GoldenPlec Magazine - Issue 03, Autumn 2015

flying high with

Bitch falcon PLUS:

Why Music Photography Matters · BIMM Dublin · Longitude Review FEATURING:

Lisa Hannigan · Myles O’Reilly · Wolf Alice · Neon Atlas · Oliver Cole · Ryan Sheridan The Chemical Brothers · Sample Answer · Sal Vitro · Shrug Life · Slaves · Hozier

Issue 03 - Autumn 2015 - Free

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The Magic Number

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elcome to GoldenPlec Magazine Issue 3, which is brought to you courtesy of fields and cider, musical explorations, and healthy

debate.

We’re keen that the magazine reflects all of the distinct elements of what GoldenPlec is, and we’ve gone all out for variety in issue 3. A key part of what we do revolves around local scenes: bands we think are solid, interesting, impressive, or in a few cases downright special. Bitch Falcon - this issue’s cover stars - are one of the latter; abrupt, edgy, cutting, class. Alongside them, we’ve explored the development of BIMM as its first graduates head for the exits, talked exclusively to Lisa Hannigan on her acting exploits, dug through some vinyl, and taken you to Longitude.

Like us - and like all true music-lover’s collections it’s disparate, and held together by a simple defining value: we think all these things are worth celebrating.

We hope you agree.

James Hendicott, Magazine Co-Editor Interview - Lisa Hannigan Interview - Myles O’Reilly Interview - Bitch Falcon Feature - Why Music Photography Matters Album & EP Reviews Live Reviews Feature - BIMM Dublin Interview - Wolf Alice

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Magazine Editors James Hendicott Stephen Byrne Art Director David Dooley Editor-in-Chief Aidan Cuffe Project Manager Ros Madigan Sub-Editors Justin McDaid Bernard O’Rourke Contributors Alasdair Murty Ben Allen Debbie Hickey Frank Hughes Ian Martin James Hendicott Justin McDaid Niall Swan Sasha Brady Sean Noone Stephen Byrne Vanessa Monaghan Photographers Aaron Corr Debbie Hickey James Murray Mark O’Connor Sean Smyth

Song Sea of the

An interview with lisa hannigan

by Ben ALLeN

Interview - Lisa Hannigan

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ittle could sum up Lisa Hannigan’s charm as perfectly as a metaphor she uses when discussing the rare days when songwriting comes easily; when it flows most naturally out of her and she is able to get a song written “before your tea has gotten cold.” Like the singer herself, the turn of phrase is warm, homely, and distinctly Irish.

tell you ‘everything is going to be alright’ as the plane you are sitting in plummets from the sky, you just might believe her.

"I tend to be invited to do things by much braver people than myself."

So, playing the role of a mother in Song Of The Sea - the latest release from Irish animators Cartoon Saloon - is not to too much of a stretch, though she admits that her timidity towards the unknown world of acting meant that it took a little bit of persuasion. “Tom Moore (Director) sort of lured me in with the singing bit and was very kind and encouraging about the talking bit. But I’m so glad Even when she reprimands that I did it. Working with us for breaching the such lovely, encouraging fraught ground of her people at Cartoon Saloon forthcoming third album, gave me the confidence to which she does not want at least give it a go.” to “waffle on about” until she has it completed, she The company have been does so with an apologetic producing charming kindness. She has the kind animation since 1999, of voice that, if she were to appropriating Irish folklore Such is the strength of her innocent, maternal presence, that when she says “obviously everyone dabbled in these sort of things in college, but then you’re slightly drunk in college so you say yes to things more readily”, you might already suspect that she is talking about trying her hand at acting rather than anything truly uncouth.

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into modern cinema. “I love what they’re doing with folklore. The themes that they cover, they’re quite deep and thoughtful, and

it’s important that we don’t lose these things.”

It is quite fitting then that one of her co-stars in the film is Brendan Gleeson - one of Ireland’s acting behemoths whose figure is entrenched in Irish storytellings more recently penned.

“They did ask me at some point did I want to wait until Brendan was there to do my bit! I said no... *laughs*. No, thank you. I don’t think you want your very first acting job to be with Brendan Gleeson in the room. I don’t know if I would have been able for it at all. But it was great to watch it on the screen and for him to be there.”

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Interview - Lisa Hannigan

"I don't think you want job to be with Brenda Song Of The Sea is not the first time the singer’s voice has permeated theatres.

In fact, she has been involved in film on a much larger scale. In 2013 and 2014, she provided vocals for two Steven Pricecomposed soundtracks - Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity and David Ayer’s Fury.

“It came about really organically,” she says of her first foray into the cinematic realm; “I got an email from Steven asking me to do a bit of singing on the soundtrack [for Gravity]. I went into a small garage just outside of London. It was absolutely fascinating to see how he weaves the music through the film and to see how all the different pieces come together.”

However, her Hollywood debut may have gone unnoticed by many. “He treated the voice so much that sometimes it doesn’t even sound like singing.

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I was struggling to hear myself sometimes. I’d think it was a violin, and then I’d go ‘oh no, there I am!’, because he wanted to make everything sound otherworldly and unnerving.”

