From the comfort of a pint by the fire to the concert, last night was cosy and intimate as the Donegal pop duo Little Hours kicked off their first headlining Irish tour at Whelan’s in Dublin. The venue was packed to the delight of John Doherty (vocals, acoustic guitar) and Ryan McCloskey (vocals, piano) playing once again together without extra musicians as they have done in some recent shows. Opening with ‘Tracks’ the band executed a mix of all of their most famous songs from their sole EP release from a year ago, to a great cover of Beyonce’s ‘Crazy in Love’ (popular ever since the Sunday Live Session) and some exciting new material. In between the songs, the lads cracked some jokes or told stories about the upcoming track, which gave a further ‘up close and personal’ feeling to the performance. The Encore track ‘Ember’ got the best response of the night with most of the crowd happily singing along to the band’s encouragements.
On the downside however, one might regret that Little Hours did not succeed in fully capturing the whole of the audience as relatively loud chatter could be heard throughout the set, not that it disturbed the band from their spot on performance. Furthermore, I personally disliked the ‘Kanye West -like’ (in Ryan’s words) auto tune addition to ‘Call Somebody’ which could benefit from being used with more parsimony as it does not add much to Ryan’s flawless voice… perhaps even spoiling it by its redundancy.
Overall a great gig and some very promising new material that makes me impatient to hear the next record, hopefully a LP this time.
From left to right: Anthony, Brian, Leah, me, Tara and Sam
I first came across Beware of You when they were announced as contestants of the ‘War at the Button’ competition at The Button Factory in Dublin. I did not go but when I saw they were a pop-punk band I liked their Facebook page to remember to check them out later on. One Friday evening I was on a ‘Facebook break’ whilst working at Trinity College Library where I am studying when I saw that Beware of You announced a last minute gig at The Mercantile starting right then literally just a 5 minute walk away from my uni. It took me 3.17 minutes of listening to their first single ‘Control’ to decide that it was worth dropping it all and going to check them out live.
They are actually a really cool live band. Great energy, they are cracking jokes and talking to the audience in-between songs, Beware of You is the type of band you will always enjoy live if you are a pop-punk lover! I also like the fact that Sam and Brian jump off the stage to play from the pit, they really aren't scared to engage with the public.
Ahead of the band’s biggest live show opening for Against the Current in a sold out Academy, I spoke to Beware of You to find out more about them, their new EP 'Self Portraits' and their past and upcoming shows!
Hey guys, could you start by introducing yourselves?
Leah: I’m Leah, I’m 20 and I am the singer.
Tara: I’m Tara, I’m 20 and I’m lead guitar.
Sam: I’m Sam, I’m 19, I’m rhythmic guitar.
Brian: I’m Brian, I’m old at 27. And I’m the bassist.
Anthony: And I’m Anthony, I’m 19 and I play drums.
Where does your name ‘Beware of You’ come from?
Brian: The name comes from a saying by Hayley Williams from Paramore and we took it on because we feel we relate to it a lot. It means: you are in control of your own destiny, you can make it the best life or the worst life in the world and we are out there to make it the best for ourselves and hopefully we can bring you along with us’ and that’s where the name comes from.
Sam: We also couldn’t think of a better name! [All laugh]
Well, that is a cool name, I like it! So you guys are fans of Paramore, but what other bands do you listen to? Do you have a favourite band?
Leah: That would be between The Killers and Tegan and Sara.
Anthony: At the moment it is Periphery and You Me At Six, which are miles apart but it’s just what’s inspiring me at the moment.
Tara: Paramore and Tonight Alive.
Sam: Bring Me The Horizon and Buddy Rich.
Ok, Sam what do you think about the BMTH new album ‘That’s the Spirit’?
Sam: It’s unbelievable, I love it! It’s definitely different to their early heavy stuff…
Yeah, I am obsessed with ‘Throne’.
Sam: Oh yeah, it’s class! It’s so good!
So back to my initial question, favourite bands?
Brian: [to Sam] You stole my influence. So, Bring Me The Horizon, All Time Low, You Me At Six and Chunk! No Captain Chunk!
