Crime Alley

Quote from Connacht Sentinel:

THE filthiest laneway in the city — where human excrement is visible on the ground — is due to be cleaned up within days. The lane, linking Merchants Road with the Dock Road and adjacent to the Hynes Yard multi storey car-park, is being used as a toilet by homeless people. The laneway is full of litter and cigarette butts but the biggest offender is human excrement and urine.
Councillor Michael Crowe told the Sentinel he had been contacted in the past week by people complaining about the state of the laneway. He visited the laneway and others in the past week and on one occasion saw one man urinating. He said the condition of the public laneway was unsanitary and unhygenic. “It’s a health hazard the way it is and not only that but the public cannot use it because of the filth, the smell and they feel intimidated by the group of people who congregate at either entrance.

Aw. I always found that laneway had a certain grimy charm to it. Years ago, when car-parks used to be used by teenagers to drink (now theyv gone inside to places like Fibber Magees and Sally Longs) we aimiably nicknamed this area "Crime Alley", as a sort of reference to the Batman comics. It's been this horrible for years, I guess now that there is a radical new development of the entire area nearby it has come to the attention of the "political big-wigs". Still.. i have fond memories of it..

I’ve always been jealous of people who could paint and express themselves visually. There’s something so elegant and clever about being able to draw objects and bodies and faces. It feels like a club I’ll never be allowed into. Maybe I should try and teach myself and stop complaining. I think everyone should paint and draw, and this aim should be supported by the government by creating more opportunities for artistic activities in schools. I know there’s a lot going on at the moment in schools and communities, but not enough. Sadly, it might not be the most economically translatable skill to have, but it’s so important; regardless of what the status-quo judge “important” to be. It’s not too radical to believe that there would less social problems if more people were involved in creative and artistic activities. And I don’t think ability really matters, once you’re comfortable with what your doing and feel as if you’re improving. At the very least being able being able to paint gives you another way to articulate yourself, which is always a good thing when you live in a world that’s clogged with noise and misinformation. Self-expression is stifled by the messages we are exposed to everyday in our work places, on our streets, in our home.

But that’s neither here nor there, I don’t want to go on a anti-capitalist, anti-marketing rant.

I was really impressed last weekend when I visited my friends’ house for the first time. She always told me about a cabin she had in her back garden, but I had never seen it. It was totally different to how I had imagined it. There were a few easels standing around and paintings her family and she had painted were covering the walls. It felt like such a pleasant escape from the world, a private bubble. And everyone should have one of those I think. Not enough attention (in my opinion) is given to these forms of pursuits. Turn off your TV and pick up a paintbrush or a pencil.

i am sooo wasted BEWARE OF RANTINGS

According to www.galwaynews.ie Galway Gardai have said they have drafted in extra patrols to the city in response to incidents connected with RAG week. Traditionally RAG week was a week of activities organised by university students to raise money for charity (Raise A Grand), but over the past few years the focus has shifted to excessive drinking and anti-social behaviour. Members of the public have complained about the state of Eyre Square this morning after a night of revelling. Residents in Newcastle (where I live) say students have been running riot since yesterday afternoon. (I think that must be an exaggeration) Student leaders in both third level colleges have said they don’t condone irresponsible drinking or law breaking. Galway Gardai have now issued a strong warning about drinking sensibly. Garda Noelle Kilduff of Mill Street station is urging members of the public having problems with students to contact them.

Funnily enough not many people complain when Galway gets destroyed by people coming in from the country during race-week. And much more destruction takes place during race week. Oh wait… it’s okay to be an irresponsible ignorant fool if your overflowing with money but when you’re a broke student spending whatever money you have on cheap alcohol you’re a criminal. Not that I wouldn’t be disgusted by most of the childish drunken activities that students get up to this week. It looks really stupid falling out of the GPO on a Monday afternoon covered in foam wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I blame the night-clubs that open in the middle of the day and advertise/ glorify irresponsible and totally stupid behaviour and the kids who have more money than sense and buy alcohol until they’re unconscious.

