Renowned for its’ eclectic bills and grass roots support on the circuit, De Barra’s in Clonakilty has long since established itself as an important stopping off point in West Cork for independent acts moving up the ladder. It’s been a favourite W&H haunt for the past few years and if it continues to put on line-ups as generous as this then we’re more than happy to stay put.
Tonight’s typically diverse bill brings three of Limerick’s best down the N20 for our appreciation. If THEME TUNE BOY may not yet be a household name, then you may know his alter ego Niall Quinn rather better as the drummer in veteran Indie quirksters The Hitchers. In his new guise, he’s released three ace EPS of idiosyncratic Punky Pop and tonight he shows what a natural he is standing centre stage.
Although he’s armed with merely a battered acoustic, woolly hat and combat jacket, Niall’s brilliantly off-centre wit and hilariously skewed worldview instantly eclipses the standard singers and strummers you’re often forced to sit through at the wrong end of the evening. Instead of the regular ‘sensitive’ singer/ songwriter fare, he’s a one-man Half Man Half Biscuit, writing songs about H.R Pufinstuf and black metal bands being photographed in graveyards - y’ know, the stuff that really matters. Perhaps his best of all is the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it ‘Rose’ (surely the best sub-1 minute break-up song this writer’s ever heard), but if you head over to Bandcamp you’ll discover there’s a lot more where that came from.
Niall stays on stage to play drums with Limerick singer/ songwriter MARK O’CONNOR who’s here in support of his new album ‘Espero.’ Once again, I ought to quantify that statement. O’Connor’s hardly yer average troubadour either. He wields a mean Les Paul, fronts a crunching power trio and lays into his set with the gusto of a man who’s been reviewed on page 37 of the current ‘Hot Press.’ Something he tells us just a few times too often.
Still, it’s hard not to have respect for a man who gets J. Mascis to appear on a track on his new record and said tune ‘Roll Back the Years’ certainly has bags of panache. Pile-driving anthem ‘Guilty’ is also memorable, although –like a good few of the songs – it’s hampered by O’Connor’s lacklustre voice. This defect is usually covered adroitly by the Hendrix-esque overload of his stinging lead guitar, but while talent’s clearly at work here, the results provoke admiration rather than love for this writer. Pass. For now at least.
I’ve no such reservations where WINDINGS are concerned, however. Each time I’ve seen them over the past year they’ve been revelatory and tonight they’ve again moved up a gear since I saw them at the Terminal Convention bash in March. Opening with the hard-hitting, swerving riff logic of the brand new ‘Alkaterian Are Alright’, they start like they mean to go on and proceed to treat us to an hour of stunningly inventive and highly individualistic Rock’n’Roll.
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Now a supremely confident and drilled five-man outfit, the sky is the limit for this band right now and they celebrate by concentrating primarily on their high-octane stuff tonight, mixing and matching the sonic thrills of the singles – ‘Brain Fluid’ and the ace ‘Embury Greenway’ – with a brace of impressive new material like the slow-burning ‘Cleaner’ and one whose title I didn’t catch but featured some great, Fugazi-style chugging guitar parts and lots of fine cowbell.
The main set culminates with a colossal version of ‘These Horses Also Ran’. Tenser than ever tonight, they wind its’ rhythmic pulse to almost breaking point before Steve Ryan and Liam Marley’s guitars finally deliver the payload. Following that takes some doing, but a rare encore of ‘Lil’ Hands’ allows us a brief glimpse into the gentle introspection they have also made their own, albeit with an additional shimmering Sonic Youth-style crescendo for good measure. It’s magnificent and the sound of an enormously talented band raising their personal bar once again.
Featuring three diverse but high-quality acts this proved to be yet another remarkable De Barra’s experience. It’s almost impossible to open a newspaper or turn on the TV without hearing about impending economic doom these days, but at least it seems the Irish underground scene remains rich in talent. Surely we need to celebrate that more than ever right now.
Theme Tune Boy at Bandcamp
Mark O'Connor on MySpace
Windings online
Out on a Limb Records
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