Did you see All Time Low back in March when they played the Olympia [17th March 2015]?
Brian: I met them! They gave me guestlist for the night!
So, how did you form the band?
Brian: I was looking for a band to play a gig that I was organising but before ATL played here actually, and I got on to Tara because her old band was the same style of music and she said ‘Oh we [she and Anthony] are not in that band anymore, we are looking for a bassist and a singer’ and I said ‘Oh well, I’m a bassist’ and at the time they only knew me as a photographer, so she told me to come down for a jam. So I went and on that same day, Leah was there auditioning to be the singer and we ended up playing ‘Proud Mary’ and the rest is history.
Leah: We found Sam a little while later. We had a few different rhythmic guitars in our rehearsals and every single person did not stick with us and we had two guys coming in the day Sam was there and he just fit straight away.
Sam: Because I’m good, like really good.
Leah: Yeah… [Laugh] And Tara and Sam know each other since years ago.
Tara: We met when we were like 17.
Sam: She really did not like me! She hated me!
Tara: [Laugh] When I met him, he wouldn’t speak and I would be like ‘urgh that kid looks a bit weird’ and then we did not spoke for about two years and then one day he messaged me on Facebook about coming to an audition for my old band and I told him ‘No I am in a new one now, because whatever’ and from that point it was all of us together…
Sam: I still don’t like you! [All laugh]
And what was the first concert you’ve ever been to?
Brian: Oh fuck that’s gonna be embarrassing!
Leah: Oh my god, it was Hear'Say. [All laugh]
Brian: Me too!
Leah: Was yours Hear’Say? Oh my god, no way, imagine we were at the same Hear'Say concert! [All laugh]
Who is Hear'Say?
Leah: It’s really old. It’s a boy and girl pop kinda group and they were a bit like S club 7 and they were together to maybe a year. They were really big for like 2 seconds and then just disappeared. [All laugh] But yeah I remember… Hear'Say! They’re great!
Tara: Mine was Paramore. I have gone to two concerts and both were Paramore! [Laugh]
Sam: My auntie bought me tickets to Deep Purple for my 14th birthday… yeah that’s smoke in the water that band! But nobody would go with me because everyone else I was friends with hated Deep Purple so I had to bring my auntie with me out to county Cork to go watch Deep Purple play! That was a great gig, it was Steve Morse playing guitar. I love him!
Brian: This is embarrassing. I went to the same possibly Hear'Say gig as Leah. I actually loved them! I was one of those fangirls!
Fangirling is life!
Brian: Yeah it is life! [Laugh]
Anthony: I’m like in the same thing as Sam. I went to see Metallica at Marlay Park back in 2008 and I was too young and nobody else went so I had to go with my dad. I was actually to small to see over the crowd of people but my dad let me stand on his shoes so I was just high enough so I could see. It was awesome!
Tara: Awww, he still can’t bleedin’ see, look at the size of him!
Brian: He is big on the inside!
You launched your first EP on the 19th of August, can you tell me more about it?
Leah: It’s called ‘Self Portraits’. Identity is a big theme in it, hence the name. We recorded it down at Red Lake Studio in Portlaoise. We had a great time there with Gary Duncan. We are gonna go back again soon to record our album. We have a few more songs that are not on the EP, we just chose the one that shows us off the best just to get ourselves out there.
And you got a great response!
Brian: Yeah, the response for 'Self Portraits' was incredible! It was above and beyond anything we ever expected. It managed to reach number 7 in the Irish charts and we honestly can't thank everyone enough for their support.
You guys just played at Electric Picnic, how did that happened?
Leah: Our first gig we played as a band was actually here in The Mercantile at the King Kong Club [bands battles event] with Keiron. We played three songs and we had brought nobody with us and it was judged by clapper-meter, so the band with the more cheers wins. The other band had brought all of their friends. But they didn’t get through. So we had to do a tie-breaker, and everybody that was there for the other band said they would cheer for us. And we ended up both getting through in that round. It was unheard of. He said in like 11 years it never happened.
