A weekend recap

Another weekend flys by, but what a great one it was. If things keep going like this then maybe the winter won’t be so bad!?

Myself, Ken and Boo headed to Cleeres to see Clive Barnes in action on Friday night. I was really looking forward to hearing him and I wasn’t the only one. The place was packed with all the tickets being snapped up. First up was Jazz/Rock/Pop singer-songwriter, Fiona Melady, down from Dublin for the night. She moved between the piano and guitar and had a really great voice.

It’d be great to get her down to Kilkenny again, maybe for the OneTake Sessions!? I’ve uploaded a couple of shots of her in action, it was difficult to shoot due to a single orange spot-light being the only light onstage, and I didn’t want to use the flash and ruin the atmosphere in the room.

Clive Barnes has to be one of the coolest performers I ever seen. He’s confident, laid back and I’ve never seen so much energy from one man sitting on a chair. One foot constantly tapping on the foot board, the other often in the air, his hands sliding and picking the strings furiously, all the while his eyes are closed and his face relaxed as if he wasn’t even concentrating.

Between songs he has everyone in the room laughing when he tells his brilliant stories; getting locked out of his hotel room and being naked, meeting and playing with some of his heroes, drinking too much wine and best of all; living with a 6ft 8, 30-stone American named “Trogg”. And of course there’s the genius song titles, “You’re actin single, so I’m drinkin double”. Everything about this performance was pure entertainment and I can’t wait to catch him live again.

Saturday Morning I dragged myself out of bed to head down to the 1st ever PodCamp Ireland. We’ve been talking alot about it on the Sound System Podcast and I have to say I enjoyed the day. I sat in on some talks on creativity, blog design and a few more.

I did a bit of mingling with some other bloggers and podcasters, although I have to say I was disappointed by the lack of young people at the event, and even the lack of Kilkenny people. Alot of people there seemed to remember “the guy with the mohawk” from the Blog Awards, apparently mohawks aren‘t a common style in the Irish blogging crowd!?

The only problem I had with the whole day was the workshops and talks didn’t have much time, so it didn’t leave much room to get into details on things. But it’s early days and hopefully there’ll be a couple more PodCamps in the near future.

Saturday night was a gig I was looking forward to for the last few weeks, a hardcore punk night in the Zoo Club! First up were Kilkenny’s alternative hardcore two-piece, the Thermal Detonators. Paddy and Peter have played in several bands together over the years, and this newest offering is exactly what I expected.

They kicked the night off with some fast and chunky, riff filled songs. They swap over between guitar and drums depending on the songs, and although there’s only two of them, they are extremely loud!? Looking forward to hearing more of the lads in the future.

Next up were Tullamore based experimental hardcore band, Murdock. I really enjoyed their set and I picked up a copy of their album, ‘Vol 1: May God Have Mercy On Us All’. The self produced 7-track recording got an 8/10 from Metal Hammer Magazine, who best described it as “twisting, turning heavy as tits riffing“. I’m adding this 3-piece to my “Oss237 Recommends” list and you can check out my pics of Murdock in action in the KilkennyMusic galleries.

NineIXLives were up next, categorising themselves as “straight-up pop punk”, this Dublin five-piece are exactly what pop punk is supposed to be. They’re not 30 year old guys, covered in tattoos singing about being 16. I picked up a copy of their E.P ‘Like the flames attract the moths’ and I have to say I like it. All six tracks are fast, fun and catchy. You can check out my pics of them in here.

Last but by no means least, 20BullsEach hit the stage. A change in lineup just after they played here last year with Ciaran taking over on the bass but they’re still just as good as ever, and still one of my favourite bands. The lads are just back from touring in the US and are heading back in the coming months, they’ll be hitting the studio in December to record a split E.P with a band whose name I can’t remember. But I’ll post the details as soon I hear them and might try to do another shoot with the lads for the recording. For now you can check out me new shots of them in action here.