By Natalie Herman

Friday, March 26, 2010, Upstairs at Dolans, Limerick, Last Days of Death Country release their debut EP, Mode and Effect, recorded and produced by Fergal Lawler of The Cranberries. Tickets are €6 and can be purchased in advanced at dolans.ie. Pick up the disc as well as t-shirts and badges. With very special guests and DJ Set by Steve Ryan (Windings).

The following night, Oliver Cole, formerly of the popular group Turn, follows up his solo EP released in October 2009, What Will You Do?, with his full-length solo debut entitled We, Albitri. (For an explanation of the title, listen to Oliver’s interview with Shawn here.) Join Oliver at The Sugar Club in Dublin on Saturday, March 27, 2010, for his album launch party at 8pm. Tickets are €13.50 and are available at Ticketmaster 18+. From the event site: it will be a full band show and support on the night will come from “we cut corners” an excellent little band Be sure to attend and pick up your copy of this long-awaited disc!

Natalie Herman provides content for Paddy-Whacked Radio™ News

Copyright © 2010 Natalie Herman and Paddy-Whacked Radio™

By Natalie Herman

While Steafán Hanvey is putting the finishing touches on his forthcoming CD, he graces the States with a quick tour of the Northeast beginning March 12 in Massachusetts with several dates in Vermont before finishing it up at The Scratcher Sessions on April 4 (Easter Sunday) in New York City. Full dates can be found on his official web page or his MySpace page.

If you can’t wait for the new disc (and believe me, you can’t!) run out and get Steafán Hanvey and the Honeymoon Junkies from CD Baby or download it on iTunes or at Amazon.com.

Also bringing their sweet sounds to the States are STAND, whose 100,000 Ways to Harvest Hope debuted at #22 on the Irish iTunes chart on the first week. A big congrats to the lads! If you don’t have yours yet, check this out and pick up a copy. Bonus freebie as a thanks from their Twitter.

Their tour also kicks off on March 12 in Pennsylvania, and hits Ohio, Illinois, and New York (The Bowery Ballroom on March 20 with support from Meteor-winning The Coronas) before winding it up March 27 in New Jersey. Visit Standland to find full tour details. And if you get up really early, you can catch Neil and Alan on Today With Pat Kenny (10 am GMT; 5 am EST) tomorrow morning (March 9). If you miss it, you will be able to stream the show for a week before it is lost to the annals forever.

If you are in the northern part of the U.S., you must make it a point to check out these great shows (and report back for those of us less fortunate)!

Natalie Herman provides content for Paddy-Whacked Radio™ News

Copyright © 2010 Natalie Herman and Paddy-Whacked Radio™

By Natalie Herman

Our good friend Roddie Cleere is raising money for The Carers Association which seeks to provide support to those “Family Carers” caring for loved ones who, for whatever reason, are no longer able to care for themselves. Whether it be elderly parents or an ailing spouse, caring for other people is a difficult job. For economic reasons and because the comfort of one’s own home is preferable to a hospital or health care facility, many people choose home health care rather than care at a facility. The Carer’s Association provides financial, emotional, social and psychological assistance to those who are taking up the mantle of family care.

Roddie’s event is the National Dog Walk to take place on Easter Monday, April 5, in various locations around Ireland. You can bring your pooch out and walk, or if you haven’t a dog or would have to cross an ocean to do so, you can sponsor Roddie at http://www.mycharity.ie/event/roddy/. It’s good for your health, good for your dog, and a great help to all those Family Carers.

Please use this link to make sure that your donation goes to sponsor Roddie’s event: http://www.mycharity.ie/event/roddy/

Here’s a way to give back to Roddie for all the support he provides the Irish indie music community!

Natalie Herman provides content for Paddy-Whacked Radio™ News

Copyright © 2010 Natalie Herman and Paddy-Whacked Radio™

By Natalie Herman

Dominic Cromie of Clear the Battlefield is asking folks to come out this Sunday, March 7, 2010, for the Sunnyside/Woodside St Patrick’s Day Parade (43rd Street & Skillman Ave) beginning at 1pm. The parade is based on a host of guest speakers on Immigration Reform who are expected to provide insight on the progress being made on the issue. Live Irish music will follow after the Parade at Bar 43 from 5-8pm.

Visit the Facebook page for Get The Irish Home For Christmas 2010 Without Fear for more information.

Natalie Herman provides content for Paddy-Whacked Radio™ News

Copyright © 2009 Natalie Herman and Paddy-Whacked Radio™

By Natalie Herman

NPR allows a “First Listen” to the new CD by legendary traditional Irish band The Chieftains teamed with American musician, Ry Cooder, entitled San Patricio.

