On The Record

• Kraftwerk - the full bill

  July 16, 2008 @ 2:12 pm | by Jim Carroll

  I may have to do a Mulley and run master-classes in how to write press releases and get info about live music events to people.

  While the press release for the Kraftwerk show on September 13 goes on about 6,000 acres of lushness (”a veritable Middle Earth of heather-covered mountains, silvery waterfalls and lakes, emerald forest and meadows”) and The Beatles, it has very little info about the rest of the bill. That’s all contained in an advert in today’s paper. See, there are reasons why you should still buy the paper.

  Besides the majestic Kraftwerk, the rest of the bill features Soulwax, Boxcutter, Comtron, Dark Room Notes, The Jimmy Cake (”classical music in leather trousers” to quote On The Record regular Hot Lunch) and D1 DJs. There will also be a Body & Soul area, bar and gourmet grub.

  Tickets? They will be €89.50 to include transport by “magic bus” from either Dublin city-centre or a park and ride jobby at Leopardstown Racecourse - no cars or car parks on site. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am.

  There’s also a website, but this has the wrong date and no other info, making it about as useful as the Limerick hurlers were last Saturday night. (UPDATE Date now amended on website)
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68 Comments »
1.
July 16, 2008
2:41 pm
Hang on…Boxcutter, Jimmy Cake, Dark Room Notes AND Kraftwerk? That’s pretty effing good!
Comment by Neill
2.
July 16, 2008
2:51 pm
There’s also a website, but this has the wrong date and no other info, making it about as useful as the Limerick hurlers were last Saturday night
Yeah but at least we know the website will eventually be fixed, Limerick hurlers on the other hand…….
Comment by shane
3.
July 16, 2008
2:55 pm
Neill - exactly, a good bill (well, bar the jimmy cake)
shane - are things really that bad Shannonside? I thought Tipp were woeful last summer after the Wexford disaster then along comes a new manager with a different attitude and a whole new era begins
Comment by Jim Carroll
4.
July 16, 2008
3:10 pm
Things are that bad in Limerick - I don’t think a manager change can alone fix them….
Thankfully, it has done the job so far with Tipp though.
Am I the only sick of Soulwax turning up at every second festival under one of their twenty guises
Comment by Ciarán
5.
July 16, 2008
3:21 pm
Jim, Why no love for the jimmy Cake?
Superb bill alright.
I agree, I wish Soulwax would go away for a while. I know they’re great live but still.
Comment by Niall
6.
July 16, 2008
3:25 pm
Ciaran - I think Limerick came unstuck in the All-Ireland last year and that was a killer blow to their confidence and the Bennis effect.
As for Soulwax, they played at EXIT last weekend. I was talking to someone who saw some of the gig and he was fairly sure it was the exact same set as the one they played at Sonar and Wireless.
Nialler - I just don’t like their music. If they weren’t Irish, we couldn’t give them a second glance.
Comment by Jim Carroll
7.
July 16, 2008
3:30 pm
Ah now. That’s unfair. Maybe they would languish in obscurity if they were from some other country and we wouldn’t have heard of them but as it is, the fact that they are local, only means that I and others have heard of them luckily enough and think they’re superb. Maybe the Jimmy Cake have so many mates that it appears they are popular. There is like, 50 of them. *
Do you really think people listen to Irish music just cos it’s Irish? I’d think it would more likely be the opposite.
* Disclaimer: I am not mates with the Jimmy cake.
Comment by Niall
8.
July 16, 2008
3:34 pm
Niall - it’s not unfair, just an opinion. It has always been the way with Irish music that loads and loads of bands who wouldn’t get arrested beyond Howth Head are lauded to the skies here at home, when the fact is that they’re just not very good.
“Do you really think people listen to Irish music just cos it’s Irish? I’d think it would more likely be the opposite.”
I’d say it is fairer to say that people hear more about Irish music just cos it’s Irish, if you know what I mean. Publications cover the Jimmy Cake who would never cover a band as poor as that in a million years if there was not that local interest
“* Disclaimer: I am not mates with the Jimmy cake.”
