Foul Rants From This Dark Room

I done fucked up the blog! Last time I wrote, we had done the first show of our Getting Dan Up To Speed Tour and it has been a loooooooong time since then so I’ll just brush over what I can remember… we did Limerick and Dublin later that week (sometime in February) with Former Monarchs (FoMos!) and had a grand old time, they treated us like the kings they once were. Then there was Clonmel on March the 3^rd for Kev and Lory’s last gig with Superblondes, we played/stayed in O’Keeffe’s and had a grand old time. We debuted our first new song in ages (All She Does) and the lads played a scorcher. I have some dimly lit photos lying around somewhere. Bren and Joyce came up to stay with us, Joyce bought me food because I’m bad with money and we partied into the early morn. Dan and I roomed together, watched an Australian murder-mystery drama and ESPN coverage of the Premier League. Riveting, it was. I believe the next one after that was the Hope is Noise album launch and the stage debut of my Mohawk, as well as Build Up On A and Muireann’s Song. Hope is Noise were truly exceptional, possibly the best I’ve seen them – I wrote a review of that gig for college, it is painstakingly fanboy-standard in its detail (or so I would like to think), may post it for the fun. Later that month (March 25^th, it seems), we three Gravels spoke to the G-Man in his lovely studio.

             I’m getting there! Next was our launch gig in Cyp Ave, which saw Agitate the Gravel become Terror Pop! My memory is hazy because I had a head-splitting toothache/earache combo but Une Pipe and FoMos were both amazing and we had a really good time too, it felt like people were really listening to what we were saying and playing. We sold some mad number of singles, about 60 (I collected 130 + 70 promos from Limericfk earlier that morning, we’d left it so late to get ‘em pressed because of the namechange that there was no way around it. It was fun though, before the head-agony). Anyway, the gig was really fun, we played Incomp for the first time in FOREVER (apart from in the Bru with Cormac a few weeks ago, um…) and Cormac joined us onstage for a very sentimental but very enjoyable take of Wilderness Years. They can’t last forever, and all that. Next night was Dublin, most notable for Chris having to threaten the bus driver in order to make him stop so I could get out to pee (I was on a mad-keen water-only diet while my tooth was giving me grief) but we got a fairly favourable response from the city that declared us “deadly, just not €3 deadly” the last time around. We went to the Courtyard in Limerick early the following week (April 3^rd) to play with the new Superblondes, they were great apart from skipping Those Who Wait (my favourite!). Then, nothing happened for a while but I had a tooth yanked and I was cured! Our next engagement was Crowley’s on the 14^th, it was filled with quiet kids dressed like 15 year old me (denim and bandanas, eeek) and listening to EVERYTHING we did. It was unnerving but very welcome. The week after that, Terror Pop and Daphne The Supergroup (Mark, Kevin Terry, Cathal MacGabhann, Jonathan Deasy, Marcus Gordon!) took it down to Pine Lodge to play for all of our dressed-up friends, who left before we had a chance to instigate a beach party. Boo. Still, the gig was pretty good methinks! That is pretty much everything up until last week, which I will probably wait another 3 months to cover. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

At some stage along the line, I got new yellow shoes (late February), a mohawk (mid March), an insane gum abcess (late March) and a new band name (the same again). Everything has worked out swimmingly!

Galway, Galway, Galway (February 3^rd), capers galore! First off, Daphne In The Attic got stuck in Mallow after running out of petrol (although that was solved by a trusting taxi driver – what would be running through your mind if a patron rang you and asked you to buy fuel for him and meet him in the Great Wilderness of Mallow?) but that was only minor fare. We AtGs went with Cathal Mac Gabhann (who was drumming with Daphne that night and looking very ’65 altogether) for food in Galway city and entered up in the middle of some crazy stand-off at the Charcoal Grill between the staff and some hostile and severely-misguided Northern lads who were up to precisely ZERO good; one of them went into the kitchen (having already treated the till staff with offensive disregard) and got into a tussle with one of the chefs before proceeding to wrestle him/dump him into a bin. At this stage, the head “till guy” lost it completely and declared this behaviour to be “fucking BULLSHIT” and – not before time! – ordered the doors to be locked and the police called. We were escorted out and given profuse apologies, which we exchanged for contact details and offers of witness statements. Nothing came of it, but it was only brought to my attention after we left that the guy behind the till had been holding a knife-sharpener at waist-height – proper heat! It was Dan O’Connell’s first (more of those to come!) visit to Galway, what a way to open the account.