Brian: I have done the King Kong Club with different bands 4 times and it has never happened! Two bands never get through. So the time we went through as two bands, it was the first ever. It was just so loud and energetic from everybody, it was crazy!
Leah: So then we went back for the semi-final and if you won it you get to play at Electric Picnic, so we tried to round up as many people as possible and all the other bands wanted to play Electric Picnic too so it was so packed in that tiny little place. We ended up winning and we are playing on the Oxjam stage in Electric Picnic woohoo! And we still have one more King Kong to do.
The King Kong final was on the 30th of September and BOY unfortunately did not won the first prize but they got booked for further gigs thanks to it so well done lads!
We also won different things like Gigs for Stage.ie, and Battle for the bay, that we played on the beach, it was really cool.
Tara: And we are gonna go the Lamps and Amps live session soon.
Leah: We played another festival before but it was quite small so it’s great to get out there.
Brian: Electric Picnic was incredible. We were on quite early on the Friday so we weren't expecting too many people to be there when we played, We thought it would just be friends we knew at the festival. We were completely wrong. There was a load of people there. Some had heard of us and went out of their way to get to us early and a good few people who stopped as they were walking by. The whole weekend was amazing too. We stopped by a few of our friends, who were playing too, like our good friend Anti-One. the big acts playing were great but this year we think the smaller lesser known acts on the smaller stages championed the festival! A great experience all round!
You are opening for US band Against the Current at The Academy Dublin for a sold out show in two weeks, how excited are you about it? Did you prepare anything different from your normal gigs?
Brian: Oh man! We could not be any more excited for it! I worked hard to get us on the bill and the feel was unbelievable when they announced it. We've played some big shows, like Electric Picnic, but this one is by far the most important for us. We are looking at this as a stepping stone to the next level of the band. It's an amazing opportunity to be playing with a band who are signed to a large well known label and are on a world tour. We can't wait to show them why they say the Irish are the best fans in the world! As for preparing anything different... not really. We're just going to do what has worked for us in the past and enjoy every moment. As you know, we're a bit wild on (and off) stage when we preform... expect more of that and some other crazy antics.
So you only play in Ireland for now?
All: For now!
Brian: We are in talks with other bands in Dublin and around Ireland and also in places like the UK, Germany and the USA about organising a load of shows. So keep an eye out for them. Some of those will happen this year and some will be next year... who knows, maybe we'll take a leaf out of Against The Current's book and do a little world tour.
What about France?
Brian: France! Oui, oui! [All laugh] I am trying to get gigs with Chunk! No Captain Chunk! and we are gonna go down to Perpignan, Marseille, Biarritz, Toulon, maybe Lyon and Rennes.
That’s where I did my undergrad!
Brian: I did Erasmus there! In ESC Rennes. It was great, I was in a class with all French students and everybody else were in international classes, so I learnt a lot of French and it happened that my class was the party organisation committee so I got into all the parties for free and got free drinks all the time. That’s gotta make an Irishman happy!
Did you hang out a lot at the Rue de la soif [It’s a famous street with only bars]?
Brian: Every day! E-ve-ry day! And the Cactus, it’s a pub there, it might not be there anymore because I did it in 2010…
I was in Rennes too that year.
Brian: Oh! Did we meet each other? Oh oh!
I would remember you.
Brian: No you wouldn’t! [All laugh]
Sam: You missed out!
Alright, that’s it for me, thank you so much guys! Any last words?
Leah and Tara: Thank you!
Sam: Our band is terrible! [All laugh] So bad! Don’t buy our EP! It’s awful!
Leah: But if you do, it’s called ‘Self Portraits’ and you can buy it on iTunes or you can buy a hardcopy from us if you want. [it’s a fiver!]
Sam: A message to Offend Brand: endorse Brian! [Brian is wearing an OB tee]
Brian: It is a Paris based streetwear brand founded and operated by Paul C. Wilson, guitarist of the band Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!
