Molly Buchan is a multifaceted Indie-Folk musician from Clonakilty who is currently based in Dublin. Previously released singles such as ‘Strawberry Perfume’ and ‘Tell Me’ bear the familiar emotional weight of young love, exploring various emotions from denial and anger to grief and reminiscence in her writing, making them ultimately relatable to a wide variety of listeners.
Signed to boutique indie label, Pop Cautious Records, Molly is currently working on her debut EP alongside GANZY, a collective featuring several independent artists from BIMM Dublin.
“The Clonakilty International guitar festival would be a great opportunity to spread my platform to a wider audience, especially in my hometown and we would greatly appreciate consideration for the international guitar festival.” Molly Buchan
KIT (aka Katie Wighton) is the guitarist/vocalist in ARIA-award winning folk outfit All Our Exes Live in Texas.
In 2017 All Our Exes Live in Texas won the ARIA award for Best Blues & Roots Album for their critically acclaimed debut, “When We Fall”. All Our Exes Live in Texas is a fantasy draft of Australia’s finest singer-songwriters – Elana Stone, Katie Wighton, Hannah Crofts and Georgia Mooney – combining in four-part indie-folk harmony heaven.They have toured across the globe with The Backstreet Boys, Midnight Oil and Passenger to name a few.
They also provided backing vocals for Kesha’s platinum single, Praying.In 2019 Katie began work on her debut solo EP, You Act Like A Child. Her first single Good Guy “ a powerhouse of a track that will appeal to fans of Alex Lahey or Ruby Fields.”
KIT’s second single, King Size Bed was written with Jenny Owen-Youngs (Panic! At The Disco) and Jake Sinclair(Panic! At The Disco, Taylor Swift, Weezer) in LA in 2018.
“A BIG hell yeah!” Clare Mooney, jjj
“a joyous emotional rollercoaster” The AU Review of KIT’s EP, including her latest single You Act Like A Child, is out now on all platforms.
“You Act Like a Child” is a heartfelt exploration of vulnerability wrapped up in bold indie rock goodness. All Our Exes first performed at The Clonakilty Guitar Festival in 2016. “You could barely move, like. IN THE AFTERNOON. TO A BAND WHO ALMOST NOBODY IN THE ROOM (bar their parents, obviously) HAD HEARD BEFORE. It’s that sort of festival.” The Point of Everything.
A heady blend of blues, rock and americana, McHale’s Permanent Brew is made up of vocalist/guitarist Paul McHale, vocalist/guitarist Frank McHale, Stephen Houghton on Bass, Simon Lemax on keyboards and Chris Orrell on drums.
Wearing influences on her sleeve from Big Star to Cocteau Twins, Heart Shaped is the dreamy pop project of Belfast-based songwriter Kendall Bouquet. Following on from the 2020 EP ‘Second Hand’, which gained critical praise with international radio play from KEXP to the BBC and a feature on the front page of Bandcamp, new single No Contact finds the Texas native meditating on ambivalent love over a fuzzed-out soundscape of shimmering melodies. Together with surf inflected B-Side ‘Version of You’, the two tracks form a snapshot of a maturing songwriter hitting her stride, unafraid to mix a catchy pop sensibility with introspection and catharsis. Recently awarded the Chordblossom Kickstart Prize, Heart Shaped is poised as a rising star in the Irish music scene and one to watch in 2022.
“Bedroom pop in the truest sense, fuzzed-out and propulsive with charming melodies” – Bandcamp New and Notable Picks
“It’s Waxahatchee campfire sonic burn-out and Dinosaur Jr listless melancholy that’s so insistent it eventually grabs you by the throat and shakes your head until you see stars” – Did Not Chart
Clonakilty native, Anthony Noonan has over the years recorded, performed and toured with a variety of artists such as UK folk legend Roy Harper, Bill Shanley, The West Cork Ukulele Orchestra, Interference & Glen Hansard and Dog Tail Soup.
A feature of many Cork artists’ rhythm section, Anthony has previously been seen drumming for the likes of Ian Whitty & the Exchange, Fred, Mick Flannery, Lerner, FirBeag & Gavin Moore to name a few.
Releasing a first album of his own music in 2003, the follow-up second album in 2008, ‘Honeycomb Moons’, garnered some favourable national Airplay and attention in the press. TV features on The Last Broadcast with Dave Fanning, and The View with John Kelly, coupled with live appearances at Electric Picnic solidified this album as one of the best in 2008 with it featuring in Paul McLoone’s top 100 releases of the year.
The following period saw Anthony focus more on his drumming career. With appearances on Other Voices, to supporting Glen Hansard in Radio City Music Hall New York as drummer for Irish legends Interference, Anthony left song writing behind, until remerging under the moniker Q.U.I.E.T.
Q.U.I.E.T.’s debut album Somnambulist was released in 2023
Cork based Kʒːlu is the solo project by musician and composer Patrick Hatchett.
‘A globally inspired search for a connection and commonality; wild nights dancing, the wild characters amongst us, the innate wildness of my surroundings’.
Multi-instrumentalist Rawney (a.k.a. Ciarán Calnan) is an independent artist hailing from the musical melting pot of Clonakilty, west Cork.
Having played in various bands from the age of twelve, most notably Setmaker, he has been focusing on solo endeavours of late and the release of his debut EP, ‘Say It Loud’.
Rawney’s sound is a blend of rock, indie, folk and pop which has drawn comparisons to some of his influences including The Frames, Mic Christopher,Incubus, Foo Fighters and Stereophonics.
Renowned for his powerful vocals and energetic live performances, Rawney has honed his craft over the past decade by performing hundreds of gigs, both at home and abroad, at various venues and festivals in Ireland, Australia, Canada, Vietnam and Spain. Songs which were written and initially performed on an acoustic guitar got a new lease of life in the studio, resulting in an exciting full band sound throughout this long anticipated debut solo release.
