Author Archives: Nick Kelly

Dermot Kennedy – Lost

Internet sensation Dermot has just ‘dropped’ the video for his new single ‘Lost’ on Vevo ahead of his four sold-out dates in the Olympia Theatre next month.

The Dublin-born singer/songwriter shot to fame last year when his song ‘Power Over Me’ racked up serious Spotify action, leading to invites from American TV chat show royalty Ellen DeGeneres and Stephen Colbert.

This led everyone from MTV to the BBC pegging Dermot as one to watch for 2019. Delivering on this promise, the 27-year-old has crafted another intense, highly emotional modern power ballad.

Dermot says:

“Lost is a song I wrote about resilience and reliance. Bad things can happen and when they do, when you’re tested; you’re going to need the love and the shelter of certain people to hold you up and guide you through whatever storm you find yourself in. It’s about holding each other up through bad times.”

That’s the spirit.

Dermot Kennedy

The launch of the final seasonseason of Game Of Thrones could only mean one thing.

Strike up the cross-promotional marketing campaigns!

Enter Fender, who have launched a special custom-made collection of their trademark guitars in honour of the drama. And rather impressive they are too.

The three new six-string beauties bear the sigils of House of Stark, House Lannister and House Targaryen – priced at $25,000, $30,000 and $35,000 respectively. A snip!

“Ron Thorn at Fender has built three beautiful, Game Of Thrones-inspired works of art, and you can out-shred your enemies with all of them,” said the programme’s showrunner D.B. Weiss.

With the exception of Keith Richards, he might have added.

Fender Announces Elaborate ‘Game of Thrones’-Inspired Guitars (GuitarWorld)

Gavin James plays the first of three sold-out shows tonight in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre.

To mark the inexorable rise of the kid from Tuam, County Galway, a repost (above) of what is surely one of the best videos ever made by an Irish artist.

The promo for ‘Glow’ (from the album ‘Only Ticket Home’) originally ‘dropped’ last Autumn but it already feels like a timeless classic up there in the hallowed company of Phil Lynott’s ‘Old Town’, Sinead’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, U2’s ‘Sweetest Thing’ and The Pogues’s ‘Fairytale Of New York’.

It opens with Gavin strumming his acoustic guitar in The Old Storehouse pub before he leads a motley crew of mime artists, jugglers, construction workers, hen parties, flower sellers, drag queens and dancing guys ’n’gals through the sun-kissed streets of Temple Bar. Until they disappear like a fevered dream…

It’s full of colour and joy, and for four minutes makes the heart of Dublin look like the centre of the universe.

FIGHT!

Gavin James at The Olympia

Sara Ryan & Steo Wall – ‘Rise Up’

A remarkable collaboration between Newbridge, County Kildare-born, Cork-based chanteuse Sara Ryan (top right) and Dublin singer/songwriter Steo Wall (left) ‘Rise Up’ unapologetically tackles the hot topic of our time – our collective response to the international refugee crisis.

The single is taken from Sara’s forthcoming album ‘Breathe’, released in the autumn.

Steo, meanwhile, has a fan in kindred spirit Damien Dempsey, who invited him to be the opening act for his shows in Vicar St. Dempsey also joins Davey Spillane and Luka Bloom as special guest collaborators on Wall’s debut album ‘Where I’m From’.

Nick says: The contrast between Ryan’s silky smooth tones and Wall’s take-no-prisoners rap is striking – a steel fist in a velvet glove.

Steo Wall
Sara Ryan

Vodka, vodka, everywhere!

Dublin’s hip hotel hangout The Dean has announced a series of summer concerts in its Everleigh bar and venue.

Local percussive dance/sax combo Riff Shop is the latest live act to be pencilled in for the monthly Ciroc vodka-sponsored series.

Comprising Steve O (DJ/producer), Conor McGrath (saxophone and vocals) and Aran Johnston (drums), Riff Shop will take to the stage of the Harcourt Street venue on Saturday May 18 basking in the success of their debut single ‘Nobody Sleeps Tonight’ (above).

‘Revellers’ will also be in with a chance to win a free trip to Ibiza for two people. To enter, guests simply need to share a picture of themselves at the Everleigh Summer Series on their social channels using the hashtag #EverleighXCiroc.

Hic.

Everleigh (Instagram)

Everleigh

For your consideration.

A night celebrating The Cranberries is due to take place in their home town of Limerick on Thursday April 25.

The event has been organised to honour the group’s late singer Dolores O’Riordan. Fans will be treated to an exclusive playback of the final Cranberries album ‘In The End’ (above), which is released worldwide the following day.

