Downtown
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GNOD R&D: “Leave the Bullshit at the Door”
One of the UK’s most transgressive and experimental bands, GNOD, are on an ‘R&D’ excursion next week, including a stop at An Spailpín Fánach. Mike McGrath-Bryan talks to co-founder Paddy Shine. Since coalescing in 2007, Salford, Manchester-based collective GNOD have taken to casually chipping away at such dated restrictions as genre, medium of presentation, and…
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Alison Spittle: “It’s Weird, Trying to Make a Career as a Comedian”
She’s arguably Irish comedy’s brightest light, with the first series of ‘Nowhere Fast’ doing well on RTÉ, and a weekly podcast beloved by her cult following. Alison Spittle sits down with Mike McGrath-Bryan for a chat about telly, podcasting, and sharing with others. Life for a stand-up comedian is vastly different from that of the…
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O Emperor: “A More Oblique and Meandering Way”
O Emperor return to Quarter Block Party on the Friday night, headlining the festival they helped place on the map with its first headline show in 2015. Mike McGrath-Bryan chats with guitarist/vocalist Phil Christie. It’s been a while for formerly-Cork-based psych-rockers O Emperor: two years, to be precise, since their last set of live excursions,…
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Spekulativ Fiktion: “I Sense a Storm Building”
One of Irish hip-hop’s most authoritative voices is back. Corkman Seán Murphy, aka Spekulativ Fiktion, talks about his new EP, the scene in Cork, and even improvises a short tale for Mike McGrath-Bryan. 2017 has been a year of profound change and development for Seán Murphy, a Cork wordsmith, rapper and beatmaker plying his craft…
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Cuttin’ Heads Collective: “We’re Still Experimenting”
Cork’s community hip-hop outfit, Cuttin’ Heads Collective, celebrates its 2nd anniversary this weekend with a double-dose of live beats and pieces, including a big blow-out in the Poor Relation. Mike McGrath-Bryan checks in with Justin O’Donnell and Ross Herlihy on their journey so far and on whose head the blade falls next. In the summer…
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Mutoid Man: “It’s Hard to Find a Phil Lynott Lyric I Disbelieve”
Mutoid Man are about to hit Ireland running this month with a selection of dates including Cyprus Avenue on the 14th. Mike McGrath-Bryan catches up with singer/guitarist Stephen Brodsky. Few bands are as iconic, as important, and as often-imitated in hardcore as Converge, the Salem, Massachussetts-based pioneers that welded metal and hardcore together in increasingly…
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Rubberbandits: “I’ve Thrown Tinfoil At Beyoncé’s Arse”
Ahead of new musical ‘Continental Fistfight’ visiting the Everyman Palace on the 31st, Mike McGrath-Bryan speaks with Blindboy Boatclub on theatre, social media, and throwing tinfoil at Beyoncé… The Rubberbandits have written a musical. Consider that for a few moments. Limerick’s foremost exponents of recyclable headgear are headed to the Everyman on May 31st, and…
Mike McGrath-Bryan 