Over the years, he's become more open in addressing the subject of his illness directly and, when he does so, it's with disarming honesty and no little humour. Note the lyrics of 2009 track 'I Had Lost My Mind'...

"I lost my head for a while, was off my rocker outta line, outta whack.

See I had this tiny crack in my head,

That slowly split open and my brain snoozed out,

Lyin' on the sidewalk and I didn't even know it.

I had lost my mind."

Losing your mind can be something of an impediment to a successful music career. One particularly alarming incident took place in 1990, when Johnston suffered a manic episode whilst aboard a small plane being piloted by his father. Believing he was Casper The Friendly Ghost, Johnston removed the key from the plane's ignition and threw it out of the window. Thankfully, both he and his father survived the crash-landing unscathed. Nonetheless, the event saw Johnston temporarily committed to a mental hospital.

It was around this time that Kurt Cobain was famously pictured wearing a Daniel Johnston t-shirt with the iconic image of a goggle-eyed frog and the tagline, 'Hi, How Are You'. The tenuous Nirvana connection had record labels scrambling to secure the signature of this previously unheard of musician. Johnston eventually went with Atlantic Records, having famously snubbed a multi-album deal with Elektra Records because Metallica was on their roster - he was convinced Metallica were possessed by Satan.

Somehow, though, despite his very real problems, he has not only survived, but prospered, gathering himself a devoted fan-base and inspiring a whole generation of musicians with his lo-fi brilliance. Admiring peers including Tom Waits, Beck, TV On The Radio, Eels, Bright Eyes, Death Cab for Cutie, Sparklehorse, Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips - covered his songs for the 2004 compilation, The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered.

Over the past three decades he's put out umpteen of his own albums and collaborated on plenty more. Some have been great, others less so, but, in a way, that's beside the point. His whole life, all he's wanted to do is make music and perform. That he continues to do so is victory enough.

Francis Jones

DANIEL JOHNSTON PLAYS THE EMPIRE ON APRIL 4.

GUEST BLOG - At the Drive-In play Belfast by Cahir FWW

2012-01-16T15:03:55+00:00

So it was announced last week that At the Drive-In are to reform and play selected shows this year. Across the Line were big fans of the band and actually recorded their Belfast show back in 2000. On the night, a young Derry band were chosen to support at the gig, and Cahir O'Doherty the bands singer, and now frontman with long-standing ATL faves Fighting With Wire gives us the view from backstage.

At The Drive-in. Belfast Empire. 9/11/00

It was November 2000. I remember getting a phone call from our manager telling me that our band (Clearshot) got the support slot for the At The Drive-In Irish shows, we couldn't believe it. At the time the band were just breaking, one arm scissor was all over MTV and radio, they were in every music publication, their 3rd album relationship of command was creeping its way into everyone's CD player and they had just ripped the roof off the Jools Holland show putting on one of the most energetic punk rock performances I've ever seen on TV! It was so exciting, there hadn't been a buzz in rock music like this since Nirvana 10years earlier, but it wasn't until they broke up shortly after the Irish dates, that they cemented their place as one of the most influential bands of the last 20 years.

The show was in Belfast Empire music hall 9^th December 2000. When we arrived at the venue to sound check everyone was really nice and made us feel welcome. The Murder City Devils were the main support, they were a kick ass garage punk band from Seattle, they were funny guys and liked to party.

The guys from ATDI were really nice too, a couple of them watched our sound check and invited us into their dressing room, they seemed tired, I could tell they had been touring forever. At this point the different factions within the band had already manifested and were sticking together - Jim, Tony and Paul who later formed Sparta and Omar and Cedric who formed The Mars Volta.

The gig was sold out, the Empire was packed and there was an air of anticipation. We didn't know what to expect playing in front of so many people as we took to the stage, but the audience were totally up for it, it was a great show. I don't think we knew at that point that how influential this show would be for us as a band, we thought we knew what we were doing we were about to get taught a lesson.

We got our gear off the stage super quick and headed into the crowd with a few beers to watch these American bands tear Belfast a new one. Murder City Devils hit the stage, they were full of energy and honesty and blasted the crowd hard, it was guitar attack, full on punk rock. Lethal!