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Since that interview was made, Tara actually announced leaving the band a couple of days ago. I contacted them to find out how they were coping with it and Brian told me: ‘We were sad to say goodbye to her, but we still love her and wish her the best in her next musical adventure. Sam has stepped up to mix duties between the lead and rhythm guitar. He switches in and out of each one depending on what works best for the songs. We are looking for a second guitarist and have a few people lined up. We're not just looking for a good guitarist but somebody who will fit in well with us as people in and out of the band. They'll have to have a strong sense of humour and be able to just as much of an oddball as we are at times haha.’
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You can catch up with Beware of You as they open for Against the Current on the 13th of October at the Academy Dublin (sold out) and at the upcoming two gigs at Whelan’s (dates TBA).
For fans of: Boyce Avenue, The Calling, The Script, One Republic Laya Healthcare City Spectacular, the biggest free festival in Dublin city center, was held on Friday 10th to Sunday 12th of July in Merrion Square. In between food trucks, street artists, magicians and child entertainers, word on the street was (if you pardon the pun) that Dublin's very own favourite busking band was performing three sets on Sunday afternoon.
Keywest started out a few years ago performing in the streets of Dublin and Galway. Today, they have 57k likes on Facebook and 25,8k followers on Twitter. If you are a nostalgic, they also have an non-updated MySpace on which you can check out very early videos and photos of the band. And of course they also have an official website. The lads will be touring the UK and Ireland next November/December for the JOYLAND TOUR.
As the London date on the 20th November is already sold out, an extra date the following night has been added. Not bad at all for the band's first ever tour in the UK. Whilst chatting with Glove (Andrew Glover, rhythm guitar, keys, back vocals), he confirmed to me that further gigs should be announced soon as most of the tickets are gone for all of the shows. 'We did three dates in a row in Dublin last year' he added with a smile.
Glove
Back to the City Spectacular. I did not go to the first of the three gigs, hence I cannot tell you more about it than 'it went well', still according to Glove. The second one kicked off with their last single 'All my mistakes', followed by a cover of TCL's 'Waterfalls'.
Check out 'All my Mistakes' official video
Then during the first notes of 'Beautiful Fool', Andy (Andrew Kavanagh, lead vocals) cheekily suggested 'if you feel the need to clap' to an audience who happily went along. It was followed by a small interlude during which Jimi (James Lock, lead guitar, back vocals) took a picture of the crowd and tweeted it while Andy asked everyone to grab their phone and retweet it.
The next song was a cover of Whitney Houston's famous disco hit 'I wanna dance with somebody'. Before the last tune 'Galileo', Andy gave a shout out to Keywest's biggest fan Shannon, who allegedly follow them everywhere. Sweet of them to acknowledge her! When the gig was over, the lads stuck around to sell some of their CDs, sign autographs and take photos. Mark (Murray, band manager), who had already been hard at work selling the records during Keywest's set had to hurry them: they were awaited at Today FM for an interview with Phil Cawley and a second live performance of 'All my Mistakes' (they had already played for Today FM between the first and second gig). You can check out a video extract of the performance here with the cutest little girl dancing in front of them, it's adorable!
Andy
As there were still a couple of hours before the next concert, the band members split out to walk around the site. I seized the occasion to grab Andy for a short interview. He told me about the upcoming three albums... That's right! Three! You might already know that their last record All my Mistakes EP came out last April. It is a preview the future full length album Joyland. Yet, another one, Fairgrounds will come out at the same time, that is September, just before the UK/IE tour kick-off. Andy clarified that both will be different albums, 'two sounds', as the former is a studio album whereas the latter has more of a 'street sound'. Joyland will be on all usual music download and streaming platforms, however, Fairgrounds will solely be available on the band's website and during their live performances on tour or in the streets. Both will have twelve tracks and will be produced on the band's own independent label Sonic Realm. Andy even let slip that there are already talks about a third record for 2016. Talking about the future, he revealed that Keywest will be busking in the UK, then Australia next Spring, which is the Winter for them and the high period for the busking bands there. Andy confessed looking forward to hit the Aussie streets as they have 'a great tradition of busking' down under. The goal is obviously to publicise their music outside of the British isles. Busking and independently self-promoting is the way they wish to keep fueling their growth, as Keywest has not been signed by any record label, thereby the need for taking care of the promotion themselves. On this matter, he simply explained that they 'don't get along' with producers.
