Keep It Fresh

The post title should give you some sort of idea of how much fun last night in the new look Whelans was, when Los Campesinos! front man Gareth informed the crowd of guitarist Tom’s celebrity look-a-like, which had been pointed out by a passing crowd member before the band took to the stage. But let’s backtrack a little first.

Support band Betamax Format played a blinder and rustled up some impressive crowd numbers for a support act. Thanks to some good airplay and HWCH hype, single “You Are Welcome In My House” went down a treat. Some material from the forthcoming EP wormed it’s way into their set sounds pretty damn good. That’s touted for release early 2008. Talking to the band after the set, I found out there’s been a wee hitch with their new, extremely sexy t-shirts but expect the first batch in a couple of weeks.

Some quick sliding to the front, a brief encounter with Sarah, Lisa, Tracey and Sarah’s new camera and it was Campesinos! time. After the band wrapped up their opening track the crowd when mental. Singer Gareth tried to address everyone but couldn’t get a word in edge ways as the crowd kept cheering. Eventually hellos were exchanged and the gig really kicked off. Predictably the roof was kicked off Whelans when You! Me! Dancing! dropped and I fully believe the band when they hoped that the rest of the tour dates where this much fun. The set came to a perfect climax when un-released track Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks (one of the tracks that helped them pick up blog fame a year ago) started up. It had everything from Gareth charging into the crowd to full band dance routines. When all this came to a close a genuinely humbled band said their goodbyes and thank yous then made their exit. Not a bad start to your first major tour with only one EP under your belt. And all this in Dublin on a Tuesday night.

Heres the video for forthcoming single “The International Tweexcore Underground” which is released through Wichita.

-phil

Stereogum return with another impressive cover project. Which makes perfect sense after the success of July’s OK Computer aka OKX. It’s a simple concept. Stereogum pick a defining album, gather together a bunch of artists, give them each a track from the album and present the results to you. For free. This time they present Drive XV: A Tribute to Automatic for the People and the album contains covers from the likes of The Meat Puppets, The Wrens and The Shout Out Louds. Well worth a listen, you can download or stream the album at Stereogum. Also included are liner notes and an essay from Fluxblog founder Matthew Perpetua, who would appear to be THE R.E.M fan.

Drive XV: A Tribute to Automatic for the People via Stereogum

-phil

Another act, another exclamation mark! And we need to inject some dirty electro back into this blog. Heidi Cannon & John Bourke are !Trash Yourself. They’ve teamed up Toxic Avenger to produce a track that has me quite excited. I haven’t been this excited since the Rage Against The Machine/Mr. Ozio days. The track in question is a cover of Blur’s Song 2 and it fucking rocks. That is all.

MP3 !Trash Yourself - Song 2

MP3 !Trash Yourself - Touch

Be their friend. Not for those of an epileptic disposition.

-phil

I’ve always had a soft spot for Michael Palin – in that older gent charm kinda way. It’s a rare commodity and he is the clear forerunner in this competitive league. (as an aside people of my, or any, age that have a thing for Sean Connery or Michael Douglas are sick and need help)
Sadly, due to varying prior arrangements (eh…drinking, gigging, drinking and…oh yes…drinking), I missed out on much of his new TV series “New Europe” on the Beeb. Basically it’s Palin being a complete darling and introducing all us stupid people to our new E.U. comrades in that customary dumbed-down-yet-altogether-delightful-and-easy-to-understand fashion.
Of course, in true money-scrounging style the BBC have thoughtfully (read: scavengingly) published the series in a handy book format complete with glossy photos of Serbian people looking happy and accepted. Bless.
All smart-arseness aside, it’s actually worth checking out. Anything that documents a man whose alter ego is Phileas Fogg is alllllright by me.

I like “something completely different”

I dislike actual pythons

_sarah_

*** CLOSED ***

Yesterday I suggested checking out The Minutes when they play Whelans this Thursday. Well now you can for free! Thanks to the band we’ve got two pairs of tickets to giveaway and all you have to do is answer this piss easy question.

How many seconds in a minute?

I’ve always wanted to ask a really stupid competition question like that. Its the kind you get on Saturday morning kids TV. Email your name and answer to freshcompetitions@gmail.com. Tis that easy. Remember that this is an over 18’s event.

MP3 The Minutes - Harmonic

MP3 The Blonde Majority - We Got Fire

THE MINUTES
WITH SUPPORT FROM THE BLONDE MAJORITY
WHELANS
OCT. 4TH
€5

-phil

pic: Betamax Format @ HWCH ‘07 - misslili

Before I head out for some house party action (flu tablets and jager…yes!) I want to claim how excited I am about tomorrow. As already mention earlier today current music industry darlings, Los Campesinos! play Whelans tomorrow night but I just discovered that Beatmax Format are lined up for the support. Most excellent news as I was pretty annoyed at having to miss them at the weekend (plus I’ll be able to get my mitts on a BF tee). Tickets still available at the door for a meager €13.

MP3 Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!

MP3 Betamax Format - You Are Welcome In My House

And while I have you…another one of my “favorite bands that I missed at HWCH”, Butterfly Explosion have put up a new track for download on their myspace. It’ll only be up for about a week so go here to download new track ‘Vision’ along with two tracks from their ‘Turn The Sky’ EP.

-phil

pic: Super Extra Bonus Party @ HWCH ‘07

Well there ain’t many unfortunately as I could only make Friday. Saturaday was a family gathering of the grand scale and Sunday was spent in bed sick. Boo-urns. So here’s a rather small report.

First off the ‘all-in-one’ building setup works. I was a smidge late getting down to Pod so I missed Gavin Glass but I hear good things which is nice to know. After meeting the gang myself Bernie and Sinead headed to Tidal District in the Working Man’s Club. I was instantly blown away but this is defiantly a band worth checking further down the line.

Next up was festival favorites Super Extra Bonus Party. I really like the Party’s instrumental material and it was a great show filled with high-jinx. The Crawdaddy room was full with bodies been directed to the balcony area upon arrival. It’s a bit late but shout out to nialler9. Happy Birthday dude!

After a quick bevy (Budweiser, Budweiser, Budweiser or Guinness) we popped off to the Lennon Lounge for something a bit different. Los Langeros sang and danced into the crowd and were made for a Spiegeltent performance but their certainly not everyone’s cup of tea (ahem…Sarah!). Real fun band worth checking out.

In a continued attempt to hit every room at the festival (missed Tripod!) we headed to the Pod room to check out The Minutes upon Bernie’s recommendation. Their a really together band with some good tunes so do check them out. They play Whelans with the Blonde Majority on October 4th.

Finally I dashed over to the Odeon by my lonesome to check out Le Bein. I could natter on about the duo all night but the bottom line is they continue to get better and better. Roll on a hard copy release.

Props to all those involved with photo exhibition including our boy Dan and Miss Lili (photo at top of post). The work looked fantastic and Crawdaddy’s Lobby Bar should be used for more of the same in the future.

The drive home was filled with power ballads and garlic/cheese chips. Great night and I’m gutted I couldn’t make the rest of the weekend. No dice I guess.

HWCH 2008 anyone?

-phil