Vernon Jane are set to bring their explosive live show to The Button Factory on Wednesday the 12th of December with support from Junior Brother, and special guest TBA.
The new single ‘Push Me’ displays Vernon Jane at their most visceral. The final single from their 2018 EP ‘The Dark Place’, ‘Push Me’ is an emotionally dense exploration of acceptance beyond betrayal, featuring a constant push and pull of tension and release to mirror that theme. Vernon Jane once again join forces with video producer DOCK for a striking and visually rich accompanying music video. The show will see Vernon Jane incorporating striking visual elements, working with ‘Imagery By Ro’ to express the emotions explored throughout the set. This will be Vernon Jane’s most immersive and intense performance since their inception.
London’s alt/rock band Cavey have released their new single ‘About To Start’ produced by Blaenavon’s Frank Wright.The four-piece consists of Luke Cave (Guitar, Vocals), Alexander Chalstrey (Piano, Organ, Rhodes), Chun-Ting “Refa” Wang (Upright Bass, Bass guitar) and Adrian Ortman (Drums). The band combines classic sounds and inventive songwriting to create their own brand of soulful, contemporary rock’n’roll.
‘About To Start’ is a bluesy, soul ballad which focuses on the unfulfilling side of life as a musician. This passionate number swoons and pines over blues drenched guitar laments, jazz jangles on piano and a staggering drowsy rhythmic backbone. There is a vintage classic posture in this track as it glides with finesse and elegance, oozing a maturity and richness that is to be admired. Cavey have crafted this track beautifully as twinkling piano elements gracefully hop and bounce between wistful pines on guitar while Luke Cave mourns and coos passionately over this rich, vibrant and captivating backdrop. Filled with warm tones and sensual textures from the elastic bass lines this steamy, weepy track is a whisky soaked sob of emotional perfection.
We caught up with Bane Riff to talk about his new single ‘Out Of Our League’ and to get to know this new singer songwriter a little better.
Tell us about yourself?
Born and raised in Denmark, but always wanted to see the world, and at 18 I moved to the US for some time. Along the way I’ve been around the Netherlands and Switzerland as well. I’ve always been a free spirit and a bit of a rebel, always wanting to do the impossible…If someone said it couldn’t be done, I would want it even more. That’s how I came into running my own insurance company and partly why I’m now in the music business. The music takes up a lot of my time, but I do find time for hobbies such as hiking and keeping in shape in general.
You came from a background in the finance industry where you were running your own successful insurance business, what sparked your decision to leave all that behind and pursue a career in music?
Music has always been in my blood and I had a lifelong dream of being ‘the lead singer in a rock n roll band’, but truthfully, I never had the courage to pursue it. One day, not so long ago, I felt I had come to an impasse in my life and something needed to change. On the outside, I seemingly had it all, but I wasn’t happy and I spent quite some time figuring out why. In the end, music was what was in my heart and no matter the insecurity that came with it; I had to go for it. So, I mustered up the courage and took a leap of faith I guess.
Your friends and family must have thought you had gone crazy?
They thought I had gone mad, yes ha ha. It was quiet support, but I could see in their eyes the question “how could you leave the safe and secure existence of being a CEO?”. And on top in a industry that never runs out of money so to speak.It also cost a few relationships along the way, where I guess they identified me with being a certain person and when that person was gone, so were they. But hey, some lasts a chapter, some a page – life goes on.
Had you any involvement in the music industry or experience with writing or playing music before?
None, and I had no idea on how to even start or what would be my first step. I didn’t know anything about song writing, music composing, recording or the industry in general. But I knew what I wanted and I had a story to tell. So I set out to make music with substance that would bring emotions to the listener, to make music that made you wanna sing along. With that in mind, I put one foot in front of the other and off I went. In addition, I thought my journey would serve as inspiration to others to follow their own dreams, whether that be in music, finance, raising a family or something else. That’s actually what the title song of upcoming album ‘We Go Out’ is about – ‘follow your heart, let go of fear and control, take your hands off the wheel, put one on your heart and let life show you the way’. You might end up with exactly what you always didn’t know you wanted!
Were you nervous when you released your debut single Less Than Enough?
Very, ha ha! Writing a song from scratch, pouring your heart and soul into it and then giving it to the world, is an intimidating thing I can tell you. In so many jobs, in so many things and situations, there are things you can hide behind – with music you’re ‘naked’, nowhere to hide. So, it was an exciting day on this Friday in June, but when it ended at 2 in the morning, I was completely exhausted from all the excitement and tension. Fortunately, it was well received, got radio airplay and it is a favorite amongst the audience at live shows. Good for singing along!
