The Immediate Split....

_feedback_

hotpress.com wrote:

The Immediate have confirmed that they’ve split up due to “existential differences”.


Their last gig was on Friday night when they played as part of the Trinity Ball.

The move comes just three months after their In Towers & Clouds album was nominated for the Choice Music Prize.

In an official statement from Conor, Dave, Pete and Barra, they thank “everyone who came to our shows. everyone who loved or hated us, as well as anyone who helped us along the way. It's been a blast. Thank you, sincerely. We all still love each other. Regularly.”

Although it garnered plenty of critical acclaim – including an 8 out of 10 in Hot Press – In Towers & Clouds failed to achieve commercial lift-off on either side of the Irish Sea.

All of the band will remain in music, with solo plans being announced soon.

The Hot Press Newsdesk

One of the better Irish bands ..... shame.

catch--22

Yeah, pity alright...one of the best live bands around at the moment!

TelePaul

I hate bands like this, why do they have to make themselves look like tools in their press release? Existentialism is a philosophical movement embracing the view that the suffering individual must create meaning in an unknowable, chaotic, and seemingly empty universe. How is that relevnat to their situation? It's funny how people try and make themselves look smart by using words they don't understand. Good riddance.

DadaKopf

Good band, really pretentious press release.

It's a funny image though.

"You don't exist"
"Yes I do, you don't exist!"
"Yeah, well, forget you, buddy!"
"Oh, the meaninglessness of it all!"

Hot Press headline: 'Immediate split as half the band doesn't believe the other exists'.

ChuckProphet

I thought they were a bit hyped up. never saw them live but the album's average stuff.

youcancallmeal

The Immediate have confirmed that they’ve split up due to “existential differences”.

Surely this is a typo?
Anyway I had heard vague rumours that they were good but never actually saw them live, oh well.

catch--22

ChuckProphet wrote:

I thought they were a bit hyped up. never saw them live but the album's average stuff.

Live is where they really came across well! I saw them support Director (blandest band I have ever had the misery to see live) and the Immediate really were brilliant!

_feedback_

youcancallme>al wrote:

Surely this is a typo?

I think it may be a typo aswell... I'm not sure what it was meant to be, but I removed two more typos before posting it...

hotpress wrote:

'In an official state'

'all off the band'

http://www.hotpress.com/news/2924238.html (need to be a subscriber)

Samos

That's unexpected. I remember hearing a pre-release of their debut around this time last year, and they were one of the few indie bands that struck me as truly impressive and accessible to me on a first listen. Unfortunately I never got the chance to see them live...

However, it must be admitted that their style seemed quite fragmented, and maybe its better that they go separate ways: we could end up with a couple of really good bands for the price of one!!

It's not a typo - the statement is on their myspace blog.

And it's not pretentious either - it's a joke on the old "artistic differences" (or whatever differences) excuse.. seems to me like it's probably too complicated to explain.

Awful news!

TelePaul

Deleted User wrote:

It's not a typo - the statement is on their myspace blog.

And it's not pretentious either - it's a joke on the old "artistic differences" (or whatever differences) excuse.. seems to me like it's probably too complicated to explain.

(

Nah it's not complex, I explained it....still doesn't make sense. It's pretty funny though, what a stupid way to go.

DadaKopf

Well, one of their pa's died recently. And maybe it's that, or some of them want to go in different directions. Like hairdressing.

TelePaul

TelePaul wrote:

Nah it's not complex, I explained it....still doesn't make sense. It's pretty funny though, what a stupid way to go.

Nah, I mean the real reasons are probably too complicated, so they gave a jokey reason..

yevveh

oh no I thought the album was really good. I saw them live a couple of times at least, and they are great live. It's a real shame.

Musicman23

TelePaul wrote:

Existentialism is a philosophical movement embracing the view that the suffering individual must create meaning in an unknowable, chaotic, and seemingly empty universe.

http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/lit/chap10.html -So that's what extentialism is, according to this site at least. What they meant was differences that existed in the band. I can say that two of the members decided to leave for various reasons and to say good riddance to a band of this potential and natural talent would be a mistake. Condolences.

