LATEST NEWS

Do You Believe In The Power Of Rock & Roll?
An afternoon Of Spoken Word With John Robb

This is a brand new spoken word show currently on tour. John Robb talks about a life in music, his best selling book ‘The Art Of Darkness/The History Of Goth’, being the first person to interview Nirvana, coining Britpop, his adventures on the post punk frontline and so much more.

JOHN ROBB:

John Robb is a many-faceted creature.

Not just a well known face from TV but also a best selling author, musician, journalist, presenter and pundit, music website boss, publisher, festival boss, spoken word artist and frontman of The Membranes/Goldblade.

John Robb is all these things and more.

His recently released book ‘The Art Of Darkness – The History Of Goth’ is a worldwide pop culture best seller.

He grew up in Blackpool before punk rock came along and saved his life and he formed The Membranes – the highly influential post punk band whose current albums keep pushing forward with added choirs and textures and are critically acclaimed.

He was one of the leading post punk fanzine writers in the UK with ‘Rox’ before he went on to write for the rock press with Sounds in the 80s. He was the first person to interview Nirvana, and coined the expression Britpop and was instrumental in kick starting and documenting the Madchester scene with his writing.

His music and culture website louderthanwar.com is currently the 5th most read music and culture sites in the UK and at the front of diverse modern culture.

He is a constant on TV and radio commenting on music, culture and politics and one of the UK’s leading in conversation hosts who has his own successful youtube channel and his own books & music festival in Manchester every year called ‘Louder Than Words’.

He has written many books such as best sellers ‘Punk Rock – an Oral History’ and ‘The Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop’ and in 2021 wrote a book about the leading eco energy boss Dale Vince from Ecotricity called ‘Manifesto’.

Current projects include a new book with Alan McGee as well as his own autobiography and a collected works of journalism (Do You Believe In The Power Of Rock & Roll?).

Do You Believe In The Power Of Rock & Roll? is a history of alternative rock from John Robb, with the music still ringing in his ears. This collection follows John’s journey from the late 1970s, when he was first caught up in punk’s high-octane thrill, to the present day, via the early days of the rave scene, the birth of electronic and techno, and myriad bands that spun off on their own idiosyncratic paths.

John was the first person to write about Nirvana, he coined the term Britpop, and he documented the Stone Roses’ rise out of Manchester before anyone else was interested. He was at every pivotal gig, and has interviewed every key player in the business, including Jordan, the queen of punk, founding father of new American rock Steve Albini, goth-rock guitarist Daniel Ash, infamous Oasis co-founder Noel Gallagher, and music greats like Lemmy and Poly Styrene.

Few others have witnessed first-hand so many important moments of the last forty years of rock history. Here, they come together to form the essential history of a personal quest to document the ever-changing soundtrack of the modern world.

Tara Breen, Pádraig Rynne and Jim Murray are a trio composed of musicians at the forefront of our tradition.

Expect a performance from the gentle to the rhythmical and everything in-between. Embark on an odyssey of wonder, joyfulness and upbeat music as three incredibly talented and creative folk musicians shape melodies from past and present into something dynamic and irresistible.

Maija Sofia is a musician and writer from the rural west of Ireland. Her first album ‘Bath Time’ was nominated for the Choice Prize. Her new album ‘True Love’, released in September 2023 is a suite of experimental songs exploring states of devotion, mysticism and excess. It was praised in The Quietus as being  “about real people, alive and dead, and the power of objects, substances, time and place. It is the work of someone with an enviable talent, and it deserves a lot of love.” She has toured extensively, opening for Sharon Van Etten, Julian Baker, and Mega Bog amongst others and has been commissioned to write new music for the National Concert Hall, Cork Midsummer Festival, Solas Nua in Washington DC, Sirius Arts Centre, The DOCK and Dublin Digital Radio. She is a recipient of the Next Generation award and her poetry has been published in The Stinging Fly and Banshee.