This CD sets out to combine the traditional music of Mexico and Ireland, telling the tale of Irish deserters of the American army, particularly in “The Sands of Mexico.”

The Saint Patrick’s Battalion - Batallón de San Patricio in Spanish - was a group of European immigrants, mainly Irish and German, who fought as part of the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848. These men were uncertain as to why they were fighting a Catholic army for a cause that was not their own and fed up with being mistreated by Anglo-Protestant officers. They left the army being led by General Zachary Taylor, and under the command of Captain John Riley of County Galway, fought against the United States until Mexico surrendered in February of 1848.

The CD’s sound is meant to reflect that which would have been heard by the Irish soldiers, who called themselves “San Patricios,” combined with their own traditional music from the homeland they left behind.

San Patricio hits stores on March 9, 2010.

 
 
Thanks, Pattie, for the heads-up.

 
 
On a related and somewhat personal note, I reconnected with a good friend who I met in third grade and with whom I lost touch after graduation - through Facebook, of course. I learned that though our paths have diverged, they had not taken us into completely different directions. Though I cannot remember a single Irish influence in our upbringing in El Paso, Texas, aside from the usual St. Patrick’s Day school fanfare, Everett Saucedo also became an “honorary Irish” member, and he is the bodhran player for El Paso’s best (and only) regular seisiun, The San Patricios. If you are ever in El Paso and happen upon a ceili band, buy the bodhran player a pint and tell him Natalie said hi.

Natalie Herman provides content for Paddy-Whacked Radio™ News

Copyright © 2010 Natalie Herman and Paddy-Whacked Radio™

By Natalie Herman
Seachtain na Gaeilge kicks off its annual festival early on March 3 at the Button Factory in Dublin. The non-profit organization promotes “the use of Irish language and culture both at home and abroad within a two-week festival held in March every year,” this year scheduled for March 5 through the 17.

“Organizations, local councils, schools, libraries, music, sporting & cultural bodies all register their Seachtain na Gaeilge events with us.”

One event that remains the same is the annual Ceol CD. “Ceol” is Irish for “music”, and popular Irish artists record songs in Gaeilge for the disc, which is a fundraiser for SnaG’s chosen charity in addition to a tool to promote the language. The artists either record original songs in Irish or translate existing English songs to the Gaeilge for the record. This year’s Ceol ‘10 will be released on Friday, March 5 with the following track listing:

1. Eddi Reader – Foirfe (Perfect) 2. Bell X1 – Bladhm (Flame) 3. Mick Flannery – Nuachtáin an Lae Amárach (Tomorrow’s Papers) 4. The Coronas – Taibhse nó Laoch(ra) (Heroes or Ghosts) 5. The Devlins – Cóinleach Glas an Fhómhair 6. Noelie Mc Donnell – Trí Bhliana D’Aois (Nearly Four) 7. Luán Parle – Taibhse (Ghost) 8. Declan O’Rourke – Coscáin ar Bith (No Brakes) 9. Gemma Hayes – Rith mé go Crích (Ran for Miles) 10. Mundy – Cailín na Gaillimhe (Galway Girl) 11. Fiach – Is Aoibhne (You Dear) 12. The Walls – Grian Gheal Lonrach (To the Bright and Shining Sun) 13. The Saw Doctors – An Cailín Sin 14. Wallis Bird – Comhaireamh chun Codladh (Counting to Sleep) 15. Kíla – Cabhraigí Léi 16. The Coronas **BONUS – Éist a Ghrá (Listen Dear)

Check out their website (don’t worry - those who are not proficient in Gaeilge can click on the “English” tab on the left to translate the site) to see all of the events, including concerts with Kila and Liam O’Maonlai. Kila provided much of the music in the Oscar-nominated animated film, The Secret of Kells. Liam O’Maonlai did a feature with the Irish Independent called “Learn Irish with Liam O Maonlai”.

Natalie Herman provides content for Paddy-Whacked Radio™ News

Copyright © 2010 Natalie Herman and Paddy-Whacked Radio™

By Natalie Herman

From the moment that the electric guitar kicks in on “Love Will Never Creep In,” it is evident that STAND has put out a rock album. Carl Dowling’s sonorous drums define this song and play a giant role in the giant sound of 100,000 Ways to Harvest Hope, STAND’s 5th official studio album. As it states in the CD sleeve, “these ten songs were recorded in nine days in June of 2009 in Buffalo, NY.”