This does not seem to trouble Hannigan, who is more comfortable outside of the spotlight than in it, and she certainly felt a bit of anxiety with regards to her first role on the big screen. “I thought that I would be watching it [Song Of The Sea] through my fingers, for my bits anyway! But actually the animation and the story and the emotion of the whole thing carried me through.”

Interview - Lisa Hannigan

t your very first acting n Gleeson in the room."

Her cinematic spell does not end with Song Of The Sea. A track recorded

by Hannigan and Glen Hansard features in an animated adaptation of The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran’s beloved piece of literature produced by and starring Selma Hayek. Who needs an entire six degrees of separation when you can connect Gavin Glass to Antonio Banderas in a mere two?

Step three leads to a collaboration with one of modern music’s most creative and prolific entities, Aaron Dessner, best known for masterminding the music of The National alongside his twin brother Bryce and lyricist Matt Berninger.

play Cork’s Sounds From A Safe Harbour Festival, September 17-20th, presenting them with the perfect opportunity to showcase the fruits of recent writing sessions.

“I tend to be invited to do things by much braver people than myself, and he said ‘why don’t we get together, write a few songs and then do a gig’? And I said ‘Alright, Aaron’.

Despite her ever-present humility, a pattern becomes clear as the interview progresses.

A host of extremely talented creative folk are knocking on Hannigan’s door to entice her into collaboration. Thankfully, and no doubt a result of a subtle confidence that has developed over the years as she has stepped out on her own to plaudits and respect from her peers, she is more than willing to oblige them.

Hannigan and Dessner Issue 03

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Interview - Myles O’Reilly

Words: Sasha Brady Photos: Aaron Corr

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yles O’Reilly is a gifted storyteller, renowned for his sincere and honest style of filmmaking and emphatic nature, but the well-respected filmmaker almost turned his back on music in 2009.

Before he set up shop behind the lens, Myles was fronting the pop-folk band Juno Falls, but the group were struggling to realise their ambitions.

“I was living under the table, wondering how I was gonna eat.

I would have to go begging to my parents for money, my wife would have to go begging to her parents for money. I kept wondering ‘Why can’t I make any fucking money in the music industry in Ireland’?’’

afford to eat, alternatives need to be considered.

O’Reilly was no different.

He sold his guitars and met with a FÁS councillor to examine more practical career options far removed from music; thankfully, she refused to entertain such notions.

“The music industry was all I knew, but I’d studied film in college so she suggested that I just go out and film other musicians.

‘You don’t need a course, just go out and fucking do it,’ she said.”

O’Reilly chanced his arm by filming live performances, uploading them to his YouTube channel and emailing artists to see if It’s a frustration that’s they liked what they saw - a unfortunately all too beautifully simple marketing common for our home-grown strategy that paid off. He musicians. They pour their started working with Kíla heart and soul into their and before long amassed music, they’re talented, they an impressive collection of know they have a good thing work with Ireland’s finest going, but when it comes to musicians, under the name the point where they can’t Arbutus Yarns.

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Spinning a Yarn with

Myles O’Reilly 9

His background in music gave him the unique ability to focus on the artists at the right time, capturing moments that could be lost to most of his peers. “Movement was a big thing to me. If a piano player was nodding his head, rather than just film his fingers, I would film his head bobbing in and out of the shot. Suddenly it would create a strobe effect where the viewer was lured into listening more than just watching. If you’re watching fingers, you just watch the notes but if you’re watching a head move you’re actively listening more through observation - [that focus] really took off and other artists were keen to have that stamp on their videos and live performances.”

In a world jaded by Photoshop, Instagram filters and over-the-top production 10

values, O’Reilly keeps it straightforward with his trusty Canon 600D and a commitment to providing an honest and real experience for his audience. He understands the beauty of imperfections, that it’s those moments in which everything becomes more believable.

He pulls the viewers into his videos, allowing them to feel like they’re right there in the room with the musician. It’s seductive in its simplicity, but is only achieved through his masterful artistic attention.

Those real and wonderful emotions are scattered throughout his recent documentary ‘The Sound of a Country’, where he accompanies Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill on tour

through India. “I was there to document the energy they put out and the energy of the Indian people. You know, how the music, character, personality and atmosphere of India would react to their music and what would happen in that tiny little space in the middle where the two things meet? I wanted to capture that energy and I think I really got that.

I hope people feel it.”

Travelling the world, experiencing different cultures and examining how the musician interacts with the space outside the studio walls is what fascinates O’Reilly the most. “Rónán Ó Snodaigh, he plays bodhran like a king and I want to bring him to Bali where everyone bangs instruments - he’d be a remarkable person to bring there. I also want

Interview - Myles O’Reilly

to go to Cambodia, they have this ancient one-string instrument and there’s only one guy who survived the genocide who knows how to play it. He’s in his 80’s and he’s the master. I want to bring Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, one of Ireland’s best string players, to meet him and see what happens between them.”

For a man who cheated death this year, it’s only right that he keeps his dreams in sight. A throat infection that he picked up at last year’s Electric Picnic turned into something far more serious when he tried to fend it off with several types of antibiotics while travelling through India. When he returned home, his immune system completely gave up.

