You could call this appearance by The Chalets at the Drogheda Arts Festival a comeback, but in truth it’s more of a partial return to action, a stretching of the legs.
New Favourite Band Alert. Dublin group The Chalets are a mightily refreshing blast of fiesty rock and quirky pop, whose double A sided debut dons a pair of six inch stilettos and runs rings around the rest of this fortnight’s singles.
The Camden Crawl: 40 buzz bands play across 10 venues on one night, in indie’s capital of cool. In the green corner are The Chalets, who pit their musical talent in a predominately London-led line-up.
Phil Udell switches into Marty Whelan mode as he joins The Chalets at a European rock festival with a difference - and lots and lots of lovely French wine!
Loved by the Kaiser Chiefs and bushy moustached Ukrainians alike, The Chalets have partied their way round most of the western world in recent months. Stuart Clark hears about backstage beerathons, ding dongs with Kele from Bloc Party and monkeys in track-suits.
It used to be a dentist’s surgery and the interior décor might generously be described as “quixotic”, but The Chalets’ Paula Cullen wouldn’t dream of departing her well-populated Walkinstown residence.
The inescapable fact remains…while The Chalets are very much at home within the bosom of the Dublin music scene, had they been residing in London, New York or Detroit, they would be bleedin’ huge by now.
Music fans will have to be out of the pub and home by 11pm on Thursday January 12 as 2FM broadcast the whole of The Chalets and The Radio’s sets live from the Eurosonic Festival in the northern Dutch town of Groningen.
Life gets busier and busier for The Chalets who, as you will have seen on hotpress.com last week, have their Eurosonic set broadcast live by 2FM at 11pm on Thursday January 12.
With barely enough time to sober up following their Vicar St. headliner, The Chalets hotfooted it over to the UK where they’re playing two weeks of supports with The Cribs.
The ante has been upped on every level – the playing, singing, presentation and production – and the songs sound less like the jumbled collection of ideas of yore and more like genuine contenders.
Oh my God, so many witty Kaiser Chiefs song titles, I can’t decide which one to use as opening line. But then, this review isn’t mainly about them, because the support bands stole the show.
Along with the music, beer and scoffing, there was some serious talking done at the Electric Picnic. Shilpa Ganatra was taking notes as The Chalets, Flaming Lips, JJ72, Bob Mould, James Blunt, Tommy Tiernan, Declan O’Rourke and The Devlins were subjected to a public grilling by the Hot Press journalistic elite. And John Walshe.
Word is spreading. Following a run of successful support slots with The Chalets, Turn and Kerbdog, Boss Volenti are creeping into the nation’s heart. Their debut as a four piece is all Southern State blues and straight laced rock ‘n roll, combined with an irresistible dark dirty guitar riff. Not as hard hitting as devotes of their live show might expect. But hip-shakingly good nonetheless.
Scottish combo Aberfeldy (who are named after a small coastal town, fact fans!) return to the fray with another dose of chiming, upbeat summer pop. This, the lead track from their second album Do Whatever Turns You On, will inevitably draw comparisons to the horrid Magic Numbers, but 'Hypnotised' is a much more cleverly structured and less irritating stab at melodic pop. Think B-52's with a flicker of The Chalets and Teenage Fanclub and you're halfway there.
Poised between the understated electro-sounds of LCD Soundsystem and the playfulness of The Chalets, London’s Hot Chip have struck gold with the lead single from new album The Warning. Like its name implies, the track makes an art out of monotony. There are no inspiring middle eights or climatic finishes. Instead, the same mid-tempo beats are slowly drummed into our heads, before its subtle end, when we wake up from our trance, dust ourselves off and walk away, oddly content.
The 2006 line-up of the Mitchelstown Festival will see The Proclaimers, The Sultans of Ping, The Chalets and other high-profile acts take to the stage.
With Gemma Hayes, The Chalets, Declan O'Rourke and Hothouse Flowers on the bill, Dublin's clearly not the only place that celebrates St Paddy's day in style.
Annual article: The arrival of Channel 6 was a boom – but music programming on television in 2006 was challenged by reality TV game shows and, increasingly, by YouTube.
Pop-loving supergroup Talulah Does the Hula talk about expectations, ambitions and drummers with sweet haircuts. Plus, how they stepped outside the shadow of their previous bands to forge a whole new identity.