I thought you were in The Jimmy Cake.
Comment by Jim Carroll
9.
July 16, 2008
3:41 pm
That’s weird, I was reading about Magic Buses today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/16/pressandpublishing.india
Comment by unarocks
10.
July 16, 2008
3:42 pm
I would agree with you on that with regards to a lot of Irish bands but not the Jimmy Cake. For the record, Mr On the Record, have you heard Spectre & crown, because its miles ahead of their other stuff.
Comment by Niall
11.
July 16, 2008
3:46 pm
For the record, Niall, I bought the CD on the back of the reviews it was getting, listened to it and did not like it. Fecking reviewers….
Comment by Jim Carroll
12.
July 16, 2008
3:50 pm
Fair enough. have you tried the Dirty Epics instead perhaps? perfect antidote to what ails you.
Comment by Niall
13.
July 16, 2008
3:55 pm
You know they will now use that line in all their press releases until the end of time
“Dirty Epics - perfect antidote to what ails you (Nialler9)”
Comment by Jim Carroll
14.
July 16, 2008
3:56 pm
Perhaps if they were called the Jimmy Carroll you’d like them? Did they kick you out or something, Chief Wiggum?
Comment by Len_1982
15.
July 16, 2008
3:59 pm
Shit.
aand I spelled antidote wrong.
Your comment box text is too small. As Unarocks, might say , fixsies?
Comment by Niall
16.
July 16, 2008
4:01 pm
I saw the Jimmy Cake at the EP last year and they were bloody well amazing I have to say..
Comment by Gary
17.
July 16, 2008
4:01 pm
Always amusing to note the defensiveness which crops up here and elsewhere whenever the topic of an over-rated Irish band raises its head
yeah Len, they kicked me out, my triangle-playing wasn’t up to scratch
niall - we have a very long list of fixsies. I’ll add it to the list
Comment by Jim Carroll
18.
July 16, 2008
4:07 pm
Ha ha ha! You’re the one defending your garret, Mr. Payne.
Comment by Len_1982
19.
July 16, 2008
4:12 pm
Lenny - re-read from the top, sweetchops. It’s not hard to do.
Comment by Jim Carroll
20.
July 16, 2008
4:14 pm
Sure we’d be lost without ye, Jim.
Comment by Lauren
21.
July 16, 2008
4:17 pm
Not to worry, JC, with any luck the Divine Comedy will release an album between now and the end of the year and the Choice Prize will be safe for another year from the sticky digits of Dublins scenesters. I’m off to Whelans to buy some crisps for Stef, who’s coming?
Comment by Len_1982
22.
July 16, 2008
4:23 pm
Lauren - you wouldn’t be lost, you’d always have Hot Press….
Len - you said it, dude.
Comment by Jim Carroll
23.
July 16, 2008
4:29 pm

Comment by Lauren
24.
July 16, 2008
4:33 pm
It may not always be the popular opinion, but dagnammit, it’s the correct one. It’s as if Kevin Myers never left.
Re: an earlier point, if The JC were not from Ireland, they’d be from Canada and everyone would love them. How do “scenes” (godawful word) manage to happen, and indeed thrive in other cities in the world, but fail here in Dublin? Why can’t we create a Montreal type buzz? Or even a Glasgow type one? Why is it just people giving Glen Hansard some abuse and 15 people at a Humazi gig?
Comment by Len_1982
25.
July 16, 2008
4:44 pm
Publications cover the Jimmy Cake who would never cover a band as poor as that in a million years if there was not that local interest
Is that why the NME writes about Joe Lean and the Jing jong gang? Or is it jing jang?
I think that first “single” off of the new Jimmy Cake record is a cracker but the rest doesn’t stack up to it.
By the way, best Irish record of the year for me … Waiting Room’s parting shot to the world.
Comment by Ian
26.
July 16, 2008
4:47 pm
“Why can’t we create a Montreal type buzz? Or even a Glasgow type one? Why is it just people giving Glen Hansard some abuse and 15 people at a Humazi gig?”
