You may have heard in episode 58 (last week) of The London Ear that Ayala performed live in her studio for us. I finally got round to getting it online for you.
Ayala’s new single ‘This Year’ is available to buy on iTunes now. Thanks again to Ayala and her producer Juan for letting me into their studio and for chatting to me.
This was filmed by my phone. Not too bad eh?
December 4th 2012: Bruxelles: Dublin
Typical, just typical, you get to a venue for a much hyped band and your phone dies, this means you don’t get any photos or videos of Palma Violets.
Downstairs in Bruxelles, the crowd has already formed and been entertained by Gangs.The venue policy of not serving alcohol while the bands are performing means in-between acts the bar is bustling and smokers have vacated the premises. It doesn’t last long though, just before Palma Violets kick off, the venue is at capacity.
Palma Violets are fresh from their weekend at Other Voices and the choice of Bruxelles as a venue is an interesting one. It has more warmth and light than it’s northside rival, Academy 2 but it too suffers from a lack of stage, meaning the first couple of rows of the audience have prime location.
The band make their way to their instruments through the crowd and the youth appeal of this band is instantly apparent as they are greeted like heroes. Their sound lives somewhere between The Libertines and the post punk sound of The Vaccines.
While there’s nothing outstanding new about their sound, Palma Violets carry out their musical task with such vigor and passion, it’s hard not to take note. Sam Fryer’s garage rock vocals are helped along but the masses who sing along with every word. Bassist, Chilli Jesson, seems to have a desire to get close to every member of the audience, throughout the set, he darts from the stage to the centre of the assembled crowd, instigating moshes to his heart’s content. The pinnacle of the set is the ultra catchy ‘Best of Friends’ from earlier this year, deafening cheers from the audience show their approval. The night wouldn’t be done though, without some crowd surfing. Yes, downstairs in Bruxelles, Jesson is up to his old tricks, putting the heart crossways in the bouncer on duty, who he even manages to get to crack a smile.
Palma Violets have a hell of a lot of potential but perhaps need a little gentle hand of a producer to guide them in the right direction. If they can harness the passion and energy, these guys will definitely be ones to watch.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of popping down to Tower while The Walls were doing a little set, can’t call it an in-store cos it was outside! It was all in support of their new album ‘Stop The Lights’, which I’m loving! Here’s a couple of vids I shot on my little camera, there’s still more to go up.
I also had the chance to chat to Steve, really interesting guy, it will be on a radio show near you soon! (Hope I didn’t delay him too much.)
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from The Wombats. I knew some of their singles but after that I’d be at a loss, so March 20th in The Academy was going to be a little adventure.
The Minutes had the job to open for The Wombats, when I heard this, I was a little surprised, I would have presumed they would be a much heavier band. They opened with their new single ‘Black Keys’ and within minutes the Dublin three piece has stamped their authority on the stage. Big, brash, bold, contemporary with nod at old school garage rock.
Lead singer, Mark Austin says that he hopes the audience all went to Mass because ‘it’s Sunday’. Throughout the show he lets his wit shine with occasional little quirks but you can see he’s not up for bull$hit and is happier playing music. (more…)