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As if becoming one of the biggest bands in the world in 2010 wasn't enough, the guys don't seem to be letting up any in 2011 - with a mammoth world tour kicking off in January in Canada and North America, followed by two shows in Brazil, before a bunch of dates in Australia and Asia.
UK fans fear not though, they have managed to squeeze in dates in Glasgow, London and Dublin mid March. Those passports are going to have some stamps!
10 March 2011 - Barrowlands, Glasgow
12 March 2011 - Camden Roundhouse, London
18 March 2011 - Olympia Theatre, Dublin
19 March 2011 - Olympia Theatre, Dublin
The You Are Music show in Mandela Hall that fell foul of recent weather conditions has been rescheduled!
**Edit - Axis Of are unable to play this show due to tour commitments**
To get you in the mood have a look at some of the videos below from bands that will be performing on the night
A Plastic Rose - Kids Don't Behave Like This
The Good Fight - Kick Start
Pretty Child Backfire - Wish I Knew You Better
The Brights adhere to just about every indie convention you could think of. Jangly, rhythmic guitars, heartfelt, clever lyrics, a lead singer with cheekbones that could cut glass. But you’d dismiss the Essex band at your peril – their quirky brand of 1990s-esq guitar pop could just be about to take them into the big leagues. Or at least, that’s the vibe one gets from a first listen of new single ‘Footsteps’, a summery, angular number that recalls the sun-drenched melodies of Belle and Sebastian, the musicality of Orange Juice and the tight instrumentation of Two Door Cinema Club.
Awash with knowing references to indie legends “You’ve never been so shook up since you saw The Smiths in 84”, this track is catchy, soulful and sincerely promising, yet doesn’t proclaim to herald a new dawn in indie music. The Brights have chosen a tried and tested formula, and while it might be nice to see a little more daring in following outputs, so far, said formula seems to be working pretty well for the four piece. Thus if the latest single doesn’t exactly revolutionise the musical landscape, with ‘Footsteps’, the band prove that they can certainly brighten up a cold December night, at any rate.
written by Tara McEvoy
AGP rating: 6/10
All Gone Pop grab 10 minutes with Johnny Adger from instrumental giants And So I Watch You From Afar midway though their recent UK tour. With the band set to head off around Europe before Christmas we discuss their reception on the continent, having a beer with Dave Grohl and a busy 2011 ahead, including the release of album #2.
AGP: You are currently in Cardiff getting ready for tonight's show. How has the tour been going?
Johnny: It has been unbelievable so far. The first UK show was in Dingwalls in London, it is our biggest London show to date and just while we were about to sound check we found out that it was sold out. So it was brilliant just hearing that news as it shows the growth on the tours, with about twice as many people coming to the shows. It is brilliant for us.
AGP: You are touring the release of a new single Straight Through The Sun. Since you have built up quite a fan base, why did you choose give the single away for free?
Johnny: I don't know how fans of the band would feel, but we felt that it had been quite a bit of time since the Letters EP, and even longer obviously since the first album. So we had an idea that we would try to do something to repay people for their loyalty, and for their patience in waiting for album #2. It was suggested that we record a single as a separate session that isn't going to be on the album and give it away for free online. That is really how the whole pay-by-tweet idea came around. I think it was really just to say thank you to people for their patience more than anything.
AGP: You are about to head back off to Europe for a few dates. Having toured there before, how does it feel as a Northern Irish band to have such a receptive audience when you are on the road?
Johnny: It is unbelievable to be honest, the first time we headed out we had no idea, we didn't even have an album out there so we didn't really know what to expect. We were just completely overwhelmed by the number of people turning up at shows that seemed to be genuinely into the band. It was funny, we were like 'really that's great, but are you sure there is nothing better to do than come and watch us?' (laughs). They are so grateful in Europe to anyone that travels over, it's not like they are starved of music, it is more that they are thankful of us for making the effort to go there. That really shows with the fans both during the show and then after the set when they come up and chat to you. It is a privilege being over there and representing Northern Ireland. Of course 1 person in 10 asks you the political type question and you are like 'don't believe everything you read, you know its actually fucking lovely place'.