Lol. Great comment. Maybe Irish people just have a lower tolerance for shite? (I’m not saying they do, I’m merely speculating).
Hang on though…Paddy Casey, Damiens Rice and Dempsey, David Gray…no, actually, Irish people have a *remarkable* tolerance for shite. So, er, I’m stumped.
Re - The Jimmy Cake, I quite like some of their stuff and think some of their other stuff is a bit dull. Haven’t heard their new one.
Comment by Neill
27.
July 16, 2008
4:55 pm
I love the way blogs have their own momentum - how did a Kraftwerk post turn into a thread about the Irish music scene? This doesn’t happen on the Letters page
Len’s comment deserves a lot of time and attention and a proper response so I’ll come back to it again
But, in a nutshell, the reasons why Montreal and the Canada scenes exploded like they did comes down to a whole raft of different inputs from government aid and cheap residental/commercial rents in Montreal to timing, marketing and great albums. I touched on this in a feature last year - http://www.irishtimes.com/theticket/articles/2007/1102/1193444314459.html - and in various posts on this blog last Sep and Oct when I was in Canada. It is definitely a topic which I’ll come back to again.
Comment by Jim Carroll
28.
July 16, 2008
4:58 pm
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for saying unpopular things, and standing up for them. Only last night i was defending David Turpin to the hilt against..well EVERYONE. BUt, here’s something unpopular, why don’t we get behind the myriad bands out there who are trying to get heard. There’s a whole slew of new acts that could be great, given time and nurturing, could even make it outside our sceptered bloody isle. How long before Fight Like Apes and Hooray For Humans are yesterdays “over-rated” news?
Mind you, we do have a recession coming up… anyone want to give Terry Woods a tinkle?
Comment by Len_1982
29.
July 16, 2008
5:01 pm
Here, it’s a serious honour for us to be sharing a stage with KRAFTWERK!! but we’re just one of a bunch of ickle bands supporting KRAFTWERK!!!!. Talk about Kraftwer! instead. Its infinitely more interesting than watching Axey “I REALLY hate The Jimmy Cake” McGrind have a sneering competition with anyone who’ll take the bait. This is a time for togetherness & joy, not apartness and snarl.
Comment by Vinnie
30.
July 16, 2008
5:06 pm
Vinnie - Axey McGrind? Jesus, you can do better than that, even for an instrumental band
But seriously. Someone asked why I didnt like your band. I explained why. More questions were asked. More answers were given. It’s an opinion, no more than that. Obviously there are people who like your band just as there are people who don’t like them. That’s why life is so wonderful.
As to why this post has wandered so far off track, I really don’t know. Happens all the time round here.
Comment by Axey McGrind
31.
July 16, 2008
5:07 pm
Hey Len…I think Fight Like Apes and Hooray For Humans are both crap. Does that prove your point?
Comment by Neill
32.
July 16, 2008
5:09 pm
Oooops that was a slip, it’s Ham Sandwich I don’t like. Hooray for Humans are actually quite decent.
Comment by Neill
33.
July 16, 2008
5:11 pm
If Kraftwerk were Irish, they’d never have made it, Unless they wrote a song for the World Cup of 1990. And they’d be called Blarney Woolen Mills.
Comment by Len_1982
34.
July 16, 2008
6:32 pm
With the Choice Awards, the Blog Awards and all the tuxedo type PR Awards, maybe there should be a Best of the Worst Press Release awards, run by journalists?
Amazing gig. I’ll get up early on Friday and try and nab some. Oh holy shit, am I on topic?
Comment by Damien Mulley
35.
July 16, 2008
7:35 pm
Damien - we’re now back on topic. Hurrah.
(Slight detour back to bad press releases - I’d say the competition would be only fierce for that)
People do know that Kraftwerk chose Luggala because they have happy memories of cycling up around there when they were in Ireland in 1998 following the Tour de France. True story.
Comment by Jim Carroll
36.
