Therapy?’s Guide To Belfast

EATERIES

Sakura
Botanic Avenue.
Tel 004428 9043 9590
sakurabelfast.com

I’m a big fan of Japanese food. All the band are, and it’s really nice to get some good sushi, especially on tour. Sakura is really good and quite affordable. The sushi’s excellent. We’ve eaten sushi all around the place and I definitely rate it. It’s my dream restaurant if someone says, ‘Let’s go out and get some food for a special occasion’, I’m like, ‘Right, Sakura it is!’ It’s a bustling little place as well, I’m not really a fan of stiff fine dining where it’s all about the napkin being folded right.

Made In Belfast
City Hall (Tel. 004428 9042 6712)
and Cathedral Quarter
(Tel. 004428 9042 4107)
madeinbelfastni.com

I’ve been to the one in the Cathedral Quarter and it’s got a bit of an industrial vibe to it and furniture wise, it’s a real mish-mash. If you’ve got a bad back, beware, because you could end up sitting on some kind of park bench type arrangement, but that kind of adds to the charm of it. The food is really good and there’s a lot of local produce, a lot of local fish and beef on the menu. I think it’s reasonable enough for what you get, you’d pay twice that in London and the staff are really, really sweet as well. There’s definitely been a bit of skip-dipping, as we call it, everything hasn’t been sourced from antiques shops, so I don’t know if I would take Great Aunt Maude there, but I like it.

DRINKERIES

Katy Daly’s
Ormeau Avenue.
Tel. 004428 9032 7007
limelightbelfast.com/katys.php

I kind of have to mention this because I’ve been going there since I was 18! It’s quite famous because there’s Katy Daly’s and then either side of it, there’s the Spring And Airbrake, a live music venue, and the Limelight, which is a club and live music venue. Katy Daly’s is kind of the hub of the whole thing, if you’re in town and you’ve an hour to kill and you want a drink, just go in there and you will meet someone you know, you will meet someone to chat to. It’s a great place to go and if you don’t know Belfast and you want to know what’s going on, just go there and before you know it. You’ll have a big list of options between gigs, galleries, theatre, whatever; there’s a lot of creative types in there who will point you in the right direction.

The Spaniard
Skipper St. Tel. 004428 9023 2448
thespaniardbar.com

It’s one of these classic you-never-know-who’s-gonna-be-there bars. It’s really, really small which initially I thought was a bit of a disadvantage, but the good thing is, it’s so small, everyone gets shoehorned in there and you can’t help but interact with other people and other groups. It’s a really, really vibey little bar and there’s always something going on or an interesting conversation to overhear. The decor’s quite good as well, there’s tons and tons of old vinyl sleeves across the ceiling. There’ll be bizarre flamenco records next to old Smiths 12-inches, so even just to go and check that out is well worthwhile. It’s a good starting point or a good finishing point or a good heading-somewhere-else point. Drinking, I find, in Belfast, there’s a lot of barhopping on the go. You seem to spend a lot of time walking about ringing your mates going, ‘Where are you?’ but that’s part of the adventure of it.

SOUNDERIES

The Black Box
Hill St.
Tel. 004428 9024 4400
blackboxbelfast.com

With Belfast being quite small, it’s not as divisive musically and that’s what’s good, I think, about the Black Box. They’ve got an interesting booking policy, they’ll show films and stuff in there and they’ll have touring bands in there, local artists will do album launches in there, I’ve DJed in there a couple of times and it’s a good mix. They’ll even have like circus type-stuff on it there which a lot of the other more mainstream venues wouldn’t touch with a barge pole!

Mandela Hall
University Road.
Tel. 004428 9097 1062
qubsu-ents.com

I like the Mandela because it’s quite clever the way they’ve done it. There’s obviously a full size stage with great sound and wherever you stand in the venue you get a great view, but they’ve got a clever way of draping it off so they can have a 1200 capacity, an 800 capacity and they can actually drape it down to a 300 or 400 capacity. They’ve got a lot of diverse stuff coming though there and I know it sounds really awful, but the bar’s quite cheap! It’s a student union so you’re not paying a fiver for a warm tin of beer. Student Union gigs in the UK normally have a bit of a bad name, but whoever’s running this is doing a really, really great job. If a band I’m not particularly sure about plays the Mandela, a lot of times that’ll swing me, ‘cause I know it’ll be a good night.

