Tag Archives: Nick Kelly

Nick Kelly

Nobody told me there’d be days like this.

Strange days indeed.

It has been an honour and a privilege to have been so warmly welcomed into the weird and wonderful world of Broadsheet. It represents the best of Ireland. I have enjoyed working alongside John Ryan more than I can say. There are few in Irish media who possess an ounce of his heart, guts or punning ability.

Since Covid, I have looked upon my profession and despaired at what it has become. Seeing former journalistic colleagues calling for a witch hunt of the unvaccinated on national television is something I never thought I would ever see in my lifetime. Yet here we are.

When I began posting on this site in 2018 the world was a lot different: I loved promoting new Irish music in my daily You May Like This music posts. And the weekly Friday music quiz caught the imagination of the faithful Broadsheet commentariat in a way that gladdened my heart.

I want to thank our sponsors Golden Discs and Currys for their invaluable support which allowed the competition to become a much loved staple of the site.

I also want to thank our readers for encouraging me to continue with the format even after the vouchers ran out; that was a truly heart-warming show of solidarity that I won’t forget any time soon.

I also want to thank the various press officers who sent me so many great videos over the past 4 years (including Pete Murphy, Emma Harney, Ciaran Savage, Sheena Madden, Kevin Murray, Colm Slattery and Michelle Whitehead: I write their names out in a list).

And I want to thank the artists themselves for managing to create such powerful music even when circumstances locked down their dreams. I know this much is true: the Irish music scene has never been in such robust health.

Then Covid happened and everything changed. Although I continued with the music, popular culture and social history posts, I found that I could not stay silent on a subject which affected me so profoundly.

As a vaccine-damaged person who knows first hand the devastation that a pharmaceutical needle can inflict on a person’s health, I felt compelled to warn of the dangers of the jab.

The response to our posts on this subject proved to be polarising in a way that was as regrettable as it was unavoidable. Keeping silent on this issue was simply not an option. If you have a problem with the concept of freedom of speech, then maybe Western Civilisation is not for you.

Broadsheet, to its eternal credit, was the very embodiment of this sacred pillar. Alas, in Ireland it was essentially alone in a cultural landscape that has become gripped by an hysterical conformity to pre-approved narratives handed down by globalist bureaucrats who I suspect may not actually have our best interests at heart. A crazy idea, right?!

Alas, the zeitgeist has moved so far from a commitment to core democratic principles that Broadsheet came under a ferocious and sustained attack in the comments section by both honest and dishonest actors. I want to thank those commenters who rallied to our cause day in and day out. We could not have endured as long as we did without you.

To the honest commenters who virulently disagreed with us, I say this: we are just regular people who sincerely felt that our friends, families and the general public were in great danger. And we used this platform to sound the alarm. That’s it in a nutshell: we were never paid a penny to push any opinion. We pursued our editorial line because it felt like the right thing to do.

For the reasons mentioned by Bodger in his Closing Time post, eventually the excruciating war of attrition, on top of our normal financial and legal woes, took its toll. We had nothing left in the tank.

It’s a bittersweet moment for me. I am immensely proud that this website kept its head – and heart – when all around were losing theirs.

It was a rollercoaster ride for sure, but I loved every minute.

See you hopefully further on down the road.

Previously: Closing Time


Keeley – Never O’Clock

Requiem for a dream.

So after four years curating this corner of Broadsheet celebrating the best new Irish music, it is fitting that we should sign off with the inimitable Keeley (top), who recently released the latest video in her project to keep the memory of Inga Maria Hauser alive.

A German teenager who disappeared when on a holiday in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, Inga is now immortalised in song thanks to the dedication and determination of this groundbreaking Dublin singer.

Keeley’s new EP is out now on Dimple Discs.

Read her blog here

Nick says: Go Keeley!

Keeley

So this is goodbye.

Thanks so much to everyone who left such supportive messages on my post yesterday. They really warmed my heart and are appreciated more than I can express.

I am sure gonna miss our regular Friday get togethers.

At least Janet can rest knowing that no ABBA songs are lurking under the next link.