Musicman23

They may have just begun to expand from a cult following but to call the album "average stuff" is quite daft. In comparison to Director's debut album, which indeed also made the Choice Music Prize nominations, The Immediate truly did surpass it. This was a band that experimented with various styles in such a way that created beautiful, eclectic music that in one way or another could fit anyone's taste, but still had the potential to compete with mainstream contemporary music. In Towers & Clouds was one of the Irish masterpieces of 2006.

catch--22

Musicman23 wrote:

They may have just begun to expand from a cult following but to call the album "average stuff" is quite daft. In comparison to Director's debut album, which indeed also made the Choice Music Prize nominations, The Immediate truly did surpass it. This was a band that experimented with various styles in such a way that created beautiful, eclectic music that in one way or another could fit anyone's taste, but still had the potential to compete with mainstream contemporary music. In In Towers & Clouds was one of the Irish masterpieces of 2006.

Good post!

Musicman23

It was a thrill to see The Immediate live, and I do believe that had they continued they could have surpassed Director even commercially. Director are a cracking live band who know a lot about what they're doing, but it just isn't all that exciting or gripping.

DadaKopf

Musicman23 wrote:

It was a thrill to see The Immediate live, and I do believe that had they continued they could have surpassed Director even commercially. Director are a cracking live band who know a lot about what they're doing, but it just isn't all that exciting or gripping.

Except that they didn't want to go down the big label route. They signed to Fantastic Plastic, I think, which is a small label. But maybe they're owned by a big one, I dunno. Anyway, by comparison, Director are blandly, hopelessly groomed. Boring.

catch--22

DadaKopf wrote:

Except that they didn't want to go down the big label route.

Had they not just signed a big distribution dealin the UK recently as well?

Musicman23

Indeed, Fantastic Plastic treated them well, let them do what they wanted. They did have major labels coming after them but played it safe, perhaps they didn't offer the same freedom.

catch--22

TelePaul wrote:

I hate bands like this, why do they have to make themselves look like tools in their press release? Existentialism is a philosophical movement embracing the view that the suffering individual must create meaning in an unknowable, chaotic, and seemingly empty universe. How is that relevnat to their situation? It's funny how people try and make themselves look smart by using words they don't understand. Good riddance.

This might help you!

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/philosophy.png

gasolinehorsey

sad to see them go, great live band

goodfela

gasolinehorsey wrote:

sad to see them go, great live band

Here, here...it's a shame, an Irish band who had something genuine to offer and not just hype (read humanzi)...

Xavi6

Is this with 'immediate' effect.....? Now where did I put my coat...?

dbs_sailor

I thought they were a very boring band. I have their album and I found it very average. The only attention they received was from Hotpress as part of their resolve to support home bands.

Director... Ugh.. Don't get me started. I would've liked to have seen them live though.

catch--22

conanm wrote:

Director... Ugh.. Don't get me started. I would've liked to have seen them live though.

No you don't! They're terrible live!

yevveh

conanm wrote:

I thought they were a very boring band. I have their album and I found it very average. The only attention they received was from Hotpress as part of their resolve to support home bands.

That's not true. They were on the front cover of the The Ticket as well and were no. 2 in some writer's top Irish albums of 2006. I'm sure they got more than just Hotpress too - taken from an RTE.ie bio of them - "Their video made it on to MTV's alternative music show '120 Minutes'; they received airplay from BBC Radio 1 DJs Steve Lamacq and Zane Lowe and garnered a Single of the Week accolade from XFM in the UK.". Also they got to play the SxSW festival in America. Not to mention nominations for the Choice Music Award (I won't bother mentioning those Meteor awards, they got a nomination for Best Irish Act but I mean I don't pay attention to them and I don't know if it's even worth anything).