The gig itself was really fun! It was Dan’s first with us (I’ll give my usual excuse of “I’ll explain later”, not really up to all of this yet) and he was really great, we are in agreement that we’ve never heard him play harder. He knew the songs back to front and made only one mistake, where he brings us all back in with the snare in Wait, but his pause worked so well that it might be fun to keep… or we may never do it again. In any case, he was brilliant and it was a really fun first set. Y’know, one of those gigs where everyone was feeling it? Doesn’t happen too often. Daphne were first-class as well, Cathal is an animal of a drummer and it had been so long since I’d heard the lads play that much of their stuff was brand new to me (it now leans more on the grunge than the folk and it sounds unreal! Alice In Chains harmonies galore!). We didn’t leave until 1ish and I didn’t hit the hay until daybreak but our drive home was v.enjoyable too, we planned a few festivals that we want to throw and whatnot. Limerick with Former Monarchs on Friday, big excitement!

So yeah, we went to Dublin [early January, please don’t make me be more specific… 13th/14th?) for lovely gigs of prestige - Whelan’s for Ones To Watch Festival and Crawdaddy for Smalltown America / + 4 showcase. Whelan’s is SWANKY now - can’t remember if I moaned about the shit band room before but what *was* a horrible little attic with a fridge and no lights in the Dead School days is now a lavish little hideaway with a bar and wallpaper and a fireplace (!!!), and it feels good. All of the bands (Bridges Of Madison County, Altered Hours, Lamp, Jogging, Deathship Melodica) were fricking brilliant, we were probably the least good of the bunch but it was still grand…. Fun was had with our Cork brethren and other Dublin folk (Max, Myles; had a wee chat with the lads from Jogging, can’t believe they remember we played with them). Also! Super to-be-confirmed good news came about as a result of this set. Can’t type too much right now but lemme say: my grandmother’s name is June. That is all I can say, seriously. Dan and I (yeah, Dan was there!) stayed at Francesca’s house and had an amazing sleep and subsequent walk into town the next day, after which we AtGs went music-shop-browsing and then went with Francesca to a Spar for our “tea”. Lovely. The gig that was much better, it actually felt like it went really well. Stage was nice, sound was GREAT and everyone was really nice. Quality time was had with FoMo and Dave, as well as Cahir O’ Doherty (another “I can’t believe he remembers meeting me and coming back to my gaff” moment). FoMos killed it, as did Fighting With Wire (first time seein’ them in 3 years!). Muir and I did the merch stand for most of the night, Chris took over for FWW and Dave was on for the rush at the end, hopefully it made a good impression (particularly that Cork people aren’t useless and are relatively friendly). Fun fun fun, although the drive back to Cork was fairly trying and then when I got home to the Braje I was visited by one Feargus Fawsitt so I *had* to stay up…. anyway, that was Dublin, sorta. Loads more gigs coming up, I hope to achieve a far greater consistency with my weblogging in the weeks to come.

Can’t even be bothered to proofread/spellcheck/structure this right now. Tired. So many sentence fragments too, what the fuck?

At The Drive-In and Refused both reforming for Coachella, WHOAAAAA

They were really fun and all (Christmas tour!) but the weekend coming up is so much more exciting! Ones To Watch Festival on Thursday in Whelan’s with Lamp and potentially Altered Hours and Trumpets of Jericho too, it is like three of the very best bands in Cork + us and it is in Dublin too! “Shitloads” of mediafolk there and the day off college in the morning cos we’re playing the Smalltown America / +4 showcase in the Crawdaddy that night! Proper on-tour band! Fighting With Wire and Former Monarchs and more (sorry everyone else, will listen to you all tonight and love you by the morning) and of course, plenty more schmoosing — Albert Plugd congratulated me on it, how does he even know I’m in a band, let alone which one?! Saturday is Jeff TIAT’s birthday so we’re playing with them in the Bru in Cork citay, could work as an excuse to play our RAWK~ material for a change and will be very very fun. 

