The Inside Track: Towers of song

According to the cliché, “When one door closes, another opens”. And so we wave goodbye to Dublin noisemongers Dead Girls and Boys, who after two tours and a well-received EP have decided to call it a day. But from the ashes comes The Breakdown, the exciting new project of Ro O’Leary, DGAB guitarist. Ro promises gigs-a-plenty, an EP in autumn and sweet muzak in the vein of At The Drive-In, Giveamanakick and Winnebago Deal. Will keep you posted….
Moving swiftly on… The Immediate release a pre-album single, ‘Stop And Remember’ on Fantastic Plastic on July 28. This precedes their long-player, In Towers And Cloud, on August 18.
A name to watch is Paul Hourican, who will release his first single over the coming months through his own Hurricane Records. Paul has pulled together a fine collection of musos for his band, including guitarist Conor Brady (The Corrs, Jerry Fish), bassist Shane Fitzsimons (Damien Rice, Paddy Casey) and drummer Steve Hogan (Hal, The Carnival Saloon).
On the subject of impressive line-ups, Wexford Arts Centre is the place to be on August 12 for the Wexford Capital of Song Festival. Following the success of their co-headline tour in May, Shaz Oye and Annette Buckley have joined forces once again and this time have hooked up with a local luminary, the multi-talented Rosey.
Turning to the People’s Republic, the lovely Francesca from Cork Rocks has been on with some exciting news from the Revere camp. The band are starting a large nationwide tour to promote their album Modern Science. The tour launch party takes place on July 27 in Cyprus Avenue, check hotpress.com for further details. Their star is definitely in the ascent as BBC Radio1 DJ Chris Moyles has put them on his top twenty unsigned bands list. On top of that, they’ve just finished playing the Spiegeltent with The Frank And Walters and the Marquee with Robert Plant.
Hope Is Noise are off to Salzburg to appear in the Rubberfreshtival on July 29. Having wowed crowds at the long-running Austrian event last year the boys have been invited back and given a higher placing on the bill too!
In Republic release news, The Dardanelles’ debut EP, Coming Up For Air, is now available in Plugg’d Records, Washington Street, Cork and Cork Rocks, Midleton…..
The happy news for northern gig-goers is that once again it’s time for the live schmorgasboard that is Music Revolution. From August 10-17 a mix of headliners such as Delays, BellX1, Duke Special and Camera Obscura and emerging local talents, Red Sirus, Fast Emperors, and The Delawares will entertain eager punters. Another highlight, Music Quest Reloaded will see four new local bands compete for prizes. Check hotpress.com for more details………
Northern rockers, The Answer embark on their first full tour of Ireland which starts on July 28 in Dundalk and winds its way to Cork, Limerick, Galway and Dublin as well as taking in two festival appearances. The début album, Rise, went straight into the Top 10 of both the Independent Album Chart and the Rock Album Chart in the UK. Congrats lads!