The bacteria in his body started multiplying and he was admitted to hospital on Christmas Day, his head swollen to twice its normal size and the skin struggling to contain it. He was operated on twice as the fluid travelled dangerously close to his brain. He was told that he may not survive.

“Luckily I came through it suddenly coming out of the coma I’m aware that some of the things I saw were incredible. I’ve taken Issue 03

mushrooms once in a while and it’s an extraordinary experience but nothing compares to what I saw when I was in that coma - hearing full-blown songs, I was talking to people . . . so many stories and adventures. It was like Alice in Wonderland. I’m aware that a lot of it was down to the chemicals, but there were some profoundly beautiful moments where I met relatives who had passed away and who consoled me.”

“I’ve taken mushrooms once in a while and it’s an extraordinary experience but nothing compares to what I saw when I was in that coma.”

He was eager to work as soon as he was discharged from hospital and lined up a number of projects - some to pay the bills but he also plans to focus on his passion projects; shining the light on smaller artists who need and deserve recognition.

He’s kept pretty busy, but there have been periods of time - from two weeks up to three months - where no jobs

have been coming in, but that’s when he sets himself time to seek out those smaller artists. Those projects aren’t money-makers, but they provide a bigger sense of fulfilment that resonates with any true music fan.

At present, the last project he has lined up is with Lisa Hannigan and Aaron Dessner in Lismore Castle this September. “That will be really interesting but that’s the last thing in my calendar, it’s a little bit daunting. I really hope someone gets in contact with me afterwards. I’m pretty confident that they will.”

He isn’t driven by commercial success and chooses to live in a world void of sponsorship and royalties.

“I’m past the point where I can work with someone else. I’m not this team member anymore. I’m an orphan. I had a career that fell apart; I had to deal with it on my own. I had no one else to help me.

I’m not someone who can step into a team role now and order a film crew around and give a producer money to tell me what to do. Part of me wishes that down the line I could have kids and a bigger house but I don’t worry about how that’s going to happen now. I’m just happy being absolutely free”.

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Bitch falcon

The soaring Dublin trio bringing embittered guitar noise to the masses Words: James Hendicott Photos: Aaron Corr & Mark O’ Connor

Interview - Bitch Falcon

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s a grunge-inspired, snarling act drawing influences from a disparate list that includes Nirvana, Bjork and Fuck Buttons, noisy Dublin newcomers Bitch Falcon haven’t found attention hard to come by. They don’t pull any punches, building both sound and reputation around pummelling bass, throbbing fret dynamics and the bitterly memorable vocal snarl of frontwoman Lizzie Fitzpatrick.

It’s early days - only 18 months, in fact - but they’ve been cluttered ones. Three singles and a small heap of ever-developing live shows have surrounded substantial line-up changes and knock-on band reinventions. Not least amongst those changes has been the recent success of settling into gigs as a three piece. There’s real sense that the latest Bitch Falcon line-up is the one that will carry them forward.

“We write very well together, the three of us”, explains bassist Naomi MacLeod in the aftermath of the amiable departure of fourth member Fia Kavanagh. “Lizzie and I have this weird thing where we’ll kind of present each other a riff, and the other person will go ‘I sort of like it, but I can’t place it’. And then we’ll be working on something completely different and it’ll come back, and just fit like a jigsaw.”

It comes naturally to the trio to talk of the band in terms of their live performances.

“We’re at our best on stage. That’s why we do this”, drummer Nigel Kenny argues, and it’s borne out in their very dynamics. The Bitch Falcon process is the old-school method of making music: produce for live performance first, and worry about the rest later.

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Interview - Bitch Falcon

“We write our songs for the stage”, Fitzpatrick explains.

“We then have to figure out how to record them.

That seems like the right way around to us, as live is where we hope to build our audience.”

There have already been some nice opportunities to work on that recording technique, however, after blogger Nialler9 recommended the band to the Guinness Amplify panel, who in turn agreed to fund the recording of a single.

The result is most recent release ‘TMJ’, which

MacLeod describes as “a glossy little tangent we got to go on,” and comes in its more polished form in large part due to the relatively high-tech equipment and production techniques the Amplify money opened up. ‘Poppy’ it may be (at least by Bitch Falcon standards), but those dingy references remain in place. TMJ stands for ‘temporomandibular joint’, the joint that connects the skull to the jaw bone, yet the theme, predictably, is more philosophical: a medical name applied to a metaphorical case of lockjaw.

More often, a blunt, fuzzy, moody feel is what the three-piece thrive on.

There seems to be a very pointed and well-formed aesthetic to everything Bitch Falcon do, in fact, as you’d expect from an act that once had to be rebranded ‘Lady Dog Falcon’ for safe daytime radio. The colourful, fuzzy lo-fi backdrop that dominates the imagery of live shows comes from Fitzpatrick’s love of surrealist filmmaker David Lynch, but also sits tightly with the grunge-leaning corners of the setlist.

For pure volume, the band have been joshing with fellow Dublin rockers The Minutes over a noise-off for several months, and are now - with a definite tinge of disappointment - claiming their ‘rivals’ have “bottled it.”

‘Fuzz’ and ‘noise’ seem like natural keywords.