Anyway what I'm trying to say is they were definitely making waves and I'm sure they would have gone somewhere if they continued. I remember when I was buying their first EP, I don't even remember the name of it now, the guy at the shop was telling me he thought these guys were gonna be big. And before they broke up they were definitely on their way up.

catch--22

yevveh wrote:

Also they got to play the SxSW festival in America.

Did that gig not get canceled? I thought one of the band members family had passed away and they had to cut the performance?

klaus flouride

Indie music has always been around- the only reason you hear so much about it at the moment is cos theres nothing else to talk about. I saw the Immediate play live, they threw alot of shapes and swung their guitars around quite a bit- i guess thats what people think being a good live act is all about nowadays. They split up cos no one bought their ****e.

dbs_sailor

yevveh wrote:

... they got more then just hotpress ...

Yeah, you're right... I meant to make that sentence more biting and mean. They got Hotpress amongst other things alright, but it's still nothing groundbreaking. There's tons of little acts like The Immediate who are nothing but obscure Irish acts.

I mean getting coverage in Hotpress, the Ticket and a mention on RTE is the bare minimum of what you'd expect for a band that were truly "groundbreaking".

And as for getting nominated for the Choice Music Prize, you must be joking. That's hardly worth mentioning. Sure the ****ing Chalet's got a nomination for that the year before.

I think your guy at the shop misdirected you, and these lads had a decent run for such a boring group.

Garret

they're okay, i honestly dont think the irish music scene will miss them that much. i saw them live, they were okay, sure they played to a half empty room so it might have been hard but still

better Irish bands around

yevveh

catch--22 wrote:

Did that gig not get canceled? I thought one of the band members family had passed away and they had to cut the performance?

I thought it went ahead, I heard about the gig before they went over and it said in that bio that they played it so I'm not quite sure. But eitherway, I think the fact that they were invited is more important in the context we were talking about than whether they actually played or not!

conanm wrote:

Yeah, you're right... I meant to make that sentence more biting and mean. They got Hotpress amongst other things alright, but it's still nothing groundbreaking. There's tons of little acts like The Immediate who are nothing but obscure Irish acts.

I mean getting coverage in Hotpress, the Ticket and a mention on RTE is the bare minimum of what you'd expect for a band that were truly "groundbreaking".

And as for getting nominated for the Choice Music Prize, you must be joking. That's hardly worth mentioning. Sure the ****ing Chalet's got a nomination for that the year before.

I think your guy at the shop misdirected you, and these lads had a decent run for such a boring group.

In all fairness, what other accolades can an Irish group get when they haven't hit true international status? Especially an act that brandishes itself as indie! I mean Director and the Blizzards are getting recognition but to me they're doing things the easy way. Neither of those bands struck me as much but they're getting well known, so in that regard what do I know? I know that they're making their music to be accessible. To me, The Immediate had an accessibility aspect but their music was well thought out. I haven't listened much to the other bands so I won't say that theirs wasn't, but if someone has please enlighten me. One of the Director songs I saw had the same damn bassline the entire song and the drums suited the song but there was ****all songwriting to it. Anyway, I just listened to the whole Immediate album and the EP and I still think it's quality stuff. Well produced, well done, well executed. So what if they weren't commercially successful? That says nothing about a band.

They were a good band and seeing as there's not many places for a non-commercially successful Irish band to go (except abroad), what can you do. Same goes with the Choice Music Prize, there's not a whole bunch of Irish talent that you can exactly shortlist for it! I just checked the site there and Director and Snow Patrol were nominated. Hmmm.... That said I liked the Chalets album, it was an album full of summery pop tunes. They didn't win the CMP so hopefully that's some credit to it

dbs_sailor

waiiiiiiit a minute. i think you're billy sheehan. if so this conversation is over! i won't argue with a two handed tapping bassist (co here).

hahaha... the chalets are a joke though. :P

Karlusss

Having Hot Press like you is a curse. If I hadn't heard The Immediate before Hot Press got on them, I would've dismissed them out of hand.

