Supergroups Ireland one
As we trawl through the national gems and cornerstones that form the roots of todays contemporary and independant music in our Rock Cornerstone pages we will also be revealing (on this and our 'potential supergroup' pages) some of the bands, singers and songwriters in the actual process of making huge splashes in those respective nations right now. Our first nation dealt with on our Cornerstone page was Ireland -so 'Supergroups one' is our window on sounds from the Emerald Isle which are about to invade the airwaves and venues of the world today.
Before exposing our first big tip for the present we'll start off by giving a teeny history lesson on cultural /tribal or even military invasions that you probably weren't told in school. Did you know that when the Vikings began their terrifying rule of europes seas and waterways by pilfering, pillaging and trouncing their way through the continent they had been taught nearly everything they knew by the celtic slavetraders of europes western islands?...Yup...For nearly a thousand years before the vikings took to the water it was the celts -in particular the celtic tribes of Ireland -who utterly dominated the seas of western europe taking slaves from ,trading and raiding every corner of the continent.So when the vikings kicked off in the 8th century AD they were merely repaying the compliment -and the celts were merely reaping what they had sown.Whats all this got to do with music you may wander?... well a few years ago a young Irish singer/songwriter from Waterford ( which ironicaly was once a viking outpost-until one one my ancestors Brian 'ORiain' Boru booted them out) set off to single handedly reinvade the viking lands,round up a few slaves ( and musicians) and put the celts firmly back in charge. When he returned from Denmark a year ago he brought back far more loot than anyone could have ever expected.
Not only did he manage to round up some of the best musicians in Copenhagen but along the way he also managed to rout Simply Red and make off with their brass section , drag Brother Brown out his hole to mix the first single, make off with AC/DC's US manager(and contact list) , Roger Waters guitarist (Chester Kamen) and Bob (I don't do Indie) Clearmountains production skills...and all this while still being an 'unsigned' independant act. An enourmous amount of work has gone into the debut album (due for immenant release in the UK,US, and Australia -but already out in Scandinavia) and both Adrian Sullivan (the bands Irish singer songwriter) and Kasper Olsen (their Danish guitarist and fellow composer) were eager to build a sound that would draw them away from the usual U2 and Coldplay comparrisons that had followed the band over their Danish sojourn. The end result succeeded to the point where, if they had to be compared to a particular group or sound, we would be inclined to suggest a mix of INXS and Simply Red....Now THAT does sound interesting, don't it? Hear it for yourself via our link to their MySpace page.Waterfords new international supergroup is called Primrose...as for the history lesson (...if you can forgive the 'Primrosian' pun) well I guess thats just a question of "What you want to believe"(..check the MySpace link and you'll get the pun eventualy).
PRIMROSE (OFFICIAL MYSPACE PAGE)
In the early eighties at the age of sixteen, I packed my backpack, became a serial hitchiker and found myself being dropped off in some very strange corners of the UK and Eire.Now Roger Waters may well have had a little black book with his poems in, but I had a backpack stuffed with five A4 sized folders overflowing with them, leaving me just enough room for two pairs of lace up jeans , a couple of T-shirts and a spare pair of pants. Birmingham and London were my most frequently visited haunts where I had a number of close friends and aquaintances who were always jamming, recording, dreaming up and creating new bands and concepts.Many were serious musicians with unique, uncomprimising , independant styles and all were equaly opposed to the shallow and 'fast buck plastic image making junk' that was being turfed out en masse by the big labels at that time.There was a general consensus that the big labels had sacrificed long term creativity for passing trends and were trying to force new artists to do the same.Yet wherever I went it seems I was being repeatedly advised to get my songs ,poems, plays,video/film ideas, concept albums and rock musicals etc copyrighted, patented, published and recorded etc, etc. To cut a log story short, in 85/6 I secretly snuck off for a few meetings with the big labels who also appeared to be drooling at the mouth at my little mountain of creativity.In one meeting I was offered my own band under my own name and promised all the perks of fame and fortune but... they were going to choose the musicians, my style of music, my clothes, the shops I was alowed to enter, the colour of my hair , my barber ,my diet, even the color of my spare pair of pants etc.. All I had to do was get in their gymn, learn their dance moves (apparently I didn't even have to be able to sing), hand over all my lyrics, bend over politely, and let them use me as their own little glove puppet til the end of the decade - or at least until they got tired of dressing me up like a psychotic barbie or found another puppet.Needless to say, I wouldn't bend over for the puppeteers or sign their contracts and so the nineteen-eighties 'Martin Ryan' band never was - at least not in that enslaved branded and pampered plastic format.Had I been just a little bit wiser and just a little more confident back then- I could, should and probably would have, played both the labels off against each other until they were both prepared to bend over and let me be the puppetmaster.
