Posts Tagged ‘Alternative’

Murder Plan – Inside Outsiders


Q1. Where are you from?

Bayside in Dublin

Q2. Musical influences?

Nick Cave, Tom Waits, the Beatles, Nina Simone

Q3. What’s your song writing process?

The music is generally written first and loosely arranged. We hen let it sit for about two weeks until one of us comes up with a theme. Once the theme has been decided we start experimenting with melodies and rough placeholder lyrics. Then we’ll go through about 6-10 drafts of the song, we’ll settle on that, here will be a few more rewrtes along he way and the song is done.

Q4. Most bizarre gig experience?

Playing in St Stephen’s Green shopping centre with the Soul Festival in 2008, there were kids lying on the floor looking at us with their grandparents – a surreal demographic cross-section of a crowd and a super gig, also the biggest venue we’ve ever played [it's probably bigger than the O2 in fact]

Q5. If you could share the stage with anyone, who would it be and why?

Any of the afore mentioned influences (even the dead ones) and Charlie Sheen, simply for the experience.

In their own words…

Murder Plan are a Dublin-based vaudeville blues band. Their sound can be described as a little bit chaos peppered with enchanting mania. With songs & styles encompassing rock, tangos, Balkan gypsy sounds, blues & jazz, they mix & match motifs like a drunken arsonist in a Parisian police line-up.

The band is made up of Stephanie O’ Keeffe (vocals), Dara Melinn (guitar), Steve Flynn (bass), Donal Melinn (drums) and Cathal Melinn (piano). None of the Melinns are related to each other and their coming together to form the band is a funny story that they sometimes recount at live shows, though it’s not something they reveal on a regular basis.

They’ve been playing together since May 2006 and still manage to hold down day-jobs in the Adult entertainment industry while rocking like crazed geologists throughout the night.

Their live performances tend to be classy, macabre affairs with a touch of humour and lots of energy for all to see. Roll up, roll up…

For Free MP3s, Pics & More Information Visit: www.murderplan.com

 

Sive – Sunkissed

Q1. Where are you from?

I’m from Kildare but living in Dublin, Mark (guitar) is from Kildare, Paddy (drums) is from Dublin and Eoin (bass) is from Wexford.

Q2. Musical influences?

We have a really wide range of influences and we’re all inspired by different types of music including Radiohead, Feist, PJ Harvey, Jeff Buckley and Tori Amos to name a few.

Q3. What’s your song writing process?

It really varies from time to time. Sometimes it takes me weeks and weeks to write a song and sometimes (but very rarely) it only takes a couple of hours. Once the song is finished I’ll bring it to the band and we’ll work on it. Sometimes I’ll have a bassline or something written beforehand, but usually I like to let the band do their own thing with the songs. It’s always nice to have the band’s input because we’ve all got a different approach, so it’s interesting to see where the song will end up when we put our ideas together.

Q4. Most bizarre gig experience?

We played at a charity gig a while ago and the organisers gave us each a pair of boxing gloves to thank us for playing. That was a bit mental!

Q5. If you could share the stage with anyone, who would it be and why?

There are so many! But I’d love to play on Jools Holland – I’d be happy to share the stage with anyone if we could perform on that show!

 

In their own words

Sive is the moniker of songwriter and musician Sadhbh O’Sullivan.

Sadhbh grew up in Naas, Co Kildare and spent most of her teenage years playing guitar and bass in various bands. Having finished school, she obtained a place at Ballyfermot Rock School where she began to sing and perform her own compositions. This gave her the opportunity to take part in an exchange program in The Netherlands, so in September 2008 she moved to Tilburg and formed a band with a group of Dutch musicians. They rehearsed together for a few months, playing shows in a number of venues around the area.

In 2009 Sadhbh returned to Ireland, determined to establish herself on the Irish music scene. She recruited some new musicians including 2 fellow Ballyfermot graduates; bassist Eoin Hartwieg and drummer Patrick Hopkins, and jazz guitarist Mark Dudley. In the year that followed they became a regular fixture in Dublin’s live venues. They also secured themselves a slot at the Temple House Festival in Sligo, opened for a number of renowned acts including Kila and Gemma Hayes, made a few radio appearances and had a track featured on “Brand New Day”; a compilation album in aid of Suicide or Survive.

