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Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Dublin Punk Playlist, 1977 – 1982 (History Ireland)

Posted in Dublin History, Music, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 13, 2010| 7 Comments »

Over 100 people attended the History Ireland discussion yesterday afternoon on ‘Dublin Punk & New Wave’ in the late 1970s as part of the Phibsboro Community Arts Festival (Phizzfest). The final line up was Pete Holidai (The Radiators From Space), Eamon Delaney (Ex. Punk & current Indo columnist), Billy McGrath (UCD Ents 1976/77 & manager of The Atrix), Dave Donnelly (Ex. Black Catholics) and Cllr. Cieran Perry (Ex. Punk).

The response was overwhelmingly positive with the only complaints focused on the lack of female participation in the panel and no chance for a questions and answers session. Hopefully, this will be the start of a number of public discussions on different aspects of Dublin youth/music culture e.g. Skinhead, Rockabilly, Mod/Soul and Dance/Rave.

Here’s my playlist from yesterday. Would you have chosen differently? Left out any particular song? Added in something else?

1. The Radiators From Space – Television Screen (1977)

2. The Boomtown Rats – Lookin’ After Number One (1977)

3. The Vipers – I’ve Got You (1978)

4. The Vipers – No Such Thing (1978)


5. The Boomtown Rats – Rap Trap (1978)

6. U2 – Stories For Boys (1979)

(more…)

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Some snaps from ‘Punks or Posers’ History Ireland Hedge School.

Posted in Dublin History, Music on September 13, 2010| 1 Comment »

We’re buzzing around these parts this morning. The Punks or Posers discussion managed to draw a huge crowd of ex punks, current punks, music lovers and the generally curious to the northside yesterday for an exciting conversation which didn’t disappoint. Sam has promised to upload his playlist here soon, so look out for that. My thanks to all who approached us at the end to say they enjoy the blog. A blog without readers wouldn’t make much sense…..

Thanks to Andrew Flood for these excellent images.

You can check out History Ireland over here, and if you’re new to ourselves you can get Come Here To Me updates delivered to your (virtual) front door via Facebook, over here.

Pete Holidai of The Radiators From Space, sitting next to Eamon Delaney.

A varied group of panelists

A little rain couldn't stop the show.

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Reggae in Dublin

Posted in Dublin History, Music, tagged , , , , , , , on September 1, 2010| 11 Comments »

I’m hoping to write a piece on the history of reggae in Dublin, similar to what I’ve done so far on the Mod scene in Dublin and the Rockabilly scene.

From anecdotal evidence, I’ve heard the first places to play reggae in Dublin was Mothers nightclub on Mary Street and the Osibisa on King Street South both in the early to mid 1970s. (The Cimarons playing Cork in c. 1978/9 was the gig that really put reggae on the map in Ireland. Probably similar enough to what it did for punk in the city when The Clash played the exam hall in TCD in 1978.)

There was of course Zebra, Ireland’s first reggae band, and their 1979 single Repression.

Does anyone have any more information on these clubs, the DJs, the people who went  or anything else on the history of reggae in the city? Please email me directly at matchgrams(at)gmail.com

Mothers poster (C.Fisher, personal collection)

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John Cooper Clarke

Posted in Events, Music on August 27, 2010| 1 Comment »

A stomach infection put me in the shade
must have been something in the lemonade
but by the balls of Franco i paid
had to pawn my bucket and spade
next year I’ll take the International Brigade
…to Majorca

I missed John Cooper Clarke when I was over in Edinburgh. The famous punk-poet, who opened gigs for everyone from Joy Division (see Control) to The Fall is thankfully coming to Whelan’s late in September, with a gig planned for Tuesday the 21st. Excellent.

Unfamiliar? Enjoy.

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Punks or Posers? The 1970s Dublin Punk and New Wave scene.

Posted in Dublin History, Events, Music, Social History, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 26, 2010| 5 Comments »

This one, from the History Ireland Hedge School, looks interesting. Sam in particular has frequently uploaded slabs of classic Dublin vinyl to the site here, and the blog has been known to be a bit nostalgic for a period, although not being old enough to recall it ourselves! We’ll be on hand at this event to provide the noise, so come along. I can hear you now, “Really, is that them?”

