Waterford group Percolator came to Bar Ritz last Friday night as part of the ever-growing Finbar Hoban Presents… series with support from Black Robots. Since the show started nearly a year ago the series has seen each night represent a different theme in music, last Friday night saw a almost shoe gazing indie late eighties disco and early nineties grunge theme.
Black Robots is a two-piece formed almost over a year ago with Dean O’Sullivan on vocals and lead guitar, and Tony O’Keefe on drums. These two musicians had been in previous bands together such as Dinosaur Pet Shop.
Black Robots kicked off their set with ‘Call the Doctor’ and ‘Build Me Up’ right through to the unforgettable ‘I Don’t Get It’. The band’s no-frills rock ‘n’ roll grounded in simplicity caught the audience’s attention, while the noisy, very raw, rift driven, qualities of tracks like ‘Say it Again’ combined with the at times Beck-like vocals on tracks such as ‘Lipstick’. These guys definitely are a cut above the rest.
Headliners Percolator, an Irish three-piece from Waterford consisting of Ian Chestnutt on guitar and vocals, Jason Grant on bass, and Ellie Nero on drums, arrived on stage just after 11.45pm, the band sounding very much like nineties shoe-gazers My Bloody Valentine and Loveless Era. They played tracks from their soon to be released EP such as ‘Red Lemonade’, ‘Flicker’, and ‘Dishwasher’.
Percolator plan to head out on a nation-wide tour of Ireland in the next few weeks playing Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Galway, and Sligo.
DJ Finbar finished up the night playing tracks from Quentin Tarantinos excellent Death Proof soundtrack such as the Coasters’ ‘Down In Mexico’ and Otis Redding’s classic ‘Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay’.
For more information and photos of previous shows check out www.myspace/finbarhobanpresents com. Don’t forget the live entertainment continues at Mayo’s only alternative show, Bar Ritz Castlebar, as Finbar Hoban Presents… welcomes the return of The Rye coming soon, with instrumental rock group Adebisi Shank taking to the stage at Bar Ritz in June. Watch this space.
