Entertainment
Amazing Apples are pick of the bunch
Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell
Young, ambitious and with an energetic live show to boot, the Amazing Apples play Róisín Dubh this Sunday, May 31. The Galway quintet will be celebrating the release of their debut album A Little Sense, which was recorded in the esteemed Grouse Lodge studio in Westmeath.
On the day of this interview, Amazing Apples have just heard that they have made it through to the final six of the Hot Press Big Break competition. The outright winner will make the cover of Ireland’s premier music magazine.
“We’re delighted, but the main thing is the advertisement that you can get out of it,” says fiddler and co-frontman Eanna Fahy. “If we won this, it would be a great way for us to get our name across to a wider audience.”
As part of the competition the band went to Dublin to shoot two videos for Hot Press. While there they also shot their own video for their next single, On Your Own.
That was shot by Bold Puppy productions, and directed by experienced camera-man Kevin Minogue.
“Our drummer’s girlfriend was in college and worked with Kevin,” says Eanna. “He shot our first video years ago when we were just experimenting and releasing stuff for the craic. We just kept in touch with him because he’s great to work with and has a great eye for detail.”
Shooting videos, doing your own promotion – there’s a lot of extra-curricular work in a modern band. Does Eanna find that it interferes with being a musician?
“It’s just the way it is, especially when you’re independent,” he says. “The organising and taking care of everything takes up an awful lot of time. It can be an annoyance. We’ve a lot of things to focus on, tracks, doing your own PR and advertising. But it keeps you busy!”
Busy is the word to describe this group which started out some years ago as a covers band before deciding to focus on their own material. And they are attracting influential fans.
On Your Own was produced by Joe Chester, a talented musician who was part of the sublime Hedge Schools.
“He came to one of our gigs in Róisín Dubh last year,” Eanna says of Chester’s involvement. “He was really happy with what he saw, but thought he could make some improvements. I think mainly people might’ve known us as a folky band, but that element is kind of drifting out now. We’re going more electric, more indie. We’re still using the same instruments, but in a different way.”
Making the album involved pre-production in Eanna’s shed at home in Craughwell, where the band recorded 17 demos with Joe, and then whittled them down to the final 10 tracks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
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