Personal favourite pic of the day: Sam (Marder, bass)
Time for the third and last gig of the day, starting with a cover of Mumford & Sons's 'I will wait for you', followed by 'Beautiful fool' and 'This is heartbreak' before another Twitter break.
Then came 'Stuck on replay' that Andy announced to have 'written about his ex girlfriend because she is a bitch' and 'Electric Love' which 'is about falling in love with somebody', before a cover of Tupac's 'California Love' and 'All my Mistakes' to top it off.
Had a great afternoon with Keywest! As City Spectacular is a family festival, the place was full of kids and the lads were really sweet with them. Generally speaking, they are really nice with their public, and patiently pose with whoever asks them, admittedly as part of their self-promotion strategy, even though Andy confessed that pictures 'aren't his favourite part'. Ultimately, they do it for the fans.
Jimi
I encourage you to purchase their records, not only because their music is worth it, but to support this band who decided to stay independent, regardless of their ever expanding success. It is a brave and unusual decision!
I bought their debut full length album The Message, which is a great record! All songs are written by Andy and Glove, although I noticed that Aaron Karmin (The Calling) and Charlie Midnight (Grammy Award winning producer/writter) co-wrote with them on 'Feels so Cruel' and 'On this Train' respectively, which is pretty cool.
Finally, I would like to thank Andy, Glove, Jimi, Sam, Harry (Sullivan, drums) and Mark for letting me hang around and a special shout out to Robbie. Hope to see you all again soon.
If you liked this article, please share it and support this blog by liking Of Bands & Gigs Facebook page and following @ofbandsandgigs on Twitter. Much more music news, reviews and interviews are to come. I have another interview with English Rock'nRoll band The 45s scheduled for the beginning of August. I have been to France last week for the Vieilles Charrues Festival (biggest French music festival headlined this year by Muse. Also present: London Grammar, The Strypes (that I met), Tom Jones, Lionel Richie, The Prodigy...) and will tell you all about it real soon. Upcoming gigs I will attend in the next couple of months include All Time Low, Twenty One Pilots and Bry (Belsonic, UK), Fall out Boy, Imagine Dragons, The Strypes, Little Hours, The Academic, The 45s, Nothing but Thieves, The Mighty Stef, The Hot Sprockets... If you are a band in the Dublin area doing a gig soon or looking to be reviewed, do not hesitate to get in touch!
From top to bottom: Harry - Band during the third gig - Glove
Find all my best pictures of Keywest's afternoon at City Spectacular HERE.
There is a joke hidden in their setlist, can you find it? Let me know in the comments.
Je vais pour la septième année consécutive faire du bénévolat aux Vieilles Charrues, autant dire que je connais la musique. Les festivals c'est mon dada. Et comme il n'y a pas que les têtes d'affiches qui comptent, je vous présente brièvement trois artistes à aller voir cette année aux Vieilles Charrues.
FEU! CHATTERTON
Vendredi, 15H40, Scène Kerouac
Genre: Chanson française / Pop-Rock
Pays: France
Trois chansons à écouter: A l'Aube, Côte Concorde, La Malinche
Poésie mélodique qui fait vibrer mon coeur de littéraire, la musique de ce quintet mystérieux c'est du slam sur un son enivrant. Alors obéissons à Baudelaire et Enivrons-nous! Sous ses airs de dandy parisien du XIXème siècle et sa moustache de circonstance, Arthur, le chanteur, est plus sérieux que son homologue Rimbaldien, mais il faut dire qu'il n'a plus 17 ans. Guitare new wave, voix rauque, chansons à texte et mélancolie romantique, Feu! Chatterton rappelle Gainbourg et Bashung, mais dénote dans la scène musicale française actuelle. Alors laissez tomber l'apéro au camping et venez prendre un shot d'absinthe musical à l'ouverture de la scène Kerouac le vendredi.
