www.musiclimerick.com

MORE acts have been added to the extensive bill at Indiepenence Fesival in Mitchlestown. British Sea Power and a Foals DJ set are booked for Indie12 happening on August 3-5 on Deer Farm in Mitchelstown, Cork.
British Sea Power have released 5 studio albums over their ten year career with all of them charting in the UK and 2008′s ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’ hitting the top ten. The Bacardi Oakheart Arena will host Horse Meat Disco and a DJ Set from Foals and a welcome return for Cork House legends Fish Go Deep.

Back in the day when the only plastic The Rubberbandits were wearing was on their backsides, Limerick’s original hip hop crew The Celtic Crew were in full effect. Long gone, but not forgotten they are about to make a return.
90’s trailblazers The Celtic Crew are back in business. The Celtic Crew formed in Limerick in 1992 and were probably the first rap outfit around these parts to make an impact. Remembered for tracks such as ‘Girl U R 2 Me’, ‘Limerick City’ and ‘The Irish Feeling’ The Celtic Crew backed by a live band shared stages with 90’s hitmakers from The House of Pain to Boyzone.

Now original members Niall O’Keeffe and Philip Scallon are putting the crew back together. Rehearsals have taken place and new recordings are imminent. Limerick Post had a chat with the duo on a break from editing and producing the Crew’s first video of new material with Leon Anderson and Jamie Bridgeman at The Learning Hub.
“I just woke up one morning and got it into my head, I must bring back The Celtic Crew” explained Niall O’Keeffe. Even though the crew had been consigned to history since ‘96 he says, “I was always writing hip hop and I knew I would go back to it sometime but just didn’t know when.”
Of the new material the first release will go live on YouTube very soon. Niall says, “We are going to release a track on the internet called ‘Down in the Deepest’. The track is about the planet. The planet is getting destroyed and we need to open our eyes to it. I know people have been on about this for years, but the more that we talk about it, the more people will listen and I’m trying to get Limerick people to hear about it.”
Niall told Limerick Post that the track is about, “Oil tycoons, multi national empires, with more money, more power than some governments and money grabbing, oil dealing, soul stealing, never healing, back stabbing, 2 faced rich son of a bitch politicians.”
Watch the new track from The Celtic Crew on www.musiclimerick.com and on YouTube. Follow the band’s progress on Facebook.com/celticcrew. A date for a live shows is not confirmed at time of going to press.

LEADING Armies is a new young Limerick band, engaged entirely in its own songwriting and music, that is flying high on the radar currently. On Thursday 26 it ws one of four competing bands in Dolan’s Support the Saw Doctors competition that the four play off live in front of judges and the jury of audience. [Up against Animal Beats, Black Road and Tractor Bomb, the final vote ultimately went to Animall Beats to support The Sawdoctor's Riverfest gig in the Milk Market's Big Top this Friday May 4].
Ents page with up with backing vocalist and keyboard player Conor Ryan for an insight into what else is hot to trot for the Leading Armies cavalry. First he insists in naming and crediting all band members;
“We have Glen Scully on vocals and guitar. He’s our front man and the songwriter. Glen’s way of writing is sitting on the can for as long as it takes until the melody and lyrics come out right. We only play our own works and have about 40 already – Glen wrote another two the other night and they are both bangers”.
Reader, ‘banger’ is good. ‘Dud’ is of course, bad but “we have not a dud song among our collection so far,” protests Conor. “We are getting terrific feedback on facebook Leading Armies and twitter”.
The line up is impressively musical and good with harmonies live, no slouching for this set of six completed by Cian Daly, bass; Mike Hogan, lead guitar and Noel Mooney on drums.
“See also website www.redbulldjamsessions.ie for our video which is rated No. 4 currently in a band competition. The winning band will get €10,000 worth of musical equipment and support, and a professionally produced music video will be shot of their performance. Also, there’s a chance to play live in the music festival in LIT this Thursday May 3 – Leading Armies are on at 4 in Millennium Theatre. There is music on all day and I know Animal Beats and Ergot Fire are scheduled too.”
Exhausting but fun. Parting company, Conor was off with the band to play support to the launch of Hip Neck Blues Collective EP at Bakers Place. Busy? Same man also has regular singing residencies with Jazzology in Cornstore on Friday nights, 10pm and on Sundays at 7.30pm in The Creamery Bunratty.
Back to the six-strong Leading Armies. Getting us in the mood for festivals on Friday May 4 for Riverfest, the band plays in The Big Top at Milk Market at 12.30pm and again on Sunday 6. Free gigs of original, mature harmonies and able musicians, so get there while it’s hot.

Limerick is to host its very first “Design Jam” this Saturday April 28. Design Jam Limerick is a one-day design session during which people will team up to tackle an engaging user experience challenge, namely, how to make Limerick become Fab City. User experience design is the practice of creating positive experiences of technology for people. Design Jams are being held internationally to promote the idea that technology has to be designed with a concern for positive user experience.
The event is organized by Daniel Beere and William Kennedy, both final year students in Digital Media Design at the University of Limerick. “Design Jam Limerick aims to get designers, developers, and members of the public together to learn and collaborate, while working on actual design problems” says Beere. “We are really excited to bring Design Jam to Limerick and about the great support we are getting from the local chapter of the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) and the department of Computer Science and Information Systems in UL”.
Design Jam Limerick will take place from 9:30am to 5:30pm, at the Strand Hotel. Participation is free for everybody, but requires ticket reservation via Eventbrite. More info at www.designjam.ie.