Your style has a pop rock vibe with some country thrown in, does this reflect the music you like to listen to?
Funny you should say that, cause that’s actually what my producer said the first time he heard me sing. I don’t hear it myself, and I rarely listen to Country, only if it’s somehow played on the radio I’m listening to. I guess it’s just my voice, the way I sing and the fact that my songs have a story-line, which is not so common these days except in Country, Folk, Americana and the likes.
Talk us through your song writing process?
Usually I come up with a title and then a hook or even an entire chorus. I don’t know where it comes from, it sort of shows up out of the blue when I go for a run, work out, or just busy with something else. Then the real writing process start…I sit down and go to work, find the theme of the song (which of course is half done with having the title), the song path and I write a lot of raw material. Depending on the song, I do a lot of research as well, anything from places I write about; to human emotions and making sure the lyrics are in alignment with the song in general. So when it goes ‘tired of living life on the ground, I gotta get up off this runway’ as in Less Than Enough, the rest of the lyrics need to match that aerial/flying theme, which I think I succeeded with on that one!
How do you find the recording process ?
I love it! This is where your words come alive for the first time and you start to get an idea of what the end product will be. It’s countless hours in the studio. I mean it took us 18 months to record 9 songs, but I absolutely love it and we have a lot of fun. And you get to experience a lot of different emotions yourself, not only from the songs themselves, like I did with Out Of Our League, which at times was quite emotional to sing, cause it still hurt. But also, you’re working in close quarters with other people in a creative process…it’s great and most times a positive experience.
You have released your new single ‘Out Of Our League’ tell us about that track and how it came into fruition?
Well, this song basically wrote itself. This is a broken-heart song and it is one-to-one what happened, so it was more or less just telling the story. My ex-girlfriend and I split up and it wasn’t because of the lack of love. I guess you could say, that the idea of her and I was bigger than what we could handle. We wanted the relationship badly, but in our own way and in the end, too stubborn to compromise…the love was simply out of our league. There’s a lot of emotion in this song, which you can hear both in the lyrics and in my voice as well. I find that the song works great and it is well put together (thanks to my producer), and because of this, it’s one of my favorite songs. Great for live as well. It’s fairly easy to learn the chorus and to sing along to. However, it’s one of those songs when we play it live, you can see the audience quiet, listening, really feeling the song. When you write and make something like that, that’s all you can ask for.
There are some lovely guitar moments in your tracks ‘Out Of Our League’ in particular has a Bon Jovi- esque solo how do you come up with these?
Ha ha, I don’t know if it’s Bon Jovi-esque – I think it’s all Bane Riff! All credit goes to my producer Martin Daus on this one. Not only is he a seasoned producer, he’s also a guitar guru, ha-ha! He came up with it and played the solo in the studio. But I agree, it sounds very good, and to me it brings even more emotion to the song.
Do you find it easy to create the melodies for your tracks or is it quite the lengthy process?
Yes, very easy. Melodies come easy to me and sometimes even before I have a single word of the song. The second released single ‘Falling’ came about that way. I came home from the studio one day. We had just finished Less Than Enough, which was the first song done. I was happy and in a good mood, and all of a sudden out of the blue while cooking, came the chorus-melody. I was just humming it out loud feeling love, love that I had created something completely from scratch and my very first song (and also a little bit because I was having a teenage crush on this girl!. Out of those feelings came the words pouring out and I just started to write…ending up burning the food.
What is a live show with you like?
Live shows, they are what I wanted to do when starting making music. I like the writing process, I like being in the studio, but live is where I come alive! My music is made for live playing and I always have this in mind when writing songs, creating melodies, and often I even have a ‘stage-show’ in mind when I write a song. All goes into making sure that the people coming to our shows are getting more than what they expected. People should feel the show, not just hear it, whether it’s the power of We Go Out, the sing along on Less Than Enough, the happy feelings of love in Falling or the more straight from the heart feelings in Out Of Our League.
Is there a particular track you like to play live?
I like’em all for different reasons. For me, there’s a story to be told at a live show and the song order is no coincidence. It takes the audience through emotions, feelings, experiences and stories, and what isn’t said in the songs themselves, I narrate in between. I guess out of the released songs I like to play Less Than Enough. Of our unreleased songs, I would say ‘Grey Over Night’, cause it’s a beautiful song with a humoristic twist, or ‘Make Sense’ for the social importance it carries. Both will be released early next year.
What’s next for Bane Riff?
