StayOkay! release new video and tour dates.

StayOkay! have posted a teaser clip of what to expect from their upcoming EP, out early next year! I for one am excited already.



AND
that's not all..
The boys have announced a mini Irish tour with good friends in Boy Versus Romeo and In Elegance, with very special guests announced at a later date.

Dates are:
10th February - Auntie Annie's, Belfast
11th February - An Cruisin Lan, Cork
12th February - The Good Bits, Dublin
13th February - Kavanagh's, Port Laoise
14th February - Roisin Dubh, Galway

Canterbury announce StayOkay! as support

UK band Canterbury have announced that they will be bringing our good friends StayOkay! on the Irish dates of their upcoming January 2012 tour, kicking off in Dublin's Academy 2 on the 20th of January, and in Belfast's Speakeasy on the 21st.

It'll be a great way to ring in the new year and it's their first shows of what will be a busy 2012 for them!

Also playing are Time Is A Thief.
Tickets priced from €15 including booking fee are on sale now from ticketmaster.ie

Red Hot Chilli Peppers announce date in Croke Park

Having sold out the O2 Arena in a matter of minutes, Red Hot Chilli Peppers have announced they will play Croke Park on June 26th 2012!


The band had a third successive number one album in Ireland with their latest release and tenth album - but first release in five years - I’m With You.


Tickets for what is already being stated as the hottest gig of the year, are priced from €59.50, and will go on sale from www.ticketmaster.ie at 8am, November 4th.

You Me At Six "Sinners Never Sleep" album review

Surrey band You Me At Six have come a long way from their 2008 debut album Take Off Your Colours which established them as the new pop-punkers on the scene. While this album was all about partying, girls and their teenage years, with their second album, Hold Me Down being another slice from this, only having more experience. Now on their third album, Sinners Never Sleep is lust, love and anger. Altogether a stronger, angrier album, this time, wanting to show they are simply just a rock band. This is the end result of the band almost breaking up and constant fights between the members - a grown up album, writing about more important events in life, even though they are barely out of their teens. Leaving mysterious countdown timers and pictures on their website near the news of the album in August, this led to it becoming one of the most anticipated albums of the last few months.
Here's my track-by-track review of their latest offering.


The album opens with the previously released single that everybody knows and loves, Loverboy. It is catchy, full of strong riffs, and of course a chorus full of 'da-da-da's'. Stand out track of the album. Next track is Jaws On The Floor, which shows much change in the lyrics, over the style of song this time around. Lyrics like ‘life’s a bitch but I’m friends with her sister' put with powerful emotion show the change in the band. Bite My Tongue featuring Oli Sykes from Bring Me The Horizon shows an angrier side to the band, and is an all-round thrilling number that gives us an insight to the band from singer Josh Franceschi's viewpoint on the members' hatred of each other. From there on, it ranges into slower songs, something that comes effortlessly to You Me At Six, with This is The First Thing, and No One Does It Better taking a few listens to get into, but then are as addictive as the rest. Little Death has the most catchy, sing along chorus on the album, while Crash is the big ballad, showing the band do acoustic settings perfectly. It is perhaps not as good as earlier efforts (such as Always Attract), yet Franceschi's vocal are as smooth and perfect as ever. The album gets better with another stand out track, Reckless, a bouncy, catchy number with lyrics such as "I'm Mister Reckless with a capital R". This song reminds us of their pop-punk roots, as does Time Is Money, featuring Winston McCall of Parkway drive, showing the band have not forgot where they started. The Dilemma is a simply fantastic song, and a welcome change from older songs. When We Were Younger closes the album, and on a beautiful note too. A 6 minute long song, and keeping with the overall album, it is completely heartfelt and honest from the band.


While the album is so much more grown up, it is still recognisable as the You Me At Six we all know, with fuller vocals, the way guitars and bass work against each other, and the heavy drums. A must have for fans, and will have at least one song that you'll tap your foot to. Hopefully it will be a grower, and it could easily be their best material to date. 7/10

Storyboard are.....

Dublin band Storyboard played their last show today under that name, and have became...
All It's Worth!

Many people thought it would be the end of them, but it's not!
Download their new music here, and some of Storyboard's songs here.

Blink 182 - 'Neighborhoods' review

Comeback albums are always hard to do - trying to please old and new fans and critics alike is a job in itself. With Neighborhoods, Blink 182's first record after 8 years, being the most anticipated album of 2011, the question on everyone's lips is "will the album live up to expectations?" The record was previously set for release in May, but the band took another few months to complete it, and in the meantime rescheduling their UK tour and cancelling headline slots at festivals, angering fans. (But also meaning 2 added Ireland dates for June 2012 - yay!)