At this point you could cut the tension with a knife. I remember hearing this weird electronic intro music really low and then ATDI literally exploded on to the stage. I was blown away, totally immersed in their show. I had never seen anything like it, Cedric bounced all over the stage pulling weird shapes yelping and firing the mic into the air occasionally strangling himself with the cord and screaming Beware! Beware! Omar beating his guitar, throwing it wrestling it, making it sound like an explosion! I'd never heard a guitar sound like that before. They were losing their minds while the rest of the band thrashed it out so hard, like their lives depended on it. I was mesmerized, as was everyone in the room, it felt like we were getting to see something very special and we all knew it. Their songs and their passion for what they were doing filled the room and influenced me for one completely. I knew I had to rethink everything at that point and it felt great. The only thing that got tiresome was their constant battle with the audience slam dancing or moshing though, It was truly one of the best shows I have ever seen. By the time the band finished everyone in that room had that look on their face; the open mouth, the look of disbelief, what the **** just happened? There was a buzz about it for ages and it wasn't the tinnitus we all had from the crushing guitars, it was the fact we had something to get excited about again, rock music had become so dull, so predicable and here were these guys doing what they always believed in, it was inspiring.

A month or so later the band went on indefinite hiatus, to say I was disappointed is an understatement. But looking back there was nothing else they could do. Exhaustion had taken its toll and so the flood gates opened. So many bands crawled out of the underground and into the mainstream, rock was alive and kicking once again.

I saw Nirvana 10 years before in the kings hall and I had the same feeling leaving that show, a feeling of hope and excitement for the future. Here was a band that got it so right and worked so hard only to burn out before they reached their full potential. They set the bar so high for themselves and for every band that followed. For me ATDI were the last band to breath life back into rock and roll. I'm excited that they have reformed at a time when we've never needed them more.

Cahir O'Doherty is now lead singer and guitarist with Fighting With Wire.

Hello from Axis Of on Tour

2011-06-09T12:17:09+00:00

One of our fave bands in recent years are (like an incresing number) from the north coast. Axis of are on the road once again and just sent in a wee update just in case their mammies were getting worried.

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Just keeping everyone updated. We are in the midst of our first European tour, its been going really well. Unknown bands are definitely treated a lot better than they are in the UK. Not that we don't like the UK, its just a welcome change of scenery.

The first venue we played was called JC De Kilnker (Aarchot) and it had a skate park out the front of it, which we made the utmost use out of. Asides from that the gig's have been going really well and we're looking into booking the next tour already.

Just before we made our way across the channel tunnel, we popped into the Kerrang offices to do a quick video podcast. Everyone was very nice and we managed to get in and out quickly without paying for extortionate parking (50p for 5 minutes). Here's a link to the video now.

In other news the final confirmations for Glasgowbury have been made this week and we're very pleased to say that we will be playing it again this year. Last year was one of the best gig's we've ever done so we're extremely excited, it also marks the last gig we have before we go into record our Album. So stay tuned.

Guest Blog - More Than Conquerors Tour Diary Day 5 & 6

2011-04-19T13:46:47+00:00

More Than Conquerors continue their polite conquest of Scotland, trailing this time north to a city famous for it's jams - Dundee - and then south to sunny Edinburgh. Holiday snaps and all! We're spoilt!

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Dundee - Friday 15th

We arrived in Dundee, the city of roundabouts, to a mild day. After some confusion we got to the travel lodge and checked in. That would be a wee treat for after the gig, a proper bed and a steamin' hot shower.

We arrived at the venue just around the corner from a gay bar called Kage. The venue was great, big PA, big sound and a mound of food, enough to feed an army!

We didn't have much time to see around Dundee, it was pretty much straight in and straight down to work. It was an early show, so we finished and packed up by half 11 with everyone lending a hand. It was the night of the pacific theater's front man's (murph) birthday. We got a few tins and headed off to a friends nearby to finish of the night.

Then the travel lodge for a crackin sleep.

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Edinburgh - Sunday 17th

The sun well and truly got his hat on for Edinburgh. The sunniest and warmest day we had seen so far. Edinburgh had lots of lovely things to offer. There were any amount of cafe's, even a vegetarian one for Kris, and lots of tourist friendly sights. The city has a nice feel to it, with its historical buildings and landmarks, finishing of course with the castle.

On the day of the gig, with some time to spare, we went and played an acoustic show in a local cafe called Beanscene. After this we all headed for lunch to a cafe called Forest, were everyone gave some meat free food a bash. Forest also did workshops and on sunday it was a printmaking workshop which ended up being great.

It was nice to have time to really enjoy a city and all it had to offer.

The gig was in a venue called Henry's Cellar, a little underground venue that ended up being severely loud. It was the last show so we had some fun with it, and had the boys from Pacific Theater up to sing with us.

