Blame it on the sunshine, but Damo seems to have been afflicted with the Irish summertime weakness for lightweight reggae. While there’s certainly always been that element to his music, and with considerable success, this is not one of his bigger statements.
Damo wants to be held in the third single from his number one Shots album. I say do what the man says; he’s massive. Certainly worth a listen for evidence of Dempsey’s more pared-down songwriting skills which strike an appropriately romantic chord.
From strange days coming second in a yoghurt-sponsored competition and playing awful gigs sandwiched between boy bands, Damien Dempsey, with a little help from Shane, Sinéad and Christy, has survived and thrived. Eamon Sweeney meets a rap balladeer with a hit album, a social conscience and more than a few stories to tell.
Gorey man Stephen Hill takes a note from the book of Damo, singing in the accent we’ll fiercely defend but sometimes still cringe to hear. That said, it works well here. His attack on Mary Harney and the local Superquinn’s secret complicity in European colonialism couldn’t work in any other dialect anyway. ‘Conspiracy’ is a fantastically funny proselytisation, a howl to us to recognise this despicable and corrupt age, and after a few listens it becomes a compelling diatribe. “Microsoft develops it,” he yells “Are you listening to me?” We are now.
After what seemed like an eternity of enduring processed boy/girl band hell, 2003 was the year that pop became exciting again. Finally, we got a long hot summer soundtracked by Beyoncé (song of the year – hands down), 50 Cent’s awesome ‘In Da Club’ and even a band from my own ‘hood whose debut album was the feelgood hit of the season.
Damien Dempsey is back in town after a five month stint Down Under. Hot Press catches up with the Dublin balladeer as he kicks off a 50-date Irish tour, taking in Electric Picnic along the way. He talks about the success of his Rocky Road To Dublin covers record, the thrill of bestriding Croke Park – and having Bono and The Edge checking him out in Sallynoggin!
Electric Avenue in Waterford City is now a firmly established stop-off on the Irish circuit. Proprietor and promoter Mick O'Keefe talks a little about his past and explains how he's in this for the long haul.
The Walls and The Jimmy Cake do their bit for European unity by bringing their music – and an insatiable appetite for the craic – to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Our reporter Danielle Brigham survives to tell the tale.
Having previously announced that he wasn’t going to tour his new 9 album, Damien Rice has announced a 10-date US tour, which kicks off on November 13 in LA’s El Rey Theater and then takes in New York, Oakland, Boston, Upper Darby, Washington and Chicago before winding-up on December 20 at Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theater.
The crowd’s unbridled outpouring of devotion and fervour is like getting swept up at Nuremberg – it’s burn, baby, burn – and burn is the operative word.
Your writer is just as fond of the throwaway, the frivolous and the ephemeral as the next person, but it takes someone as integral as Damien Dempsey – back, here, with his third studio album – to remind you how empty, or, alternatively, full of shit most music is. That’s not a negative statement, just a true one.
Keyboardist Herbie Hancock achieved legendary status through his adventures with Miles Davis and a myriad other jazz outfits, although his profile as an innovator has been lower since his jazz fusion activities in the '70s.
He was one of the first true trailblazers in Irish comedy. Now, a decade after his death, a host of his friends will gather to pay tribute to Dermot Morgan.
You’d be hard pushed to get better bang for your buck in this city. The annual return of heroes old is one thing, but couple them with two of the country’s most exciting and original acts and you’ve got one of the potential home-grown gigs of the year.
Stand-up comedy ace Joe Rooney hopes he won’t fall down when he stars in this year’s Christmas On Ice event. And let’s hope it won’t feature anyone dressed as an animal.
"Early highlights like the soul-searching ‘Eskimo’ and the sharp, bitter melancholy of ‘What I Am’ confirm that they will not just be going through the motions today."
There’s nobody else quite like Damien Dempsey. His vocal style is very much an acquired taste. It takes a few listens before you start liking it, but after a while and you wonder where he’s been all your life.
While Mr Rice is a notoriously camera-shy chap, we shouldn’t mistake this reticence for a meekness of character. Far from it – because from beginning to end, 9 is a serious statement of authorial intent.