While there’s lots of riotous fun to be had, then, Bitch Falcon’s future sounds bravely conceptual, partly eschewing the concept

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Interview - Bitch Falcon

“The idea now is to keep people topped up; to try to build the addiction.” of an album. “We’re not in that place yet, and when we are, we’ll make it as a concept and probably not include the previous singles,” Kenny says.

Instead, they’re looking to drip feed music, releasing only tracks they feel fully able to stand behind.

“I don’t think we’re quite ready for an album”, Fitzpatrick argues. “We’re still developing, and we’d want an album to be something really complete.

We’d also have to throw all our money at it, and it doesn’t feel like the time yet. The idea now is to keep people topped up; to try to build the addiction.

It puts so much focus on your music when you release it one track at a time, and we don’t want to dilute things.”

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It’s unlikely when the moment comes for an album that it’ll be a standard release, with all three members already eyeing adaptations of brave concepts from some of their favourite bands.

“When we do get to that stage,” Kenny explains, “I’d like to think it’ll be more than just an album; that it’ll come together with something more than music.” It’ll take a while, but it’s out of a determination to get things right and to take advantage of music’s new landscape.

gigs coming up again and again that we felt we “It’s becoming more couldn’t turn down. and more about bands They were too good, themselves,” the trio agree. which is a nice problem to “We’d take a deal under have,” MacLeod explains. the right circumstances, of “It’s been hard to sit down course, but labels, radio and record, but that’s fine. and media have less We’ve always wanted to influence over a band’s build our reputation on success than they ever stage.” have. People have more choice, and so do we.”

Experiencing the memorable brutality of the A fitting tribute to the band’s extraordinary live success of that drip rampages sends its own feeding strategy is that message: that reputation recording anything of note is still some way short of has been a challenge, where’s it likely to end up. simply because audiences Concepts might help, but have Bitch Falcon so in Bitch Falcon won’t need demand. “There have been them to succeed.

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Feature - Why Music Photography Matters

Why Music Photography M

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picture may be worth a thousand words, but in reality it may not be worth a whole lot more than that.

Every year photographers dish out buckets of money to invest in cameras and lenses that create iconic images, yet few people are willing to pay for these photographs today.

Take Taylor Swift’s recent photo release - she jibed at Apple Music for not paying artists throughout their trial period, but her photo contract explicitly states that all photographers who shoot 16

her shows must hand over all the images, and she is free to use them when and how she so pleases. This hardly seems fair, yet this is the conundrum many photographers find themselves in when shooting bigger artists.

Photographers spend years learning how to produce high-quality images that capture the atmosphere of a moment in time. Often these images are what sells the product. It’s probably the reason why you’re reading this magazine now - the

picture sold it to you. Photos sell the dream, except it would appear that nobody wants to buy the dream anymore. Yet, in this era of social media that we live in, musicians and bands know the importance of product image.

A huge problem photographers have is artists reposting images without prior consent, often cropping out the watermark. In this instance, the photographer’s hard work has gone to waste.

It is always nice to see artists

Feature - Why Music Photography Matters

Matters who pay and credit their photographers, but when your livelihood depends on selling these images, credit alone is not enough.

There is a certain school of thought amongst certain artists that credit is payment in itself. It’s not.

Music photography is hugely important in documenting the era we are living in.

When you go to a concert these days, half the time people aren’t even looking at the band. They are looking at the band through a dodgy mobile video; they are not experiencing the euphoria that comes with engaging 100% with the music.

Photographers are there to do the job so you don’t have to.

A lot of artists have started asking their fans to put away their mobile phones - Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ letter to fans states: “PLEASE DO NOT WATCH THE SHOW THROUGH A SCREEN ON YOUR SMART DEVICE/CAMERA. PUT Issue 03

THAT SHIT AWAY” as a courtesy to the person behind you and to Nick, Karen and Brian” Photo contracts are also becoming a big problem for both print and online publications, and they are being forced to find increasingly creative ways to overcome these issues. I re-created The Killers in Lego for GoldenPlec when the band played the O2 and imposed an absurd ‘no photographers allowed’ rule.

The images later appeared in many publications including The Las Vegas Review, The Journal, and PetaPixel with no mention of how the band performed on the night.

There are many skills involved with music photography, such as dealing with tricky lighting, and compositions. Sometimes photographers are not allowed to roam free in the photo pit, or they are instructed to stick to a certain side of the stage and not move from there. All of this can greatly limit creative play for a photographer.

We must embrace music photography for the art form that it is. One of the most important and often overlooked elements of the music business is how an artist visually presents themselves. A great photograph is what immediately gives you an Quebec newspaper Le Soleil edge and sets you apart from also got creative to challenge the crowd. If you’ve worked Foo Fighters’ photo policy by hard to make sure that sending a cartoonist to cover your music is of the highest a gig. “When the Foo Fighters possible standard, then you claim rights to pictures of them in should also take the time and concert, they do not do it halfway” money to make sure your read their statement, “Not only image looks as good as you should accredited photographers at sound. the show yesterday not publish their work more than once, they had to Words and Photo: Debbie give up all rights.”