I never really understood RAG week and why it was worth getting excited about being able to drink at anytime of the day. You can do that already. I guess drinking at odd times of the day for prolonged periods of time wasn’t a novelty to me, and I hate crowds, so it really wasn’t that appealing to me. I remember when I was in first year and on the first day of RAG week I found out that Hunter S Thompson was dead. That was a bit of a shock to me since I had just recently finished a few of his books and I considered him a great and inspiring journalistic writer with a witty tongue. He was the last person I’d expect to commit suicide. I always expected him to be on the sidelines spitting literate insults at the corporate and political thieves and liars of the day. So I got hammered drunk on whiskey in his honour. I remember falling up the stairs in Cuba night-club with my friend at some point in the evening after a bouncer had forcibly removed the bottle of whiskey from my clutches, promising me I could have it back at the end of the night. Needless to say I cannot recall much of what happened inside Cuba that night, but I’m sure it wasn’t too exciting. The usual combination of queing for clockrooms/toilets/drinks, shuffle-dancing because there’s too many people, looking at girls whose make up has turned into a Dali painting in half fascination/half horror and looking at the carnivorous men following the girls around.

The bouncer never gave me back that bottle of whiskey.

The best RAG week I had was the following year when a few friends and I spent a week in Italy. We visited Pisa, Bologna and Venice, and had a great time. Debauchery always feels a little healthier when you’re surrounded by unfamiliar sights and sounds. I probably spent less than a lot of people who stayed in Galway and got drunk everyday in over-priced establishments, and I got to see some amazing sights I might never get to see again, and I still had enough money to eat and drink. It was a great week. Italy is such a beautiful country with so much to do and see; I don’t think I would ever get tired of it.

I can’t remember what I did last year. Since it was my Final Year I probably did a minimal amount of studying and a lot of procrastinating. I don’t think partying was on the menu though.

This year I’ll be avoiding town and keeping to myself. The idea of RAG week annoys me and so does the “oh-my-god-they-are-drinking-in-the-middle-of-the-day” reaction to it. Maybe once it was a week when the students did positive things for those of us who are more unfortunate but it has been irreversibly hijacked by night clubs promoting their rubbish events which are always “get as many of them in and take all their money and then kick them out, hose down the rooms and repeat every few hours”. The students are left staggering home blind drunk while the pub owners are running to bank. What the colleges should do is disassociate themselves completely from the week, ban drinking on college. A lot of students around college are getting angry because other students who are drinking in the middle of the day are disrupting classes and the like. I've no problem with getting drunk at any hour of the day, just don’t be a problem for someone else. Why should someone else have to pay the price for someone elses’ inability to be responsible? Students, one would have thought should be aware and informed, but clearly not when the lack of control is visible. But it’s the attitude that the week is about nothing but drinking that creates this atmosphere. And while there are individuals who are going around trying to collect money I think it’s a lost cause. There are events planned which have been planned that don’t involve alcohol, but “if you don’t drink you’re a dry-shite”. The prevailant idea that alcohol=fun needs to addressed and if it's not addressed by the most educated people in our country then who is going to? In fact it's being made worse by them.

Generally students make Galway a less comfortable place to be in and this is noticeable by the more chilled out atmosphere during summer. Sure there are people drinking irresponsibly, but not so many people doing it and doing it so well. RAG week sums up the cultural contribution students bring to Galway and undermines all the good things like Muscuilt which don’t get the attention they deserve. It’s sad really. And now they're bringing in extra police to keep the drunk students under control. How embarassing.

earth to mars

The first time I saw Veronica Mars I was on my lunch break from college. It took me a little by surprise; I was wondering why RTE1 were presenting a show about rich American kids smuggling drugs over the Mexican boarder at one in the day. Not that I was complaining. It was enchanting. A group of silly affluent teenage boys had gotten into trouble with the law involving a stolen car and steroids and they needed the help of a cute blonde girl to save the day. It was like an edgy OC with a Mystery twist. It even had a good soundtrack. Why hadn’t I heard of this before? Then again I really should’ve had better things to be doing during August of 2006…

Veronica Mars filled that void that the OC had created and that One Tree Hill never fully managed to choke. It was like what would happen if Nancy Drew grew up in a modern Southern Californian town, warts and all. The show pivots around the titular hero, played by Kristen Bell, a sassy high school student who fancies herself as a bit of a detective and her attempts to discover the truth behind her best friends’ murder. Although there is a clear narrative running through the show, most episodes have a stand alone mystery- allowing the devoted fan to remain absorbed without alienating the casual watcher. What really surprised me was the willingness of the show to be (in some ways) subversive. Here was a noir teenage drama with a female lead who didn’t portray any sexual stereotypes, but was at the same time flawed and human. Also the themes that the show dealt with were surprisingly adult and complex- class conflict, morality and ethics, social order, inclusion, conformity. And these issues are rarely dealt with in a condescending manner that one would expect from a show aimed primarily at adolescents. Here was a show that mixed the typical emotional driven teenage trials of love, loss and betrayal with the gritty realism of a late night cop show. A rare show indeed.

