Stout it from the rooftops

It’s always nice to get something for free – CDs with music magazines, the Paddy’s Day Parade, oxygen... but free music festivals are pretty hard to come by. That’s where Guinness Indie-Pendence comes in.

Taking place in Mitchelstown, Cork, over the August Bank Holiday weekend, the festival features the best bands on the Irish indie scene as well as some music from further afield. And the best part is that it won’t cost you a cent.
hotpress got a few independent spirits together to chat about the festival, the life of an unsigned band and the contents of Corn Flake packets.
This is only the second year of Indie-Pendence in its current guise. Níal from Delorentos remembers when it was still just the plain old Mitchelstown Music Festival: “This used to be a real pop festival, but these guys took it over and resurrected it last year. I think it’s a reflection of how much good music there is in Ireland right now.”
Delorentos are very much to the forefront of this new wave of Irish bands, having just supported the Arctic Monkeys at their two Malahide Castle shows.
“We arrived early both days and got to spend some time with all the acts,” he beams. “We played football with them. Everyone was really friendly. It’s always a surprise when these bands you’ve heard so much about turn out to be really nice people as well. It was a great experience.”
But the experience wasn’t so great for Delorentos’ drummer Ross, who’s been busy recuperating from a repetitive strain injury to his foot.
“It’s been about six weeks since he’s played so he’s in a race to get back for Oxegen. He couldn’t play at the two Arctic Monkeys gigs; he was there with us, but it’s just not the same. But he’ll be back – if not by Oxegen, then definitely by Indie-Pendence.”
The line-up for the weekend is like a Who’s Who of Ireland’s indie music scene: from headliners Delorentos, Republic Of Loose, Director and The Sultans Of Ping right through to new bands just starting to make a name for themselves such as Fight Like Apes, The Aftermath, Vesta Varro, The Flaws and Ham Sandwich.
There’s nothing quite like a bit of cathode-tube time to help that name-making. So when Niamh and Podge from Ham Sandwich got the call from The Late Late Show to perform their latest single ‘Click..Click..Boom’ they simply couldn’t refuse. And it turns out the show’s presenter might not be as uptight as some would claim.
“John, the bassist, got talking to Pat Kenny and couldn’t believe how sound he was,” Niamh says. “He’s really into his music as well. He got talking to him about Johnny Marr joining Modest Mouse and The Shins.”
“He told John that Wincing The Night Away is his favourite album at the moment,” Podge adds. “But it could be a typical John rumour – an unconfirmed fact which can never be substantiated because it’s completely untrue. John did say he saw Jack White in Dundalk last weekend.”
So after the festival, what’s next for Ham Sandwich?
“We want to release an album that’s ridiculously good,” Podge continues. “But there’s an awful lot of work to do before it gets there. It’s like trying to release 20 singles at once. It’s scary.”
Another band with a bright future ahead are Vesta Varro. Their debut album was released on June 8, and vocalist Damien has been pleased with how it’s gone down: “Reaction’s been good so far. We always thought it would be a slow burner. We’re doing a lot of the regional festivals during the summer to promote the album, and then we’ll have another push in September with a second single.”
The band are great fans of smaller festivals like Indie-Pendence. “It’s good that you don’t just have the mainstream type of thing,” Damien said. “It’s great that these guys are putting this festival on, and that there’s other pockets around the country doing the exact same thing. It’s great for Irish music.”
While Vesta Varro are right in the middle of their launch experience, Paul and Shane from The Flaws have it all ahead of them, with their debut album Achieving Vagueness due for release on September 14. But what does the title mean?
“It’ll make sense when the album absolutely fails,” Shane jokes. “And if it doesn’t, we can just laugh at the irony.
“In the grand scale of things, everyone’s just a vague blip,” Shane continues. “Look at a band like The Beatles. They were massive. But in the long-run, will people still be playing them in 400 years? (Pause) They probably will actually, that’s not much of an argument.”
Paul, sensing his colleague’s confusion, tries to sum up the band’s ambitions for the album.
“We hope that people really like it but if they despise it, hopefully they’ve already bought it so they can find out that they despise it.”
Seeing as how this is a free festival, I ask them what the best free thing they’ve ever gotten is.
“I used to like the things you’d get in cereal packets, the little plastic toys,” Paul replies.
“Were the Cornflakes not dearer when they were in them though?” Shane queries.
“No, no, they were free,” Paul insists. “The reflectors for your bike were the best ones.”
Shane then has a bit of a think and decides, “Hotels are always good for free stuff. Shampoo mainly.”
So why not book yourself a room in Mitchelstown this August 3 to 6 and get as much free music, art and street performances as you can squeeze in? And grab a few bottles of your hotel’s shampoo as a souvenir. The Flaws would.

Pics: Naomi McArdle