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Reviews - Albums

Album Reviews

Neon Atlas

Ryan Sheridan

Sal Vitro

Graffiti Reality

Here and Now

Cirque Du Sleaze

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traight outta Cork, Neon Atlas are back with their second album. ‘Graffiti Reality’ suggests a turgid, world-weary perspective but that seems to belie what is an upbeat slice of summer.

A track like I Never Felt So Good actually seems genuine coming via Kieran Ring’s soft tones.

our years after his debut, Ryan Sheridan returns with the follow up, ‘Here and Now’. The album opens with the title track and a more rounded, polished Sheridan emerges from his trademark acoustic/cajon rooted sound.

Production and style subtly change as the album progresses, with solid They may call themselves musicianship and songwriting grunge and indie, but they throughout; what we’ve come have more in common with to know from Sheridan. the power pop of The New ‘Here and Now’ is home to a Pornographers than any of handful of songs that will be the anguish-sodden songs that radio hits - Sheridan knows go with those genres. his audience well and doesn’t disappoint.

‘Grafffiti Reality’ is a head bobbing, hum-along sort of This may be a slightly an album, but not one likely transitional period for him, to stay with you for long after but it needs a little more it ends. danger.

Sean Noone Vanessa Monaghan Issue 03

al Vitro have supported Thin Lizzy and Status Quo, but when you’re named after a character in The Sopranos - who had his arm broken in a dispute between Paulie Walnuts and Feech La Mana- perhaps things aren’t destined to always go your way.

Line ‘Em Track aims for deltablues authenticity but feels as real as Shia LaBeouf ’s rapping. It’s frustrating, as the arena melodies of The Getting’ Older Casanova prove them capable of producing quality, such as The Party Hard Smoker, yet they miss the target frequently. Caught betwixt crowd-pleasing stadium and blues-rock, ‘Cirque Du Sleaze’ is an album that succeeds, partially.

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Your 24 Music /7 Festiva l

Reviews - Albums & EPs

Album & EP Reviews

Oliver Cole

Shrug Life

Sample Answer

Year of the Bird

The Grand Stretch

Good Boy EP

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The ingredients are all in place for something special – myriad, lush instruments, backing musicians that include Glen Hansard and Gemma Hayes, some truly stunning backing vocals and sonic accentuation - yet somehow it doesn’t ignite as fully as it should.

Justin McDaid

Sample Answer’s strength lies in his distinctive vocals, alternating between singing Vocalist Danny Carroll and rapping while throwing takes inspiration from the in the odd speak-sing mundane, covering topics interlude for good measure. It as diverse as Kevin Kilbane all flows together, seamlessly. in Long Ball Game - an ode to being average - to working in Title track Good Boy is the highlight, as it provides an Supermac’s in Funderland. insight into O’Connor’s struggle to keep control of Adorned with bursts of the most important thing in jagged guitars and the type his life, himself. “Oh Lord don’t of lo-fi, saccharine hooks associated with labelmates So bring me down, I’ve done some Cow and The Run Ons, ‘The nasty things today. And I’m tryna Grand Stretch’ is grand, so it be a good boy.” He could be great. is…grand.

Niall Swan Frank Hughes

his is the second album from Oliver Cole; a home recording, not that you would realise from the stellar production. Maudlin in places, flirting with country rock and AOR, ‘Year Of The Bird’ rises above the typical singer/songwriter drudgery by virtue of its meticulous detail. The excellent Magnolia stands out; an aching, pitchperfect ballad that hits all the right spots.

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hrug Life’s latest offering, ‘The Grand Stretch’, contains all the key ingredients that make the Popical Island label such a jewel in the Irish music scene.

It’s full of off-kilter indie rock tunes, deep fried in liberal lyrical wit.

ample Answer is a Dublin-born acoustic/ hip-hop artist whose impressive debut EP, ‘The Good Boy’, draws influences from the likes of Dylan, Jay-Z and Tyler, The Creator.

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Reviews - Live

Live Reviews slamming away alone on stage with little interest in or awareness of the crowd below. Enthusiasm is not lacking, but a ¾ full tent is not able to match the energy of the music, and a lack of stimulation from the man on stage doesn’t help things.

SBTRKT

Longitude - Marlay Park

Photos: Aaron Corr & James Murray

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ongitude returned to Dublin’s Marlay Park for a third dose of midsummer musical madness.

Chemical Brothers, Hozier, and Alt – J filled the headline slots, while a supporting cast including Le Galaxie, All Tvvins, and Girl Band proved what GoldenPlec already knew - Irish music more than holds its own against international acts.

Metronomy

Despite clouds threatening all day, the sun is out to complement Metronomy’s pleasant, airy synth-pop.

There are few songs likely 22

to ease you into a summer’s evening of music as capably as The Look, and the band are well aware of this, giving it an early outing and loosening up weary limbs in the process. Cuts from 2014’s ‘Love Letters’ are beautifully executed and showcase the band’s talents for dreamy keys and drum clicks.

Todd Terje

The Heineken tent crowd receives Todd Terje with about as much gusto as they can muster at 8pm as the sun shines brightly outside.

However, the DJ doesn’t seem too bothered by any of it,

SBTRKT’s set is the musical equivalent of being tossed in a bass drum and thrown down a moderately sized waterfall.

