Cold Pro Surf and Music Festival is cancelled - announcement

THE Cold Pro Surf and Music Festival which was due to take place near White Strand beach - between Spanish Point and Miltown Malbay - and was to feature Peter Hook and Jamie XX , has been cancelled, On the Beat can reveal.

The festival, which had the support of Heineken and Hot Press among others, and featured a strong line-up of acts set to appear on three stages, has been pulled just over a week before it was due to take place, owing to "factors outside the organisers control", according to a statement.

Imelda May, Ben Howard, The Nextmen, Electric Wire Hustle and a multitude of others were due to play at the two day festival, set to take place Saturday and Sunday, May 4 and 5 and which was to also feature a surf contest with "featuring some of Europe's best riders battling it out for €20,000".

The organisers released the below statement just a short while ago:

"This morning, due to factors outside of the organizers control, Cold Pro festival has been forced to postpone our collective celebration of surf, sounds and soul until a later date.

Events that have transpired during the last 72 hours have made it impossible for the festival to go ahead as planned on the June bank holiday weekend.

The ‘Powers that be’ have unfortunately and sadly decided that County Clare and indeed Ireland will have to wait much longer for a festival like this to be able to function as we envision it.

All of us at Cold Pro festival have put our hearts and souls into creating an independent event run by the people for the people, and we would like to sincerely apologize to every person that has come on board or was as excited as us, and thank all that were aspiring to help out or come and party with us.

We are aiming to come back stronger than ever to run the festival in 2012, possibly in a different part of Ireland, but still with the same ideals and creative vision as the driving force behind it.

All ticket holders will be refunded in full ASAP via ticketmaster."

For more see here.

And So I Watch You From Afar for Dolan's this Wednesday

Watch from Afar as band take over

TONY Wright, of Belfast rockers And So I Watch You From Afar, has managed to avoid carrying his band’s amps and equipment into a gig venue in Manchester on account of our phone conversation.

Needless to say he is pleased. The guitarist with the gargantuan instrumental rock outfit is equally chipper to discover that band’s new album, Gangs, has just entered the Irish charts at number 28.

“We just found that out, it is really nice,” he beams. “Who would have thought that a bunch of noisy country bumpkins would ever get into the charts - I suppose it is better than Crystal Swing anyway, not to mention Jedward. If we can do it, there is hope for music after all,” he adds with a laugh.

The achievement is warranted, the follow-up to their acclaimed, Choice Music Prize nominated self-titled debut album, a cracker - throbbing with their own brand of joyous post-rock instrumentalism.

But where ASIWYFA’s debut was slightly edgy, on the raw side, Gangs is a more cohesive offering, certainly more celebratory in mood, a tribute to their many fans included among its many fruits.

It is surprising, then, to learn that four piece band - made up of Wright, fellow guitarist Rory Friers, bassist Johnny Adger and drummer Chris Wee - completely scrapped the 20-plus songs they had written for the follow-up, so-called “difficult” second album.

“We had written about 20-25 songs and I think through all of the touring, they just kind of lost their sparkle a little bit, we weren’t quite as enthused about them, they felt a bit rushed and we just decided to start again,” says Tony.

“So we did, I think it was six weeks before we went into the studio - we nearly gave our manager our heart attack, but we didn’t like the songs any more and wanted to start again. I think the songs were written in such a confined space of time that they have a really unique feeling to them - they sound like a body of work rather than just a catalogue of songs,” he adds.

It is a wonder they managed any time to record at all, not to mind scrapping songs and starting all over again, given that the hard-rocking outfit are among that rare breed of band that is willing to tour, tour and tour again - almost to the point of exhaustion. Known for their unrelenting appetite for playing live that has seen them play over 300 gigs since the start of 2009, the band are rightly acclaimed for their high-energy shows.

“Sometimes you do get it into your head, worrying about not getting time (to record), but you just make time, you have to. I won’t lie and say it has been completely stress free, there has been a lot of stress involved, but it is a nice problem to have,” he says.

“I would feel like an utter bastard complaining about it. I’m getting to go around the world and play music - I might be half broke, but I am getting to play music,” he laughs.

The result is an eight song tribute the band’s last two years playing together all over the world, with their typical monster riffage and pounding drums thrown into the mix. There is a mite more introspection in evidence.

“We just wanted to reflect the madness we have experienced over the past couple of years, travelling around, meeting all of these gangs of people. I think we have done it, I hope so,” adds Tony.