“There are very few musicians on the planet who can actually strike me speechless with the beauty and skill of their playing. Jon Gomm is one of those musicians.” – Randy Blythe (Lamb Of God)

Jon Gomm is a singer-songwriter and acoustic solo performer based in Yorkshire, UK, known for his once-seen-never-forgotten virtuoso guitar style. This involves slapping, tapping and retuning as he plays, producing a huge, multi-layered sound filled with bass, drums and near-orchestral depth and complexity, all from a single guitar.

His songs are often deeply emotive, whether with or without his soft, affecting voice. And his live performances are intimate and powerful, but always punctured by his natural North Of England wit and self-deprecation.

Jon is also a passionate advocate for mental health and neuro-diversity.

“Jon, you are a genius man, I LOVE your music and playing!” – Steve Lukather (Toto)

“Wonderful guitar playing. An all-round genius” – Stephen Fry (actor, writer) speaking about Jon Gomm on The One Show (BBC, UK)

“(Eoghan has) a creative streak on par with some of this country’s greatest-ever songwriters. The lyrics of The Deepest Breath are proof and testament to that. Incredibly powerful words which not unlike the great Liam Weldon, are words that belong to and represent the working people. Words of hope for the overlooked and hard done by.” – Myles O’Reilly

“Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin has a wondrously sonorous voice” – Irish News

“…once you hear his voice, you’re unlikely to forget it” – Folk Radio UK

EOGHAN Ó CEANNABHÁIN

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin is a Dublin-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His musical roots are in sean-nós singing – the style of his father – and he grew up listening to the likes of Sorcha Ní Ghuairim, Seán ‘ac Dhonncha, Colm Ó Caoidheáin and other greats from the tradition. He is also influenced by folk singers from the English language tradition such as Liam Weldon, Luke Kelly, Anne Briggs, Margaret Barry and Thomas McCarthy.

Eoghan has performed and recorded with a number of different bands, including Dublin-based Skipper’s Alley, Irish/Scottish/Manx Gaelic collaboration Aon Teanga: Un Chengey and folk/electronica band Jiggy. He also collaborates with Clare fiddle and viola player Ultan O’Brien.  Their debut album Solas an Lae won best album at the RTÉ Folk Awards in 2021.

Over the past few years, Eoghan has come into his own as a solo artist and songwriter. His songs – written in both English and Irish – build on his sean-nós singing foundations but combine hard-hitting lyrics with other musical influences to create a rich, contemporary sound. He recently released his debut solo album, ‘The Deepest Breath’.

For this intimate live show, Eoghan will be joined by Ian Kinsella on guitar & vocals; and Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz on cello & vocals.

Oregon-based songwriter Anna Tivel’s newest album Outsiders starts with a lens so wide that we have left the planet to look back from a great distance at the turmoil and beauty of our shared humanity. From there, the lens pulls close and unfolds in a gripping collection of stories so often ignored. Tivel’s flawed and honest characters move through a landscape of hurt and loss, of small triumph and big love. In 11 songs full of recognition, veracity and hope, Tivel’s watchful and empathetic eye details the undeniable ache of living.

Outsiders, look up / The night is dark but brilliant and it turns out we are not so different

Recorded almost entirely live to tape in Rock Island, IL with producer and multi-instrumentalist Shane Leonard and engineer Brian Joseph (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens), the album is a truly collaborative exploration. Tivel gathered the same vibrant group of friends from her acclaimed record, The Question, which NPR heralded as “one of the most ambitious folk records of 2019.”

“We holed up together in a little house a few miles from the studio,” she says, “walked there every day to sink deep into the music. No one had heard the songs beforehand, and I would play each one sitting on the floor trying to convey the gut feeling. Then we’d face each other in a circle and feel our way through, working to find the heart of each song in a few takes. Shane brings this layer of uninhibited magic to every session, setting the stage for everyone to listen deep and react with open doors. He gives himself as fully to sonic atmosphere as I do to words and I have a great amount of trust in his vision and admiration for the care he takes with the world of each song.”

The constraints of analog recording fostered a rawness and immediacy in the final tracks. The arrangements on Outsiders are spacious and full of intrigue, drawing you into the cinema of Tivel’s lyrics. The title track opens the album with a meditation on the first moon landing. “I wrote it sitting on the floor in front of the TV between fragments of an Apollo 11 documentary,” she recalls. “The news was feeling especially dark, full of pain and distorted truths, and watching all that incredible footage of human hope and achievement hit me so hard. For just that one moment in the great upheaval of the times, everyone paused together to witness something new and full of wonder.”