Given that the viewing time wasn’t the most convenient I didn’t get a chance to fully immerse myself into Veronica Mars. I saw a few episodes from season one and season two before RTE took it off the air, much to my anger and disappointment. I had enough to develop a taste but I was in no way satisfied. Day after day I checked the TV listings hoping to find the name Veronica Mars somewhere. The only place it appeared was on the Living Channel- the channel for stay-at-home-wives who, judging by most of the programming bounce between the highs of Prozac and the lows of gin. And I, being without the evils of digital, was denied access to this station. So, after a while I gave up and eventually forgot about Veronica Mars.

Until I recently discovered that a friend of mine was a big fan. She even had t-shirts. And more importantly she had all the episodes on her computer. (I had no idea there were three seasons, oh joy!) So, I acquired the first season last week and watched it in pretty much one long viewing. Last night. And I loved it. I love how the characters don’t conform to the types of characters one would expect in a show starring mostly teenagers. Logan is a good example of this. His role is the rich bad boy who is a little crazy, but not enough to be very threatening. While he never does anything too out of character, he remains sufficiently unpredictable. His actions are often surprising, but never ridiculous. Similarly Veronica’s character is convincing because of her imperfections which make her human. While she might do something that goes against her conscience, her motives are understandable, as are her feelings which are generally well projected. She is a character with strong convictions and an inability to tolerate disrespect. Many of the actions she carries out throughout the series are motivated by revenge and the moral implications of being consumed by a need for vengeance are often explored. As an outsider she has little value for being well liked, and expects other characters to dislike her before they even get to know her. Time and again Veronica encounters people who try to dissipate her negative view of humanity and teach her that she can have friends should she choose to open herself up. Loyal best friend and constant side-kick Wallace unfairly plays Veronica’s second fiddle and unquestioningly helps her. While his portrayal in this season is problematic, I can see his character developing in the second series. One of the most charming elements of the show is the relationship between Veronica and her private eye father Keith Mars, brilliantly played by Enrico Colantoni. Dialogue between them is always full of dry wit and their closeness is expertly portrayed, the viewer can easily see both the tenderness and strength they share.

While watching Veronica Mars progress I began to realise that it owed a lot less to the teen dramas and Mystery shows I gave it credit for and a lot more to the highly influential 90’s TV drama Twin Peaks. The similarities are striking. Both shows begin with the mysterious murder of a beautiful and promising young women, who is “full of secrets” and continue to be consumed by the solving of the murder. Both shows are about a community bitterly divided into the decadently rich and the poor who work for them. Both shows (and most of Lynchs’ work) are about the dark secrets that hide beneath the pleasant exterior of modern America. Both shows have very strong female characters. The supernatural even enters into Veronica Mars at some points. Where these shows diverge is in the presentation and style. And maybe that’s a good thing; the world only needs one show as brilliantly surreal and twisted as Twin Peaks.

But all that is not to say this show is perfect. There are some shamelessly gaping holes and blatant inaccuracies in some of the stories, particularly when dealing with technology and in detailing the solving of some crimes. Also, it is easy to see how this show could become boring and formulaic- a minor mystery is solved every show while at the same time some progress is made into the main story arc, frequently leaving a cliff-hanger at the end of an episode. A lot is required of the writing if this is expected to work, but from what I’ve seen so far I’d be confident. One major criticism that I’ve noticed from spectators is that the show isn’t “gritty” or “real” enough and that the show was hyped up too much and never lived up to its’ expectations. Well, I never heard anything about Veronica Mars before I accidentally came upon it one summer lunch-time, so this only applies to people who believe the hype. More fool you, I say. Obviously it isn’t The Wire or The Sopranos, but it doesn’t try to be. It’s the perfect antidote to recent teen dramas, full of humour, suspense and convincing story telling.

Of course it's cancelled now, so it might be difficult to find this show now...


Veronica: You prank-called Mandy?

Lenny: What if I did?

Veronica: Well, I want to congratulate you. Shake your hand. Congratulations! You've been named the world's biggest cockroach. This award is given in recognition in your unparalleled lack of decency and humanity. Bravo. You're going to die friendless and alone.

Lenny: Hey, everyone knows you're the biggest...

Veronica: Shut up! If I want you to speak, I'll wave a Snausage in front of your nose. You use Mandy again to convince yourself you're not a loser, I will ruin your life. Got it?