Here's my track-by-track review of the album.
Opening with Ghost On The Dancefloor, showing not all tender songs have to be slow or acoustic, and this has all the style we know and love from the band. This leads into Natives, which fans will be relieved to hear this is classic Blink 182. With lyrics such as "maybe I'm better off dead", showing the skill from the band by putting the more depressing song lyrics onto upbeat, poppy songs. These lyrics are all wrong however; Blink's songs are those that you just need in your life.
Next is Up All Night, one of the two songs put online months before the release. Back then, it received a mixed response, and compared to some of the brilliant songs on the album, it is not some their best work. The next single After Midnight follows, showing a slower, more tender side to the band. Heart's All Gone is the other song that was put online, in anticipation for the album, and while it was given a better response, there are also much better songs on this album. Next track is unexpected gem, Wishing Well, a feel-good, catchy song, with many 'la da da's, from Tom Delonge that simply make you want to get up and dance. A personal favourite and one of the best on the album.
Kaleidoscope has a similar sound to others on the album, yet it is still excellent, with more mature, meaningful lyrics. Perfectly leads into This Is Home, another catchy song. MH 4.18.2011 is also a song that is reminiscent of older Blink 182 tracks, but still holds its own. Last but not least, Love Is Dangerous is a perfect song to end the album, gradually getting heavier with soft joint vocals from Delonge and Mark Hoppus.

Overall, the lyrics are extremely well-written, showing a more mature and grown up side, compared to the band who once wrote about fucking a dog, your mom, anything in the earlier years. With joint vocals from guitarist Delonge and bassist Hoppus, the album is still recognisable as Blink 182 (whether that's from Delonge's unique voice, or just the way the guitar, bass and Travis Barker on drums work), but anyone looking for another Dude Ranch or Enema Of The State will be disappointed.
Another problem is the short 10 songs on it, when it could / should have been much longer.

Nevertheless, with an album as constant as this, we can see why it took so long.
And it certainly was worth the wait.

Nirvana - Nevermind

Today, 24th September, marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Nirvana's highly influential album, Nevermind!
The album is responsible for making rock mainstream, and influencing many rockstars as we now know them.
Critics and music fans alike call it one of the greatest rock albums of all time - and we can see why.

If you're a fan of music at all and haven't listened to this album, DO IT.

One of the greatest songs of all time...

My Chemical Romance drummer out of band

My Chemical Romance have fired their touring drummer Mike Pedicone, who has been with the band since Bob Bryar departed in March 2010, after he was caught stealing from the band at a show on the Honda Civic Tour with Blink 182, and admitted it to the police. In a statement made on www.mychemicalromance.com/, guitarist Frank Iero wrote:

Hello all,
Some shit happened last night and before the blogosphere gets all crazy with false statements and ridiculous opinions we want the true story to come from us... But please listen close because this is the only time we are ever going to talk about this. The relationship between My Chemical Romance and Michael Pedicone is over. He was caught red handed stealing from the band and confessed to police after our show last night in Auburn, Washington. We are heartbroken and sick to our stomachs over this entire situation. The band has no intention of pressing charges or taking this matter any further than we have to. We just want him out of our lives. The people who play in this band are a family, and family should not take advantage of each other like he did. We are currently moving forward, and hope to have a new drummer in place for our show in Salt Lake City, Utah. The show must go on.
XOMCR

Former The Bled drummer Pedicone later tweeted: "What happened is more complicated than it sounds but I did make a mistake. It was never my intention to hurt this band or all of you." and "It was an error in judgement based on a whole other situation that's way deeper but this does not define me."


Jarrod Alexander (ex-Death By Stereo, The Suicide File) is currently filling in on drums for My Chemical Romance.

"You Got Me" Taking Back Sunday single

Taking Back Sunday haven't actually put out a single for the U.S. yet, but for Ireland, "You Got Me" is being put out, with a special acoustic version of "Sad Saviour" as a b-side. Available now at itunes!


You Got Me is pop-punk at it's best. With it's background "woah-oh's", it makes a perfect single. It's catchy, and at times has a heavier sound, keeping with the album, and a range of vocals from the bridge to the chorus. 
The album overall is very open and honest from the singer, and this is about Lazzara's current wife, Mischa, and her pregnancy. "I was there when you were worried/I was there when you were sick/I was there when you were positive/'This is not happening,'" he sings in the song's second verse.