After the show it was back to our pal stewartie's for some chat before our emotional goodbye with Pacific Theater. Great bunch of lads, sharing a great tour with us!

Guest Blog - More Than Conquerors Tour Diary Day 4

2011-04-15T10:48:04+00:00

More Than Conquerors take us on a voyage into the catacoombs of their tour van and delight us daily with their various antics. Here is MTC's adventures on day 4.

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Thursday 14th

Paisley = The Glasgow equivalent of Lisburn to Belfast. A little bit smaller and a little bit stranger... put it this way... I saw four people on the same street with purple hair.

We rolled in to the University of West Scotland's students union at around 5pm and started loading in and sound checking. We grabbed a bit of dinner which consisted of microwave pizzas and micro-chips... we're not complaining though.

The gig was superb and the venue was a little hotbox, it wasn't just the bands that were sweating the bit out.

It seems all the travelling's started to catch up with us and everyone's just praying for a good night sleep. We've booked a sneaky wee hotel in Dundee so our prayers shall be answered indeed.

We're ending this night with a chinese and Pineapple Express... it's not as if we haven't seen it twenty four times. One more time couldn't hurt right?

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Guest Blog - More Than Conquerors Tour Diary Day 3

2011-04-14T11:20:01+00:00

Time for our second installment (their third day) in the More Than Conqueror tour diary. What wacky antics are the guys getting up to today? Perhaps Jamie is tucking into some tasty colloquial dishes, Kris may be indulging in local architecture while the two Dannys play thumb wars in the back of the van. I guess we will never know... well until they tell us, just like they will now.

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Wednesday 13th

So we had a well deserved lie in this morning (that is in our opinion by the way), Woke up around 11am...and of course...we watched Monsters inc. That's right...Monsters inc.

We hit the west end last night...'The Great Western Road' to be specific and it was awesome. We met a Calfornian, an Irish-girl, a Mexican and a Canadian outside a comedy club, they all go to a university in France. Strange right? So we threw out an invite off the cuff to our gig...they actually turned up. That's promotion at it's best.

We experienced something most touring bands never experience...FREE FOOD. Twas incredible. Veggie burgers and Pizzas all round.

The doors of Bar Bloc opened at 9pm and the music began. The first night of tour was a complete success. Our set went swimmingly and the people seemed to really enjoy it... always a plus.

Bed never seemed so good though. Zzzzz

P.S The black stuff in Glasgow = BOOOOOKKKKEEEEE!!!!!!

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More from our friendly neighbourhood More Than Conquerors tomorrow.

Guest Blog - More Than Conquerors Tour Diary Day 1 & 2

2011-04-14T11:03:34+00:00

It's that special time in our ATL Blog's life were we place our trust into one of our beautiful Northern Irish bands and let them loose with daily entries, sharing with us the highs, lows and B.O of touring life. This time around (previous tour blogs included Axis Of, ASIWYFA and Cutaways) we play host to young turks More Than Conquerors as they pinball around Scotland on their 5-date tour.

Here is MTC's first two entries of five. Be safe boys and remember to floss.

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Monday 11th April - The Boat That Nearly Killed Us

Tonight we left Belfast and headed for Liverpool via the 7 seas. The last time we sailed on a boat we were being swirled through hurricane conditions. I can safely say that I was sure we were going to die…thankfully we didn't. phew.

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Tuesday 12th April

We arrived at the break of dawn and hit the road. We heard there was lots to see in a lovely sea side town called 'Morecambe' so we had a wee pitstop. Turns out there's not. Apart from a massive shopping centre, 20p porta-loos and a pie shop. Needless to say we didn't try any of pies…maybe on the way home eh?

We arrived at Glasgow at around 2 O'clock and collapsed on the couches in the household of our good friend GK (AKA Glenn Kennedy). One of the greatest things about tour is seeing all those folks you don't get to see the rest of the year. We're taking full advantage of that.

Our first gig's tomorrow night In Bar Bloc with a Scottish band called 'Pacific Theatre'…Should be a goodun'. This is our night off so we're away to see how the stout here compares to that of our hometown…Nice n' Sleazys here we come.

