SWEETS is an alternative rock band from Limerick, Ireland. The band’s roots are firmly entrenched in Limerick’s prolific music scene and features members of much-loved, critically acclaimed acts Tooth, Giveamanakick, Windings & Japanese Jesus. Expect powerful, guitar-driven, hook-filled songs, laden with unexpected riffs, pounding rhythms and textured vocals that flips the riffy/post-hardcore/grunge sound on it’s head.
Long-time collaborators Liam Marley (Guitar/Vox) and Lorcan Bourke (Drums) had been writ- ing songs together for over ten years before joining forces with close friends Keith Lawler (Guitar) and Bertie Kelly (Bass) to form SWEETS in 2021. “It took a pandemic to finally get us together, it’s just felt like the right time.”
When asked to describe their sound, the members said that: “We grew up together as friends, as part of an incredible music scene and because of that formed our musical tastes together. We take influences from what resonates with us individually and it just comes out very naturally as a band then. We have a lot in common but it’s our individual tastes, experi- ences and influences that make the unique SWEETS sound.”
The band plans to release a series of singles over the coming months with accompanying videos, culminating in a full length LP in 2023.
Molly O’Mahony has spent much of the last decade writing and performing with art-folk group Mongoose. She returned to her home place of west Cork in March of 2020, and against the backdrop of the unfolding pandemic, began work on her first solo collection of songs.
During lockdown, she bounced many ideas off her two musician siblings Matilda and Fiachra and collaborated on arranging a number of covers with them. This period of time and these collaborations greatly informed her own songs, which were recorded over the summer of 2021, and which her siblings played a crucial role in arranging and playing on.
Molly released two of these songs over the latter half of last year, Remember To Be Brave and Brother Blue.
Sister Ghost, (winner of Best Live Act at the 2019 NI Music Awards) is the project of Derry-based artist Shannon Delores O’Neill.
Sister Ghost has garnered support slots with internationally acclaimed artists such as We Are Scientists, Shellac, Petrol Girls, Fontaines DC, Pussy Riot, Ratboys and Le Butcherettes as well as airplay on KEXP Seattle, BBC Radio 1, RTE 2FM, Today FM and BBC 6 Music. Sister Ghost has also been featured in high level press such as The Guardian and Hot Press.
As of 2020, O’Neill has teamed up with Gary Lightbody’s Artist Development & Label ‘Third Bar’ to create the debut Sister Ghost album. Set for release in 2023 the album was recorded in Los Angeles, California (July/August 2022) with the world class producer Brad Wood (Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair, Veruca Salt and more).
Shannon is also known for mentoring and encouraging other female and gender non-conforming musicians to perform in the Northern Irish scene, having set up the Girls Rock! NI chapter in 2016.
As well as a live performance Sister Ghost will also host ‘ZINESTER GHOST: SISTER GHOST’S ZINE WORKSHOP’
Press Quotes:
“Absolutely massive!” Jack Saunders, BBC Radio 1
“Big guitar hooks! I’m obsessed!” Gemma Bradley, BBC Radio 1
“Feels authentic from the era of Pixies, Breeders and Hole; brilliant music, beautifully made” Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music
“One of the most gifted songwriters to come out of the North in a long, long time.” Stephen McCauley, BBC Radio Ulster
John Spillane is a musician, songwriter, performer, recording artist, storyteller, poet and dreamer. Rooted in people, place and story, his music transports the listener and his live performances captivate audiences around the world.
After his acclaimed release of 100 Snow White Horses in 2021, in October 2022, John will release ‘In Another Light’ a career spanning album recorded live at the Right Here Right Now Festival recorded at Cork Opera House in November 2021.
Marisa Anderson channels the history of the guitar and stretches the boundaries of tradition. Her deeply original work applies elements of minimalism, electronic music, drone and 20th century classical music to compositions based on blues, jazz, gospel and country music, re-imagining the landscape of American music.
The New Yorker calls Anderson ‘one of the most distinctive guitar players of her generation’, while NPR refers to her as among ‘this era’s most powerful players’ . Her work has been featured in Billboard, Rolling Stone, NPR, SPIN, Pitchfork, the BBC and The Wire. Festival appearances include Big Ears, Pitchfork Midwinter, Le Guess Who and the Copenhagen Jazz Festival.
Anderson’s discography includes five solo records and multiple collaborations. Her latest release, Lost Futures (2021), is a collaboration with guitarist William Tyler. In 2020 Anderson released The Quickening with drummer Jim White (Dirty Three, Xylouris White). Anderson is sought after as a collaborator and composer, contributing to recordings by Matmos, Tara Jane O’Neil, Beth Ditto, Sharon Van Etten and Circuit Des Yeux among others, as well as creating music for short films and soundtracks.
Classically trained, she honed her skills playing in country, jazz and circus bands. and currently tours extensively throughout Europe and North America.
Cherished and admired in equal measure by listeners and fellow musicians, award-winning guitarist, singer, songwriter and prolific collaborator Kris Drever has been a leading light on the UK roots scene for well over a decade.
A highly skilled guitarist who adroitly blends traditional folk and flat picking with more contemporary influences – allied to a distinctively relaxed and poised vocal burr – Drever is an astonishingly fine interpreter of others’ songs, with an increasingly frequent knack for concocting seriously smart lyrical observations and earworm melodies of his own.
Drever has played and recorded with an extensive range of artists including Mark Knopfler, Jack Bruce, Danny Thompson, Eddi Reader, Bela Fleck, Tim O’Brien, Jerry Douglas, Sarah Jarosz, Joan As Police Woman, Tinariwen, Karine Polwart and Julie Fowlis.
George Lowden is a luthier based in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland. He constructs steel and nylon string acoustic guitars by hand without any UV finishing as well as solid-body electric guitars.
The Lowden Story:
In the late 1980’s George Lowden accepted an invitation to visit the main Lowden dealer for Switzerland, Servette Music in Geneva. Upon his arrival, co-proprietor Yves Imer thanked George for coming, because some of the Lowden customers he was to meet had not realised he actually existed – they thought “George Lowden” was merely the figment of some marketing man’s imagination – a leprechaun, in fact!
This served to enlighten George to the principle that an ‘information vacuum’ will always be filled – sometimes benignly, sometimes bizarrely.So, for the record, HERE is the complete story of George Lowden and his guitars.
The Acoustic Forum is an eclectic event unlike anything else you’ve ever seen which sees five of our artists play in an intimate and informal concert in the round, with each artist staying onstage for the duration.
Guided by the guest host, each performer gives an insight into their craft and performs a short selection to whet the appetite for the weekend ahead.
It’s off the cuff, it’s friendly and it provides the listener with a varied and spontaneous night that never fails to surprise.
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.