RRRrrrrrroooooBOTNIK!!
Robotnik a.k.a. Chris Morrin has joined us on the indie hour a few times over the last three years. In that time, we’ve seen him change from a rather earnest singer-songwriter to the energetic, checkered-pants wearing stage pixie that he is today. I’ve been a fan of Robotnik’s music in all its forms, and am a huge fan of his live show – one of the best performances being in the Speigletent at last year’s Fringe Festival (despite the fact that the organisers cut his show short and closed the bar at half 9 – the feckers!). We were delighted to have him back on the show Thursday April 12th.
The Lovely Mary Healy is with us once more, providing us with her informative gig guide, as well trying to politely rejecting the romantic advances of Robotnik throughout the show. Also on the show we listened to Joanna Newsom’s ‘Emily’ from Ys, Super Extra Bonus Party’s ‘Dronerock’ from their eponymously titled debut album, and the nialler9 recommended track The Vinny Club’s ‘It’s Not You, It’s Of.’
Download away and find out how Chris may find Jesus in a prison cell in 2027. And also find out that aoife mc blatantly hasn’t been to Mass in the last decade at least. Bold!
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Super Extra Bonus Party
Super Extra Bonus Party. A bunch of messers. They are in fact, one of my favourite Irish bands, and have proved themselves to be heavyweight contenders with the recent release of their debut album. This was also a repeat visit to the indie hour, as the boys had come down in October 2006, when their tracks were still in the demo stages.
This show is one of my favourites of recent times, because I totally lost the plot more than once. It should be noted that Super Extra Bonus Party is made up of some rather funny individuals. At the very beginning of the show, before I even introduce the band, bass player Stephen Fahey made me laugh during the nialler9 recommends segment. Basically, the studio is split in two, with one room for myself and Mary and the desk, and another room for the bands to be interviewed in, with a window seperating the two. Does that make sense? Anyway, during the link where I’m introducing the nialler9 track, Stephen Fatz Fahey walked across the window with a sign on a4 paper in his hand. I couldn’t even read what it said, but I think it was just the potential of what it could have said is what made me laugh so much.
By the end of the show, the lads finished up by, without even saying goodbye really, simultaneously standing up, whipping off their T-shirts and waving them around their heads Full Monty style. It made for good radio. So the rustling and giggling at the end of the show? That’s Super Extra Bonus Party giving it socks without their shirts. Hilarious.
Also on this show we hear Jenny Lewis’ ‘Rise Up With Fists’ from her debut album Rabbit Fur Coat, ‘Burning’ from The Gorgeous Colours, ‘Cinnte’ from Nouveau Noise, as well as The Lovely Mary Healy with the gig guide.
Enjoy.
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Straglers
Straglers visited us on the indie hour on Thursday 29th of March 2007, and it was the second time they came down to the show, the first being in late summer of 2006. I had gotten in touch with them, like the majority of our guests, through myspace, which, incidentally, had a huge impact on the show. Through myspace I was able to find and get in touch with bands that I didn’t even know existed in Ireland. It broadened the musical output of the show, and I think that in the last 12 months, perhaps more so than the last three years since we started broadcasting, we’ve been given a broader insight into the different experiences and outlooks of musicians operating in Ireland.
Anyway – enough waffling. Straglers came to my attention via myspace and I loved their stuff. Collie and James came back in March this year with Bongo, their new drummer, in tow, and let us know how they had been getting on since their last visit, as well as giving us a sneak preview of some of their new material.
Also on this show The Lovely Mary Healy joins us – as she does weekly – for the gig guide (now, sadly, out of date!), we heard ‘Someone Great’ from LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver – love that song – we also listened to the original Dalkey girl Jenny Lindfors’ ‘Let the Seas Calm’ from her album When the Night Time Comes, Twin Kranes’ single ‘Being Kong’, and Deerhoof’s ‘Perfect Me’ as recommended by nialler9, and finished the show with Robotnik’s ‘Super Duper Scientific Experiment’.
Go on. Have a listen.
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We’re live on air..
Good evening, you’re listening to the indie hour…is what I (Aoife Mc – hi there, how ya doin, hello) usually say every Thursday night from 9pm to 10pm on 103.2 Dublin City’s Anna Livia fm. The indie hour has been broadcasting on the community special interest station in Dublin for nearly three years (fucking hell! we’re getting old etc). In that time, we’ve had the pleasure of talking to some of the best in up and coming, independent and undependent Irish acts, such as Miriam Ingram, Channel One, Noise Control, Super Extra Bonus Party, Jenny Lindfors, The Happy Gang, Gavin Glass, Straglers, Jinx Lennon, Robotnik, Michael Knight, Julie Feeney, The Camembert Quartert, Tadhg Cooke, The Mighty Stef, and many, many more. Without concentrating on any one genre of music, we like to highlight a different group every week, sit them down in our Anna Livia studios with a cuppa and have a good old chinwag about their music, the scene, the industry, and all the rest. The lovely Mary Healy provides an informative gig guide, as well as stealing the hearts of many a male guest on the show – most notably Robotnik, who recently proposed to her live on air. She said no.
I was inspired by T-woc, who has a dubstep, grime and reggae programme on Radio na Life 106.4fm, who makes his programme available for download. *Ding!* went my internal hard-drive. I have always wanted more people to hear the show – I reckon that there are people who would be genuinely interested in hearing the bands on the indie hour but are not inclined to listen to the radio. And so, I decided that I would create the indie hour podcast. I say create – really what I will be doing on this blog will be making the indie hour shows available after every week’s show in a podcast format. Huzzah!
And so, my dears – I will start with the shows from the last three weeks: Straglers on the 29th of March, Super Extra Bonus Party on the 5th of April, and Robotnik on the 12th of April. Do leave a comment and let us know what you think. And do go to the bands’ pages via the links on this page. It wouldn’t be possible for me to have a show like the indie hour if the quality of music being made by independent bands in Ireland wasn’t as high as it is. I am very proud to play a part, however small, in promoting the hard work, passion and music of these bands, and I’m delighted that perhaps, via the internet, that more people will be able to hear even just a small percentage of some of the great bands that are operating in Ireland at the moment. Long may it continue! Blub!
The Indie Hour 