Recorded, produced, mixed and mastered with Brian Casey (John Blek, Rowan, Clare Sands, Tiz McNamara, Paradox) in Wavefield Recording Studios in Clonakilty, this collection of songs has been brewing for almost four years. Rawney takes on the vocals, guitars and drums himself while Casey adds his magic touch on bass, electric guitar and keys. The EP also features the talented Dolcie Keogh on violin, a partnership rekindled from their Setmaker days.
“Themes of speaking up, addiction, the pitfalls of social media and not making rash decisions are touched upon over the course of the EP, and with songs in the bank, expect plenty more to come down the line.
“Many talents come and grow in Clonakilty, but Rawney’s voice, guitar playing, drumming and all round musicality make him one of #guitartowns MVPs.” – Clonakilty International Guitar Festival
Long time friends and former bandmates The Bones Below write and perform in a wide variety of musical styles. After a brief stint in metal band Heavywait in the mid 2000’s the band reformed in 2018 with the addition of piano and harmony vocals, and have been writing, recording, producing and releasing their own material ever since. There’s no limits, so anything goes.
Hailing from West Cork, Cork city and Laois, this four piece brings very different influences to the table. Taking their musical markers from rock and death metal to blues and folk, there is no area off limits when it comes to musical expression. The full band sound is often high energy rock with thrashing drums and soaring harmonies. But equally the bones below will strip back to allow for the gentle acoustic side of the band to flourish. Whatever incarnation of the band you encounter, you’ll be guaranteed to find four people playing for the love of the song.
Post Punk Podge & The Technohippiesis a figment of punk and the post’s collective imagination in the form of a singer/rapper/musician from Limerick, Ireland. An accomplished violinist, Podge’s goal is to turn the brown envelope from a symbol of corruption, deception and greed into one of self-expression, defiance and laughter.
Accompanied by his sidekicks Dr. Asparagus Montague and DJ Carey and Mr. The Boom is Back, they are stirring things up in their native Ireland with their own sound, a blend of punk, electronic, krautrock, techno, irish traditional music, hip hop and classical. October 2017 saw Podge collaborated on the Stark Raving EP with NaIve Ted, as well as release the debut Post Punk Podge and The Technohippies EP Kick Against The Pricks, a month later. 2018 saw even further collaborations with Jimmy Penguin on his Savages EP, as well as thesingle ‘Home is Where the Heart Bleeds’, which raised money for the Novas homeless charity in Limerick.
2019 has seen a single ‘Government Security’ in January, ‘Post Millennium Tension EP’ in February. Collaborations with Craic Boi Mental, Liv 3 and DJ BleakStack to name but a few.
They released‘Transmissions from the G.P.O.’ aninstrumental mixtape on the Unscene labelat the end of 2019. Which showed many other styles to their sound including funk and ambient.
They released their album ‘Euphoric Recall’ in 2021 toc critical acclaim coming in at number 9 in the Thin Air’s end of year list. Things are only getting started for Podge and the band. These highly acclaimed releases have helped them build a firm following and become one of Ireland’s most exciting bands.
As a babe Jeffrey Martin sought out solitude as often as he could find it. He’s always been that way, and he has never understood the whole phenomenon of smiling in pictures, although he is a very happy guy. One night in middle school he stayed up under the covers with a flashlight and a DiscMan, listening to Reba McEntire’s ‘That’s the Night that the Lights Went Out in Georgia’ on repeat until the DiscMan ran out of batteries. That night he became a songwriter, although he didn’t actually write a song until years later. After high school he spent a few years distracting himself from having to gather up the courage to do what he knew he had to do.
Eventually he found his way to a writing degree, and then a teaching degree. He wrote most days like his life depended on it, all sorts of things, not just songs, but songs too. He fell in love with teaching high school English, which was fantastic because he never thought he’d actually come to truly love it. His students were fierce and unstoppable forces of noise and curiosity, and for all that they took from him in sleep and sense, they gave him a hundred times back in sparks and humility.
All the while he was also playing truckloads of music. There was one weekend where he flew to LA while grading essays on the plane, played two shows, and then flew back home, still grading essays, and woke up to teach at 5 am on Monday morning. It was around this time he started wondering if such a life was sustainable.
Alas, music, the tour life, was a constant raccoon scratching at the back door. Jeffrey spent nights on end sitting up in bed, and then sitting on the front porch, staring off into the dark, wondering if he could bear to leave teaching to go on tour full time. Eventually his brain caught up with what his guts had known for months. With tears in his eyes he announced to his students that he wouldn’t be back the following year, and that he didn’t feel right hollering at them to chase their dreams at all cost if he wasn’t going to do the same.
Jeffrey Martin tours full time now. He is always making music, and he is always coming through your town. He misses teaching like you might miss a good old friend who you know you’ll meet again.
Jeffrey has put out bunches of music since 2009, but he’s most proud of the more recent stuff. He’s fortunate to be a part of the great and loving family that is Fluff and Gravy Records in Portland, OR. “One Go Around,” which released in October 2017, is his 3rd full length album. At his luckiest, he’s shared shows with the likes of Sean Hayes, Gregory Alan Isakov, Courtney Marie Andrews, Jeffrey Foucault, Joe Pug, Peter Mulvey, Amanda Shires, Sean Rowe, Tracy Grammer, David Wilcox, and others.
He currently lives in Portland, OR but feels lately that it has become a secret that someone figured out how to monetize. And since he has no money of any kind, everything beautiful about the city is marred by the quiet ticking of a countdown toward the day that he’ll have to find somewhere to live that doesn’t require a steady bleeding fortune.