It’s been some time since Stephen King brought out a proper horror novel, but fans of Kings’ macabre fiction will be pleased with the latest offering from the maestro of horror. Duma Key tells the story of Edger Freemantle, a happily married, successful businessman whose life is changed when he is seriously injured in a construction accident. The difficulties caused following the accident leave Edgar a broken and bitter man and adding insult to injury his wife eventually leaves him. In his damaged state Edger is forced to pursue more practical activities and under advice from his doctor he turns his hand to painting, a hobby he once enjoyed. He relocates to Florida, and rents a house on the tranquil island of Duma Key with the desire to become an artist. This picturesque area is perfect for a man who wants to leave his previous life behind and recreate himself anew. He begins to paint and starts to heal.

Life begins to take on a new positive shape for Edgar as he makes new friends, reconnects with his daughter and strangely his paintings start to attract attention. But, as one would expect from a Stephen King novel, things begin to take a sinister turn as his new found gift becomes a curse. Bad things start to happen, from haunting dreams and visions to actual evil physical presences.
This isn’t the first time King has written about a character who uses his craft to help rehabilitate after a devastating accident. In his brilliant 1987 novel Misery the hero was a writer who is involved in a near fatal car crash at the beginning. This time round the theme of a recovering artist has more intensity, which must certainly be drawn from Kings own experiences when he himself suffered from catastrophic injuries several years ago. Now the main sources of fear come from the psychological horror surrounding the breakdown of health and sanity.

The book is an interesting look at how the creative process works and how location influences an artist. The descriptions of the island are striking; the reader is invited to a stunningly beautiful, eerily remote stretch of the Florida coast. King captures these images as well as his fictional artist depicts the alluring sunsets. Duma Key is ultimately a chilling tale about the desperation of illness, the cost of artistic ability and the darkness that can hide behind the most beautiful of places.

things to see in galway this week..

Super Bonus Extra Party
Roisin Dubh Saturday February 23

Join the party with Ireland’s most energetic indie-electro outfit Super Extra Bonus Party who are bringing their unique brand of mixtape madness to Galway city this weekend. The four-piece Dublin based band are currently touring Ireland in support of their recently released EP Everything Flows which features remixes by Jape, Cadence Weapon and Nouveaux Noise. Formed about 3 years ago Super Extra Bonus Party is more than just your average indie band. Their sound has been described as a "joyful mix of bouncy electronics blending twisty melody lines, rubbery beat shenanigans and live bass, with the added power of a Brazilian MC when playing live". Having just been nominated for a Choice Music Award big things are clearly in store for this four-piece band whose debut album was released last April to huge public and critical acclaim.

Their self titled debut album is one of the most diverse and eclectic Irish albums of recent history mixing various styles and genres but remaining completely original and fresh. The album is a collection of big beat sounds and high octane electronic harmonies with lots of reggae effects thrown in for good measure... as the band name suggests it is perfect up-tempo party music. Since releasing the album, they have played at the Electric Picnic, Mantua and Life festivals, and have supported The Go! Team, Cadence Weapon, Bonde Do Role, Subtle, Aliens and Delorentos. Onstage their live performances have become legendary events and Super Extra Bonus Party are well able to whip a crowd into a frenzy. For anyone who is a fan of bands who push musical boundaries this gig is a must. The show begins at 9 and since it’s free no-one has an excuse to be left out of the party.

Syndromes and a Century
Town Hall Theatre Film Club Sunday,
February 24.
This film explores the hopes and dreams of a number of characters connected in a hospital and takes as its starting point a tale of tangled human relationships, in this case the faltering love life of a demure young female doctor at a remote upcountry Thai hospital. Funded by the city of Vienna as part of the celebration marking the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, Syndromes and a Century by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a visionary masterpiece that blurs the boundaries of past and present and explores the subjectivity of memory. It is an abstract but a very warm and often very funny film about the director's recollections of his parents, both doctors, before they fell in love. According to Apichatpong, however, it is not about biography but about emotion. "It's a film about heart", he says, "about feelings that have been forever etched in the heart." The film is an impressionistic and disorienting series of scenes centring around several different hospitals, and focused on couples, romance, job interviews, and patients.