Having spent 2010 hard at work on the live circuit, Sadhbh and her band have steadily begun to build themselves a fan base. Her vocals and songwriting style have been described as “pure and authentic”, while the band’s live performances have been referred to as “prog rock without the ego”. 2011 so far has seen Sadhbh return to The Netherlands for a tour and begin work on her debut album, which will be released in the autumn.

“Sadhbh has assembled a resolute bunch of musicians who play her songs in an intricate, compelling fashion. Combine these with the multi-instrumentalism of the talented Ms O’Sullivan, and you have what is going to be one hell of a show.” – Leinster Leader

www.breakingtunes.com/sivemusic

www.facebook.com/siveband

 

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Echoes – Gone

Q1. Where are you from?

Echoes represent Dublin, Newry and Tipperary but the band is based in Dublin.

Q2. Musical influences?

Influences: The Beatles, Oasis, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who, The Strokes, The Stone Roses, The Libertines, Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys, Paul Weller, The Jam, Damien Dempsey, Thin Lizzy, The Pogues, The Clash, The Smiths, Bon Iver, The Vaccines to name but a few!

Q3. What’s your song writing process?

Phil Culleton (guitar/ backing vocals) is the main songwriter for the band. Originally the song writing process involved Phil bringing a song to each band member in and practicing their individual parts. As Echoes progressed the band found the now preferred method of recording an early rough demo of a song and each member learning / working on their own parts, which in turn makes practice sessions a lot more productive and leaves more time to work on harmonies, solos, final song structure, etc… Most Echoes songs are written with acoustic guitar which means whether played with a full band or stripped down to one guitar and vocalist the songs will still be recognisable.

Q4. Most bizarre gig experience?

Our most bizarre gig experience is getting thrown off stage for causing “structural damage” to the building! The crowds pogoing antics lead to the ceiling in the venue below collapsing on the punters downstairs. We were promptly thrown off stage with a few songs left in the set, which didn’t exactly calm the crowd down either!

Q5. If you could share the stage with anyone, who would it be and why?

Too hard to answer! There’s 5 of us in the band so each band member would probably pick a different person so just for arguement’s sake we’ll say some generic dead legend or other – John Lennon, Phil Lynnott, Jimi Hendrix etc. Or just anyone form our list of influences…

 

In their own words

ECHOES are an emerging Dublin based band consisting of Phil Culleton (guitar/vocals), Paddy Sweeney (vocals) and Peter Byrne (lead guitar), Sean Delaney (drums) and Marty Canavan (bass).

Although ECHOES were formed in 2010, the bands history runs deeper than that.  Culleton, Sweeney and Byrne began playing together in 2000 when the former schoolmates formed their first band Paragon.  After the demise of Paragon the lads went their seperate ways; Culleton and Sweeney sticking together and performing acoustic gigs across Dublin under the name The Way Out Ones before eventually forming the short lived Whiskey Chasers.

After a short break the lads reformed under the name The Skins before settling on the name ECHOES with arrival of Peter Bryne who had spent his time away from the lads (as well as competing for a spot representing Ireland at The Winter Olympics 2010!) playing in bands such as Silken Thomas, Dumb and Drummer, and Stellar Jets – the latter of which he still plays with alongside drummer Sean Delaney.

After seeing an internet ad by the band, Marty Canavan checked out their myspace and duly signed up – boasting the experience of being “Mani” in The Stone Roses tribute act The Third Coming and also formerly being the lead guitarist in Northern Ireland act The Beat Poets.

www.myspace.com/echoesceol

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Nova Static – Saving The World

Q1. Where are you from?

All four members are currently living in Portlaoise, Co.Laois.

Q2. Musical influences?

Influences range from Husker Du, The Replacements, The Lemonheads to Bloc Party.