ASIWYFA play in Dolan’s Warehouse this Wednesday, May 18. Gangs is out now.

New acts announced for Electric Picnic and Body and Soul

Legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy are among a batch of new artists announced for Electric Picnic today. The seminal group, led by Chuck D and Flava Fav, who will make their debut appearance in Stradbally, will be joined for the three day arts and music festival by New York pop-rock outfit The Drums, whose 'Let's Go Surfing' was a soundtrack to last summer.


Also added are BLONDE REDHEAD; ZOLA JESUS; SANTIGOLD; THE UNDERTONES; THE FAMILY STONE; JOAN AS POLICEWOMAN; POWER OF DREAMS; BEST COAST; YUCK and 3 EPKANO.


The latest additions for the Stradbally extravaganza join a line-up that already includes ARCADE FIRE; PULP;  THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS; INTERPOL; PJ HARVEY; BEIRUT; DEATH IN VEGAS; MOGWAI; JIMMY CLIFF; DJ SHADOW; WHITE LIES; OMD; MIDLAKE; THE CHARLATANS; LYKKE LI; BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE; THE GO! TEAM; BOYS NOIZE; TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS; FLYING LOTUS and many more.


EP '11 takes place from Sept 2-4 in Stradbally, and tickets are on sale now.


More additions were also announced last week for the upcoming Body and Soul festival, taking place on June 18th & 19th in Ballinlough Castle, Co. Westmeath. They are:


Nicolas Jaar, Lisa Hannigan, Delorean, Don Letts and Parish.


The initial line-up for the gig includes Fat Freddy's Drop, Holy Fuck, Lamb, Mount Kimbie, The Field, Plaid, Arborea, The Correspondents, Joris Voorn, Brandt Brauer Frick, Darkstar, Toro y Moi, Cloud Castle Lake and Lisa O Neill.


Tickets are available now from €99. See here for more.

Villagers - The Pact (I'll Be Your Fever)

O Emperor - Sedalia

Bands set to rock Bialystok

Judge Richard Dowling, Patryk Pugawko, Bialystok native studying in LIT, Mayor of Limerick, Maria Byrne, Adrian Cunningham, promoter and David Keary, judge, launching the Rock to Bialystok Competition to take place in Dolan’s Limerick in April

50,000 baying students, mega-rock band the Guano Apes and the oldest rock festival in Poland - what do they all have in common? One lucky Limerick band could be among them, performing as the opening act at the Juwenalia Rock Festival in Poland in May.

Local bands are being called on to enter the ‘Rock to Bialystok’ competition that could see them play at Poland’s oldest rock festival in front of an amazing 30,000 music fans.

The contest, billed as Limerick’s first all rock band competition, will take place over three nights in Limerick in April, with the eventual winner scooping the prestigious prize of an opening spot at the huge international festival.

This coming Monday marks the closing date for entry for the competition, and the organisers are urging local bands to enter the heats, and are seeking “original, energetic and exciting rock bands from the Limerick area” to take part.

“We have a good few entries already and we still have just under a week to go before the closing date,” explained competition promoter, local man Adrian Cunningham, of the Production Office.

“This really is a brilliant opportunity for a local band and there will be three nights of heats in Dolan’s, a nice venue, and each heat will be professionally recorded and the band can keep that recording free of charge,” he added.

The eventual winner will receive an all expenses paid trip to Poland to play at the Juwenalia festival, but Adrian warned that is a rock festival, so a rock band was required.

“It is a rock festival, make no mistake. There is a pre-selection process and it for bands of a rock genre - not necessarily heavy metal, but it does include that. If you are not the kind of band who can stand up in front of 20 or 30,000 people and excite them, then you wouldn’t get very far,” he said.

“We would encourage local bands to enter and there is a burgeoning scene here in Limerick, so we know that the bands are there.

“It doesn’t matter about the quality of the demo, it is the material we want to hear, it doesn’t need to be professionally produced,” he added.

Interested bands need to apply before midnight on Monday, March 28 and should send two mp3 tracks and a full biography to rtb@juwenalia.bialystok.pl.

Nine bands will be shortlisted to play at the three heats in Dolan’s, which will take place on April 5, 12, 19, and three selected bands going through to the final on April 26.

Full details are available here.

Mumford and Sons in Dolan's Warehouse