Christmas is just around the corner, it is almost time to get those silly Christmas jumpers out of the closet, the festive season would not be the same without Irelands biggest independent instrumental post rock group And So I Watch You From Afar.
And So I Watch You From Afar come to Castlebar for the Christmas holiday season on Wednesday December 28, where they will be taking to the stage at Castlebar’s new independent music venue the clubhouse in Castlebar Celtic. Also on the bill will be Toby Kaar, Shardborne, Race The Flux, and Music For Dead Birds.
ASIWYFA (to their loyal fans ) have been touring around Europe for the past six months promoting their recent album. The band signed to The Richter Collective label, home to such acts as Adebisi Shank, The Redneck Manifesto, and Not Squares in 2010.
Known for their unrelenting tours that has seen them play more than 500 gigs since the start of 2009, Belfast’s And So I Watch You From Afar don’t know how to take a break. From appearances at SXSW, Eurosonic, Electric Picnic, Novarock, Canadian Music Fest, Popkomm, Pukkelpop, Sonisphere, to tour dates in Europe, North America, Russia, and a support slot for rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, the instrumental band have been on the road playing music non-stop since the release of their fan-stirring debut self-titled album.
In between, the band were nominated for a Choice Music Prize for Irish Album Of The Year and XFM’s New Music Album Of The Year, released The Letters EP in February 2010, and a stop-gap tour single ‘Straight Through The Sun’ in November 2010.
It is a small wonder then that the band actually managed to record their highly-charged second album Gangs at all with that punishing schedule. It was recorded on weekdays between festival appearances over the summer of 2010 during July and August in Start Together Studios, Belfast, with producer Rocky O’Reilly and the help of a young technician by the name of Lee McMahon.
As a result, Gangs is the band’s most cohesive record, a 44 minute, eight song, unyielding document of the band’s last two years playing together told through ironclad guitar riffs and colossal yet increasingly subtle rhythms. “We had a far broader experience of things,” says Rory. “We really wanted to try and get it on the record, which sounds weird because we’re an instrumental band, but there are songs on there that we specifically wrote to try and capture the vibe of new and meaningful things that we’ve all experienced.”
Shardborne
Support on the night comes from one of Limerick’s finest rock bands right now, Shardborne.
Shardborne are a progressive/technical instrumental rock band hailing from Limerick, originally formed in October 2004 by brothers Eoin and Ciaran Culhane with Ben Wanders. Holding a regular vocalist proved difficult, so the band eventually settled as an instrumental act with Cormac O’Farrell rounding out the line-up for the release of their debut Aeonian Sequence EP in April of this year.
Upon first listen to the EP it becomes very obvious that the band have put a lot of time and effort into the writing and recording. The musicianship from all four members is fantastic. At times it just seems effortless for them with some understated emotive passages quickly followed by more aggressive or technical sections. Shardborne are becoming one of the fastest rising rock acts in Ireland right now and are not to be missed on the night. And the live music does not end here.
Music for Dead Birds
Music for Dead Birds have just released their new album titled The Pope’s Sister which is now available through iTunes and bandcamp, and will also be playing support on the night along with Toby Kaar and Race the Flux.
So why not get your rock n roll jumpers on and make your way to the clubhouse in Castlebar Celtic on Wednesday December 28 for the hottest ticket in Castlebar town over the Christmas period as Live n Loud presents a very merry Christmas with And So I Watch You From Afar.
Tickets are on sale now and are available through Downtown Records in Castlebar and Westport. For booking info call (094 )90 22312. Watch out for upcoming 2012 shows at the clubhouse in the coming weeks.