Q3. What’s your song writing process?

Daniel, our singer and guitarist, usually will come to ther band with a rough demo of a new song. From here we each individually pitch in our own ideas and we try them out. After much rehearsing a new song will then be played live a few times and we sometimes tweak it again until we’re happy with the final song.

Q4. Most bizarre gig experience?

There’s been many, one that comes to mind is performing onstage at Captain America’s on Grafton Street. Having to play at half volume to a restaraunt full of people eating was very strange. I doubt we’ll return.

Q5. If you could share the stage with anyone, who would it be and why?

Personally when I was younger I always wanted to be the person Green Day pulled onstage during their shows to play a song with them. I was never picked unfortunately but would still like to share the stage with them. Speaking for the other members I’d guess they’d say The Replacements, Husker Du or maybe The Smiths.

 

In their own words

Dara Comerford (drums), Daniel Heffernan (guitar & vocals), Brian Scully (guitar) and Stephen wall (bass) got together in late 2006. Since then, countless gigs, hundreds of miles, hazy memories, lofty ambitions, new friends, mortal enemies, broken promises, shattered hearts, hibernation, inspiration, good times, bad times and things they can’t mention have shaped nova static into an eight legged pop-rock behemoth.

August saw the release of nova static’s self titled debut e.p…. four tracks of love, loss, piracy and possibly gay vampires; it demonstrates perfectly how the band harnesses an eclectic range of influences to create their own unique sound. the response to this release has been overwhelming, with Jackie Hayden of hot press recently selecting the disc as his “pick of the fortnight” in his first cuts column.

With (typically, unintentional) perfect timing, just a week before their e.p. became available, Nova Static were selected by Declan Forde of pod to perform at electric picnic 2010. The band are now playing as many shows as they can and intend to break through any proverbial doors, rather than get their foot in…

Nova Static have supported acts such as Little Comets, Killing Joke, The Coronas, Ham Sandwich, The Blizzards, Republic of Loose, The Immediate and many more…

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Tara Stewart – Yellow Man

Q1. Where are you from?

I am from a small-ish town called Alice Springs in the Northern Territory in Australia AKA right in the middle of the country.

Q2. Musical influences?

My musical influences would be Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, Jeff Buckley and new acts such as Sia and Marina and the Diamonds.  I also love watching other acts at sessions for example gives me a lot of inspiration to write.

Q3. What’s your song writing process?

My process is to write down interesting quotes people say to me throughout my life and then I form a story/song around that. For example when I was back home in Australia and my partner was in Holland he sent me a Christmas present, and when I received it my father said “I hope that’s not a diamond in that box”. So from that I made the lyric in one of my songs called Timeout “my papa said I hope that’s not a diamond in that box”.

I love to exaggerate normal events and stories in my own life because it helps me create something interesting however at the same time it also has some meaning and a connection to me to it.

Q4. Most bizarre gig experience?

Hmmm bizarre gig experience, I do not recall anything to crazy but one interesting event was being asked to sing Mustang Sally at a gig and the man offered me 100 Aus Dollars just to sing that song.

Q5. If you could share the stage with anyone, who would it be and why?

I would definitely share it with Stevie Nicks! I love her voice, style everything.

 

In their own words

Tara is a 20 year old Irish/Indian musician born and bred in Australia. Having grown up right in the centre in a town called Alice Springs Tara learnt many instruments from a young age, these included Guitar, Flute, Drums, Mandolin, Accordion, Singing and recently the Saxophone.

In 2007 Tara recorded her first EP in Sydney and soon supported headline Australian acts such as Jet, The Waifs, Behind Crimson Eyes and Jon Stevens.

For the last couple of years Tara has been teaching the Flute and Voice to students. She was also featured in a female magazine called REAL mag for her artwork whilst also selling her work all across the country to businesses, individuals and boutiques.

2011 is the year Tara decided to move from Alice Springs to Dublin to expand her music and explore the world outside her home for a while. Soon Tara will be recording a new EP and she is hoping to be participating in many festivals to come this year.

 

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