When you get to the end you’re a bit shaken and a bit wet, but you’ve had quite a good time along the way. The producer and his band bounce energetically about the stage, with Aaron Jerome’s unmistakable mask acting as the centrepiece as he orchestrates things from behind a desk. A packed tent encloses the sound, allowing the bass and drums to reverberate in the bodies that flood the stage. While they are unafraid to dip into their catalogue of hits, it

Reviews - Live

hardly seems to matter. It’s all about the energy of the performance and consistency of Jerome’s music; each song is a fantastic blend of powerful bass and melody.

The bassy buzz of New Dorp, New York still resonates in the chest hours, even days, after the set ends.

Hozier

A true Dublin fairytale; Andrew Hozier-Byrne and his band play to a 20,000 plus crowd at the main stage of a festival where one year previous he had been scrubbing the floor of the same stage in the early afternoon. Oh the difference a year can make. This year Hozier is the belle of the ball; the biggest draw on Friday evening. There is no doubt that this represents a particularly sweet moment for him, and a fantastic reception from the crowd leaves him rosy-cheeked. His sound is large and impressive; his powerful vocals filling the park, almost piercing SBTRKT’s tent hundreds of metres away. The set is laden with hits from his début Issue 03

album, but a tepid, cringeinducing rendition of Ariana Grande’s Problem puts a lame but soulful spin on the bubbly pop tune. Some of his bluesy rock feels a bit slow-moving for a festival headlining set, but for the most part, Hozier delivers exactly what his music promises. Takes Me To Church leaves the audience in convulsions of joy and the amiable singer has thousands serenading a bandmate with Happy Birthday, before culminating with a delightful sing-along of Work Song.

Le Galaxie

It was going to be a challenging slot for Le Galaxie - 4pm on the Main Stage - but they make it look easy. “We are Le Galaxie and we have so much love to give”, Michael tells the large and enthusiastic crowd. Their infectious energy officially gets the party started, with

Put The Chain On and Love System, before MayKay from Fight Like Apes joins them on stage for a brilliant rendition of Carmen…a hard act to follow.

Slaves

The spirit of punk is alive and well on the Whelan’s Stage where Slaves nearly cause a full-on riot. Guitarist Laurie Vincent addresses an over-exuberant mosh pit participant who has apparently punched three people, calling him “a bully” and “an embarrassment”. The crowd are on Vincent’s side, extolling the security guards to kick him out. That aside, Slaves are a revelation - full of raw passion, and yet singing about the mundanity of ordinary life on songs like Cheer Up London and Do Something before mixing it with the surreal on Feed The Mantaray. The latter features 23

Reviews - Live

a man dressed as a Manta ray crowd-surfing, but it’s drummer and vocalist Isaac Holman who steals the show with his guttural screams and Parklife-style spoken word intervals. An unforgettable performance.

Caribou

Dan Snaith’s Caribou waddle out onto the main stage somewhat unnoticed, until the otherworldly synth sounds creep into the opening bars of Our Love, the title track from his much lauded 2014 album. Clad in all white, forming a small square in the centre of the stage, Snaith and his live band members make light work of taking an intricately 24

produced record to the stage.

While totally lacking in visual stimulation, the performance impresses by breathing new life into music that could easily be performed as a glamorized DJ set. Watching the different textures of the music come together is a treat and their performance of Can’t Do Without You is something to behold.

elicits huge cheers from the crowd while the trance-like techno-metal of Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage has air-punching hands aloft. If they were a book they’d be unputdownable - a band totally deserving of the buzz.

Alt-J

Alt-J write excellent songs, but there’s just something Girl Band missing from the live shows.

Probably the Irish hype band The songs are performed of the moment, Girl Band perfectly with tight harmonies have a lot to live up to, and and an appropriately moody boy do they deliver. Imagine light show. But there’s really Nirvana and Joy Division in a nothing else to it. At 3Arena head-on collision at 100 mph last year they made it quite and you’ve got some idea of clear that they were surprised what Girl Band sound like to be playing such a venue live. Rather than play their and their surprise seems instruments they bludgeon to continue unabated on them, creating overwhelming the Longitude Main Stage. walls of sound. Over this, Some slightly disingenuousDara Kiely sing-speaks sounding comments such as plaintively and screams a monotone “we’re having an violently in equal measure. awesome time with you tonight” The bass groove of Lawman don’t help matters, and the set

Reviews - Live

The Chemical Brothers

list is almost identical to the one played on the other side of the Liffey. They’ve even persisted with their weird cover of Bill Wither’s Lovely Day in the encore. Having said all that, the crowd happily sing the words of all their biggest songs back to them as the rain finally begins to fall, as does the curtain on the second day of Longitude.