Imagine my surprise when, just a few short years ago, I accidently discovered that there was another unsigned 'Martin Ryan Band' geering up for a lifelong career in music and it wasn't me!! This new 'MRB' was gigging amidst the thriving acoustic and folk rock community of Irelands County Cork -a community which in itself carries a huge swaythe of well known professional talents, and, over the next couple of years, I watched from afar as this fledgling band steadily began to grow in stature,confidence, musical and lyrical ability. 2005 saw an added boost to their own unique sound with it becoming greatly enhanced by the addition of gifted Cork drummer and 'Armoured Bear' solo artist 'Anto'. The outfits acoustic folk orientated sound was now developing a deeper, solid rock inspired edge. Their new professional sound gained momentum with a new band name and an acclaimed debut album being released in 2006.Their list of venues played grew also, including a number of regular sortees into the UKs rock and folk festivals . With many musical comparisons often suggesting a likeness in their abilities to 'an even better version of Snow Patrol ', Damien Rice, The Corrs and even a young Van Morrison ( of his TB Sheets era ), there is no doubt that Lerner (as they have been called for the last three years) are now ready to take the central stage as a major headlining act. Their second album 'Calm Road' is due to be released shortly and promises , in a manor highly reminiscent of Horslips groundbreaking 1972 debut album, to be a work of pure art, originality and musical brilliance (Lerner have even put up their own money to rent out a country farmhouse and sound crew to record ' calm road just like Rock cornerstones 'Horslips' did in 72 - only Lerners farmhouse is not in Tipperary but West Corki).Their musical tasters on My Space will certainly leave you curious for more with two tracks 'So Far' and 'Long Enough Alone' both rapidly becoming 'generational' anthems to contain musicaly and lyricaly a much greater depth than 'lying down and being squashed by cars' ( and I say that as an actual fan of SnowPatrol) .To explore their myspace page and order the new album 'Calm Road' .. ciick.
A few weeks ago, I spotted one of the best raw roots blues/rock
threesomes I'd heard since Rory Gallagher was jamming in Taste and Hendrix was . cooking with his fender and lighter fuel ( The band was the UK based Stubb - see on . supergroups 2') This week I nearly fainted after stumbling accross two more equaly . outstanding threesomes both of which are from Southern Ireland. Our first is one of . Dublins dreadlocked jewels in the crown and Irelands international battle of the . bands champions Kopek and their fame is already spreading throughout the globe . following sucsessful sortes and tours abroad. Their sound is a fast and energetic hard . rock harmonicly interlaced with a very feint ( best of ) Brit pop/rock feel . When live . their effortless guitaring is also backed up by one of the best rock vocalist's to have . ever have emeged from Dublin. See for yourself....
. (caution is issued for the end sequence of the video
. which may be disturbing for some)
Our second Irish rock trio have blended intricate lead guitaring , bass and rythum with some equaly complex hard and nicely 'slapped up' funk -Their demo carries a fluid skill and movement, the likes of which hasn't seen applied to progressive rock with such direction and vision since the early days of Yes, Rush and even Genesis - even though this band has dropped the keyboards and the semi broken, ultra high pitched styled vocals of Rush and Jon Anderson they have kept , with a professional perfection, the continual sense of unbroken movement throughout their first recordings whith some equaly perfect moments of musical timing being created in the interaction of the soundtrack of a very well known cult film. We've offered a sample of two tracks on the left entitled 'Melody Green' and 'Gobletcell', saving the very best til last for you to view on their MySpace page - 'Waltz of the Wilderbeast ' being our favourite.( though unfortunately we do need to issue a Parental Advisory notice due to one vernacular referance to the droppings of a bull in the backing track of Waltz Of The Wilderbeast and a caption under the photo on the 'disgusting' track that would make a nun pass out because it is- otherwise their music is absolutely fantastic )
The tracks were originaly recorded in 2005 as one continuous jam , later parcelled up into nine named segments. Four are available to view via their MySpace page but the rest will require a personal request to the band for CD'S OR Downloads as they have surprisingly not yet released an 'official' album - though one is now being organised for their latest tracks. This is one band well worth watching for the future, another giant tip from County Cork they are 'Charlie Don't Surf' so get your ears ready for some serious sound waves...
... With some big, brand new tsunamis due for 2008 -
Mairtin O'Riain and Martin Ryan
The Ryan O'Riain22
copyright 2007