Well, it’s a process of milestones. First, writing songs, recording and releasing them, to performing live. We are building on that, but we are ready for the big break. At the moment I’m in talks with several different parties who might be able to assist opening up the very big door. We wanna go to the big arenas, we wanna reach a larger audience to share our music and hopefully start to make a living doing it as well. I’m writing a lot of new material too. I guess I have about 20 songs eligible for studio recording, enough to keep us busy for the next couple of years.
Formed by brothers Mike (lead vocals/guitars) and Eric Walsh (drums), Dublin based Drop The Shadow have just released their debut single ‘Break The Fall’.Joined by Sean Carey on bass, the band draw inspiration from the sounds of Alt rock to folk & everywhere in between.
‘Break The Fall’ is an impressively mature number brimming with slinky guitar lines, steamy bass grooves and a solid drum progression. This track glides effortlessly through a smooth suave melody as raspy soul filled vocals coo and soar over slick guitar licks with a sweltering country hue and elastic bass rumbles. Building into a whopping silky turbo banger this charming number seeps and oozes swanky swagger as the glossy guitar evaporates off the luscious rock melody keeping you hanging in suspense off every word. There is enough grit mixed with infectious sensual soul to keep your ears craving for more and lets not forget that shredding guitar solo. This blistering track announces Drop The Shadow with great poise and panache in the form of glorious classic rock and soul pop. The band have also just released a video for ‘Break The Fall’, produced by vocalist Mike Walsh you can watch it below.
The Flavians have released their new single called ‘Non Stop Fun (All I Wanted)’. The track was recorded over the span of a year in various spaces around Berlin, Germany and in Nässjö, Sweden using a mix of analogue and digital gear with instruments from the 60s and 70s. The track was finally mixed by Fabio Buemi in TRIXX Studios, Berlin and then mastered by Steve Fallone at Sterling Sound, NY. The single will be the second release from The Flavians’ first album ‘Ordinary People in an Ordinary World’. The band has been playing support shows across Germany and The Czech Republic while filling out venues such as Cassiopeia and Badehaus in their adoptive hometown. Furthermore, they have built up a strong following through social media and their last single ‘On the Radio’, has racked up over 150,000 streams and been played on over 50 radio stations worldwide.
‘Non Stop Fun (All I Wanted)’ is an easy going pop sprinkled gem that bounces along in a dreamy soft 60’s-eque soundscape while intelligent witty lyrics glide upon the sugar coated melody. These guys tell a story perfectly as lush backing vocals lull in the background while jangly keys twinkle around laid back guitar strides and punchy drums. It’s candied exterior makes this track so easy on the ears as The Flavians flesh out their catchy melodies and infectious bopping light instrumentation. This track is sure to put a smile on your face as it bops its glorious way into your head until you are blissfully singing along.
Watch the video ‘Non Stop Fun (All I Wanted)’ below
Watford indie-rock band Passive have released their new single ‘Anti Romantic’. On the back of ‘Premonitions’, the first track Passive put on Soundcloud, the band received local radio airplay, saw an increase in online interest, secured slots at local festivals and have packed out shows across London venues such as The Camden Assembly and The Water Rats.
‘Anti Romantic’ is an impressive slice of alternative rock as Passive wrap our ears in a mysterious dark number filled with absorbing mature musicianship. This creepy track has a slinky shadowy looseness that weaves with a relaxed attitude around reverberant desert toned guitar. Punchy drums and elastic groovable bass lines create a danceable yet haunting backdrop. The catchy melody seeps into the ears with charming ease as the luring vocals coo and haunt over this wholly sinister and enthralling number. Passive balance the meaty, raw and delicate crawling instrumentation perfectly to create a sophisticated hair raising thrill that consumes and entices with chilling elegance and ominous awe. These guys are expanding their range nicely.
Dublin rock trio Bitch Falcon have released their new single ‘Prime Number’. The searing shatter of grunge rock wrestles with pulverising drums battering and crashing through the thrilling distortion of blistering wails on guitars while Lizzie Fitzpatrick powerfully howls over this frenzied soundscape. It’s sharp, eerie and dark as Bitch Falcon balance dizzying hysteria with smooth melodies soaring over the relentless raw aesthetic. The track is perfectly crafted for creeping, chilling and explosive impact as the verses build in intensity crawling and bleeding into the chaotic gritty chorus. This trio channel and harness their fiery rock, grunge and melodic pop elements with a slick finesse that makes these guys one impressive force to be reckoned with.