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Call back tomorrow for your next update in the gripping dramatic saga that is More Than Conquerors

Guest Blog - Axis Of on tour! [Part Three]

2010-10-14T14:51:43+00:00

Welcome to the third installement of the Axis Of tour diary, just in time for their return home supporting Therapy? at Mandela Hall tomorrow night!:

Sorry for the late addition of this update. We had a fairly substantial WiFi famine which, aside from not keeping up top date with Business, created major problems in my Dexter schedule. So we had just finished two, somewhat contrasting gigs in London and Huddersfield, and then onto an opener in Bristol, which was surprising as it was the first gig of the tour playing to a more punk crowd. We also got one of the weirdest responses to a song ever: with a crowd of, say, 30 people, it had that atmosphere where the band can talk to members of the crowd individually and everyone can hear, so we were pretty surprised to hear the somewhat anti-heckle, "You are actually really good". With our tails in the air, we moved onto Newport for a lovely stay with our good friend Kaskie from our Welsh brothers The Death Of Her Money, great venue, great people, and a late night beer session in a jazz lounge to top it off. Lovely

Portsmouth and Chichester followed and both were great gigs dragged down by the fact that we knew the dates were coming to an end. I think if our tour was a living entity,I would definitely say it would be a pregnant woman; the mood swing's are just so spectacular. It would be foolish to write off all our tours as a walks in the park, as would it be to say our shows are awful. What we/you have to remember is that we are a band playing their first/second gig's in most of these cities, and if anyone can remember our first gig in Belfast (thought not) you'll have a better understanding of the level of expectation we're dealing with here. I'm rambling here, but I'll give you a good example of my point..

After the technical hitches, and sound problems we had at our first London gig, we had what is least appropriate in that situation: a day off. Although we used it wisely, tasting the finest local (and European) ales, scoping out London's finest sights and watching Ewen get swallowed up in the monster that is the London underground, what you need after any difficult stage is another show to put the bad one behind you.

So after a day off, we made our way to the 2nd London gig (Stockwell), a modest but appreciative looking crowd and some great support bands got us in the mood. Unfortunately a few bars into the set, the bass amp blew, we tried our best to salvage the situation, but we had to stop. For a band who prides themselves as being intense from start to finish, having to stop in the first song really breaks momentum. So we finished the gig best we could, and although no-one could be blamed, we were all extremely bummed out.

The bad vibes continued into the next day, with petty squabbles and awkward silences setting the tone. We made our way to Huddersfield, which on paper had the makings of another shocker. Fortunately we were made a very tasty dinner and ended up playing to a good crowd with some really good feedback, alongside fellow countrymen The Continuous Battle of Order, which added to the good times. After this the good vibes were back and we all realised how lucky we are to be in a band that are in the position of bringing their music all around the UK, when so many don't get the opportunity. It's really about taking the good with bad, but more taking the good from the band, I think that's the key to being in a DIY band.

If this tour has taught me anything, it's that no matter how low things get, the feeling of being down on tour just can't compete with the absolutely crushing disappointment of getting home from tour. And that's no disrespect to my home (I think I could live in a Spanish Villa and still get the horrible feeling when you return). But on the bright side, we have always been lucky enough to have a good gigs to come home to - the Button Factory in Dublin was probably the biggest venue we've played - and playing the Mandela Hall has always been a dream of mine.

Thanks guys and we'll see you all on Friday throwing down harder than an Olympic shot putter with a broken arm.

Niall

Photos by: Tom McGeehan

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Axis Of return tomorrow nght, supporting Therapy? at the Mandela Hall as part of the Belfast Festival at Queens.

Guest Blog - Axis Of on tour! [Part Two]

2010-10-03T12:40:40+00:00

So after the initial invasion of the ATL Blog, we thought hell why not - let's give Axis Of a second installment to their tour diary seeing we're missing out! The north coast rockers are currently ripping up good old London Town, and this time it's the turn of their hollering bassist, Ewen Friars, to fill us in on all things Axis Of.

They return to Belfast to support Therapy? at the Mandela Hall, Belfast on the 15th of October. Lafaro will also join them on the bill.

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After a productive demoing session in Liverpool (and an excellent museum trip!),we hit the long road to Newcastle with coffee and newspaper in tow. For Axis Of having no money is always a central feature and this becomes most apparent when on the road, but as Mears taught us its all about preparation - we ate our noodles in the van and checked out the support groups before hitting the stage at the Three Tuns in Gateshead. I was over the moon with this show, a generally interested crowd and a solid set. Our good friends Jake and Helen were putting us up in Newcastle, so we headed swiftly back for some late night potatoey snacks and all round good vibes.

