The Inside Track: Wex Appeal

The south-east music scene gets an injection of life later this month when the very first Wexford Rock Festival kicks off on April 29. The Wexford Arts Centre will play host to the two-day event, featuring a mix of established and emerging talent. The Saturday bill includes local favourites Firegarden, whose recent single ‘If Only’ was playlisted on both 2FM and Today FM. Dubliners TKO who have just completed a series of Frames support slots and Wexford’s own Salthouse are other highlights on the day.
The Sunday schedule errs on the heavier side and features hard rockers Laminate and Dublin band Epoch Rising.
Indie rockers My Corduroy who recently topped the download charts on CPU bring an alternative edge to the proceedings. Rumour has it they are currently deep in discussions with a leading Irish record label to release their debut album. Will keep you posted…
The festival will also featuring a music seminar by our very own Jackie Hayden on the dos and don’ts of demo production – not to be missed!
Tickets for the festival are available for e10 for a single day ticket and €15 for a two-day ticket and €5 for workshop fee and can be purchased from the Wexford Arts Centre. Bands kick off 7.30pm Saturday April 29 and Sunday April 30 with the workshop at 3pm on Sunday.
Bad news from the Out On A Limb camp is that unfortunately the OOAL night scheduled for May in Galway has had to be cancelled. On a cheerier note, Giveamanakick are still riding high on the crest of the Gamak/Berkeley split 7” wave. The tour is reported to have been a complete success and more dates have been mooted for May.
Giveamanakick have the good fortune to appear on not one but three compilations at the moment. ‘Bobby Dazzler’ is on the current HMV Irish Playlist CD, ‘BD’ will be on the new Smalltown America release Public Service Broadcast #8 and ‘Sick From Motion’ appears on the Sofa Records’ Music For Long Ears 2006.
Cork rockers Rest will be going on their first UK tour soon supporting Cult of Luna and will be visiting Galway shortly for some live action with Lightning Bolt. In other UK live news, Ten Past Seven will be on the road in Wales and England later this month.
Regarding news from the fairer sex, the lovely Shaz Oye and Annette Buckley are on the gig circuit at the moment – check hotpress.com for details.
Shaz’s debut album Truth According to Shaz Oye has received many rave reviews, including a glowing 9/10 review by Adrienne Murphy. Annette’s 2005 debut was received with comparable levels of enthusiasm.
Superjiminez recently celebrated the launch of their debut single ‘Helicopters’ with a storming live show at The Village. (See Shilpa Ganatra’s review in this issue). The Dublin-based quartet, who hail from Galway, Brisbane and Dublin, recorded the single at the capital’s Asylum Studios.
When Adrian Bushby heard it he was so impressed with the song that he asked the band if he could remix for free! Adrian has previously engineered all the Spice Girls biggest hits and more recently produced Feeder, Gomez, BellX1 and Jamiroquai among others. Ones to watch methinks….