AGP: On one of your last stints in Europe you supported Them Crooked Vultures, a band comprised of some of the hardest working and most influential musicians over the past few decades. How did you find them as people and did you learn anything form touring with such experience?
Johnny: We learnt so much, from meeting their crew to like their tour manager and their lighting guys. The first show was funny because we got a call saying ring when you are outside, let us know how many people are in your crew, how many buses you have, how many spaces you need and we were like 'hang on, there is 9 of us in one van'. The band themselves, we just thought we would be stuck in a dark corner miles away from them, but it turned out we were in the room right beside them. After they had finished on the first night we could hear them talking and to their friends and press blowing smoke up their arses. Dave Grohl walked past and was like 'hey guys,are you not coming in for a drink?' before he had even finished the sentence the dressing room emptied and I was just left standing there like 'yeah I guess if that's okay?'. It was just insane having three people like that talking to us as equals as opposed to like we are fucking super stars and you guys are just starting. There was something humbling about it, just an amazing experience all round.
AGP: We spoke to maybeshewill about a month back and they said that oddly they don't listen to much instrumental bands. Is this the case with ASIWYFA or what would be on repeat on your tour van?
Johnny: Well we don't really listen to a lot of instrumental music at all anymore, I mean obviously at one point it was an influence when the idea kind of sparked in our heads to start playing music. I would say Adebisi Shank's second album, you just cant help but smile when you hear it, it's just a really happy record from start to finish. Sometimes we would have on something we could sing along to like the greatest hits of Pantera or something like that and we are all air drumming, a lot of Zeppelin too. It is varied, our tastes in music are so different but we all meet somewhere in the middle. It just depends what the mood and the vibe is on the bus I guess.
AGP: How does the band begin to write an instrumental song, how much does it differ, if any from writing with a vocalist?
Johnny: I don't think it does, I have had experience of being in bands with vocalists but the process was virtually the same. I guess the process in this band has always been the tunes just come out of a jam that we then keep for later and come back to. Rory comes up with quite a lot of ideas, he has never got the guitar out of his hands, he would come in with a start point and the rest of us just work together on that. I think for the sessions that we did for album #2 as a result of us touring for the guts of 4 years, we just kinda became better at playing and know what is going on in each others heads. It has got to a point if Rory and Tony are playing something, and Chris joins in, I know what they are hoping I will come up with and vice versa. In the past we might have thrown in extra instruments or an extra guitar part just because we could or just because we thought we had to, now we are prepared to let it breathe and grow more. It was a lot more of an enjoyable process this time. We have ended up now with a collection of songs that's going to be album #2 that we are a lot more happy with than maybe if we had rushed it. It has definitely benefited us and hopefully will be a benefit to anyone who wants to listen to it.
AGP: Since this year is coming to a close, what are your plans for 2011?
Johnny: We are pretty much gigging right up, we have two shows on New Years Eve and we have a show on the 1st of January. We have a Russian tour which we can wait to do because we have never been there before. It is actually 15 dates, I didn't know there were 15 places you could play there, I know it is huge but I think I could only name about 4 cities. Hopefully early spring time album #2 is going to drop, I guess we will tour that up to festival season. Somewhere in there we have to fit in going back to the States, we are definitely going to South By (South West) again, so we are thinking about trying to fit in an American tour up to that point. We will definitely have another UK tour and Irish dates - more of the same pretty much.
Johnny's Northern Irish tips for 2011
La Faro - Album #2 - "The best straight up rock 'n' roll band in the country"
Axis Of - "Absolutely incredible live band, their song writing has improved so much since I have started knowing of them"
Bomb City 7 - "I think they are dropping a full length next year. It is a great time for Northern Irish music"
November 18th - Pure Savage - Cloisters, Ballynahinch
Thursday. Cloisters. Pure Savage. Pure baltic.
Paul Tully and his delicate guitar offer a nice opening to the night, suiting the quiet atmosphere in a fairly sparse Cloisters. At times Tully fits a little too snugly into the generic singer/songwriter box with so many others, on other occasions however he displays a unique story-telling ability with his Strabane twang spilling through, giving a warm and homely feel to his set.