Like the fragmented recollection of a dream, the film is composed of snippets of memory that start suddenly then end abruptly without resolution. A dentist wants to become a singer and takes an interest in one of his patients, a Buddhist monk whose dream is to become a disc jockey. The monk tells the doctor of some bad dreams he has been having about chickens. A young patient with carbon monoxide poisoning fires tennis balls down a long hospital corridor. Syndromes and a Century does not yield to immediate deciphering as it moves swiftly from the real to the surreal and back again. Overall, while the film requires a measure of commitment and attention it is worth the effort and will transport the viewer to another world.
Admission is €8/6. Visit www.townhalltheatregalway.com for details.

things to book in galway

First Love by Samuel Beckett
Town Hall Theatre, Monday March 18
Samuel Beckett wrote this semi-autobiographical story in French in 1946, but it remained unpublished until 1970 and unperformed until now. First Love focuses on a first love affair, and the primary loves that influenced Beckett’s life and writing- his dead father, his delight in language, and his profound need for isolation. The 39 year old narrator looks back to when he was 25 and talks about the eviction from his childhood home, his life as a vagrant in Dublin and his meeting with his first love ‘Lulu’. He tells of their romance by the canal, of the room offered by Lulu and of the tragic events that follow.

This production, by the Gare St Lazare Players of Ireland is directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett and performed by the acclaimed Beckett actor Coner Lovett. Last on tour with The Good Thief by Conor McPherson, Gare St Lazare return to the Molloyesque world of Beckett’s early prose with this novella. The Gare St Lazare Players have toured internationally with their unique presentations of Beckett’s prose works. Actor Conor Lovett has performed 16 Beckett roles in over 23 productions, one of Ireland’s most respected actors he is due to begin work with theatre legend Peter Brook in October 2008. Director Judy Hegarty Lovett has 15 Beckett titles in her repertory, spanning prose, theatre and radio drama.

In this production, the narrator, expelled from the family home upon the death of his father, takes refuge on a bench by a canal but is later saved by Lulu. It is a dark and reflexive play, exploring the themes of love and loss and follows the story of a tragic man. First Love is a masterpiece of Beckettian perversity and emotion, a deceitfully simple love story of a curious kind, excellently delivered by Coner Lovett.
Tickets are €18/€15 available from the Town Hall Theatre

RTE National Symphony Orchestra
Leisureland, Tuesday 11 March, 8pm
The RTE National Symphony Orchestra returns to Galway next month with performances of pieces by Wagner and Beethoven. Together with these classical heavyweights will be Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor. Bruch wrote of composing his first violin concerto: 'It is a damned difficult thing to do; between 1864 and 1868 I rewrote my concerto at least half a dozen times, and conferred with many many violinists before it took the final form in which it is universally famous and played everywhere.'

Brilliant prize-winning young violinist Alina Pogostkina plays one of the most popular concertos of them all in her début with the RTE orchestra. Pogostkina has competed with success in several international violin competitions. She won the 1997 Louis Spohr Competition and in 2005 she won first prize at the Ninth International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki, as well as a special prize for the best interpretation of the Sibelius Violin Concerto. The programme also features Beethoven's 'Pastoral' Symphony and Wagner's Tannhäuser overture.

The Pastoral Symphony was composed simultaneously with Beethoven's more famous—and more fiery—Fifth Symphony. It was premiered along with the Fifth in a long and somewhat under-rehearsed concert in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, on December 22, 1808. Although the Sixth Symphony contains some of Beethoven's most beautiful writing, the crowds had been wanting another bold and adventurous work, and the relatively calm and introspective composition was not wholly to their liking.

Since this inauspicious beginning, however, the work has become one of the central works of the symphonic repertoire. It is a favorite of many listeners and is frequently performed and recorded today. Gerhard Markson, who has appeared at such prestigious festivals as the Berlin Festival Weeks, Colorado Music Festival and the Hong Kong Festival, will be conducting on the night. Tickets are €20 for general admission, €16 for members and €10 for students.

Crucial reforms of student grants is a welcome relief

A major reform in third-level maintenance grant rules will allow students qualify for State financial support to pay their way through college on the basis of their own, rather than their parents’, income. Published this week by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin, the Student Support Bill will permit students under 23 and living away from home to be independently assessed for the purposes of a grant. Currently parental income is used to as the measure to decide whether a student is entitled to a grant. This has come under criticism for not taking into account that some people are financially before they are 23.

It is hoped the changes will help broaden access to college and encourage students from less well-off families to pursue third-level studies. The bill will provide a single statutory basis for all student grants, replacing four different schemes currently operated by local authorities and VECs. The vocational educational committee network will be the single administrative agency.
Speaking this week Minister Hanafin said "The development of a unified system of student support will greatly assist those embarking on higher and further education who need financial support and the publication of this Bill marks an important milestone in the process".
There is also a provision to allow for fraudulent claims to be pursued, resulting in heavy fines.
Over 56,000 students benefit from the third-level maintenance grants, and the maximum rate of ordinary grant is €3,420, with up to €6,690 for the 12,500 most financially hard-pressed cases.

