The Goo 1
Opinion DAN HEGARTY CHUBBY CAT Stop, Rewind, Chan
ge Sides The annual Eurosonic festival took place last month in the Dutch city of Groningen. It’s a festival that specialises in new music, and has hosted artists such as Dua Lipa, Fontaines D.C, Lykke Li, and Stormzy during the early stages of their careers. This year’s festival saw some memorable sets from English Teacher (whose debut album lands in April), Danish band PRISMA, and Brama from France. Of the Irish that I saw, Chubby Cat put on a stellar performance, as did The Love Buzz, CMAT, Yunè Pinku, YARD, Kingfishr, and Conchúr White. There was a real buzz about Chalk at the festival, along with Izzy & The Black Trees (Poland), University (UK) and Tramhaus (The Netherlands), of which one of the members was spotted wearing a t-shirt of another excellent band Gurriers. It’s great to see Gemma Hayes back with new material. Her latest track ‘Feed The Flames’ arrived last month, and is one of the tracks that will feature on her forthcoming album. Gemma will also be on an Irish tour in April and May. Pillow Queens and Melts have announced details of their respective forthcoming albums. Album number three from Pillow Queens ‘Name Your Sorrow’ will be released on April 19th. They’ll tour the UK in June, and will be back for a hometown headline show at The Iveagh Gardens on July 13. Field Theory is the title of Melts’ second album which is due for release on April 12th. Produced by Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox, it will arrive just under two weeks before the band kick off their UK and European tour. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to put the name Rocstrong in the same sentence as new music. The new single ‘Moon’ landed this month. The collaboration with Tolü Makay precedes the forthcoming album Road Trip FM. Lastly, ahead of their Vicar Street show next month, Casual Sex In The Cineplex by the Sultans Of Ping FC has been back on my radar. It has the songs, the attitude, and those other magic ingredients that have kept it sounding fresh after all these years. It was never all about one song, although ‘Where’s Me Jumper?’ did kick open the door for them. You can’t overlook ‘Karaoke Queen’, ‘Back In A Tracksuit’ and ‘Indeed You Are’ as they’re stunning album tracks. PAGE 30 MELTS ROCSTRONG AUTRE MONDE'S PADDY HANNA GEMMA HAYES PILLOW QUEENS