Dublin art-rockers Rollers/Sparkers are currently earning critical garlands for their debut EP, Geography For The Leaving erudite band member, John McMahon, here holds forth on the local music scene and forsaking academia for rock’n’roll.
Irish labels, bands and artists often face an uphill struggle to garner recognition, even on their home turf. Which is why hotpress and HMV have undertaken their own combined initiative, to coincide with the announcement of the shortlist for the first Choice Irish music prize. As a product of this initiative, all ten albums will be specially stocked and displayed in HMV stores all over Ireland on the run-in to the announcement of the winning album later this month. Here, we take a look at the list – and reflect on those that have been omitted.
Coldplay, White Stripes, Strokes, Queens, Garbage, Oasis, JJ72, Franz... With a whole slew of major albums in the pipeline, it looks like ‘05 will be the wrong year to kick that addiction to noise.
The Road Relish singles club has played a central role in the growth of the local independent scene. the main players explain their philosophy to Hannah Hamilton
There is many a haven for shunners of the Christmas Cheer like myself. Lots of lovely bands, singers, comedians and even hynotherapists are at hand to entertain the life out of us, and distract Santa while we throttle him. Right up to the New Year there’s so much going on you needn’t come home till Easter.
They may claim that they’re not interested in world domination, but US underground infatuated Dublin rockers Angels Of Mons are nonetheless brewing up a storm on the Irish indie scene.
With interest in this year’s 10th Roundstone Arts Festival already building up, we sent our very own Roundstone Cowboy Jackie Hayden to check out this year’s line-up.
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the dissection of the rock ‘n’ roll year that is the Hot Press Summit. Gathering round the table are the good and great of Irish music, but who let Podge & Rodge in?
Ten, nine, eight… we count down the contenders for 2003. Words Hannah Hamilton, Colin Carberry, Niall Stokes, Richard Brophy, John Walshe, Eamon Sweeney and Stuart Clark
Never mind the naysayers, Dublin 2006 is spilling over with white hot talent. Steve Cummins and Shilpa Ganatra run the rule over the capital's new breed.
The Rose of Tralee proves that it’s good for something this month when it spawns Bloom, a five-day feast of rock ‘n’ roll running from August 18 to 22 in the Town Square.
Julie Feeney and Duke Special have been confirmed as the first Irish participants at this year’s EuroSonic festival, which takes place in the northern Dutch town of Groningen on January 11 and 12.
One of the new breed of value for your euro events with a free CD-R for the first 100 punters, this is the ultimate anecdote to the rip off of spiralling ticket costs.
Yet another music festival, you say? Well, the new Indie-Pendence fest not only has some great acts lined up, but will have free admission to all events as part of the long-standing Mitchelstown Music & Arts Festival.
Bronagh Gallagher, Autamata, The Radio and The Divine Comedy are among the artists that will be performing as part of RTE's new season of Other Voices, Songs From A Room
Hot Press favourite Julie Feeney - whose superb 13 Songs took the inaugural Chioice Award earlier this year - and Humanzi have been picked by RTÉ 2fm to be Ireland's main representatives at the annual Eurosonic Festival.
That the Irish music industry is in its healthiest state for a while is, by now, a given and it’s probably time to stop congratulating ourselves and start figuring out where it goes next. The answer, at least according to new label Faction, is to start thinking bigger than the DIY own-label approach that has dominated of late.
This June Bank Holiday weekend saw the second annual incarnation of the Europavox Festival, which aspires to “materialize European identity through music”.
Paul O'Reilly brings us Songs; Luc and the Platelets and The Warlords Of Pez say Let's Battle in the Storehouse; and Leagues and Robert Stephenson get famous
Watching so many acts in sequence, the audience may have discerned a hierarchy. Those on the cusp of mainstream success played with a cocky disregard for the actual event.
Cork favourites The Berries are set to release their brand new EP ahead of the city’s stint as European Capital of Culture. Plus the usual round-up of news from the domestic front
One-off clubs, chillout nights, New Year's Eve events and of course gigs, gigs, and more gigs to suit your every mood: hotpress.com picks the very best stuff to do over the holiday
Having supported the likes of Relish and Interpol, Belfast-based rockers Leya have now signed with prestigious Dublin label Rubyworks. Plus the usual round-up of news from the domestic front.
Traditionally the highpoint of the autumn music calendar, the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival takes place for the seventh time over the October bank holiday weekend.