This Bill has been welcomed by many individuals including NUIG Student President James Hope: "We welcome any measure which simplifies the awarding of grants. Over 50,000 students depend on these grant payments and it puts extreme financial pressure on students when grants come in late, as is too often the case. The ideal solution would be to centralise the grants... but in the short term, the student support bill is a positive step in the right direction."

The adventurous "Oz Bus" was given a Galway goodbye last Friday as it was launched from Eyre Square, in its ambitious voyage to Sydney, Australia. The bus will travel across 22 countries and 3 continents over the space of 13 weeks. Ozbus, the world’s first overland "bus" service, are an adventure based travel company unlike any other. They operate on the principle that how you get to your destination is as important as the destination itself. Due to an overwhelming response from Irish travelers, Ozbus choose Galway as their departure point. The travel company was set up two years ago and it was initially proposed that the bus would depart from London only, but because it was inundated with Irish bookings Ozbus decided to add services departing from the West of Ireland and chose Galway as an ideal departure point.
At 11:00 am on Friday Ozbus departed from Eyre Square direct to Sydney via Dublin and 22 other countries. Before heading to London the bus stopped at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.
The Ozbus passengers that are making the long journey from Galway to Sydney are made up of mainly Irish people in their late-twenties who are looking for an unusual adventure to coincide with a career break. The group is also joined by an American who made a special effort to travel to Galway for the unique event.

New Posts in Biomedial Engineering at NUI Galway

It was announced last week that NUI Galway was successful in securing two of the new Science Foundation Ireland Engineering Professorship and Lectureship posts announced recently by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, T.D. The College of Engineering and Informatics will appoint the new lecturers later this year. Both posts are involved in the biomedical engineering discipline. An interesting feature of this Science Foundation Ireland scheme is the signifigant involvement of the private sector which is providing 20% co-funding.

Professor Padraic O’ Donoghue, Dean of the College of Engineering and Informatics at NUI Galway, is thrilled with the University’s achievement in this highly competitive proposal call, "Both positions will greatly assist NUI Galway in its goal of generating highly trained and qualified graduates, and in generating world class research, in biomedical engineering in a manner that will be directly relevant to industry. The new lecturers will be appointed following an extensive international search to attract and identify the best available candidates."

The positions are concerned with the areas of functional biomaterials and biomechanics and are strongly supported by the medical technologies sector. The SFI Professorship and Lectureship programme will run for a further three years and it is planned to create a total of 35 posts over the lifetime of the scheme.

Named after an imaginary friend and boasting a hefty repertoire of catchy poppy rock songs, Mugger Dave are one of the most exciting bands emerging from the fertile Galway music scene. Punk-ish guitar riffs blended with strong beats and imaginative vocal typify a Mugger Dave song. Mugger Dave are Simon Noble (Guitars and Vocals), Sean Herriott(Bass and Vocals) and Niall Curran(Drums). Their debut EP “Girly No.1”, released in November of last year contains 5 highly original and musically articulate songs. While rarely going over three minutes, each song creates it's own distinctive sound and manages to go in many directions without sounding forced. Songs like “My Life in Circles” and “Uncle Sam” with their high-octane guitaring and well delivered lyrics sum up the energy of Mugger Dave. EP closer “Bubble” demonstrates how well the guitars, bass and drums work together in a simple yet effective rock song. The groups collective experience shows in the tightness of these songs. I spoke to Simon about his experiences with Mugger Dave so far.

SIN: Describe the sound of Mugger Dave. What can people expect from the Girly Number 1 EP?

SIMON: At the time of recording the E.P, we had had only been together as a band for 8 weeks. We wanted to capture the feeling which is an energetic full-on pop punk rock thumping that is Mugger Dave! It’s the kind of catchy music that gets stuck in your head, but you don’t mind it being there!

SIN: Where does the band find their influences?

SIMON: Each of us listen to different kinds of music so we all bring something interesting to the band varying from the arrangements of E.L.O and Queen to the straight forward simplicity of The Beatles and The Kinks. While at the same time injecting a hefty amount of loud distortion and melodic harmonies to the mix.

SIN: You’ve been together for a year now. What have been the highlights of the past year?