The event is taking place as part of the Phizzfest in Phibsborough.

Date: Sunday, 12th September 2010
Time: 3pm
Title: ‘Dublin’s late ‘70s New Wave scene’
Description:A History Ireland Hedge School-Blasting back to the70’s.
Venue: Phibsborough Library,
North Circular Road,
Dublin 7.
Tickets: N/A, show up on the day.

Tommy Graham from History Ireland will host the event, joined by a varied group of individuals, including our favourite journo Fintan O’ Toole, Counciller Cieran Perry, Eamon Delaney, David Donnelly and Billy McGrath. Each of these people bring something unique to the discussion, ranging from organising concerts at the time, to an understanding of the diverse youth cultures and cliques that emerged from the scene at the time, sometimes quite literally clashing. Some of the bands that emerged at the time remain household names, the likes of U2 coming to mind instantly. Others have become cult classics. Bands like DC Nien, The Atrix and their kind still hold pride of place in many vinyl collections.

If this period interests you, check out previous posts here like this one on DC Nein or this gem from our first week in existence, looking at some of the main first-wave Dublin punk singles. When you’re feeling nostalgic (Maybe you were there?), write the date down and come along on the day and share a story. If you’re younger like ourselves come along and hear a story or two. Regardless, come along.

The History Ireland Hedge School will be hosting some historical discussions at this years Electric Picnic too, a slighty more muddy setting than Phibsborough.

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Wilko Johnson to play Dublin

Posted in Music, tagged , , , , , , , on August 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

If “Woody” Mellor hadn’t seen Wilko Johnson play with the seminal pub rock band Dr. Feelgood in London in 1974, it is more than likely that he wouldn’t have gone onto to change his name to ‘Joe Strummer’ or start his first band The 101ers. For it was Wilko Johnson’s manic guitar playing with his Telecaster that inspired Strummer to go out and purchase the same brand of guitar and start his own band. Without Dr Feelgood, there would have been no 101ers, without the 101ers there would have been no Clash and without The Clash, there wouldn’t have been much.

Wilko Johnson, now 63 years young, is set to play The Leeson Lounge with (Ian Dury & The Blockheads) bassist Norman Watt-Roy on Tuesday, 28 September 2010. This will be a gig not to be missed. Facebook event here.

Check out Wilko, in black, below using his infamous machine gun/duckwalk combo:

Last year, Dr Feelgood were the subject of Julien Temple’s last film in his trilogy on British music of the 1970’s. It is a prequel to his landmark films about punk figureheads the Sex Pistols in The Filth & The Fury, Joe Strummer in The Future Is Unwritten. The award winning Oil City Confidential (2009) is out now on DVD.

“Dr. Feelgood were like a machine” – Joe Strummer

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Jingle Bloody Jangle.

Posted in Dublin History, Music, tagged , , , , , , , on August 23, 2010| 3 Comments »

It only dawned on me recently how many versions of The Auld Triangle I have in my collection. By ‘my collection’, I mean Windows Media Player. Anyway, I thought a few were worth posting in case you haven’t heard them. I love some of these.

Cat Power: No doubt inspired by Bob Dylan, this cover from Cat Power is more than decent. I enjoy her cover records as much as her own material in all truth.

Jeff Tweedy from Wilco has covered the song live, and it is one of my favourite versions. This sounds excellent.

Christy Moore recorded an excellent rendition of the song, which can be heard on his Box Set.

This Pogues version comes from a Peel Session.

All great, and this is before taking other versions like Ewan MacColl’s into account, not to mention the numerous versions of bands like The Dubliners and The Clancy Brothers. Enjoy.

The song was of course written by Brendan Behan and features in The Quare Fellow, a play currently running at The New Theatre on Essex Street, at the back of Connolly Books.

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It’s All Good.

Posted in Music, tagged , on August 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Special intimate Dublin show announced!
Weds 15th September in The Workman’s Club to celebrate the opening of this great new venue. Tickets go onsale on Friday 20th August at http://www.ticketmaster.ie. Support from Eoin Glackin.