July 16, 2008
8:42 pm
Axey - went for a cycle up to Luggala, and over the top of Sallys Gap, it a right good spot for a gig, if they get it together and face the stage out onto the lake with the mountain in the background, it could be a real craker, But I suppose we’ll be in a tent of some sorts eating burgers made in Dalkey for €16.50 without red sauce, served by a woman called Windswept.
Went to see Jimmy Cake in Whelans before, they spent six minutes tuning a bicycle bell, I left. Soulwax have been playing the same set for about 18 months, seen them at Werchter the other week, have they only got 27 records in their collection??
Comment by Fred Titmus
37.
July 16, 2008
8:59 pm
Yeah, they’re obsessed with cycling.They were cycling around Laois also for a few days before they played the Electric Picnic.
Poor support acts. Soulwax need to fuck off for a while. A Body and Soul Area? Well, I never! How original.
Comment by Quint
38.
July 17, 2008
9:33 am
Yes, it’s a pity Soulwax are on the bill. They will attract the gurning community.
The weekend after they play here, Kraftwerk are playing three nights in the galvanising hall of the old Lenin Steel Mill in Krakow. Now that would be some sight.
Comment by Andrew
39.
July 17, 2008
10:44 am
“For the record, I bought the CD on the back of the reviews it was getting, listened to it and did not like it. Fecking reviewers…”
Hey, don’t start blaming me for my CD of the Week Review, mister. I think it’s a fantastic album - and this is coming from someone who was very unfazed by some of their previous work. They’re a very talented bunch, doing something different that a lot of Irish acts aren’t, but as you say Jim, one man’s meat etc, etc.
I’m with Len - I liked ‘Lend Me Your Face’, but apart from that, Fight Like Apes are hugely over-rated.
Re Kraftwerk, I’m told that Florian will only talk about cycling in interviews these days. Wasn’t he in a coma for a while after a bad bike smash?
Comment by Sinéad
40.
July 17, 2008
10:53 am
Sinead - I fear pushing this thread in yet another direction but… Oh it happens. There are times when I’ve bought albums on the back of other rave reviews by other reviewers who are usually reliable and was disappointed. I’m sure I’ve given rave reviews to albums which people then bought and went “what the hell was Carroll on about?” It happens.
And yes, you’re right one man’s meat etc etc - but bands are very thin-skinned (see Vinnie’s comment above for an example of this - name-calling is so juvenile) and just want to feel universal love, poor lambs
Kraftwerk - they used to spend weeks cycling around Ireland, believe it or not. Theres a whole album of unreleased tunes in the Kling Klang vaults about the glories of cycling around the Glen of Aherlow on a sunny day.
Comment by Jim Carroll
41.
July 17, 2008
11:22 am
“And yes, you’re right one man’s meat etc etc - but bands are very thin-skinned (see Vinnie’s comment above for an example of this - name-calling is so juvenile) and just want to feel universal love, poor lambs”
I have absolutely no interest in what you think of The Jimmy Cake James, I was merely lamenting that your dislike of us was dominating a thread about Kraftwerk. But thanks for that rather unnecessary sneering condescension all the same. I just wanted to get the discussion back on topic. I still do.
Comment by Vinnie
42.
July 17, 2008
11:24 am
I still haven’t seen Soulwax and Im looking forward to seeing them but I would also fear them attracting the “gurning” community. Hopefully, the price would put them off.
Also, I got an email from POD about this gig yesterday and there was no mention of Soulwax among the support acts. It’s also not on Soulwax’s myspace yet. Could this be another Sugababes style placing of a high-profile support act to ensure ticket sales before last-minute disaster ensues??
Comment by P&M
43.
July 17, 2008
11:27 am
Vinnie - “sneering condescension”?? I assume you would agree that calling someone who bought your album but didn’t like it and expressed this view in public “Axey McGrind” fits into that category?
” I just wanted to get the discussion back on topic. I still do.”
Me too. So, lets try again. Although this topic was more about the support bill than the headliners.
Vinnie, have Kraftwerk influenced The Jimmy Cake?