Tour manager Tom McGeehan had the van packed and tidied before I was out of my sleeping bag. We thanked our hosts and hit the road to Derby early on. The journey took a bleak turn as I watched the last episode of This is England 86 and the rain leaked onto my weary head.But on arrival everyone was back in good spirits because I beat my tetris score! In Derby our buddy Marty fed us some unreal veggie bangers and mash, in my eyes a contender for best meal of the tour. On arrival at the venue we found out we were playing on what amounted to a landing/corridor. But this show turned out great too. Alright the Captain rocked and we had a few people at the front of the crowd singing along to Port Na Spaniagh - Stoked! Ethan and I curled up into the van as Derbys hen and stag crowds passed us by right into the early hours.

Having a free parking space in Derby gave us good reason to spend the day there. The lads got some well needed rest at promoter Marty's house while I had a look round Derby's municipal museum and Cathedral. My philosophy is if there's any free time on tour you should do your best to feed your brain, it

makes up for all the ear battering every night! We made it to Nottingham in good time for a relaxed load in and a good sound check. We'd played the Chameleon before - its a great venue and right up our street. Nottingham city centre was filling to the brim with freshers on some huge pub crawl and the venue started to pack up nicely. It was really nice to play with Nottingham's Fresh Eyes for the Dead Guy again, this show proved to be one of the best gig so far. Our good mates Dara, Dean and James were looking after accommodation, so we packed up Scally boy (name of our van) and headed out of the city for some showers, rest and grub - Thanks guys

London's traffic couldn't have been more painful. But we edged our way towards The Good Ship in Kilburn. Ethan and I started labeling our new order of tee-shirts over some epic Falaffels. The gig was well attended and a real cool venue. We had abit of trouble with our onstage sound, but these aren't usually problems I don't let get me down. The gig was sucess regardless. I got into bed in the van again, parked up in a quiet space in Chisslehurst, London was warmer than Edinburgh!

Ewen

Photos By: Tom McGeehan

Guest Blog - Axis Of on tour!

2010-09-28T14:55:41+00:00

It's that time again! Where a local band hacks our blog system for their own sneaky purposes. You'd think we'd learn after ASIWYFA managed to infiltrate our site while on tour with Them Crooked Vultures, and Strait Laces found time to wreck havoc during SXSW. Even the lovely Cutaways attempted to take over all the way from Canada.

But this time, we're not surprised at all. Noise mongers Axis Of declared they would cause "destruction... to clubs/bars/venues" on their facebook before heading of on their UK tour last Friday. And it seems they continued this rampage onto our blog...

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In all my touring experiences, leaving at an un-godly hour seems to be the norm, obviously it has some benefits but the sheer amount of trips that have consisted in leaving when the streets are cold, dark and depressingly empty is an annoyingly frequent occurrence. I decided that if I didn't sleep I might bypass the horrible feeling of waking up in the worst mood know to humankind , which to an extent worked, but it totally backfired in the sense that I was living like a zombie on valium for the first day of tour.

Edinburgh was up first, and if people haven't already gathered it by our multiple status updates, we like Edinburgh a lot. It is also our first tour in our newly acquired van, which we also like a lot. So with these two things in mind, I was able to get over the mind numbing exhaustion and be happy that we are on the road again. The drive and ferry journey were relatively painless, and due to the early nature of our ferry, we got to the venue with many hours to spare.

In our previous trip to Edinburgh we played a venue called "Bannermans" which was very nice, a tad big for a band on their first venture over but like most places in Edinburgh, a very nice building with very nice staff. The venue we were playing on this tour was called "The Banshee Labyrinth", and as we were loading the gear into the venue, it was hard to escape the fact that this was an extremely small and dark venue, which couldn't have fitted more than 70 people in, which made us extremely excited. It was also the most haunted venue in Scotland apparently, although unfortunately we never experienced anything to suggest that was true. After a lot of waiting about we finally played and, a few technical hitches aside, it was a great gig; even though it was a small room, it was relatively packed, and everyone seemed to love it.

After a well needed sleep and getting stung with another parking ticket (unreasonably, I might add), we made our way to Liverpool, where we are in the middle of spending 3 days writing and recording. Due to some spaces in our schedule we decided it would be good to take some time out, and get a little bit closer to writing the album. So here we are based in Liverpool, doing our best to not spend money needlessly and very much longing to be playing a show, but not long to wait. C yis very soon.

Niall

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The north coast punks have 12 dates left on the tour, ending at Mandela Hall on the 15th of October supporting the mighty Therapy?