Indiependence Day 1: Hot Spot Round-Up

We’ve just closed the invisible green and yellow doors of the lovely Hot Press Hot Spot after a busy first day at Indiependence 2013. And what a day it was too.

Thankfully the rain got the memo and decided not to rear it’s ugly head above the Mitchelstown site, as festival-goers quickly got into the swing of things, enjoying the top notch musical line-up and the sporadic spells of glorious sunshine.

We like to think we played our part too, with the busy Hot Spot attracting large crowds to the Darkness area throughout the evening with plenty of live interviews and acoustic sessions.

First up on the HP couches were Scottish headliners The Fratellis, who were returning to these parts for the first time in five years. The lads discussed the ever changing landscape of the music industry with our man Craig Fitzpatrick, and the success of their 2006 hit Chelsea Dagger, which is still used to celebrate goals in ice-hockey and soccer stadiums around the world.

It’s kind of funny to refer to The Hot Sprockets as festival stalwarts at such an early stage in their career, but the Soul Brothers lived up to that reputation and drew a massive crowd to the Hot Spot ahead of their set later this evening. Following a trio of acoustic numbers the lads sat down to chew the fat with Dave Hanratty and revealed details of their upcoming new video, which if things go to plan, will feature a baby elephant. Don’t ask! (We’ll have the video online as soon as we get back to HQ).

Following their impressive set opening the Main Stage earlier in the evening, Tarantella Fall also swung by the HP tent for a couple of tracks and a chat with Roe McDermott.

Before they totally destroy the Main Stage around midnight tonight, ASIWYFA sat down on the HP couch for a highly entertaining interview with Roe McDermott. The lads spoke with fondness of former label Ricther Collective – who sadly closed its doors last year – and the support they gave to creative, forward thinking musicians in this country, before telling us why they’ve gone all “happy” on new album All Hail Bright Futures.

The HP Hot Spot took a turn for the nineties soon after when UK electronic techno-ravers Utah Saints sat down for a chat with our leading lady Roisin Dwyer. The last time Tim and Jez were in these parts was for U2’s Zooropa Tour almost 20 years ago, and they promise that tonight’s set will be just as special. They also give their approval for the current EDM explosion, but draw the line (as we do too) at Steve Aoki’s cake-throwing exploits.

We’ll have all the footage from The Fratellis, The Hot Sprockets, Tarantella Fall, ASIWYFA and Utah Saints up on hotpress.com early next week.

We’re off now to catch some more live music but we’ll be back again tomorrow with a fantastic line-up that includes Kodaline, Le Galaxie, Beardyman, Bell X1 and lots lots more.