Supergroups 1.3
Yup...there's even more so let's get stuck straight in with another all girl band to continue with our 'blowing into tiny pieces any preconcieved ideas of sweet Irish girl bands' theme. The Blonde Majority are a group of Kilkenny cats with a strong new wave feel and an equaly surprising amount of pheremones laced with a hard raunchy edge capable of dealing knockout blows to nearly all the girlbands of the last thirty years (with the exception of Black Daisy with whom they would have to share the title). Recent finalists in Vodaphones Bright New Sounds ie competition, The Blonde Majority are a band to make most major labels slobber at the mouth - and the rumour is they are already being courted by a few and may also be announcing a number of dates in the States soon too...but we'll stick to the facts by highly recommending that you check out their songs for yourself on their MySpace page. If you happen to be a Vodaphone customer you can also download 'We Got Fire' for free too. So, to get seriously burned click the link to the right... Here: The Blonde Majority
In the 1990's one of the most original and exciting Punk/rock bands of the decade emmerged from Cork to release two major albums entitled 'Generation Sap' and 'Crave'. They toured the States extensively until, after releasing 'Crave' in 2002, they returned home once freed from their contractual shackles.They had become a major influence on nearly every band they had toured with or supported - including Linkin Park. The band was called Cyclefly and their music was (and still is) punk and rock at it's very best. But Cyclefly were not limited to just playing Punk, as many who rubbed shoulders with them on their Stateside travels soon found out - and even more have been finding this out since their return to Ireland. They were also prolific songwriters, multi talented musicians, sound engineers, producers, video directors etc etc etc..and soon after returning home Cyclefly's principal songwriters, Ciaran and Declan O'Shea ( the one with the treacle coated vocals that range somewhere between Bowie and The Silversun Pickups is Declan), set up and equipped their own studio to write, engineer, record and produce all manor of materials for themselves, the band and other new bands and projects. Cyclefly have scince been reborn in various new guises including Hueman and also Mako (Declans new band with Cyclefly's French member Christian Montagne) with possibly enough material waiting in the wings to start a dozen more.They also released an exceptional track and video as 'Cyclefly' along with Jonturk in 2007 featuring rap artists from all corners of the globe (...and no George...they're not all from 'Islaimia'...) giving their own take, in their own languages, on the fruitlessness of war - and as one translated rap explains...
" Give a man a hammer and to him the whole world is full of snails" ...a quote that perfectly captivates the human military drive to dominate the world .
We have added a Red Triangle as a parental advisory as many of the news images featured in the video may prove disturbing . The song 'No Stress' also comes with a parental advisory - though the lyrics to the song were actualy about the restrictions placed on their creativity by their ex label and not the lady with three hands! Cyclefly's new ventures on home ground seem destined to not only give them the same freedom and success as The Frames have recently encountered as an indie band (see 'Tale of Two Films') but they also seem set to be lending an equal share of their creativity and influence to many of Irelands new upcoming bands too...The Cyclefly, Hueman and Mako family are another Cornerstone in the making right now.For alot more of their ongoing musical empires try the following links..... For Cyclefly...
For Hueman
For Mako
I recently said somewhere that if you look at any cutting edge band in the world and wind the clock back by about ten years you will find that there would have been at least one Irish band doing exactly the same thing. On our Jawdropper page we highlighted a three year old drummer from Poland named Igor Falek who was amazing the world with his abilities and has been playing in concerts with his families band scince turning four..wind the clock back to Cork in the early nineties and snap!! The exact same senario was taking place. The child prodigy's name was Diego Joaquim and he's also been a semi professional scince the age of four. Well Diego has come of age and now composes and arranges some very high quality instrumental ambient rock with Cork band Anacrusis along with fellow composers guitarist Liam Golding and Bass player Aaron Frahill. Expertly laid riffs, beats and time signatures flow throughout each second of the expertly crafted Anacrusis sound.
'Nostalgia with strings' is one perfectly mastered piece to place itself equal to any ambient rock classic.We decided not to add any video just yet, but instead highly recomend clicking on their MySpace, turning up the volume, and relaxing while being audioly bathed in some brilliant tunes...
... Anacrusis on MySpace.
Back to Waterford now, with some descendants of the old viking brood my ancestor Brian O'Riain Boru didn't throw out of Ireland in the tenth century. ILYA K were winners of the 2007 'Murphies Live' final and for the last few years they have been living it up with with their unique Waterford humour, remaking and reclaiming 60's and 70's cutting edge space rock (think festival bands at their best such as Gong, Hawkwind etc....), bringing it all into the twenty first century and making it their own. A first listen for many may prove a' struggle' for light listeners ...but after about three plays your brain should start to adjust and begin to pick out the mountain of hidden jewels and melodies diguised in their overpowering sound. Ilya K have been going from stregnth to stregnth since their victory at Murphies live and have even landed a spot (along with a few other cutting edge Irish bands) at the UK'S Glastonbury festival for 2008...So if you're going this year, make a b-line for the centre stage in the 'left field'. We've included the video for their song 'Glass Eye' - brilliantly shot with the typical multi melodic shape changing sounds of one of Irelands very best. For more on their intense soundstorm visit their MySpace on...
If you are travelling the streets and city's of Ireland you may well notice the following band name scrawlled on the grafitti laden walls of many towns...you may also notice that the words are also allways very low down and never seem to go higher up the wall than two and a half feet. Why?...well the name of the band answers the question perfectly and their sound is a truly enormous giant among the nations most successfull punk bands..and all just as fresh and unique as Irelands other Punk masters such as Cyclefly , Hope Is Noise, early Sinead O'Connor and the Pogues. They are causing a bit of a stir while currently touring Ireland and even if you're deaf it won't be too hard to hear why.The next big thing to look out for is the enormous and small ,'More Tiny Giants'. So put on your ear defenders and tuck in to their MySpace samples at......
Another hard working band bringing classic metal back to the fore are new upcoming rock giants Jekyl . A year of constant touring has seen them develop a growing hard core of support throughout the nation and beyond as they re-vitalise a genre that has become long neglected by musicians and industry alike. A few bars into their songs containing classic riffs and leads that do 'Maiden' better , cleaner and clearer than Maiden could themselves will make you wander just why it has been neglected for so long ? It will also remind you why classic metal was, and stil is so good. We've included the video from their song 'My Time Will Come' and if you're in the United States then keep your ear to the ground as they may well be touring in a town near you in the forthcoming months. Do not underestimate the barrage of talent brooding in this band ...Once albums start emerging you can be expecting to hear their name alot! They can currently be found via their YouTube channel at...