SHOPERIES

Dragon Records
Wellington Place.
Tel. 004475 4228 5995
dragonrecordsbelfast.blogspot.com

Dragon Records do a lot of second hand vinyl, like tons and tons of vinyl. They’ve got the usual classic sort of rock stuff, your Neil Youngs and your Rolling Stones and there’s a massive punk and metal section and a big jazz and hip hop section as well and it’s all, from what I can tell, in really good condition. Every time I go there I buy something, and at the minute the record player is in the attic! The main guy in there is called Jeff and he’s really knowledgeable. There’s very few pure vinyl record shops, I was very surprised to find it in Belfast of all places.

No Alibis
Botanic Avenue.
Tel. 004428 9031 9601
noalibis.com

I think this was initially a crime book shop and I’m not a massive fan of the genre, but it’s a really nice shop and they’ve obviously diversified a bit. They sell a lot of stuff like art prints and they have a lot of authors come in and do readings, there’s a bit of a culty vibe around it and they have occasional acoustic gigs there. It’s nice just to go in there and hang out, they encourage you to sit down and read the book which is quite clever in a way because if everything’s shrink wrapped or boxed up and security tagged, you’re scared to touch the stuff. They’re obviously very, very into what they do and I like that because they’ve done it with conviction. They’ve really gone for it in a big way, even down to the style of the art prints that they sell, it’s very noir-y. I don’t think I’ve been in a shop anywhere in the world like it, so it’s a wee bit of uniqueness.

OTHER ATTRACTIONS

Botanic Gardens Park
Botanic Avenue.
Tel. 004428 9031 4762
belfastcity.gov.uk

I like the Gardens because you can go for a really nice walk through the glasshouse with all the tropical plants, which is quite mind blowing, and like a lot of cities, you need that wee bit of greenery. It’s a nice relaxing sort of vibe, so if I have an hour to kill, I’ll go for a walk through there or go and buy a sandwich and just sit and watch the world go by. It is a bit of a tough sell if you say, ‘Hey let’s go check out the botanical glasshouse!’ but anytime I’ve brought people there, they’ve been really impressed.

Oh Yeah Music Centre
Gordon St.
Tel. 004428 9031 0845
ohyeahbelfast.com

It’s kind of a big deal for Northern Ireland to recognise its musical history and provide a hub for new bands, so the Oh Yeah Centre is great. It’s kind of like the Black Box, it’s a space for exhibitions, album launches, gigs and all the rest of it, but they’ve also got rehearsal rooms, studios and they’ve got some little units with management companies and bits and pieces in there. There’s always something going on and they’ve got a really cool display of memorabilia from Northern Irish music, right back to the showbands and Them, through to bands like us and Ash, The Divine Comedy and even up to newer bands. There’s a lot of hard work and dedication put into the Oh Yeah to keep it going and I think everyone just needs to knuckle down a bit and be supportive.

THE NEXT BIG THING

Robyn G. Shiels
rgshiels.com

People always talk about the bright young things; he’s more of a dark old thing. He’s been playing music as long as we’ve been playing, since the start of the ‘90s, and he’s always ploughed his own furrow. He’s a really talented singer-songwriter and he’s got a real character to him. He’s quite real and for a lot of people, he’s too real. He’s not into playing the game or putting on airs and graces which I absolutely respect him for. He’s got a lot of new material hopefully coming out this year and next year and it’s great, what I’ve heard of it sounds really good. It’s a big step up and his lyrics are as brilliant and twisted as ever. He’s like a cockroach as well, once everything else is gone it will just be him strumming a guitar at the end of the world.

Therapy? headline Glasgowbury on July 21.