It’s apt that the theme for our last music bants comes via esteemed Broadsheet Trailer Park supervisor Andy Pipkin, who writes:

“So with the heaviest of hearts, my last suggestion for The Last Quiz: ‘What’s your favourite song that mentions Goodbye or Farewell or Thank You?’ Here’s mine.”

Thanks Andy.

And here’s mine.

You know the drill: Please include video links if possible.

Lines stay open until Sunday at 5pm.

Parting is such sweet sorrow,

Pic: Apple Corps

Paul Woodfull – Now You Just Text All The Time

OMG!

Legendary musical satirist Paul Woodfull (top) delivers a bittersweet lament that perfectly captures how our modern tech gizmos can really mess with our love lives.

It’s the first of two new singles Paul has released this week: check out too Offhand Way.

Nick says: Let’s talk about texts, baby.

Paul Woodfull

Carrie Baxter – You

Keep calm and Carrie on.

London-based Waterford chanteuse Carrie Baxter (top) enchants with a live studio performance of her soul-searching romantic ballad You.

Carrie writes:

“If I could do an alternate version of every track I would, specifically just me and a pianist (my favourite instrument). There’s something about the romance of this song and it needing a piano on this version. The space I have to sing and the words being allowed to breathe is the stuff I live for.

“I love singing live, ultimately it’s what I do it for. I usually try to stick to minimal takes in the studio at all times but this time, luckily or unluckily I was going through a pretty tough time when we recorded this so I trusted myself enough to deliver raw emotion in one take.”

Nick says: Carrie on singing.

Carrie Baxter

‘sup?

This morning.

Happy World Milk Day to you and yours.

Nick Kelly (out of shot, behind cart).

Lowli – Epiphany

Ivory power.

It may be the end of the world as we know it, but at least we have Galway’s Lowli aka Roisin Lowry (top) to soften the blow with her elegant and graceful piano pieces.

Here the neo-classical composer is joined by Aisling Bridgeman (violin); Mary Bridgeman (viola); and Rob Campbell (cello) in a performance recorded in Camden Studios, Dublin by Dock Visual.

Nick says: Keys in the songs of life.

Lowli

Etaoin – Cold Blood

Your cheating heart.

London-born Irish newcomer Etaoin (top) pulls no punches confronting a guy with wandering eye.

See also her new collaboration with Tadhg Daly, Not Over You, out now on MADE Records.

Etaoin writes:

“It’s about the different perspectives that come with break ups. Saying you shouldn’t talk but still getting a rush when they call you and picking up regardless. Getting yourself in sticky situationships for no other reason than you’re a blind optimist. It’s about words left unsaid and how sometimes the hardest break ups are the ones where there’s still a huge amount of love there, it just wasn’t strong enough to keep you together.”

Nick says: Breaking up is hard to do.

Etaoin

Tracy Gallagher – Caves

The hit man and her.

Mayo singer/songwriter Tracy Gallagher (top) evokes vintage Portishead vibes on her atmospheric new single, recorded in Belfast with Michael Mormecha.

But check out the darkly charismatic video shot in County Antrim by Dan Dan Media and starring Michael McGarry.

Tracy writes:

“Caves is inspired by the work of Joseph Campbell, American professor of Literature and well known mythologist, credited by George Lucas as having inspired Star Wars. While reading his book ‘The Hero With A Thousand Faces’, I became enamoured with the idea of each individual being the hero in their own story and the trials and tribulations each of us have to face and overcome throughout our human experience in order to grow and develop as human beings.

“Caves explores the relationship we have to the natural world and simultaneously to the inner self, it is a look at the wild, powerful and sometimes frightening aspects of nature that can act as a metaphor for the unexplored parts of our inner worlds. The wildness of the ‘seven seas’ and the dark unknown of the ‘cave’ represent our innermost fears, that which we try to keep hidden from ourselves and the world at large but this is also the place where the deepest treasures and revelations lie, where personal growth and development happens.”

Nick says: The darling buds of Mayo.

Tracy Gallagher