Late comers to the bill, and sounding a little under prepared as a result are kAMIkIDS - kAMI with a K, and, for the more intellectually challenged amongst us kIDS also spelt with a K. Great. The electronic drum kit was also an automatic fail. In fairness to the guys, they have some nicely structured ideas, with North Star a particular stand out - making good use out of a shared male/female vocal, but their set-up really did not do this potential any justice. It just sounded all a little under developed. As the makers of Dutch beer Grolsch once said - it's not ready yet
Thankfully SKIBUNNY brought their game face to the party, restoring order and making it all worth staying up late on a school night. It is easy in places to compare the electro duo to mainstream radio hipsters like The Gossip, however their cover of Afghan Whigs demonstrates that it isn't all just about the pop hooks and glossy samples. Even with a Keytar right of off the 1980s, SKIBUNNY display a coolness and authority not unlike The Kills. This is a band on top of their game, bursting with attitude and ready to give it to whoever wants to listen. With an atmosphere bolstered by their own background visuals, set highlights Baby Get Into It and Up Down bring this Co Down pub to life, if only for 40 odd minutes.
Highlights
This town takes Movember proper serious. Handle-bars all over the joint.
Lowlights
The run up to Christmas forcing people to stay at home and save the pennies
Have a look at the video, directed by the fantastic Darren Lee of Maverick Renegade Productions who was also responsible for the recent More Than Conquerors video Go On, Go On, Get Out
Brooklyn surf pop sensation The Drums are on tour NOW!
Tickets for their NME award winning show are still available and only £12 from Ticketmaster and QUB. Have a look below at the video for their ridiculously infectious Let's Go Surfing
The voting for this years Freedom Live show on December 6th in Mandela Hall closes at midnight tonight. With the opportunity to support Plan B on the cards, we thought it would be nice to take a minute to find out who everyone is...
Stillpoint
Who?
David, Jack, Mick and Fra.
Where?
Belfast
The band recorded their debut EP City Set Alight last year with Brian Houston and somewhat seem to have the nack for winning local music competitions having already in 2010 won both the Definite Vision Grand Final and the Arthur's Day competition Laverys Outlet Final for Guinness. Let's see if they can mobilise the voting troops this time around, in the meantime have a listen to the band on their Myspace
Havana House Party
Who?
Deano, Andrew, Martin and Paul
Where?
Antrim
Havana House Party are one of the newer finalists having only got together in the summer of 2010. They have already made some waves on the local scene, with an appearance on Bandwagon TV under their belt and one on Balcony TV later this month. If you like your indie pop sounding distinctly like other local lads, Two Door Cinema Club - then this will be right up your street. Have a listen via the medium of Myspace
SilhouettE
Who?
Shauna Tohill
Where?
Magherafelt/Belfast
SilhouettE flies the Freedom Live flag for the 50% of the population that don't grow beards, the girls. Shauna made a name for herself as a teenager along with General Fiasco drummer Stephen Leacock in local three-piece Angelfall - subsequently appearing in an early Fiasco video for Rebel Get By. Nowadays under the guise of SilhouettE, Shauna gives the Northern Irish scene something beautifully unique. Have a looksee on her Myspace
King Coma
Who?
Chris, Sean, SOD, Brian and Giulio
Where?
Strabane
Somewhat a suprise inclusion in the final 5 of Freedom Live are relatively unknown county Tyrone lads King Coma. Sounding similar to Cool FM favourites The Beat Poets, the band could be a dark horse not and certainly not worth ruling out. Have a listen to their Myspace and decide for yourself
The Red Admirals
Who?
Baz, Allan and Steve
Where?
Belfast/ Ballynahinch
Taking the last seats on the Freedom proverbial party bus are Co Down boys The Red Admirals. The three piece have been playing on the local scene for several years now. Described by ATL (BBC Radio Ulster) as 'Another great band from Northern Ireland, who have got a decent nack for writing big pop hooks'. Have a listen on their Myspace and give them your vote if it's your bag.
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