Chicago post-rock trio Russian Circles released ‘Empros’ the fourth LP last October. Taking to Chicago’s Phantom Manor studio once again with producer Brandon Curtis of The Secret Machines & Interpol, who also helmed the band’s previous album Geneva, Russian Circles set out to experiment with their sound in new ways that would still reflect their live sound. In so doing, the band reached a new creative apex in which each of the musicians, guitarist Mike Sullivan, drummer Dave Turncrantz and bassist Brian Cook impart a streamlined and intensified attack to their songs that pummels even as it shifts throughout a range of moods and tempos. Russian Circles brought skull-crushing anthemic riffs and stunning layers of industrial noise with support from Deafheaven and Shardborne in Dolan’s Warehouse on Friday

Dirty Diamonds are due back to where it all began! Having played their first gig together as Dirty Diamonds upstairs in Dolans in late 2009 it now back to Dolan’s that Dirty Diamonds will return to launch debut E.P. ‘Leaving Town’.
Dirty Diamonds will be playing some brand new material and what have become the mainstays of the band’s set from the very beginning. The door admission gets you a free copy of debut E.P. “Leaving Town” Dirty Diamonds play Dolan’s this Saturday April 28.

The Filthy Six bring their blend of soul jazz, funk and boogaloo to Limerick this weekend. The London outfit are showcasing their second release for Acid Jazz Records – ‘The Fox’. Featuring a stellar line-up of musicians who have graced the bands of Tom Jones, Dionne Warwick, Amy Winehouse, Jill Scott, Mark Ronson, Pee Wee Ellis and the James Taylor Quartet to name but a few. The rare chance to catch this exciting band outside of London means these gigs are not to be missed! The Filthy Six play Nancy Blakes this Thursday April 26.

Indiependence 2012 has announced a strong line-up for its annual music and arts festival in Deer Farm, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork on August 3, 4 & 5. 2manydjs, Beardyman, Maverick Sabre, Scroobius Pip, Feeder and LTJ Bukem join a growing Irish contingent at this year’s festival featuring Jape, The Minutes, Japanese Popstars, Delorentos, The Frank & Walters, Bressie, Royseven and Ham Sandwich. For more on Indiependence 2012 the website is www.indiependencefestival.com

Limerick Institute of Technology celebrates music next Thursday May 3 with the inaugural LIT Music Festival, hosted and run by staff and students of the Music Technology Programmes. A showcase for upcoming talent the event will feature six bands playing and DJs and producers will perform under the Macronite Colective banner.
As well as checking out the live shows participants at the event will gain a valuable insight into how the music industry works with a panel discussion entitled ‘Music and Copyright’ by representatives from IMRO, IRMA, RAAP and others.
LIT’s Music Day is open to members of the public as well as students and staff at LIT, this free event will also feature The LIT House Band performing Terry Riley’s seminal minimalist piece ‘In C’ as well as a set showcasing the talent of Sarah Thompson, winner of this year’s LITStar competition.
On the day expect to hear Ergot Fire, Neev Kennedy, Spud, Leading Armies, Macronite DJ Collective and Animal Beats.
This event is designed to cement the reputation of the Music Technology Programmes in
Limerick as a leading provider in Music Technology education at third level and encourage a greater interaction between the college and the music community of the city. Donagh O’Shea, programme leader for the Music Production Programme, told Limerick Post, “It’s a great chance for students to perform their work, listen to industry insiders and showcase their recorded albums. We really wanted to emphasise the link between the LIT Music Production courses and the wider Limerick Music Community”.
LIT Music Day happens on Thursday May 3.

Timetable for LIT Music Day
10:00 Macronite- intro slot
10:30 Spud with Seán Geraghty
11:00 Asia Awaits
11:40 Neev Kennedy
12:10 Ergot Fire
12:50 LIT House Band- In C
2:00 Copyright Licensing Panel

4:00 LIT House Band with Sarah Thompson
4:40 Leading Armies
5:15 Animal Beats
5:50 Macronite- main slot
8:00 Finish

Dublin based Tieranniesaur wowed the crowd at Bourkes last Thursday night (April 19) with the bass and drums of Ian McFarlane and Ruan Lovebeach keeping things very funky. Tieranniesaur began as a solo project of Annie Tierney of Yeh Deadlies and Chicks. Now the line-up has expanded to a six-piece that produced a debut record of cool Summer pop music on the Popical Island label that deserved its Choice Music Prize nomination this year. The self-titled debut album grooves with cool and catchy gems like ‘Here Be Monsters’ and ‘Sketch’ sounding like a cross between Tom Tom Club and Brazil’s CSS. For trivia fans, Annie’s brother is Mick Pyro, singer with Republic of Loose. Tonight in Bourke’s it is the turn of electro outfit Le Galaxie.