Irish stars pull out all the stops for charity

Gold stars go to the Gleeson brothers and Squarehead this week for releasing the best music video for charity you’ll see this year. When Domhnall and Brian Gleeson recreate their home videos and set them to Squarehead’s track 2025, the result is some quality divilment.

The release is a part of Immaturity for Charity, Domhnall’s low-brow comedy fundraiser. The lads support St Francis Hospice in Raheny entirely through the medium of goofing (with the occasional clowning and/or fooling).

But the track and the footage go together like playgrounds go with Loop the Loops, and it started with some real-life messin', explains Squareheaded bassist Ian McFarlane. "The Gleesons are wonderful, talented people . . . We met Domhnall at the Frank premier and we had a fantastic night. We were all really flattered to hear he liked our music and excited to have a creative collaboration.

“We were blown away with the video. We loved the direction he took. This song means something to all of us and it was very special so see another’s emotional response play out on screen. There is so much talent on display, it’s humbling having our music as the backdrop.”

And the lads have created something special. The snapshot of boyish folly leaves you hankering for a go on the swings. Brian and Domhnall created the video with actor Hugh O’Conor and musicians Michael Moloney and Rowan Averill from Director. They make all the Immaturity for Charity sketches together, rightfully reasserting the healing power of mischief-making.

Buy the track at squarehead.bandcamp.com.

Phil Chevron remembered

Marvin Gaye (and songwriter Dick Holler) got it right – it seems the good die young. Just over 12 months ago, on October 8th, one-time Radiator from Space and Pogues member Phil Chevron (Ryan) died.

Chevron wasn’t just an average musician, but a pivotal figure in the creative development of Irish rock music through the 1970s and 1980s. In the mid-1970s, with Radiators from Space, he brought a heretofore unused (and unaware?) Brechtian sensibility to punk rock, in the process influencing the likes of Virgin Prunes and U2.

With a classic Irish rock album in Ghostown under his belt, and a stint selling records in London's Rock On record store to the likes of Elvis Costello and Shane MacGowan, it seemed only a matter of time before he was asked to join The Pogues.

Chevron's legacy is writ large over Irish music – from the back catalogues of The Radiators (classic songs such as Faithful Departed, Television Screen, Kitty Rickets) and The Pogues (the sublime Thousands Are Sailing), his erudition and lyric-poetry will last for as long as people have functioning ears.

The life and music of Chevron are celebrated in a commemorative show this Sunday at Dublin’s Sugar Club. Those paying their respects include writers Roddy Doyle and Joseph O’Connor, former Pogues bassist Cait O’Riordan, members of Radiators from Space (aka Trouble Pilgrims), and others. All profits go to St Francis Hospice in Raheny, Dublin.

For more, see thesugarclub.com