Comment by Jim Carroll
44.
July 17, 2008
11:55 am
“Vinnie - “sneering condescension”?? I assume you would agree that calling someone who bought your album but didn’t like it and expressed this view in public “Axey McGrind” fits into that category?”
You assume incorrectly and to suggest that that’s what I did is a crass, gallery-playing over-simplification
“Vinnie, have Kraftwerk influenced The Jimmy Cake?”
I’ll tell you next time we bump into each other
Comment by Vinnie
45.
July 17, 2008
1:08 pm
Vinnie - Jim,
I hope you both remember that wonderful moment at the Picnic last year when you were introduced to each other. And the skies parted. And Baby Jesus wept. Or was that a shuffle, shudder?
Peace.
Comment by miguel_myriad
46.
July 17, 2008
2:34 pm
I hope someone’s filming it when they meet again!
It’s a crying shame that the best Irish band of the last few years, t’immediate, are no more. It’s an even bigger crying shame that Fight Like Apes & Ham Sandwich are championed as being the best 2 bands ireland has to offer by phantom fm.
(I could go onto a 3rd about the winners of last year’s choice mucis prize but there’s no point, esp on here)
Oh & €90 to see 4 aul lads play digger on their laptops with 80s lights behind them??? Fook that for a bowl of corn flakes, credit crunch etc yawn
Comment by andy
47.
July 17, 2008
2:56 pm
Jim!
Sort out some italics for the quotes please! This inverted commas and trackback business is makin it hard for all us sad nosey bastards watching the silly cyber spats (I refuse to believe I’m the only one).
Comment by Mike
48.
July 17, 2008
4:21 pm
RE: Fight Like Apes..The only time had the misfortune of seeing them was on Tubridy Tonight and Other Voices.They were comically, depressingly bad on both occasions. It came as a genuine shock to see how awful they were after all the hype surrounding them.
Comment by Quint
49.
July 17, 2008
4:40 pm
Mike certainly isn’t the only one looking on. This is the greatest neo-classical related argument since the cellist from Rachel’s headbutted Liam Gallagher backstage at the Grammys…
I’d like to second Andy’s comment about the Immediate- what a dreadful shame. Even more so with two years hindsight.
Comment by Chris
50.
July 17, 2008
4:47 pm
All this mention of over-hyped crap Irish bands and yet no one has even got round to mentioning Super Extra Bonus Party yet…
Comment by Chas
51.
July 17, 2008
5:25 pm
It’s a crying shame that the best Irish band of the last few years, t’immediate,
One of the most overrated Irish bands I’ve ever seen or heard.
Yer man who’s playing in Cathy Davey’s band at the minute is a little genius on the guitar though.
Comment by Ian
52.
July 17, 2008
5:29 pm
All this mention of over-hyped crap Irish bands and yet no one has even got round to mentioning Super Extra Bonus Party yet…
I think Nialler is probably the only person that hypes SEBP. So any accusations of overhyping are a little unfair perhaps.
That being said, I thought they were rather good when they opened for Cadence Weapon last week.
Comment by Ian
53.
July 17, 2008
5:36 pm
Vinnie - I’ll see u later on at White Magic and we can have a chat. I think Kraftwerk had a huge influence on The JC, especially on “Brains”
Miguel - I’m surprised u can remember anything about that night
Mike - Vinnie and I will be pitching this to RTE. If they took The Roaring Twenties, they’ll take any aul shite
Chas - I was waiting for that one. Congrats
Comment by Jim Carroll
54.
July 17, 2008
5:39 pm
@48 got it in one Quint.. everyone else over in our neck of the net was banging on for ages about FLA before i got to see them.. couldn’t believe they were what everyone had been talking up..
the immediate are no loss to us i believe
hey Jim … now might be a good time to get a topic about *good* Irish bands.. get rid of all this negativity.. i vote for Simon and The Ghost and BATS. Neither of them are blathering soft-rock either.. which is a genuine relief.
Comment by Liam
55.
