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Lost in Translation

I picked up the phone and texted ‘Hey you! Welcome back! Fancy going to the Barenaked Ladies tonight?’.

My Russian buddy, IT, had been back in Moscow for the summer. It was now September and university was about to start up again. This was a time when I wrote lots of music reviews and that particular Sunday night, I was to review a show by the Canadian band in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre.

Sometimes there are perks to things like this, getting to see decent gigs and the treasured +1 on the guest list. My OH, Tahlulah, (who also likes to call herself my subeditor – I wonder if she’ll leave this in?) couldn’t make the gig that night so I thought I’d phone a friend.

IT replied ‘Yes! What time do we need to leave at? I’ll meet you at the bus stop’. We meet and chat, I get all the news about loves, losses and life in Moscow.

Jumping off the bus at Trinity College, the city centre is bustling with the return of the culchies (country folk who go home at weekends to their Mammies) and cases being dragged along the street.

We walk along the south side of Dame Street, the opposite side from the Central Bank. We chat as we pass pubs and a couple of basement gentleman’s clubs. The red man is out, we stand at the traffic lights waiting for our turn to cross. The lights beep, the red man turns green and we cross the road.

As we reach the other side, IT asks ‘Nessy, where are we going ?’. I signal towards The Olympia, visible two minutes walk away.

‘Oh!’, IT says with a slight surprised but definite disappointment in his voice. ‘You said Talulah was away’. Pointing towards a gentleman’s club he says ‘I thought we were going to see bare naked ladies’.

You can read my review of the night on Goldenplec

Barenaked Ladies photo taken from their website

June 19, 2015
The London Ear on RTE 2XM // Show 83 // June 17 2015

Show 83 and I was delighted to be able to catch up with Hannah Schneider for the show, just before she performed at St. Pancras’ Old Church in London. Such a talented lady and I really enjoyed our chat.

Here’s what happened:

1. The London Ear Intro
2. Clean Cut Kid: Vitamin C
3. I’m Your Vinyl: Erase Me
4. Maverick Sabre: Walk into the Sun
5. Oh Sister: For The Dales
6. The Walking Who: My Future Wife
7. Holy 57: Island Kids
8. Avec Sans: Resonate
9. August Wells: Here In The Wild
10. Hannah Schneider:Dreaming Kind
11. Chat with Hannah Schneider
12. Hannah Schneider: Weightless
13. The Riptide Movement: Animal
14. The Strypes: Get Into It

Thanks for listening, The London Ear is broadcast every Wednesday and repeated every Sunday night at 9pm. It’s broadcast on DAB radio, UPC Channel 944, Saorview and outside Ireland you can listen online.You can listen to the show again on the RTE player. You can also listen to the show on mixcloud or in the widget below.

The London Ear on RTE 2XM // Show 83 // Jun 17 2015 by Nessy on Mixcloud

Pic of Hannah from here

June 19, 2015
Watch // Greg Holden // Boys in The Street

It’s almost a month since Ireland voted for marriage equality, becoming the first country in the world to do so by popular vote.

On a weekend, when happiness and being out and proud reigned, it was and still easy to forget those who don’t have the backing and support of loved ones.

The first step is always the hardest, telling friends and family, admitting who you really are. But, at the same time trying and hoping that these people will still see that you are you. You’re not solely defined by who you love.

It can be hard for families, especially parents, they all have hopes and dreams for us and no doubt worry about us. Besides wondering what the neighbours might think, they want life to be easy for us.They as we do want to be able to live our lives to the fullest, to the best of our abilities and not be hindered by who we love.

The new single from Greg Holden, Boys in the Street, beautifully captures the lifelong relationship between a father and his gay son. And while the song itself is a really beautiful musical piece, with touching lyrical content, backed with the sparse but intimate delivery of vocals and guitar, the video takes it to another level.

If you’re gay, you’ve probably had the coming out chat around the kitchen table, be it with your friends or family. This becomes the central focus of the video, with mannequins used in place of father and son figures.

While this may seem to dehumanise the story at first, it actually makes it a more universal symbol as no colour or race are represented. Its effects us all. Major kudos to the production company Steam Motion and Sound and Director, Brett Sullivan.

Boys in The Street is taken from the album, ‘Chase The Sun’, which was released by Warner Records. Greg Holden is originally from the UK, born in Scotland and grew up in England but has made New York his home. Fans of Sons of Anarchy (Hands up – me!) will know his song ‘The Lost Boy’ from the show

Boys in the Street is a beautiful combination of song and video goes beyond clever marketing. It makes you think, it makes you feel.

June 17, 2015
Review // Hannah Schneider // Live at St Pancras Old Church, London

Hannah Schneider, St Pancras Old Church, London, June 11 2015

St Pancras Old Church always looks beautiful, whether it be in the depths of winter and you’re lining up in the cold outside or, if like today, it’s a beautiful summer’s evening. But the fading orange light during the summer gives a very different vibe to the full darkness illuminated only with street lamps of winter.

Inside, the light spills across the empty floor. All the chairs have been removed except for some placed along the walls and some lit candles add to the vibe. People are chatting and smoking outside in the sunshine but when Hannah Schneider takes to the stage / altar, they quickly pile in.

Hannah is on tour in support of her third album, ‘Red Lines‘, her first to get a proper release in the UK and this is final date of her tour. Red Lines is a well produced album, with full sounding pop songs. Tonight, however, Hannah is playing solo using 2 vocal microphones, a keyboard and enough loop and effects pedals that many guitarists would kill for.

When an album sounds as lush as Red Lines, it can be hard to even come close to that sound. Schneider cleverly builds each song with layers of samples and vocals, giving new life to the songs. Watching Hannah piece each song together is hypnotic and by the end of the opening track ‘For The Trees’, there are murmurs from the attentive audience noting just how good Schneider is.

Schneider easily makes friends with the crowd with her in between song banter. She describes ‘Dreaming Kind’ as a football anthem for sensitive types. She claims that she’s touring solo due to the economic crisis. Then as she produces an electric ukulele to play ‘Life is Easy’, she tells of how her friends asked why she couldn’t just play a guitar ‘like a normal person’, which raises a laugh.

She finishes off her set with two tracks from her self titled first album. When the bass kicks in in ‘This is Goodbye’, it makes a security light rattle in the fourth century church. ‘Raindrops’, the final song of the evening fills the holy place with beats, bass sounds and layered harmonised vocals, everything perfectly in place, finished off with the addition of a stylophone.

A really good performance from Hannah, a nice introduction to her catalogue of music and going on the audience reaction, new fans gained. If anything, she should have had a longer set. But you know the saying ‘Leave them wanting more’, yeap, she did that.

June 17, 2015