by Eric FitzGerald
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FIVE Limerick bands will play an all-ages show live in Dolan’s Warehouse this Sunday August 16. Established Limerick bands Windings and Protobaby will be joined by three up and coming acts: Little Tents, Monday Villains and Locke & Quay.
Winding’s Stephen Ryan told Limerick Post, “We’re excited about playing with all these bands. Some of us in Windings and Protobaby work with Music Generation LK. We’ve been lucky enough to work with some seriously talented young bands. Locke & Quay, Monday Villains and Little Tents are three in particular who are doing their own things musically, booking their own shows, recording, and generally putting in the graft in an impressive way.”
Windings were Choice Music Prize nominees for their album ‘I Am Not The Crow’ in 2013.
The band recently demoed tracks for their upcoming full album recording which happens from next week. After a whirlwind year of gigs since the Choice nomination, Windings have spent the last few months writing and rehearsing, popping up for a gig once or twice only.
The new album will take Windings in a new direction, as with all their albums.
“I guess I’m concentrating a bit more on the lyrics on this album. Sometimes they’ve been kind of secondary to me to be honest, so this time round they’re as important to me as the music,” says the Windings main songwriter.
Windings will be playing a lot of this recent material at Sunday’s gig to see how the new stuff goes down.
Protobaby have built up a large following since the release of the debut album ‘Sparks’. The band has played shows in the UK and Poland and have a new EP just about ready to go.
“The new EP has five tracks on it and some are very different for us,” says Tony Monahan, guitarist with Protobaby who also produced the EP.
“There’s a track called ‘Popstars’ that I’m really excited about. There’s a track called ‘Curiosity’ which is probably the closest to ‘The Spark’ type sound but with some new elements. Another edgier type song is ‘Wipe the Slate Clean’. Loads of fuzz bass! It’s our first vinyl release so we’re all really excited by that!”
Tony is also working with Music Generation LK and has first hand experience of what new music is coming through in the city.
“I think we are definitely on the cusp of something special in Limerick. I’m astounded by the talent I see at the Music Gen sessions. What Music Generation Limerick does is help to bring this talent together, help them work/write together and get them out gigging. Two of the bands were formed at Music Generation sessions, Locke & Quay and Little Tents. Monday Villains formed themselves but took part in Music Gen rehearsals and gigs. All three are now proper gigging bands and will certainly give us a run for our money on Sunday August 16.”
The all ages show starts at 3pm, tickets are only a fiver for a chance for everybody, no ID required, to hear some of the best bands in Limerick right now. As Steve Ryan concludes, “It’s All-Ages, so folks can bring their Mams, Grandads, little brothers and sisters, and even their weirdo younger cousins!”
Windings, Protobaby, Little Tents, Monday Villains and Locke & Quay play Dolan’s Warehouse this Sunday August 16.
Little Tents
LITTLE Tents was formed within the Music Generation project and met and played for U2 guitarist The Edge, and performed at Limerick Milk Market and The Spiegeltent this year. Featuring Laura (Acoustic Guitar/ Vocals), Gill (Vocals/ Harmony), Aoife (Bass/ Vocals), Cian (Lead Guitar),
Conor (Drums/ Percussion). At the recent Irish Youth Music Awards, Laura Duff from the band won the best songwriting award and ‘Little Tents’ came second in the group awards.
Monday Villains
MONDAY Villains have a simple formula. “We rock and we roll and then we repeat”, say Emmett Ryan (Vocals/ Guitar), Fionan Coughlan (Bass), Paul Breen (Drums), Dylan Flynn (Guitar). A quote from Nick Cave on their blurb tells us, “Monday Villains? Well before them it was all just tuning up”.
Judging by the spiky punk rush of ‘Soapbar’, the Monday Villains first single, out now, the band is well able to walk the talk.
Locke & Quay
LOCKE & Quay came together in 2014. Creating their indie pop sound is Laura Drennan (Drums), Aoibhinn Noonan (Vocals, Bass), Cian Smith (Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Bass, Ukulele), Jacob Adams (Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Bass), Dylan Murphy (Lead Guitar).
Nobody in Locke & Quay wanted to be the “bass player” so they developed the “Rotating Bass System”. Now the group toss the bass guitar around between songs and take turns.
