Crayonsmith, Drunken Boat, Squarehead, I heart the Monster Hero. 30th April (1 Viewer)

Dr_stanley

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Crayonsmith, Drunken Boat, Squarehead, I heart the Monster Hero.

30th April in the Lower Deck

6 Euro starting a 8.30

come along if you're free


Crayonsmith

Having played in various musical projects from a young age, in early 2004 Ciaran Smith began playing his own 4-track recorded songs live under the name ‘Crayonsmith’. Soon after, he asked close friends and local musicians Ronan Jackson and Ruadhan O' Meara to jump on board. With them, they brought bass, synthesizers, samplers, autoharp and live percussion/drums to the mix resulting in a fuller band sound.

After touring the songs for 2 years, in 2006 Crayonsmith self-released the lo-fi debut album, Stay Loose, featuring superb artwork by Mike Ahern of D.A.D.D.Y. to critical acclaim. Apart from small musical contributions from Ronan and Ruadhan (and some drums by ‘Goodtime’ John Cowhie), the album was primarily written and produced by Ciarán himself (with mixing help from Northstation’s Steve Fanagan) during 2005.

On hearing Stay Loose, American indie icon Mark Linkous personally asked Crayonsmith to open for Sparklehorse for 14 dates on their UK/Irish tour in October 2006. The album also secured Crayonsmith support slots with international acts like Quasi, Islands, Robin Guthrie (ex- Cocteau Twins), Juana Molina and Charlotte Hatherley (ex- Ash), as well as gigs with Irish bands such as The Chalets, Jape, The Redneck Manifesto and Giveamanakick. In February '07, Crayonsmith signed with long time friends Out On A Limb Records (who had previously released albums by givemanakick and Waiting Room) based on a mutual respect for each others work and ethos. Directly following this signing, Ciaran did a solo Crayonsmith tour of the US West Coast and Canada playing with likes of Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, Starfucker and Mt. Eerie.

On Ciaran’s return, the band reconvened and began work on the second album under the working title, White Wonder. This was to prove to be a more collaborative effort than its predecessor Stay Loose. Influenced by the US indie label Anticon, the band decided to compose their songs by combining sampled drums and sounds with live instrumentation. Crayonsmith enlisted the help of George Brennan (from dark instrumental hip-hop act Deep Burial) to help with beat production on the new songs. The finished beats were then taken to Experimental Audio Studio where Steve Shannon (of the electronic act Halfset) recorded all the instrumentation between July and November 2007. Between breaks in recording, Crayonsmith continued to tour Ireland and the UK, playing with some of their favourite bands including Caribou, Meneguar, Danielson Famile, Dan Deacon, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Loney Dear and Monade.

White Wonder was released on April 4th on Out On A Limb records with another fascinating artwork job by Mike Ahern. The album features catchy, punchy songs made up of sampled beats and drum machines combined with live drums, duelling vocals and vintage synthesizers, guitars, bass, autoharp, toy piano, percussion, classic harmonies, found sounds/samplers and headphone interplay. After their headline album release tour, Crayonsmith went on to play some Irish shows with Why?, Yeasayer and The Mae Shi before setting out on a 14 date US tour with Islands, fitting in extra gigs with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and All Girl Summer Fun Band around America. Returning home to play the Oxegen festival in July, Crayonsmith then completed a short German tour with Casiotone For The Painfully Alone and played dates around Ireland with Calvin Johnson and Trans Am, all the while continuously writing and playing new material.

They started 2009 with some shows in Ireland with Max Tundra and School of Seven Bells. In April, Ciaran met up again with old friend Casiotone For The Painfully Alone to open for him solo in Galway and Cork. August saw the band play two headline shows - Dublin with old Australian friends Pikelet (Evelyn from Baseball) and Extreme Wheeze (Joe from Alex and The Ramps) and Cork with good friend Magnet and Compass (Austin Brown ex-Why?)

For now, Ciaran is writing and demoing new material and playing solo shows with a synth and sampler set up as well as some acoustic shows. He recently played the Hefty Horse solo acoustic night with Goodtime John and Squarehead, opened for Phantogram and Benoit Pioulard in Berlin and supported Messiah J and The Expert in Dublin at the Richter Singles Club. He will play on the upcoming Out On A Limb records Irish tour in February to road test the new songs and will announce more live dates shortly.

http://www.myspace.com/crayonsmith

*****

Brian Walsh has been recording and writing music and lyrics for the last 13 years. The songs have carried varied influences, many are routed in folk and others in an alternative vein.

In 2007 Brian got together with Simon Brennan in Dublin and put together a mini-album. Hours were spent going through synth sounds and working around guitar lines and loops to create “Cut the Engines, Raise the Sails”. It was an outlet for guitar pieces that could not find a natural home, and was an experiment to see how folk and ambient sounds would work.

In January 2009 he began playing guitar with Dror Zur joining on drums. The new songs are reminiscent of American alternative bands such as Bedhead, New Year, Dirty Three, Pavement, SMOG, Neil Young, Wilco, Codeine, Jim O’Rourke, Built to Spill, Brian Eno, Yo La Tengo, M Ward and Joan of Arc.

By April 2009, the band had a set together and played everywhere the could with The Hollows, At Last An Atlas, Valerie Frances, Windings, Groom, Mumblin Deaf Ro, with heroes Joan of Arc and Love of Everything from Chicago and The Jimmy Cake. They’ve also played in Twisted Pepper and Roisin Dubh on a double headline tour with Autumn Owls in addition to slots in Anseo, Seomra Spraoi and Whelans.

Incorporating pre-recorded loops or samples made with guitars and harmonicas, electric guitar, drums and vocals Brian and Dror produce alternative folk with a willingness to experiment and surprise. Following the release of “Plumb the Depths” in November 2009 Shane joined the band on lead guitar. Filling out the sound and adding intricate guitar lines he has added a new dimension to the band who are increasing their intensity.

Drunken Boat are currently writing new songs for the follow up to “Plumb the Depths”.

Some reviews of Plumb the Depths:

Road Records: "… this is a much more intense listen compared to the very laid back sounds of the debut ep. its a collection of totally fuzzy post rock and slowcore sounds comparable at times to the meeting of slint and codeine. the album also has some beautifully rambling dirty three like passages with lots of looping intricate guitar action going on over almost jazz like brushed drum sounds."

harmlessnoise.wordpress.com "One of the loveliest albums to emerge in the late stages of 2009…Sailing into the broad unknown, this album is a complement to the experimental talent offered in works ofThe Jimmy Cake and Groom. It’s beautiful and poignant, doing so much for contemporary Irish which in less capable hands, often steers into the safe and homely coves of folk music."

Totally Dublin " … all ill-fitting line lengths and strange geographical metaphors. It's more than a little poetic…Add this to the growing list of Irish things to be excited about."

http://www.myspace.com/drunkenboattunes

****

http://www.myspace.com/squareheadmusic

****

I ♡ the Monster Hero
is an extendable & expandable one man band from Dublin,Ireland.

Dirty Artrock

Clean Psychpop

An eclectic mix of progressive pop, rock, folk, electronica & rhythm & blues

A psychedelic experience is characterized by the perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly ordinary fetters.

http://www.myspace.com/themonsterherolovesyou
 
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