Definitely one of the best on the album. 9/10

RIP OceanFall

Omagh band OceanFall have decided to call it quits. A statement on the bands Facebook states:

"OceanFall 2009 - 2011

It is with heavy hearts we announce that we have decided to break up. It hasn't been an easy decision for us but we have been talking about this for some time now, but we feel it's time for us to move on. There is no hard feelings and we're still best friends.

In the past 2 years we have been very lucky to have the opportunities we have had. We've supported some amazing bands, played to thousands of people, made great friends and played in some amazing venues!

We have been so lucky to have fans, friends and family who have supported us the entire way over the past two years. You've all made our time together so much fun and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We would like thank everyone who has ever supported us by coming to our shows, buying our merch and CDs, telling your friends about us, sang our songs or shouted at us in the street. Thank you to all the promoters who have booked us for shows and all we bands we have played with, some of which we are best friends with now.

We will be having one last gig in our hometown of Omagh which will be confirmed soon. We hope all of you can make it along before you head off to university or college.

We will be having a massive sale on all our merch before we close down our store for good, so if you'd like a t-shirt, CD, badges, stickers or mirrors then please pick something up here www.oceanfall.bigcartel.com

This will not be the last you'll see us, we will be playing in new bands in some shape or form so keep an eye out in the future and we hope you'll support us as well as you have done.

We will see you all again soon. Thank you all so much!

Love,

Gary, Micky and Stephen x"

You can still download their music here!

Taking Back Sunday instore and signing

As many of you will know, American outfit Taking Back Sunday did a special instore in an intimate setting - with only 50 tickets going on sale!- in Tower Records, Dublin, for their upcoming gig in The Academy.

The band arrived, and singer Adam Lazzara and guitarist John Nolan played 5 songs - Sad Saviour, Great Romances of the 20th Century, a Kanye West cover of Can't Tell Me Nothing, and their latest single Faith (When I Let You Down).
After that, they did a very special signing for fans, and I got to meet one of my favourite bands. Wow!

Renoir's Reflection review, interview

Renoirs Reflection are a 4 piece band from Waterford, Ireland. Having formed in November 2010 they are relatively new to the scene, but definitely an up and coming band to watch!
Right between indie and alternative rock, plenty of lead guitar, strong bass lines, hard drum beats and vocal harmonies, the band write all their own original songs, and we shall hopefully be hearing more of these guys soon.


On first listen they remind me of a cross between Kings of Leon and The Blizzards. Some of the songs they have are: 'I Don't Mind' with a catchy beat and memorable chorus with much strong bass lines, while 'Never See My Face' is a more meaningful approach, with acoustic beginning leading into a heavier chorus and a strong guitar presence. 'Tall Tales' is a faster song showing versatility in the vocals part.
These are just some of the songs, so to listen to these and more, get their music now!


I caught up with Jason to talk about the band…
Who‘s in the band?
Jason O' Hara- Lead Vocals/rhythm guitar
Gavin Carey- Lead Guitar/backup vocals
John Grace- Drums/backup vocals
Keith Grant- Bass
Sounds like?
We’ve been told were a concoction of Kings Of Leon, Two Door Cinema Club, Oasis, The Beatles and Thin Lizzy, with a strong presence of lead guitar and harmonies.
Biggest influences?
Between us we have many influences from all different genres, but collectively our biggest influences would be Kings Of Leon, Oasis, The Beatles and Thin Lizzy.
How, where, when did the band happen?
We were all interested in music from the age of 13 onwards and tried several bands, but none of them fit our styles. We started up a cover band and after 4 months of gigging realised we wanted to play our own songs, so we started writing together and it just seemed to fall into place. Then Renoir's Reflection was born!
How did you come up with the name?
Gavin and John always enjoyed art in school, and their favourite form of art was impressionism. Renoir was an artist that stuck with them long after they finished school. Reflection also comes from art, and the fact that Renoir as an impressionist revolutionised the art scene of the time - that’s what we aspire to do with our music!
Biggest achievement to date?
That would have to be getting signed to Rubymusic which has led to us to performing on the main stage at a myriad of festivals and having the opportunity to record our songs.


Check out their music on their myspace, and Facebook here!

Interview with StayOkay!

Finally, on the Summer Explosion Tour, were these guys, Dublin band StayOkay!
(Also their first interview, no big deal!)

Watch it and say you liked these lads before they become huge.

Interview with Boy Versus Romeo

During the Summer Explosion Tour, I met with Cork based band Boy Versus Romeo to chat about anything and everything!
PS. Enjoy my mad ramblings.

Interview with Struck

I met with Mayo band STRUCK during their Summer Explosion tour where we talked about... well, everything really!
Take a look and a listen for yourselves, you never know, they could be the next huge thing.