That I Am.

and with only one of the “Brothers” (Ed Simons is James Blake replaced by Adam Smith who A big roar erupts when Blake works on visuals for them), begins with the acapella vocal not that anybody really cares. loops of I Never Learnt To Especially when, to a sky full Share. With vocoders galore of green and red laser beams, and freestyle jazz-stylings the familiar high-pitched on synths, there’s never a drone that begins Hey Boy Hey dull moment. You would Girl sounds out and the Main be equally happy panned Stage faithful start to lose out on the grass as right it. Stunning and sometimes up the front getting down. disconcerting visuals abound Tove Lo Limit To Your Love - his everthroughout the night, The Heineken Stage is the popular Feist cover - follows, featuring dancing robots, slow busiest it’s been all weekend triggering a mass singalong. motion panicked running. for Tove Lo, with the crowd This is definitely a festival Setting Sun gets a rapturous extending outside of the tent. set. Lindisfarne I & II take welcome, and all the while Talking Body has the young on an incredibly emotional you have to suppress the crowd in raptures, with one hue performed live, He’s little voice in the back of of the highest ratios of people not afraid to play new songs your head that wonders up on shoulders that we’ve either, quipping “One day when how much of this is being seen this weekend. On paper, you know that song it’ll make rendered “live”. But then you what makes Tove Lo stand sense.” Blake is a master at the look around and realise no out above her contemporaries top of his game. one cares and you shouldn’t is difficult to discern, but on either. Just enjoy the greatest stage she is warm, animated The Chemical hits set from the Masters of and engaging, even managing Brothers Marlay. to keep the crowd’s attention And so to the main event, Ian Martin & for the slow paced The Way arriving late to the stage Ben Allen Issue 03

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Feature - BIMM Dublin

Are BIMM the Answer to an Age Old Question: Can You Teach Someone To Rock?

W

hen it was first announced that the British and Irish Institute of Modern Music, or BIMM for short, was opening a college in Dublin, many people including ourselves here at GoldenPlec - were sceptical about the project. Other music courses in Ireland have traditionally failed to produce talent on a regular basis.

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Why would BIMM be any different? What could they bring to the table that other established music courses in Ireland have failed to do?

And, of course, there’s the age-old question of nature versus nurture. Can you really teach someone to rock?

careers, GoldenPlec spoke to one of BIMM’s senior tutors and Irish rock royalty, Joe Wall (The Stunning/The Walls), to ascertain whether BIMM coming to Dublin has been a success or not.

Under the guidance of Mark Greaney (JJ72) and a host of other successful With the first class of graduates leaving BIMM with musician/tutors including degrees this summer in search Graham Hopkins (Therapy?/ of success and/or sustainable The Frames), Cathy Davey,

Feature - BIMM Dublin

Sarah Lynch (session violinist HamsandwicH/Ed Sheeran) and Conor Adams (Cast of Cheers/All Tvvins), the staff of BIMM have fostered a culture of doing, within both the student body and the faculty.

“They [BIMM] generally take on teachers with a proven track-record of doing things and continuing to do things,” says Wall. “To know that the musicians that are advising you and that you’re asking questions of are successful at what they are doing is a big help.”

Prime examples of people who’ve continued to do things whilst teaching at BIMM include Kieran McGuinness and Rónán Yourell (Delorentos) whose 2014 album ‘Night Becomes Light’ saw them nominated once again for the Choice Music Prize.

Drum tutor Rory Doyle played on Hozier’s recordbreaking debut album and is currently touring the world as part of his live band, while Issue 03

Conor Adam’s All Tvvins have released two of the best Irish singles of 2015 in the shape of Thank You and Too Young to Live.

However while Doyle, Delorentos and All Tvvins are inspirational yardsticks for students, nobody in BIMM is saying, ‘Follow me kid, I’ll make you a star.’

Instead, the emphasis within the college is focussed on creating “savvy, self-sufficient musicians,” says Wall.

think people learn best when they’re having experiences outside of college and they can come and talk to tutors about it.”

This is reflected in the students own achievements to date. BIMM student and one-half of duo Little Hours, “Only a small proportion of people John Doherty, was nominated for the 2014 Meteor Choice will really make it. One of the Music Prize Irish Song of the things we’re quite conscious of in Year for It’s Still Love and has BIMM is we try to give students signed to major label RCA a rounded education. Everybody studies business, the organisational, Records. Blades Club scored a number one on the Irish logistical and financial side of iTunes rock chart with their the industry so, that when they début single Asian Babes. leave college they’re a confident individual.”

The Eskies, fronted by student Ian Bermingham, “We are always encouraging the students to get things going outside scored a number 12 album in the Irish charts earlier of college and not to be cocooned this year with their debut in an academic environment. I 27

Feature - BIMM Dublin

can write songs that you can sing depending on what your discipline is.”

Overhead, The Albatross

‘After The Sherry Went Round.’ Overhead, The Albatross, featuring BIMM student Benjamin Garrett, have recently opened for Kodaline and are causing a stir internationally with their vibrant brand of post-rock.

Dublin to London or New York to try and have access to different musicians or to be part of a scene.

What BIMM has done is created that scene.”

With other notable acts such as Pockets, Sails, Columbia Mills and We Were Giants emerging all the time, BIMM have made a palpable contribution to the Irish music scene

Wall believes that despite the formal setting, BIMM provides the perfect setting for creative minds to fulfil their potential. “If you manage to bring in people with ability and flair in their field, put them together and hothouse them for a number of years, things will happen very fast.”