The first single, “The Living Kind” - from which the album title is derived - is a raucous roller coaster ride. They get more bang for their buck when both Alan Doyle (guitar and vocals) and Neil Eurelle (bass and vocals) employ a harmony so subtle it sounds like a melody by a fifth “supergroup” member.

Far from the misogyny sometimes associated with rock and roll, STAND demonstrates their love and respect to the women in their lives with reverent odes to “Olivia” and the unnamed “She.”

“Nature My Mother” also pays respect to the feminine, speaking of environmental issues that are particularly relevant in light of events of January 2010 and as recent as 2 days prior to the record’s release. The elegy is a lament for the abuse suffered to the planet and also a warning that earthly retribution is imminent.

The socially-conscious band shakes a collective finger at society in the sardonic “Generation Me.” They don’t hold themselves above contempt, though, with lines like “my thousand unknown Facebook friends / only serve my means to an end.”

Fans looking for the signature STAND ballads will be appeased with the glowing coals of Doyle’s voice on “Nature My Mother” and the acoustic “Stuck in My Shoes.” Harmony vocals and Dowling’s whispering drums take this song to a new level of beauty, while David Walsh’s keys are the driving force in “Nature”.

The final analysis reveals a well thought-out disc that runs through entirely too quickly. All that in nine days? Imagine what they might have achieved if they had taken longer.

100,000 Ways to Harvest Hope was released on March 1, 2010, is now available worldwide on iTunes and all major music sites. Hard copies of the CD will be available in ALL major record stores in Ireland starting Friday, March 5.

STAND begins a promo tour of the northeastern U.S. on March 12 in Pittsburgh, PA, and hits five states in 16 days, including a stop at The Bowery Ballroom in New York with Roger Bryan and the Orphans and new Meteor-award winners, The Coronas.

Natalie Herman provides content for Paddy-Whacked Radio™ News

Copyright © 2010 Natalie Herman and Paddy-Whacked Radio™

By Natalie Herman

Kiernan McMullan, a Paddy-Whacked Radio™ staple, is currently touring the U.S. to promote his newly-released 6-song acoustic EP, The Best Part, recorded in California in the autumn of 2009. The Best Part is available from Kiernan’s website and from iTunes.

Kiernan’s tour has been arrested due to trouble with his van - his transmission has gone and is being repaired. Anyone wishing to pitch in a couple of dollars to help him get back on the road can do so at his website.

Kiernan was last week’s guest at The Irish Examiner’s feature, “At The Mike Stand,” by our friend Michael Fitzpatrick.

Past guests “At the Mike Stand” have included Niall Connolly, Andy Clayburn, Andy Clayburn, Michael Brunnock, Dan Donnolly, Neil and Alan from STAND, and yours truly.

This week’s guest is Last Days of Death Country’s Patrick O’Brien. He’s definitely one to watch for!

Natalie Herman provides content for Paddy-Whacked Radio™ News

Copyright © 2010 Natalie Herman and Paddy-Whacked Radio™

By Natalie Herman

• “Haiti Child” was written about a 22-day-old baby who was found alive buried beneath the rubble 7 days after the initial earthquake that claimed the lives of thousands of people from Haiti. It was written by Elaine Doonan on 26th January and performed live by Pete Fagan, Davey Cashin, Davey Long, and Tony Coy in KCLR Radio, Killkenny City, 28th January. The video of the live performance can be seen here.

  Doonan is seen here, performing the song live with Fagan and the rest at the Haiti fundraiser in Matt the Millers on January 28th, 2010.

  Fagan will be performing “Haiti Child” at the INEC Help for Haiti gig on Wednesday Feb 24th in Killarney. Also on the night will be Mary Black, Bagatelle, Dublin City Ramblers, Gavin Moore and Mickey Harte, also Seamus Begley & Friends. Another charity gig at McSorley’s in Killarney is scheduled for February 11 and Fagan and Doonan will be there to sing “Haiti Child.”

  Also on the morning of February 11, the song will be played on Tipp FM and the creators will be interviewed just after 9am on the Breakfast Bowl with Aaron Burchael.

  From their Facebook page: “all the proceeds including Cd sales, royalties and all other money’s made will go directly to Haven a charity set up to Build houses in Haiti. All the work put in so far has been completely voluntary”

• Andrew Handrick has donated his song, “Time” to a compilation entitled Songs for Haiti, expected to be released on February 14, 2010.

