Homework 10 October 2002: independent music news

The Ballroom Of Romance is a newish monthly musical extravaganza curated by the Holy Ghost Fathers (the band not the religious order!) in the Lower Deck, Portobello, Rathmines, Dublin. Admission is a measley E5 and the first 100 get a free CD-R of the bands playing on the night. Neosupervital, The Warlords of Pez, The Coldspoon Conspiracy, Steerage, The Evangelists and Yazuka from Belfast have all mucked in to date.

The pure girl/boy pop explosion known as The Chalets have been wowing the capital with their demo and a brace of great gigs including the Dublin leg of the Rough Trade tour. Now they take their jaw-dropping live show to Blighty with two gigs on the same day on November 9 in London. In the afternoon, they play RoTa at the Notting Hill Arts Club and then tube or cab it to the Strange Fruit at The Garage. Release details of the first ever commercial Chalets artefact, apart from those very fetching knickers and briefs sold at Wonky2, will be available soon.

The Thrills have finally signed to Virgin Records after an intense A+R chase during recent months. Stephen Patrick Morrissey himself personally invited Dublin’s latest alt-poppers to support him at illustrious recent gigs in the Royal Albert Hall and the Ambassador.

One of Homework’s favourite Irish songwriters and all round good dude Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol/Reindeer Section fame and fortune has also received an impressive support slot invite, this time from The Polyphonic Spree for two shows at the famous CMJ Music Marathon in New York where The Strokes first made their mark. This year, the CMJ is taking place in November rather than its usual mid-September slot, as obviously it was tragically disrupted last year by the World Trade Center attacks. Great to see one of New York’s best events bouncing back with a fab line-up and some stellar Irish input to boot. Check CMJ.com for full details.

After the huge success of early Back2Back nights in Isaac Butt’s, Basscape are delighted to announce the nation-wide Back2Back Tour 2002 this October featuring the best hip hop and drum ’n’ bass duos from all over the country with dates confirmed in Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Mullingar. The line-up includes Kormac, TuKi, Kato,Torque, DJ Mayhem, Splyce, Kenny & Keevo, DJ Mek, Rosko, Judge Dredd, Feral, Code, DJ Scope and Bee. Westside!