“Join our cult. You won’t be missing out. You’ll never want to leave.” Those are the words that Surfer Blood’s drummer, Tyler Schwarz, used to sum up why we should all be a fan of this dangerously fun, pop rock group, and I have to say that statement is just. Surfer Blood mixes complicated and interesting sounds with an indie pop vibe that really hits the spot. The band is co-headlining a tour with The…
A matter of weeks ago, I took a short trip to London, during which I was serendipitous enough to catch an Amber Rubarth gig. Although that may be less down to serendipity, and more to the fact that I flew over specifically for it. She was also gracious enough to allow me to pester her with questions and bad jokes for half an hour or so. Now, following some internal complications and day-job-related lethargy and…
The bellowingly good news coming from last night’s Ham Sandwich gig is this: their new album is shaping up to be jolly good. (This has been calculated using science – specifically, an inventive method involving measuring the size of the bruises on the knees and thighs of myself and my colleague-in-jests, David Kirk, following the frenzied dancing of the girl in front of us, and the resulting pendulous swinging of her abnormally hefty handbag, during…
And to think that some people are still deluded enough to believe that U2 are Ireland’s premier live band. I don’t know if it’s sheer media saturation that’s perpetuated that myth, or just widespread ignorance, but it needs to be stamped out post-haste. Bono can take his impossibly huge stage monstrosities and stick them where the streets have no name; Ham Sandwich have claimed the crown so wrongly placed on Hewson’s overinflated noggin, and painted…
The Dead Milkmen, a Philadelphia quartet known for their quirky underground hit singles such as “Punk Rock Girl,” “Dean’s Dream,” and “Stuart,” spent years making an art form out of not taking things too seriously during their late 80’s heyday. Twenty years later, the world hasn’t forgotten them. There could have been little more proof of that than the string of sell out crowds at the sporadic reunion shows they’ve played since November 2008. On…
Oh yes it’s ladies night And the feeling’s right Oh yes it’s ladies night Oh what a night – Kool & The Gang Rock n’ roll is a wonderful, chaotic beast. Borne of a decadent tryst between blues and boogie, it’s grown from its simple, Chuck Berry beginnings into a many-tendriled monster, sprouting new bands and sub-genres from every possible pustular orifice. And while a lot of the descendent bands have grown up to be…
My one presiding memory of visiting my granddad when I was knee high to a shepherd’s pie is, of all things, screwing around with the old man’s stair lift. Utterly lost on me and my brother was the importance of the machine for allowing my granddad easy ascent – all we saw was a hilarious toy that distracted us from the boring grown-up talk that was going on around us. I’m fairly certain we broke…
Clichés are basically the exact opposite of a box of chocolates: you always know what you’re gonna get next. The key to making clichés work in songwriting is to couch the clichés in a bunch of other interesting stuff so that they’re not all that important to the song, in the end. This is a lesson I learned last night, watching Jason Isbell give a fantastic performance upstairs in Whelan’s. Supporting act for the night…
We’re three songs into Ham Sandwich’s set in Whelan’s, and the entire crowd is already covered in confetti and there are maybe ten beach ball-sized balloons being batted between audience and band. Everyone in the venue is either grinning madly or openly laughing. Ham Sandwich are clearly here to have some fun. But wait: like a bunch of drunks in charge of a time machine, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. (That’s an old Mr. Biffo…
It was a sweet day when we decided to go in Barcelona to see the Australian living legends. So, along with game master Tibi Puiu, a few friends and a handful of whisky and tequila bottles we head out for Spain’s cultural capital. We tried to visit as much as possible there, so we missed about 15 minutes from the opening band’s show, The Answer. There was also a Spanish band before them, but I…
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Al Byrne
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