SIMON: One of the key highlights for us was recording our E.P. It was an exciting and fulfilling experience. Touring around the country with the support of great bands like The Rye and Noise Machine has made the past year so enjoyable. Also, appearing on T.V and recording shows for the radio has been surreal.

SIN: How do you approach your live performances? Are you ever nervous playing live?

SIMON: You are only as good as your last show and we always try to make each gig the best we’ve ever had. We are all confident in our abilities as well as playing together. There is always a small amount of nerves before the show but they disappear the second we start playing.

SIN: What do you think of the current Galway music scene?

SIMON: Galway is a city full of DJ’s and cover bands so it’s very encouraging to see so many new Galway bands emerging over the last few years. We are lucky to have a very supportive Galway fan-base, which makes our gigs here that little bit more special.

SIN: Have you any plans to do a national tour?

SIMON: We are currently planning our national tour, which begins in Cork on February 28th in Cypress Avenue. The tour will include gigs in Dublin, Limerick, Belfast and Galway. We are also headlining a pre-tour charity gig in aid of the Irish Cancer Society in the NUIG College Bar.

SIN: Where are you going from here? What have Mugger Dave planned for 2008?

SIMON: We’re looking forward to a busy 2008, between Song writing, touring and recording a new album while at the same time developing our musical style.

Mugger Dave will be playing The College Bar this Friday 15 February.

by Liam Griffin for SIN (Student Independant Newspaper)

welcome

Interview with We Should Be Dead from the Galway Voice

It’s been a busy few months for Limerick four piece We Should Be Dead. Their first single "Forget Romance, Let’s Dance", released in November, became a radio regular and earned them live slots on Phantom FM, 2FM and Today FM and landed their single at number 3 on the download charts. We Should Be Dead’s unique brand of energetic indie pop has gained them many fans and a Meteor Award nomination. With the release of their debut LP on the first of February they are embarching on a nationwide album launch tour which sees them playing at the Roisin Dubh tonight at 9. Made up of two girls, Anna (vocals and guitar) and Tara (Vocals and Synths) and two guys, Stephen (Drums) and Gary (Bass) they have been hailed by critics as "Fun-loving danceable Indie-pop bubblegum rock!"

While they are often compared to artists as diverse as Blondie, Abba, The Beach Boys and CSS; Anna explains their influences don’t match. "We listen to a lot of different things between all of us. We can see where all of the above comparisons come from but we're not huge Blondie or Ramones fans. If Debbie Harry was fronting the Ramones it probably would sound something like us but we draw our influences from elsewhere!"

In late 2006 WSBD began work on their 1st album with Richard Dowling (who has previously worked with The Foo Fighters, Stiff Little Fingers and Kylie Minogue) in their native Ireland. The 13 track debut "Forget Romance, Let's Dance!" is now fully recorded, mixed, and mastered. "We are happy with the debut album but now that we've discovered our sound we're eager to move on with album number two." Anna tells me. Like all bands starting up and trying to make a name for themselves We Should Be Dead have been touring extensively around Ireland over the past year or so. I asked Anna what this experience has been like: "Touring has been great, we've met lots of cool people and seen lots of places that we otherwise wouldn't have. The only thing I will say is that this country could do with less potholes and more signposts!"

WSBD have had a lot of national radio attention recently, with guest slots of a number of shows and 'Forget Romance Let's Dance!' making a huge impact upon its release last year. It was named 'song of the week' on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show on Today FM. "The airplay has been extremely helpful in raising our profile. We are far more nervous doing radio interviews and sessions than we are playing live gigs. To be honest we are very surprised that Irish radio stations have picked up on our sound. It can be hit and miss with airplay for Irish artists here." Anna says. We Should Be Dead are wasting no time releasing their second single "I Fell in Love with You" on Valentine’s day. I ask Anna if she considers We Should Be Dead to be a very romantic band? Anna laughs: "No. Not romantic but very cheesy!"

Many new bands have gained a lot of fans through the use of websites such as MySpace and Bebo and WSBD are no different. "They're great for networking and gaining fans abroad as well. It’s good to be able to keep everybody up to date on what you’re doing and to see what everyone else is doing."GV: Are you excited about being nominated for a Meteor Award? What does this mean to you? Anna: Shocked is the word! It’s not something we expected or even thought about. Its good timing with the album coming out and great exposure.