So why has BIMM been so successful, so quickly? “It’s created a hub of kindred spirits,” explains Wall. “In the past musicians would have moved from the countryside to Dublin, or from

“You need to be of a decent standard to get into BIMM. You have to have a portfolio of work as a songwriter. You have to be able to display your musicianship - show that you can play, show that you

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One of the reasons that BIMM has been so successful in the UK, with acts such as George Ezra and James Bay emerging from its halls in recent years, is because it shirks stage school traditions of producing graduates who look and sound the same, instead attempting to help each student realise their individual potential.

“One of the advantages of the college is identifying your strengths and weaknesses and learning how to improve in those areas,” says Wall. “There’s a lot of concentration on playing and zoning in forensically on performances” One of the ways BIMM does this is by ensuring students are exposed to a wide variety of musical styles. “In first year what we make sure everybody gets a chance to play with everybody else,” says Wall “and what sometimes happens is those groups really gel - sometimes students find their kindred spirits in those temporary bands.” One such temporary band of kindred spirits is State Lights, who within several weeks of

Feature - BIMM Dublin

“If you manage to bring in people with ability and flair in their field, put them together and hothouse them for a number of years, things will happen very fast.” careers as session musicians or pit-musicians in musicals, while some will go on to “teach music, set up their own practice, or get involved with event management.”

Pockets

meeting in BIMM signed a management deal with Collective Management, home to singer-songwriter Gavin James.

What does the future hold for the first BIMM Dublin graduates? “I think there’s a Issue 03

lot of people who are going to do well. There’s a lot of distinctive songwriters and voices, and great players. The majority of students will want to have a go at their band.” But, Wall foresees a wide array of career paths for graduating students, with many students forging

In four short years, BIMM has become one of the main creative hives in the Irish music industry. Students and teachers alike are successfully forging ahead with their careers, proving sceptics -ourselves included - wrong.

They’d done so long before the first mortarboards have reached heads, never mind the sky.

Words: Stephen Byrne Photos: Sean Smyth & Aaron Corr 29

Interview - Wolf Alice

Wolf Alice

Chomping Through the Looking Glass

I

n a year that’s seen them perform on Conan and miss out on the very peak of the UK album charts by a mere 528 copies, North London’s Wolf Alice are very much the forerunners of the indie class of 2015. ‘My Love is Cool’ sticks two fingers up to pigeonholing and belligerent 30

boyfriends alike, coming after the tentative steps of four earlier EPs but seeing the band pointedly refuse to form one single aural dynamic.

The result is a charmingly varied offering with plenty of memorable hooks.

Drummer and songwriter Joel Amey is taking pleasure

in the ride, and took the time to tell GoldenPlec of his new world of TV appearances, festival angst and indie megahype.

“Looking outside the window, driving through the states was very much a pinch-yourself moment,” he explains. “Playing Conan (which attracts close to a

Interview - Wolf Alice

million viewers per episode, and so can be make or break for touring bands in America) was so surreal. It was like a Hollywood movie set.”

“It was pretty chilled backstage, having your food brought to you.

Gigs are different over there.

They’re pre-recorded so there isn’t as much pressure.” The American live experience in general has Amey buzzing, with fans clearly forming a fast connection to the newcomers: “They’re so mental, like a football match, with the crowd screaming between songs” The fast rise to public consciousness hasn’t been without its pitfalls, though, one of which is the inevitable non-musical analysis of any female member a band happen to possess (frontwoman Ellie Roswell, in Wolf Alice’s case).

Understandably, musical misogyny is a subject that has Amey particular incensed.

“There was one gig which we played with Swim Deep where one guy was hurling abuse at Ellie and everyone was telling him to shut Issue 03

up,” Amey recalls. Experience has taught the drummer a harsh lesson on how to deal with that particular brand of nonsense: “If anyone was to do that again, I’d head into the crowd and fight them,” he clarifies.

Bros, in which Roswell yells, “There’s no one quite like you, are your lights still on?” The slow build when it comes to releasing music alongside those self-assuring angles suggest Wolf Alice are looking more at the long “I read one review where they haul than the already notable mentioned what Ellie was wearing. success of their debut.

I don’t see why that, in particular, was relevant” he goes on, Following triumphant sets echoing Lauren Mayberry at Glastonbury, which saw from Chvrches’ recent them team up with Swim interview with Pitchfork.

Deep’s Austin Williams and cover the Scissor Sisters’ Take Your Mama, Wolf Alice have “If anyone was to do turned their sights to the rest that again, I’d head of the summer. That will into the crowd and feature a stream of festival fight them.” appearances including trips to Australia, Japan, the US, Still, there’s a softer side and half of Europe, and is to the band; a subtle sure to cement an already vulnerability that exists in astounding live reputation. both the music and the way Amey speaks. Even when “As long as artists stay true to their he self-deprecatingly labels form”, Amey tells us when himself as “weak”, you can’t asked about the effects of help but sense the sincerity ongoing changes in the music there - that the quartet industry. Having already will stick up for each other, taken a couple of roads less whatever happens. travelled, Wolf Alice is one act we suspect won’t have It’s a side that’s reflected much trouble doing just that. in the lyrics of lead single, Words: Alasdair Murty 31

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