THE STRYPES
Samedi, 20h30, Scène Kerouac
Genre: Rock'nRoll, Blues
Pays: Ireland
Trois chansons à écouter: What à Shame, Get into It, Now she's Gone
C'est mon groupe préféré en ce moment. Dublinoise depuis quelques années, je suis on ne peut moins objective sur la musique irlandaise (je ne parle pas forcement de musique traditionelle), mais pour les avoir déjà vu en concert croyez-moi The Strypes valent vraiment le détour. Ne vous fiez pas à leur jeune age (17-19 ans), ces quatre lads font des concerts depuis quelques années. Ils jouaient en live à la TV nationale à 13 ans, internationale à 16, y compris le fameux Late Show with David Letterman (USA). Cette année, leur tournées en Irlande, Grande-Bretagne, Amérique du sud et Japon se jouent à guichet fermé. Elevés au Dr Feelgood, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley et The Beatles, ils ont fait les premières parties pour Arctic Monkeys, Miles Kanes, et Foo Fighters et leur plus grand fan n'est autre qu'Elton John. Après le succès de leur premier album Snapshot, leur second album Little Victories est (très) attendu à la fin de l'été. Rock'n'roll énergique et chansons à texte (en anglais) à ne pas manquer sur Kerouac samedi soir, juste après Calogero (18h55, Scène Glenmor).
FRAGMENTS
Vendredi, 16h50, Scène Grall
Genre: Pop electronica instrumentale
Pays: France
Trois chansons a écouter: Off the Map, Landscapes, In our Frozen Skies
Le trio Rennais est issue du 'Label Charrues' (anciennement 'Jeunes Charrues'), un projet née il y a 18 ans, soit 5 ans après le Festival lui-même, qui a pour but d'accompagner des artistes émergeants de la région Bretagne en les faisant se produire sur des scènes locales y compris bien sur aux Vieilles Charrues. Bien qu'inconnu, ces artistes ont souvent, comme les footballeurs de Didier Deschamps, beaucoup de potentiel et de qualité. La musique de Fragments est atypique des concerts électro de festivals. C'est rythmique et très calme a la fois. Son but est d'inviter au voyage et a l'introspection Si vous tourniez un film, c'est le genre de musique que vous voudriez avoir en B.O. au moment ou votre personnage principal est sur le cote passager d'une voiture conduisant le long d'une route au milieu de plaines champêtre et poétique. Il/Elle aurait le front appuyé contre la vitre, regardant le paysage enneige defiler en slow motion... Ce vendredi, venez passer de la poésie française de Feu! Chatterton a la Romance sans paroles de Fragments. Attention cependant, ce n'est pas sur la même scène mais pas d'inquiétude vous avez 20 minutes pour passer de Kerouac a Grall, ce qui vous laisse le temps de passer chercher une galette-saucisse, spécialite rennaise de circonstance, en chemin (il y a une crêperie sur le cote gauche de Grall... j'y suis bénévole!).
Et puis pour celles et ceux qui n'ont pas pu s'offrir des billets, sachez que le live de Fragments sera retranscrit en direct puis en replay sur culturebox.
#LeSaviezVous-Charrues15
- Le single 'Hey Now' de LONDON GRAMMAR (Dimanche, 19h, Scène Kerouac) a ete remixé parTHE SHOES (Samedi, 21h50, Scène Grall) et apparaît dans la pub The future is Gold de Dior.
J'espère que cette sélection vous plaira et vous permettra de découvrir des artistes qui méritent de l'être et ce même si vous ne venez pas aux Vieilles Charrues. J'y serais tout le weekend, ainsi qu'a chacun des ces trois concerts des artistes évoqués. Je serais la fille avec un drapeau irlandais peinturé Of Bands & Gigs à la main, n'hésitez pas a venir me parler, on pourra partager nos impressions, nos meilleurs système D de camping, une crêpe, des free hugs, c'est vous qui voyez...