One of the contributors to this years Muscailt, a student based art exhibition is 3rd year Arts student Dave Rock who is presenting a photographic exhibition entitled Pushing The Light 2. Rock’s photographs ask us to slow down and to look deeper into what is in front of us. He is developing themes from last years exhibition with a kaleidoscope of vivid images that are larger and more colorful than ever. "The ideas behind how I’m taking pictures at the moment is that I’m trying to illustrate the page turning frame of mind we have when we read magazines and its exactly parallel to how we channel hop on T.V. and what this leads to if we’re not careful is a mish mash of images. One second you could be watching genocide then two seconds later you could be watching The Simpsons, and so you can become apathetic very easily. I think what happens when we read magazines is I could be reading about women in Afghanistan being afraid to go to work and I turn the page and there’s an advertisement for pizza and suddenly I’m hungry and I’m not thinking about Afghanistan anymore. It’s a juxtaposition of the tragic and the ridiculous. What I aim to do is to show both sides of the same page using lights. I used a big bunch of magazines and said "Right, I’m going to get all my pictures from these" and I got 20 A3 pictures of various things."

What does Dave Rock think of Muscailt? "Muscailt is great. It gives students a chance to get themselves out there, whatever they want to perform or display. A lot of people wouldn’t be able to do these things if Muscailt wasn’t on. It provides funding and a platform."Writers’ Soc are also organizing a number of events starting with a Poetry Slam competition where cash prizes are up for grabs. "We are offering €150 for the best seasoned performer and €150 for the best newcomer" Anyone who can write and read poems can come along to try and wow the crowd, and the poetry will be judged on presentation as well as content. "We’re also bringing a bunch of kids from Secondary schools around Galway as part of a Slam for Secondary Schools program and they will also be performing. The special guest is Brendan Murphy, the Ireland Slam Champion, who’ll be doing a twenty minute set."

Another event not to be missed is the Literary Evening which will have an emphasis on performance and fun. "People can get up and read stories, poems, jokes, songs, anything at all. We’ll have a violinist and a pianist there too! We will be encouraging people from the audience to get up and take control, we’re offering free drinks to everyone who performs."
Is there a vibrant literary scene in NUIG? "There’s a lot going on in NUIG and Galway as regards writing and performance- for poetry slamming we’re considered to be the best place in Ireland. It’s becoming a really big thing. It’s a very important medium that lets people get up and express themselves. Writing can be a very lonely thing and to get up and performing can be important, it’s definitely helped me as a writer."

In keeping with performance on Monday 4th February, the Literary and Debating Society and the Law Society are joining together to stage a re-creation of the first Trial of Oscar Wilde. This production is closely based on the transcripts of the trial, and features a fascinating show down between one of the greatest legal minds, and one of the greatest literary minds of the 1890’s. In its day, the trial was an unmissable event and today the recreation is as well. Elsewhere in drama there are a series of original one act plays taking place every lunchtime in the Bank of Ireland Theatre, with an omnibus edition of all plays on Friday 8th at 5pm. Nine playwrights will be competing for The Jerome Hynes Memorial Trophy.

On a lighter note the Annual GUMS Musical is back with the fresh and colourful "Back to the Eighties". Derek Calahan told me a bit about the show: "It’s a comedy love story and the audience can expect plenty of laughs. It’s set in a high school and narrated by one of the characters some years later. Corey is looking back on his High School days in the Eighties, so you can imagine something like Saved by the Bell. We had so many laughs just rehearsing it, I’m sure when we get it onto the stage the audience will enjoy it too."
"It was released in Broadway a few years ago. This is its west of Ireland premiere. We think that a show like this would really suit a university campus; we’ve had a lot of great feedback so far from students."The eighties has become something of a theme for this year’s Muscailt, other societies have been inspired by the eighties

For music lovers there’s plenty to keep students happy this year. Amongst other events the final of the Witless Battle of the Bands takes place on Tuesday night at 8pm in the college bar. I asked Vincent, one of the judges and member of Music Soc, what the music scene in NUIG was like: "It’s diverse, some good, some great. There are a high percentage of metal bands. Up to this the heats have been really exciting. The choices have been very hard to make and it’s going to be a great final, a highlight of Muscailt for a lot of people."

If you’re looking for something a little more relaxing there is a classical recital taking place in the Aula Maxima on Tuesday at 7:30pm. The Orchestra Society, under the baton of ace conductor Hugh Kelly, will perform a range of stirring pieces, including Schubert’s unfinished symphony and Mozart’s violin concerto in D major.

To wrap up this week long celebration of the Arts in NUIG the college bar goes wild with an old style country barn dance complete with fancy dress and bales of hay. For one night only Galway favorites No Banjo light up the stage with their catchy music and will get the crowd dancing the night away.