  Songs for Haiti (which has no affiliation with the New York fundraiser event of the same name) is a charity CD to be released via Melodic Revolution Records and will feature over 30 tracks from independent musicians to well-known musicians. In addition to Handrick, it will include tracks from the following:

  Acid Rain, A No Coast November, Al Stone, Alyshen, Andre Henriquez, , Behind The Sun, Cary Clouser, Chuck Eaton and Tina Romanius, David Kelly, Dynamo Bliss, Factory of Dreams, Ifsounds, IO Earth, Jason Bean, John Orr Franklin, J-Zohar, Katia Cadet, Lynn Jacobs, Madi Simmons, Phil Naro, One Night Stan, Riversea, Rough Silk, Terri Gary, Unitopia, & more.

  The CD will be available through CD Baby (who is donating $1 from each album sold from Jan 25 - Feb 13), Amazon, iTunes, and many other online digital distribution sites around the world. All proceeds from this album will be donated to charity to help those in need after the devastating 7.0 Earthquake in Haiti. Artwork for this release was created by world famous prog artist Ed Unitsky who has worked with The Flower Kings, Guy Manning and Unitopa among others

  “We are hoping to release Songs for Haiti on Valentines Day, what better gift then the gift of music while helping those in need.”

• The same folks who brought you the Talent for Haiti (Glen Hansard and Mark Geary) house party auction are continuing with that success because the need in Haiti is still so dire. Talent For Haiti Auction has listed numerous pieces of original art, jewelry, clothing, and more, all donated by people trying to help the cause. Go peruse the items and place your bid!

Natalie Herman provides content for Paddy-Whacked Radio™ News



Copyright © 2010 Natalie Herman and Paddy-Whacked Radio™

By Natalie Herman

There Are Debts is the latest release by David Hopkins. Hopkins, formerly of the band Lir, has put together yet another stunning CD. The subdued titular song is a duet with Damien Rice and features a mournful piano and a subtle brass arrangement.

Dutch songstress Laura Jansen (who toured with Joshua Radin in 2008), provides backing vocals on this and three other tracks. When she duets with Hopkins on the melancholy “Dublin,” we fully realize how beautifully-matched their voices are.

However, the star power on There Are Debts is not the most impressive thing about it; its value lies in the songs themselves. The songs refuse to follow a formula and each is exciting and addictive. The earnestness with which Hopkins delivers his lyrics - he is the sole songwriter on this disc - is as impressive as the cleverness of the lyrics themselves.

Immediately Hopkins grabs your attention with the confident, “I Want Your Love,” a rocking number that gives you a good indication of what the next forty minutes has in store. It makes a great first impression — one which doesn’t disappoint.

“God You’re Letting Me Down” stands out as the strongest song in all aspects: the lyrics are unflinchingly honest and address the desperation many feel when looking at the world today. (”Come on, you’re long overdue, give me some reason to trust you.”) In addition to being a superiorly-written song lyrically, the hook is gripping and the musical composition comes as close to a “perfect” song as I have heard in years. Gorgeous backing vocals and an overlapping chorus form a grand finish very fitting of this tune.

One would think that a song like that would be impossible to follow as a mid-disc track, but Hopkins is too quick to fall into that trap. The Caribbean rhythm of “Money” is fun and light-hearted while taking a pithy dig at materialism.

Hopkins himself is a gifted vocalist, but he has learned how to multiply the quality of that gift by employing many harmonies and backing vocals, like in the piano-driven “In the Country.”

“When I Was Young” is a feat of drumming excellence with an unintentional admonition: “when I was young I was told that my days were done / so I acted like someone who was no one / when I was young I was made to feel nothing / so I acted like someone who was nothing.”

It’s clear that writing is also a strong suit with Hopkins, and we get many fine examples of that on this disc. “Angels in the Satellites” has a jubilant chorus which is impossible to ignore, and the song is replete with unique and inventive similes which are a writer’s delight. The Who’s Pete Townshend calls him “a kick in the arse to his genre.”

As if to prove that Hopkins doesn’t take himself too seriously, the album closes with “Igloo”: a tongue-in-cheek love song. Well, Hopkins is correct in stating, “We are crazy, but no one’s perfect.”

With this disc, he comes close.

There Are Debts was released in September of 2009 and is available on iTunes, Amazon downloads, CD Baby, and other music retailers.

David Hopkins returns to New York in February for a gig at Rockwood Music Hall on February 24, 2010.

Natalie Herman provides content for Paddy-Whacked Radio™ News

Copyright © 2010 Natalie Herman and Paddy-Whacked Radio™