From Damen Dempsey over on ‘the Facebook’.

We only recently reviewed the Workman’s here.

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Belle and Sebastian

Posted in Music, tagged , , , , on August 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

This Grand Canal Theatre lark is going well so far, isn’t it? Along with Joanna Newsom, here’s another one for my list. I must have been chilling in the west the country when this one was announced, as it went completely over my head.

Not alone did Belle and Sebastian produce one of those albums you play all the time and nobody else in the house minds (Dear Catastrophe Waitress), but they’re also the subject of a comic book entitled Put The Book Back On The Shelf (Forbidden Planet stock it), which is quite cool. Fitting enough, when your bands name is a nod in the direction of a children’s book. Music (from my room) and comics (from the room next door) kept this house busy in days gone by.

The Glasgow bands brand of indie-pop works for me, and obviously millions of others. To quote a friend….

How could something from Glasgow sound so Edinburgh?

They’d be chuffed.

Belle and Sebastian roll into town on Friday December 3rd.
Tickets range from €39.50 to €44.50, from the usual sources.

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A very untraditional truck.

Posted in Miscellaneous, Music, tagged , on July 29, 2010| 3 Comments »

Walking up by the newly refurbished Workmens Club, next to that lovely hotel Bono owns, a friend notices an unusual truck pass by.

“Have a look at that!? Is that…..”

It is. It’s Ronnie Drew.

For once, Come Here To Me had a camera at the right time. Wouldn’t get that on Pimp My Ride.

*My thanks to Pól for tweeking the snap a bit, as it was quite dark. His photo-blog can be seen over here, and features more than a few gems.*

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Thanks for giving it a go.

Posted in Music, tagged on July 24, 2010| 1 Comment »

Road Records closed today. About an hour ago, they tweeted this:

Last song of the night Teenage Fanclub “Everything Flows”, extremely loud. Doors are closing for the last. Goodbye everybody.

After 13 years, the shop had no doubt become a Dublin institution for those of us keen on indie music, the feel and sound of vinyl records and the whole culture that goes with that. A little out of my way, I’d venture in on occasion and then wander off through the arcade and home, normally with a new record. Or an old record, with a new home.

Above: Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy giving My Lovely Horse a go in Road Records, back in May.

While it looked like Road was safe having called off its last goodbye, it was obvious no benefit gig would save the place now. The owners described the situation on the site, noting:

This time, I am sad to say, there is no alternative for us, we have literally tried everything in our powers to keep this place operating and nothing has worked for us. It hasn’t been an easy decision to make, if anything its even more difficult than two years ago, we have had amazing support from people but nothing we do seems to work anymore.

Thinking back today on some of the great records I bought there, and a few instantly come to mind. I remember being very young on my first trip in, having just scored a vinyl player from the big Santa lad himself. I gave these two a play today. Sadly, I didn’t make it in as I’d planned.

Best of luck to the owners in life from here, and thanks for your contribution to Dublin life and youth culture. Keep it vinyl.

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Telepathe

Posted in Events, Music, tagged , , on July 19, 2010| 1 Comment »

Soon, I will have no money at all. The logic behind this is that for the first summer in yonks plenty of international talent is making its way to the city, taking my income in exchange for gig tickets. The upcoming gig from Joanna Newsom was exciting enough at first.

Telepathe are a band I’ve been on and on about for months to anyone who’ll listen. Coming from that great electronic music borough that is Brooklyn, they came to my attention with their 2009 effort Dance Mother, produced by David Sitek of TV On The Radio. An electronic band if such specific labelling was required, their roots and influences span a broad musical field. Hip hop influences mix with punk and noise-pop influences, and the sound that comes out of the big musical machine is unique to say the least.

I’m not the biggest fan of Whelan’s (Too dark for me, few lightbulbs’d be great lads…) but as with my recent trip to see Ted Leo exceptions do arise. I look forward to this one.

Telepathe play Whelan’s on August 14. Tickets are available from tickets.ie , priced at €15. It’s a Saturday, if you’re wondering….

Also, that legend Andy Milonakis off the telly reckons they’re good for the money. You’d trust him.

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