July 17, 2008
6:06 pm
I agree with Liam about BATS. I was in Road Recs a while ago and Julie talked me into buying their EP. Artwork was awesome. I’m not big into metal anymore, but the record was pretty freakin’ brilliant.
Comment by Pedro
56.
July 17, 2008
8:03 pm
What a bunch of joyless bastards you lot can be at times!
The FLAs are good fun, yo! You are on a real high after participating in one of their shows. Not all music has to be written by recently-dumped bearded wrist-slashers strumming mightily on ukuleles and tap-dancing away on an array of handcrafted pedals, all whilst up on trip, to be appreciated dudes. There has to be room in your life for the simple joy of bashing two saucepans over your head and screaming out “CAN HEAD”! There just has to be!
Comment by JD
57.
July 17, 2008
8:22 pm
JD, as always, your comments are better than everyone else’s by a mile.
I don’t know which is better
This - “recently-dumped bearded wrist-slashers strumming mightily on ukuleles and tap-dancing away on an array of handcrafted pedals”
Or this - “There has to be room in your life for the simple joy of bashing two saucepans over your head and screaming out “CAN HEAD”!
Poetry, sheer poetry
Comment by Jim Carroll
58.
July 17, 2008
9:39 pm
JD’s got it in one. One of the things I like most about Fight Like Apes is the fact that they refuse to take themselves seriously. They always look like they’re having fun on stage - such a nice change from the overwrought, over-thought or contrived nonsense that a lot of bands are purveying these days. Plus, most of their songs are really bloody good. Viva FLA!
Comment by Lauren
59.
July 18, 2008
1:47 am
Jim - your taste is failing you, I must confess I could take or leave The Jimmy Cake’s previous incarnations, but Spectre & Crown is sublime, regardless of hometown bias/prejudice. I urge you to listen again, and this time with an open mind, it really is a marvellous record. God Is An Astronaut rule too.
Comment by Luke Mc
60.
July 18, 2008
1:48 am
PS Most overrated Irish band are My Bloody Valentine. They are really good, but not worth the hot, pulsing, journo spunk that is spurted over them with tedious regularity.
Comment by Luke Mc
61.
July 18, 2008
7:47 am
60 comments on The Jimmy Cake? That’s probably everyone who bought the album
Comment by Paul S
62.
July 18, 2008
9:55 am
my bloody valentine are not irish
Comment by demon
63.
July 18, 2008
10:14 am
recently-dumped bearded wrist-slashers strumming mightily on ukuleles and tap-dancing away on an array of handcrafted pedals
I bought a Ukulele last week. And at present have 11 pedals on my board.
And am desperately lonely.
And haven’t shaved in 3 months.
And am gigging on Monday.
Comment by Ian
64.
July 18, 2008
2:04 pm
Thanks dawg! It is good to know that my name still rings out around these parts! But these young ones are now not showing My Bloody Valentine enough respect, yo!
Comment by JD
65.
July 18, 2008
2:20 pm
Agree with No. 60, especially the “hot, pulsing, journo spunk”. I much prefer The Jimmy Cakes first album, when they were less bombastic. Mumblin Deaf Ro is surely the “greatest thing in Irish music”, if there were actually such a thing, which of course there isn’t.
Comment by lamonti
66.
July 18, 2008
2:37 pm
Kevin Shields, who is the creative genius behind the band and writes all the music, is Irish. He wrote and performed almost everything himself on ‘Loveless’, drummer Colm is Irish. The band formed in Dublin in 1984, two of the Irish members left when they moved to London and were replaced by Deb Googe and Belinda Butcher who are English. It’s a bit ridiculous to see them classed as ‘English’ just because of the 2 English members who don’t actually contribute to the songwriting.
Comment by Quint
67.
September 7, 2008
10:11 pm
God almighty, I take your point Jim about the crap website for the Kraftwerk gig. Where in the came of GOD do you get the bloody bus from?
Comment by Uvox
68.
September 11, 2008
2:34 am
enough about fight like apes already. the beef curtains have parted and its time to say hello to the script yo!
Comment by mister pharmerchrist

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