IN STORES NOW#60: Tim Wheeler & Emmy The Great
In Stores Now is 60 today – for nearly two years now we’ve brought you this innovative acoustic series, where the premise is we film bands playing off the stage and in kitchens, shops and alleyways around Ireland. Bands play out of their comfort zones, stripped down and with whatever they have to hand to play with. Some bands shine, others fall flat but we film them anyway – that’s the beauty of this wild experiment. It’s been loud, it’s been quiet, it’s been sacred it’s been profane, but it’s always, always, been a great laugh.
We’ve always brought you the best new music from Ireland north & south, and on our 50th episode we brought you something rather special by bringing you an artist we considered to be a pretty big deal.
But now the series is officially 60 episodes old, and to celebrate, we’ve gone up a notch. From Downpatrick, here is the amazing Tim Wheeler (from a band called Ash) and, from London, the amazing Emma-Lee Moss (also called Emmy The Great), performing a Sleater-Kinney cover in Tim’s mum’s kitchen. Now you don’t see that everyday (unless you’re a bandwidth subscriber of course).
Dub-Shit
Definitely my favourite month.
You may have been wondering what happened to Will and me. Or you may not, how the fuck would I know? The point is I’m going to tell you.
After a well deserved Christmas break I returned to the Bandwidth building bright and early on the January 1st with a spring in my step. I had been meaning to see a doctor about it, but what with being drunk for an entire month I just hadn’t gotten round to it. It appears to have been a psychosomatic issue, because what I found at HQ (that’s right, we use professional-sounding lingo) destroyed my mood worse than a badly timed shot of Ron Jeremy’s O-face in a cheap porno, and my tottering short person walk returned almost immediately. The place was a shit tip. Smashed windows covered with cardboard, the unmistakeable stench of a backed up toilet, rats building little houses out of discarded syringes, and by far the worst of all, Michael Barrymore appeared to be squatting there.
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BANDWIDTH CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: Feet For Wings
A very happy Christmas from Bandwidth and Feet For Wings. An extra special thank you to everyone who gave to the BandwidthAid event in Summer 2011 – your deep hearted generosity helped us to keep going and growing stronger.
Thank you and Merry Christmas.
IN STORES NOW#59: The Jepettos
Michael and Ruth Elizabeth Aicken are, along with a few friends, The Jepettos. They invited me to their house on a cold November evening in Belfast to play some songs for me. The result was catchy and wonderful.
Check out The Jepettos on bandcamp.
Hilden Ale & Music Festival 2011
It’s winter now, nearly Christmas – but if you miss the summer, then here’s a little lightener for you.
Back in the heady days of August 2011, I was asked to film at the Hilden Ale & Music Festival. Organised by a local independent brewery, one of the last in Ireland, it was something which had passed me by in previous years – but when I learned the line up included Farriers, Paul Shevlin, Aaron Shanley, Sons Of Caliber and the-newly-renamed Runaway Go – I was on it like a tramp on chips.
Piss up in brewery you say? Sure ok. Here’s the highlights:
Playlist:
1- Sons Of Caliber
2- Runaway Go
3- Paul Shevlin
4- Lee Hedley Band
5- Junior Johnson
6- The Inishowen Gospel Choir
7- Farriers
8- Clown Parlour
9- Aaron Shanley
The Greatest Story Ever Told (About Contraceptives)
- Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe. Or, all I really want for Christmas.
[Editor's Note: This was supposed to be a review of the last week's Electric Six gig. The following is what Ian turned in. When questioned about it his only response was, 'Fuck that noise,' in what we think was supposed to be a Kenny Powers impression.]
I was on the can when the inspiration for this article hit me. There was a condom machine just outside the stall I was using, and with no reading materials to hand, I had begun pondering it. The machine advertised three condoms for three pounds. What struck me as unusual about it was that it dispensed a pack of three different kinds. A regular old rubber Johnny, an ultra-fine, and a ribbed-for-her-pleasure. Surely for most people this is just plain inconvenient. Surely anyone who needs a condom has a preference, which means two out of those three aren’t going to be exactly what they wanted. I, for example, would have no use for anything other than the regular one. I am a meat and potatoes kinda guy, you see. And when you’re fucking a plate of meat and potatoes the ultra-fine ones have a tendency to rip, and the ribbed ones just become clogged with food, which defeats the whole purpose. I jest, of course. I have never been able to persuade a plate of food to sleep with me, even after adding liberal amounts of wine during cooking. I came close once, but the bitch tricked me by asking for oral first. By the time I realised my error I had scoffed the lot, leaving nothing but a gravy slicked plate. What was I talking about again? I was going somewhere with this…
Hallowe’en Hoedown
Bandwidth was invited down to Communion Records Hallowe’en Hoedown at the beginning of this month. Held as a part of Belfast Music week, and the MTV EMA Awards in Belfast, it featured Foy Vance 6 support acts. Here’s a personal, Foy Vance performing backstage, and onstage for camera:
Have a look at the playlist below watch all 10 videos, including performances from The Lowly Knights, Katie & The Carnival, Southern, Captain Cameron, Ben Glover & Anthony Toner and Rams’ Pocket Radio
[Download all 10 videos for ipod] – zip, m4v files, 672MB
Silences 
The Lost Brothers 
Ash 
Delorentos 
I’ve Been Taken 
This Ain’t A Hold Up 
The Dark Knight Rises, But Then So Does Hot Air. 
I Don’t Know 