On the release of ‘Prime Number’, lead singer Lizzie Fitzpatrick said – “It’s basically an apology song, for people close to me for being too self-obsessed and narcissistic to the point of pushing them away. It’s a nod to myself trying too hard to be cool and I’m probably better off just being plain ole me.”
Electronic duo All Tvvins have released their new single ‘Infinite Swim’ from their second album ‘Just To Exist’ which is due for release early 2019 and produced by James Vincent McMorrow. All Tvvins enjoyed a phenomenal start to their career. Their debut album ‘IIVV’ shot into the Irish charts at #2, earned a Choice Music Prize nomination for Irish Album of the Year and smashed the 15 million streams landmark. Meanwhile, gigs in the UK and Ireland included a life-affirming sold-out show at Dublin’s historic Olympia Theatre as well as a tour as guests to Metric. All Tvvins, who consist of Conor Adams (The Cast Of Cheers) and Lar Kaye (Adebisi Shank) spent January and February of this year recording the new album and the album’s title ‘Just To Exist’ comes from a line in their new single ‘Infinite Swim’.
‘Infinite Swim’ is a funky flex of rich textures weaved through luscious melodies and pristine production. It’s swagger soaked panache strides and glides upon slinky guitars, groove infested bass and dazzling electronic whirls while it’s chic exterior smoothly drifts along with an effortless chilled tone and laid back vibe. The sweet creamy vocals caress and float upon the infectious velvety melody as it magnificently swoons it way comfortably into your mind.The track is rooted with a meaty funk foundation that adds a strut ready danceable shuffle while the electronics slide and glissade with an ethereal soul tinged elegance. A vapourous guitar solo brings this 80’s disco tinged track to slick glorious heights, All Tvvins present us with a first rate glossy number to sink our teeth into.
To celebrate the album’s release, the duo have announced their biggest Dublin headline show to date at The National Stadium on April 13th 2019.
Our Worth A Listen Track This Week Comes From Gavin Glass
The National Treasure that is Gavin Glass has just released a live video for the track ‘Horseshoe Tattoo’. The track, taken from his critically acclaimed 5th album, ‘Opus Pocus’ and is the follow up to the singles ‘Break Your Daddy’s Heart’, and ‘Thirty Somethings’.
‘Horseshoe Tattoo’ is a heartfelt, magical radio ready number that floods, swirls and gracefully swoons over a pristine rock pop backdrop. Glass knows how to grasp the heart of his listeners with every note and strum filled flutter while those relatable lyrics bring it all home. A steady beat maintains a strong foundation as guitars fill the track with nuanced soul and lamenting bluesy tones while Glass’ swagger and emotion filled vocals caress the melody. This smooth, passionate ditty makes time stand still as western-esque country hues swirl into the mix before the anthemic arena ready crescendo that sparks images of massive crowds swaying and singing along with the most passionate expressions on their faces as Glass narrates their lives back to them in the most gripping bittersweet melody ever to grace their ears. It’s a rich and beautifully cultivated track from Gavin Glass.
Irish indie rockers Orchid Collective have released their new single ‘Forces’ alongside a tour crossing Ireland, the UK and Germany. The band have received support from the likes of RTE 2FM, RTE Radio One, BBC Six as Tom Robinson’s Fresh Faves and added to a total of 3 Spotify Official Playlists as well as clocking over 500,000 streams on Spotify. Orchid Collective have also made huge steps on the live circuit, supporting Picture This, playing Y Not Festival as their UK debut and performing 57 shows in Ireland alone in 2017 and ‘Forces’ is all set and ready to continue their success.
‘Forces’ is an ambient whirl of anthemic indie filled with that intense energy that takes your breath away. Raw guitars slice and shred through the ethereal biting soundscape while punchy drums and soaring melodies flood the track with a dreamy sense of nostalgia. With an anthemic chorus that strides in on a riveting wall of sound- this track is emotive and delicate yet bitter and edgy all at once. With flickering guitar melodies weaving lamenting sweet threads through heavy beats of meaty, epic proportion- this track is crafted perfectly to strike you in the chest and make you feel every note. Their sound is mature crisp and piercing with all the glorious lush qualities Orchid Collective do so well in between.
You can catch Orchid Collective below
8th November – 39 Gordon Street, Belfast 9th November – Coughlan’s, Cork 16th November – Roisin Dubh, Galway 17th November – Tricky McGarrigle’s, Sligo 20th November – Bar Bloc, Glasgow 22nd November – Jacaranda Phase One, Liverpool 24th November – The Islington, London
Stream ‘Forces’ below
Indie: (n) an obscure form of rock which you only learn about from someone slightly more hip than yourself.
