Nothing But the Fruit

It’s Forbidden Fruit time and this year’s bill boasts a host of Irish delights in addition to a smorgasbord of international treats! Check out our interview with BellX1 mainman Paul Noonan and our mid-US tour natter with Steven from Kid Karate in our must-have 16-page festival guide in this very issue!

Also on the bill this year are Belfast’s finest Girls Names who will be nicely warmed up after recent stellar shows at Belfast’s Black Box as part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, the Elastic Witch closing party in Dublin and Liverpool’s Sound City….
Another gent busy with UK duties is Gavin James who will be heading to Kilmainham in fighting form having just played the Dot To Dot Festival in Bristol, Manchester and Nottingham….
Vann Music – favourites on the domestic festival circuit - will be taking to the stage with a bevy of sonic gems, which will include new single ‘Tina’. The latest release is unveiled at a special launch event in Generator, Smithfield Square, Dublin on May 23…..
Purveyours of gypsy folk The Eskies are sure to be sneaking some tunes from their forthcoming album into their FF set. The guys have been working with ledgebag Gavin Glass in his Orphan Recording Studio in Dublin on their impending long-player. Frankly we can’t wait!
The Notas, Brian Deady and many more will also be providing Bank Holiday tuneage so all we need now is for the powers that be to bring some long overdue sunshine to complete the experience!
To non-festival news now and lauded singer-songwriter Barry McCormack has just launched his new video for ‘When The Windows Shake’. The Adrian Crowley-directed opus is now available to view on hotpress.com. Barry, who has just returned from a batch of nationwide dates, which included a pitstop at The Pumphouse as part of the Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots festival, plays The Cobblestone, Dublin on May 17…..
The very wonderful Buffalo Sunn play The Grand Social that very night before they head off to Singapore for Music Matter Asia. The band release new single ‘By Your Side’ on June 6.
In other Reekus Records news, Death In The Sickroom launch their debut single on July 4 and both bands plus labelmates Keith Moss And The Tightrope Walkers play the Youbloom Festival in Dublin’s Dame District on June 13-15….
Cork’s Wasps Vs. Humans and Eat My Noise are back with a new collaborative single ‘Karaoke Queen’ which follows on from successful outing ‘The Killing Of Celebrity Culture’.
WvH (aka spoken word poet Karl Antony Plover) opens for the mighty John Cooper Clarke when he plays The Pavillion, Cork on May 21…..
Fellow Corkonians Elastic Sleep are garnering rave reviews for their Leave You EP. Their infectious brand of dreampop / shoegaze is casting quite the spell. One to watch methinks!