Anyway, Christmas — we did Dublin on the 11th which was grand but I was shit in front of Val Normal AGAIN and Superblondes were righteous and Keiron was lovely to work with and so there was nothing really notable about it. The song was launched the next morning and went mad, thanks everyone. Dan Walsh heard it on 2fm in a chipshop in Mayfield, I couldn’t have been happier. Limerick on the Wednesday was absolutely miserable right up until we started playing, after which was one of our best gigs in quite a while. Funny how that happens, no? I had a shit throat and was hungry and tired and cold and bored and mopey and shit to be around and then the gig was really fun, which got me home. Also, it snowed on the way home!! Cork was nice but inhibited by 12 Pubs Of Christmas drunkies, some of our friends came and then we watched Birdemic at home.

Back in the present! That’s it, really. I’ve downloaded The Year Punk Broke and Refused Are Fucking Dead to get me in the mood for “touring” (that word again) and am v.excited to watch. Can’t think of a good sign-off note and haven’t time to edit this so boo to your mother.

Christmas is in about 18 days (being generous) and our single has not mixed, much less returned to us and unleashed upon the rabid public. To be honest, I doubt that Mr. Man over in LA has even listened to the stems… Chris calculated that at the rate things are going, we will have about seven days worth of airplay before Christmas occurs and the whole thing becomes worthless (factoring in the time it will take to get radio promos pressed up and sent back, not to mention the major unlikelihood of the sing being played on Christmas Eve and Day). I know it is meant to be a labour of love and all, but we would like if it got us a LITTLE bit of exposure. Christmas songs are generally at their least popular directly after Christmas and it is a market that doesn’t usually recover until late November so c’mon already!

Other than that, we have numerous gigs! Pav on Thursday (December 8th, 2011 - just so Future Self will have a clear view of things), Hotpress have asked to use all of our gear and that is no real problem except me n’ Chris having to meet them at the garage at 1ish (my precious coffee time!) to help them load up the stuff — calling it now, I BET they’ll break the carrying strap on my amp. Theeeeeeen there is the playing side, but that is made easier by the prospect of a raging party at Sarah Buggy’s house afterwards. Bottle of Jagermeister in payment for playing the gig, no problem.

Sunday, we get to “headline” (we’re last on, duh) the Sunday Roast in the Mercantile in Dublin. Woop. Superblondes are playing too, frick yeah! It would be really fun if it wasn’t on a fucking Sunday. Still, it should be quite enjoyable and will mark the live debut of Christmas No. 1 barring some freak accident i.e. Supershifter malfunction, band amnesia or similar. The next day, the celebrated BeachJoint shall play their first planned gig!! Chris, Danny ‘Connell, Diarmait and I shall meet up onstage in the Realt to play seaside jams for 30 minutes or so, I hope it won’t be painful. Thanks to the good ship Capriccio for that!

The 13th and 14th is CSN-o-rama, a festival held within Cyp Ave in which some of our college bands (hopefully both of mine, but hopefully not in a way - I hate music) will play for the general public (read: students and former students). Should be fun! That’s all I have to say about that.

16th! CHRISTMAS NO. 1 SINGLE LAWNSCH! YEAAAAAAAAAA! We get to play in the most Christlike of all venues, An Realt Dearg. We want Superblondes to play but we kinda haven’t asked them yet. We aim to have a few new tricks up our sleeves but don’t hold me to that. That too will be a rage, I hope. No, I know it will be a fucking hoot. Afterparty on Gould Street! After that, I think there is a Stereotypes gig but whatever…

I’m reading Johnny Foreigner’s tour blog, I love Alexei’s writing style. I encourage anyone who reads this to read that, although his is better so you may never come back here again afterwards…

http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/2858471-johnny-foreigners-2008-diary—january