The second track “Black Umbrella” is a winding story that follows a small-town robbery and a bystander who tries to help only to fall under the weight of misconception and old, broken systems. “It’s a song about all the ways we fail to really see each other,” Tivel shares, “about poverty and desperation, race and power, history, opportunity, and otherness.”

While writing the album in 2019-20, Tivel found herself circling back again and again to this idea of otherness. “The deep division and ugly rhetoric being amplified–especially in the US–seeped into everything I wrote. I kept wanting to explore this feeling of being unseen, profoundly lonely and disconnected, and how it affects our perception of the world and our place in it,” she says. “Outsiders is an album about looking more deeply into ourselves and each other, really trying to see and examine the internal and external forces that keep us from connecting in real ways and the forces that draw us together.”

Throughout her work, Tivel has emphasized storytelling and this album is no exception, building on the strength of her ability to observe and reflect with a clear-eyed empathy. Inspired by authors from Steinbeck to Morrison, Didion to Dubus, she imbues her songs with attentive detail and a dreamlike quality that leaves the ordinary feeling both palpable and poetic. “Tivel’s characters are common but unforgettable,” NPR’s Ann Powers writes, “Her images linger, and become populated with the energy of the real.”

Outsiders will be released by Mama Bird Recording Co. on August 19th.

Hundreds of thousands of miles away, the endless expanse of a dream / Pausing the burning of cities to say we are beautiful when we believe

TEKE::TEKE is a Montreal-based Japanese psych-rock group composed of guitarists Serge Nakauchi Pelletier and Hidetaka Yoneyama, bass player Mishka Stein, drummer Ian Lettre, flutist Yuki Isami, trombone player Etienne Lebel, and visual artist and vocalist Maya Kuroki.

Featuring traditional Japanese instruments, flute and trombone alongside raging guitars and a pulsing rhythm section, TEKE::TEKE creates a sound reminiscent of 1960’s and 70’s era psychedelic Japanese soundtracks, with a frenetic, modern twist.

THIS SHOW IS SOLD OUT

A critically acclaimed performer, as well as a member of King Kong Company, SON – aka Susan O’Neill –  is one of Ireland’s brightest emerging talents. The basis of her first album ‘Found Myself Lost’ saw SON find her voice amongst her peers, introducing her unique and otherworldly style.

The album was one of Hot Press magazine’s ‘Albums of the Year’ and garnered her a number of opportunities, including joining Sharon Shannon on her sold out tour of Australia and New Zealand.

The enigmatic singer-songwriter honed her musical skills as one of the youngest members of the Ennis Brass Band and gained her first gospel influences with the ‘Really Truly Joyful Gospel Choir.’ SON has recently been collaborating with multi-platinum, award winning artist, Mick Flannery, whom she recently released a duet, “Baby Talk,” to rave reviews. In promotion of the song,

SON and Flannery have made several late night talk-show appearances as well as having announced joint tour dates. Her solo career as SON has begun to pique critical and industry interest. Eclectically fusing traditional Irish folk with rock, soul, gospel and blues, her live performances are quite simply electrifying. Her husky vocals combined with her superb guitar technique, loop pedals and trumpet, have wowed audiences everywhere from Stradbally to Sydney, Glasgow to Glastonbury, Manhattan to Milwaukee, and many places beyond.

Xylouris White is firmly rooted in the past and future. Playing Cretan music of original and traditional composition, the band consists of Georgios Xylouris on Cretan laouto and vocals and Jim White on drum kit. Xylouris is known and loved by Cretans and Greeks at home and abroad and has been playing professionally from age 12.

Jim White is an Australian drummer known and loved throughout the world as the drummer of Dirty Three, Venom P Stinger and now Xylouris White.

For the last four years these two men have been performing as Xylouris White, the culmination of 25 years of friendship forged through music and place.

https://vimeo.com/618871517#embed