Kodaline, getting the bejaysus kicked outta them..

Those every prolific and great lads in Kodaline have been steadily gaining epic momentum internationally, from getting their song synced in Greys Anatomy to Plays across BBC in the UK.  They Sold out three Olympia Theatre dates in Dublin, racked up millions of views on their videos to date and if you’ve been following their recent US tour, they are trying to write a song for every town they are playing in!

Check out Ste getting the bejaysus kicked outta him on their video shoot for the latest song they are releasing which is the third track on their forthcoming album in June called ‘In A Perfect World’. If nothing else this video shows us Ste can take a fair aul beating...

Check out the video below.

A little chat with Senakah front man Rob Hope ahead of their album release.

We recently spoke to front man Rob Hope from Irish Band Senakah who will be releasing their new album HUMAN RELATIONS on May 17th. Which we will be reviewing nearer to the release date. From what we can gather from their new Double A below, its looking like its going to be a cracker.

You can check out their new double A Single below:

QUESTIONS; 

Who are your heroes?

Anybody who has ever helped me and neither expected or asked for anything in return.

What song would you like played at your funeral?

'Tango till they're sore' by Tom Waits

Names 3 records that sends a shiver down your spine?

'Raindogs' by Tom Waits, 'Adore' by The Smashing Pumpkins, 'Indianola Mississippi Seeds' by B.B. King

What is your most treasured possession?

My old acoustic guitar.

What makes you angry?

Complainers.

What book influenced you most?

'Going Solo' by Roald Dahl

Can you tell me a joke?

An man is driving across the golden gate bridge in 1969 and see's a hippy looking spaced out, dancing around and clicking his fingers at the bridge's edge. Concerned for the hippy's safety the man stops and asks what he is doing. The hippy replies "I'm scaring away the pink elephants man". The man say's "There are no pink elephants". The hippy replies "Yeah I know man, it works!"

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

When driving, assume that everybody else on the road is completely insane!

What do you see when you look in the mirror?

A classy mofo.

What is your favourite film and why?

The Big Lebowski. Don't know why, but it gets better after every watch, even after the 30th time.

What is your passion?

Creating new music.

What was your most formative experience?

Getting hit by a car.

What do you believe in?

Hard work and being genuinely nice to people, 'genuinely' being the operative word.

What is the funniest thing you’ve ever seen or heard when on the road?

Seeing a Marilyn Monroe lookalike and a dwarf in a clown outfit going at it on the street at Oktoberfest in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

What is your favourite word one-liner or retort?

Let's make like a shepherd and get the flock outta here.

What would your motto be?

Be brave.

Radio Active Grandma

The Radioactive Grandma (Johno Leader, Peter Donohue & Ben McCarthy) are an original alternative indie acoustic rock band from Co.Cavan, Ireland- originally hailing from Peterborough, (Cambridgeshire) UK, and Dublin Ireland. 


They have their own style of original energetic acoustic driven alternative pop/rock music using nothing more than 2 guitars and a box.


From opener "The Game" to choppy closer "The Walls Have Ears"; The Radioactive Grandma deliver songs using sparse instrumentation but with heaps of passion and ability. With brilliant stand out tracks like 'The Game' (has echoes of Bon Iver and The Travelling band, which by all means is a fine testament to this Irish outfit) to 'The Walls Have Ears' - the vocal harmonies quickly become the major hooks. 

Midway through and coming to the end, the album  keeps a steady solid flow with each track becoming an extension of the one before.

What The Radioactive Grandma sound like is the result of a chance meeting between Editors & The Frank & Walters, who hang out and decide to have one big acoustic jamming session. So for what it is: It's a stellar acoustic effort with very basic minimal instrumentation and production, that after a few listens begs for the repeat button on its stand out tracks. I do feel though, that it could've been a stellar-great-magnificent-who-the-hell-are-this-band!?- album, if it wasn't for the sparse production and overzealous repetition due to the 'two guitars and box' situation. (And if they left out that snappy cajun from some of the tracks- the album might have flowed better for me. It just got too much half way through). 

From track 2 to 5, Instrumentally speaking, the band rely too much on quick pro quo starts to the songs with snap shot muted guitar strum or bass note intros for most of the songs. In each case; the chord progression is implied with a non varied simplified structure comprising a combination of quickly strummed chords, single notes and palm muting. A bit of a change would have benefited and prevented the listener from drifting off. Percussion wise, I would have liked to hear some standard drumming in place, as opposed to the cajun throughout the whole record, which again gets very repetitive. (Literally most of the songs have the exact same intro; which gets immediately samey). For instance; I am a fan of Ryan Sheridan but what I don't like about his work is that is starts to get that 'Samey' feel to it. There is a slight case of it here. Having said that; it does work tremendously well with certain aspects of the record, such as the song highlighted at the beginning. 

Overall the album is a fine testament to what a couple of lads can do on what appears to have been a shoe string budget record, that might have been great had a high end production been within reach. So for what it is; it's got 2 or 3 stand out tracks that would appeal to the repeat button. I'd recommend you take a listen.

Download 'Another Wasted Line' for free here.

Check out the album here. Or listen below.