Tag Archives: ash

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AshPower-pop trio to receive Oh Yeah Legend Award

What you may need to know…

01. The tight-knit Northern scene continues to honour its trailblazers and forebears with the Oh Yeah Legend award, previously bestowed upon The UndertonesThe Divine Comedy, Therapy? and Terri Hooley. This year, it’s the turn of Oh Yeah Music Centre namesakes Ash.

02. Potted story to save time: teenage Iron Maiden tribute band start playing power-pop in the venerated Northern tradition, fetch local management attention, rocket straight to the top after their GCSEs off the back of a genius string of three-minute bijoux; burn out and still make a low-key gem of a difficult second album; return to form and conquers the world; do effectively whatever they please thereafter, including a series of alphabetically-labelled 7″ singles released fortnightly for a year, and setting up a studio in New York.

03. Like there’s anyone left in the country that needs any further info on Oh Yeah (streaming above), or any other of that immortal run of singles in the mid-Nineties-to-early-noughties.

04. The band will be honoured by the music centre named for their globe-straddling single, at a special ceremony before they perform their album 1977 (from start to finish) for its twentieth anniversary, at the Mandela Hall in Belfast on November the 11th. Tickets on sale now.

Verdict: Well-earned.

Ash

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Indiependence Festival

Deer Park, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork; July 29-31.

Here’s what you may need to know.

01. One of the success stories of the Irish festival circuit of the last decade, Indiependence has gone from a stage in Mitchelstown’s main square to one of the country’s biggest weekenders in the grounds of the Cork town’s Deer Farm.

02. This morning saw the first wave of line-up announcements, equally heavy on big names and independent Irish talent.

03. A hefty amount of weekend tix are gone already, with only Tier 3 passes left before this morning.

04. Previous Indiependence headliners Editors and Ash (back to redeem themselves after being unable to finish their set last year) are joined by Bell X1 and The Kooks at the top of the bill.

05. Scotland’s Idlewild, and Irish pop outfits The Blizzards, Hudson Taylor and The Strypes round out the crowd-pleaser portion of the announcement.

06. An intriguing selection of artists and bands lines out on the undercard, including garage-rockers Otherkin, Belfast’s Pleasure Beach, Dublin outfit Saint Sister, Cork soulman Brian Deady, and electronic lads King Kong Company.

Verdict: A solid start to what is traditionally one of the better line-ups of the Irish festival circuit, with an already-eclectic selection of acts under the bigger names. Deer Park is a beautiful location for a fest like this, and there’s little-to-none of the usual hassles that come with the bigger summer sojourns. Well worth the excursion.

Indiependence

But they don’t want to put the voodoo on it just yet.

The Irish Aviation Authority has said that the ash cloud from Iceland’s Grimsvotn volcano will have no impact on Irish airspace for the next 48 hours.

Earlier, Met Éireann said there is a chance that volcanic ash could enter Irish airspace tomorrow. Meteorologist Jean Byrne says any particles will clear on Friday, but UK airspace could be at risk.

However, the long-term forecast for the UK and Ireland looks positive with little possibility of ash in airspace after the weekend. The news comes as the eruption at the Grimsvotn volcano dies down and is no longer spewing out ash.

Irish airspace given all-clear for 48 hours (RTE News)

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