Celebrating St Patrick’s Day – The best of the Irish
It’s Paddy’s Day, everyone’s out in green, everyone’s tried a pint of Guinness and unfortunately, everyone’s doing their best impression of the Irish accent… and by best, it’s obviously the worst.
So to add to the festivities, get your headphones, plug in and have a listen to some of the best bands to call the Emerald Isle their home.
Villagers
Starting of with Dublin folk/rock band, led by Conor O’Brien, Villagers. They recently released their fourth album, Where Have You Been All My Life? Which was recorded in just one day in RAK Studios, London, with the band re-recording a selection of songs from their previous three albums.
They’re a band known to be quite chilled with their music but they’ve got some songs that’ll make sure you know that they know how to create a song full of intensity, aggression and still put in the raw emotion that they inject into every song. For example, taken from their second album {Awayland}, ‘The Waves‘…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hoha8iET3us]
Fight Like Apes
Fight Like Apes are another band that come from the capital city of Ireland, Dublin. Best way to describe them with buzzwords? Fun, loud, exciting, intense, funny and brilliant.
They released their third album just last year which is self-titled. If you want a band that’s going to put you in a good mood for the day, then it’s the indie-rock band, fronted by MayKay, Fight Like Apes. You can put on any of their albums and when it’s finished, you’ll find it hard to be in anything but a happy mood.
Listen to ‘Jenny Kelly‘, from their second album, The Body of Christ and The Legs of Tina Turner and tell me you don’t want more.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IQUxXvnZ88]
The Coronas
The Coronas are easily the biggest band in Ireland right now and are only growing in popularity, not in Ireland… they’re set in stone over there as the top of the pile, they’re getting popular and gaining a lot of traction here in the UK, especially since the release last year of their latest album, The Long Way.
Ask anyone in Ireland who sings the ‘San Diego Song‘ or ‘Someone Else’s Hands‘ and they’ll probably answer you by asking “are you serious? How do you not know?” There’s a decent-sized back catalogue from The Coronas, with four albums to go through.
They’ve so many songs that you can just sing along to with all the air in your lungs, The Coronas can melt even the coldest of hearts with their songs of love, life and more. So the next time you pay a visit to Ireland and want to fit in, get listening to The Coronas, start here with this belter…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm2QmNyI6Sg]
Walking On Cars
Walking On Cars are a band on a warpath at the moment, they sell out whenever they announce a gig in Ireland and now they’re in the process of reaching the same heights here in the UK.
They’ve recently released their debut album, ‘Everything This Way’ and are in the middle of touring across the UK and set to play in the Arts Club in Liverpool this Saturday night (19th).
With a rusty voice from frontman, Patrick Sheehy, their collection of mixed emotions throughout ‘Everything This Way’with tracks like ‘Speeding Cars‘, ‘Catch Me If You Can‘ to ‘Two Stones‘, they’ve songs that you can’t help but sing outloud. Listen to ‘Two Stones‘ below.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCy1gJcvOUw]
Ham Sandwich
Based in Kells in the East of Ireland, Ham Sandwich are one of the most popular bands within Ireland and it’s not a question of if but a question of when they’ll become a stronghold name here in the UK.
With three albums under their belt, Ham Sandwich have evolved from heavy-riffed and dramatic rock songs from their first album, Carry The Meek, to the cheeriness of their latest release Stories from the Surface.
This band cares so much about the music they make, you can hear it in every aspect of their songs, like the opening track on Carry The Meek, ‘St. Christopher‘, one of their best releases from White Fox, ‘Ants’, which is such a beautifully composed song filled with cheery melodies and bittersweet lyrics. Then there’s the latest single, recently released here in the UK, Apollo. Taken from their third album, Stories from the Surface, buzzword round again… groovy, fun and chilled. Listen below to the opening track from their second album, White Fox, ‘The Naturist’.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCEsVgXwOho]
Happy listening and most importantly, happy St Patrick’s Day!
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