The Pale give their ‘Chocolate Factory’/‘Lady Gregory’ download single – free from www.thepale.ie – a live airing when they play The Quays, Galway (November 21); The Academy, Dublin (December 20 + The Sultans Of Ping); Sky, Portlaoise (December 21 + The Stunning); An Brog, Cork (January 21); and The Forum, Waterford (February 7).

Meanwhile, mainman Matthew Devereux has joined in the tributes to producer and filmmaker Columb Farrelly who passed away last month in Tralee after a short illness.

“Myself and The Pale first got introduced to Columb Farrelly in 1990 and within a few days he was the manager of the band,” Devereux recalls. “He helped us record the first couple of demos and won an award for production on our debut international album.We wrote a few good songs in those formative years when he kept a base at Ashtown Gate Studios.
Columb at the time acted as manager, producer, collaborator and base commander. A man of many hats as he liked to say himself.

“Myself and Columb also penned many songs together in those early years. A portion of mischief was an active ingredient in everything we ever wrote together. Brave is a word that goes only halfway to describing his unpredictable approach to the writing of songs.

“Columb Farrelly was a gifted musician, writer, and a tireless promoter of original thought.
He had a weakness for a good story and spun a veritable rainbow of colourful yarns in his time.
His natural ability to spot a good hook and make it sharper was second only to his sense of wonder torward the unchartered. If you met Columb even once you remembered him for sure. 
He will be missed for sure.”