Rocking Your Fox Off

As the nation celebrates Willie Casey’s success, news reaches us on another impending knock-out from the Limerick region… Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters have announced that their debut long-player will be released in March 2011. Owen Lewis of REM, Snow Patrol and Courtney Love fame was on production duties for the opus which on the strength of their live performances of late should be one of the New Year's key domestic releases.
Staying in Limerick, and Out On A Limb release their second split-single of the year featuring ‘White Teeth’ by Dublin’s Guilty Optics and an offering from Ennis troupe C!ties, ‘Krakatoa’.
They've lined up a batch of nationwide dates in support of the single so check hotpress.com for details…
Further north, Kildare’s Valentine Black (aka Peco McLoughlin) has just unleashed the lead single from his forthcoming album, which is due next spring. ‘Retrospect’ follows on from the success Peco achieved as frontman of indie-rockers Bright Light Fiasco, who notched up two top 40 singles during their lifetime. Over the years he's gigged with such luminaries as The Waterboys, Mundy, Bell X1, Damien Dempsey, Duke Special, The Blizzards, The Coronas, Luka Bloom, Gerry Fish, Dirty Epics, Aslan and Something Happens to name a few. Stay tuned for album updates…
Mayo songstress Orla Prendergast is enjoying rave reviews for her Glasgow-based outfit Battle For 2nd Place. Before moving to Scotland Orla shared the stage with Damien Rice and Rodrigo Y Gabriela, and also achieved much success with ‘Opposite Direction’, a collaboration with Union Of Knives, which was used on the soundtrack of US shows Grey’s Anatomy and Vampire Diaries.
Battle For 2nd Place have just released ‘A Better Chance’, the flagship single from debut album First which follows in January…
Tullamore’s Hogan are causing quite a stir in the UK having played a packed showcase which was attended by the CEO of Monster Management, the head of the Invincible Group and a representative from C-Management amongst others. Watch this space!
On a jazz note… fans of John Coltrane can look forward to a nationwide tour by die-hard fan and sax virtuoso Alex Mathias who along with a fine selection of musicians will be bringing his take on Coltrane classics to a venue near you over the next month. Dates are on hotpress.com...
Drogheda’s Huey and the Hobgoblins have just released second single, ‘The Motorbike Song’. Debut effort ‘Mood Elevator’ went straight into the Top 30 on release. The blues/folk ten-piece have a patchwork of influences including CSN, The Band and Lalo Schifrin, so have pitched their stylistic tent somewhere between Paolo Nutini and The Commitments. The new single is released on November 19 and is available from Tower, HMV Drogheda, Napster and Downloadmusic.ie…
And finally a festive note… Christmas FM, Ireland’s festive radio station, is again inviting entries for its annual nationwide search for the next great Irish Christmas song. The charity station wants Irish bands and songwriters to write a yuletide masterpiece to appear on the station’s playlist alongside a host of classic Christmas themed hits. The winner will be given the opportunity to professionally record the song, receive €500 in vouchers and be playlisted on the station.
Irish songwriters are asked to submit their entries online in MP3 format through www.christmasfm.ie. The closing date is November 28.
A panel of Irish music industry experts, including our own Jackie Hayden, will review all entries before a shortlist is announced and playlisted by Christmas FM in early December. The winner will be chosen by listeners, with proceeds from SMS text votes going to Barnardos. The winning entry will also be released online with all proceeds donated to the children's charity. Christmas FM aims to raise €100,000.
So get the thinking caps/Santa hats on!