The band had written and demoed the songs for their swansong before Dolores’s untimely passing last year.

The night, which takes place upstairs at Dolan’s Warehouse, also includes a panel discussion on the band chaired by their close friend Niall Colgan and featuring Deci Hogan (Cranberries stage manager), Eoin Devereux (historian) and Orla Colgan (Dolores O’Riordan’s secondary school music teacher).

Fans can gain access to the event by pre-ordering the album from Steamboat Records in Limerick online or in store.

Speaking on the anniversary of her daughter’s death in January, Eileen O’Riordan said:

“I can’t think of a more fitting way to commemorate Dolores’s passing than to announce to the world the release of her final album with the band.”

Cranberries album launch listening party (Steamboat)

Laoise – Mad

Galway’s electro-pop princess knocks it out of the park with a gutsy new single fusing the sass of Kesha with the emotional ache of Robyn.

Of the video (above), featuring an agitated Laoise fighting for her sanity, she says:

“It’s playful and crazy at the same time. Smashing up the set felt cathartic.”

Laoise will be playing various festivals this summer including Body And Soul, Indiependence, Lollapalooza and Kaleidoscope. Her next show is as special guest of Ruth Anne in Whelan’s, Dublin, on April 27.

Laoise

Camille O’Sullivan and Aiden Gillen – In Dreams

The duet of Roy Orbison’s ‘In Dreams’ in aid of homeless charity Focus Ireland by real-life couple Camille O’Sullivan and Aiden Gillen has just ‘dropped’ and is available to purchase here.

The torch singer and Game Of Thrones star are set to perform the song live at the Sunday Independent’s Rock Against Homelessness concert in aid of Focus Ireland at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin on April 23.

Also appearing on the night will be Finbar Furey, Duke Special, Tommy Fleming, The Celtic Tenors, Natty Wailer, Jerry Fish and Pat McCabe as well as comedian Deirdre O’Kane.

Camille says:

“You see someone sleeping in the street every few metres almost, in Dublin. It is heartbreaking, awful. I am now seeing children and I am seeing women who are vulnerable. When did we become so cold? People are passing these people by like they do not exist. And when I hear of children not having a house, that kind of shocks me.”

Tickets here

 

Tomorrow is International Record Store Day.

Your annual reminder that music is available for sale as chunky spherical objects in sexy gatefold sleeves in real-world geographical locations staffed by actual living humans… Crazy, right?!!

Yes, once upon a time there was no such thing as YouTube, Soundcloud, BandCamp… all music was offline.

As a teenager growing up in the 1980s in Dublin, record shops like Golden Discs, Dolphin Discs, Freebird, Sound Cellar and Comet were like lighthouses dotted around the city, offering a sacred place to hear new music and maybe meet like-minded souls.Then the UK chain stores Virgin, HMV and Our Price Records came to town. We never had it so good.

My favourite store, however, was Tower Records on Wicklow Street, Dublin 2 (above) – its hallowed aisles contained an eye-popping amount of records. Fancy an obscure green coloured vinyl Japanese import of the latest Smiths single? No problem.

Many shops are hosting live in-store gigs for the day that’s in it and offering special discounts and selling exclusive bespoke releases.

Nick Says: Support your local record store – you’ll miss it when it’s gone. Consider this your vinyl warning.

Record Store Day

Meanwhile…

We have a Golden Discs voucher worth TWENTY FIVE EUROS to giveaway to one platter-cherishing Broadsheet reader.

What is your favourite record store EVER in Ireland or ‘abroad’?

To enter, please complete this sentence.

‘My favourite record store ever is__________ because________________’

Lines MUST close at 5.15pm extended until MIDNIGHT!

Golden Discs

Free tonight?

The launch of Lost Lane – Dublin’s new state-of-the-art music venue and night club on the site of the former legendary celeb haunt Lillie’s Bordello, beside Porterhouse Central off Grafton Street.

The inaugural gig is headlined by multi-talented Choice Prize nominee Kormac, aka producer/DJ/musician Cormac O’Halloran.

Later on at 11pm, there’s a free club night called ‘Spacer’, with key music blogger, influencer and journalist Nialler9 behind the decks, spinning electronica, disco and euphoric ‘80s sounds alongside Cian O’Ciobhain.

Nick says: Stop crying at the memory of overpriced Twister Screwdrivers and oversized stilettos – Lillie’s is dead; long live Lost Lane!

Lost Lane