But they were a good band, the best in Dublin for a good while. I saw them 6 times - I'm suddenly feeling bad that half were for free.

yevveh

conanm wrote:

waiiiiiiit a minute. i think you're billy sheehan. if so this conversation is over! i won't argue with a two handed tapping bassist (co here).

hahaha... the chalets are a joke though. :P

I was wondering if it was you, but I thought it couldn't be

C'mon though, it's pop. The album was never meant to be anything else but simple, fun tunes!

Karlusss, I saw them 3 times and 2 of them were free gigs too. But if you were at that RTE Other Voices gig then RTE were assumedly paying them, and the show they did in Tower Records was publicity, so it pays for itself.

catch--22

Re: The Chalets

yevveh wrote:

C'mon though, it's pop. The album was never meant to be anything else but simple, fun tunes!

It was, though, very disapointing! I bought all the 7" when they came out and got very excited about them. Saw them live a few times and thought they were a very tight band. Then Check In came out and it was so disapointing! very badly produced. They actually made the singles Nightrocker and Sexy Mistake sound worse then the origional 7" releases!

yevveh

catch--22 wrote:

It was, though, very disapointing! I bought all the 7" when they came out and got very excited about them. Saw them live a few times and thought they were a very tight band. Then Check In came out and it was so disapointing! very badly produced. They actually made the singles Nightrocker and Sexy Mistake sound worse then the origional 7" releases!

Tis totally fair enough to say that. I don't think the production is amazing but I'm willing to ignore it to get to the songs themselves.

Plus C'est Supercool on the EP is great

magpie

They actually made the singles Nightrocker and Sexy Mistake sound worse then the origional 7" releases!

That's cos the original 7"s were produced by the same guy who did the Tom Vek album, who they ditched when they got signed to Setanta. Bad mistake on their part!

As for the Immediate, I reckon its a case of 'too many frontmen', I expect 4 new bands to emerge from the ashes of the Immediate.

Musicman23

yevveh wrote:

That's not true. They were on the front cover of the The Ticket as well and were no. 2 in some writer's top Irish albums of 2006. I'm sure they got more than just Hotpress too - taken from an RTE.ie bio of them - "Their video made it on to MTV's alternative music show '120 Minutes'; they received airplay from BBC Radio 1 DJs Steve Lamacq and Zane Lowe and garnered a Single of the Week accolade from XFM in the UK.". Also they got to play the SxSW festival in America. Not to mention nominations for the Choice Music Award (I won't bother mentioning those Meteor awards, they got a nomination for Best Irish Act but I mean I don't pay attention to them and I don't know if it's even worth anything).

Anyway what I'm trying to say is they were definitely making waves and I'm sure they would have gone somewhere if they continued. I remember when I was buying their first EP, I don't even remember the name of it now, the guy at the shop was telling me he thought these guys were gonna be big. And before they broke up they were definitely on their way up.

Good post, bang on about the Meteors. They were nominated for the "Hope for 2007" award and last year were nominated for "Best New Irish Act", the last one being quite an achievement having only realeased their EP, no? And they played at this year's ceremony, which is much more important than being nominated.

The fact of the matter is that they split up due to problems within the band which they did try to work at. I can say that not everyone wanted it to end this way.

Musicman23

catch--22 wrote:

Did that gig not get canceled? I thought one of the band members family had passed away and they had to cut the performance?

That's true, which was a huge loss. It happened at the worst time- they didn't win the Choice Music Prize which they were a hot favourite for (The Divine Comedy didn't need money wheras The Immediate did!), they had to come home from France early and had to cancel their US tour. But it's the fact that they had the chance to play those shows that's something to look at. Any band that would've chosen to go on with the US tour when a band member's father is potentially dying isn't worth talking about.

Musicman23

conanm wrote:

I thought they were a very boring band. I have their album and I found it very average. The only attention they received was from Hotpress as part of their resolve to support home bands.

Director... Ugh.. Don't get me started. I would've liked to have seen them live though.

Is there any music in this country that you do like? Everyone is indeed entitled to their opinion, but if you've no back up it's complete bull****. In comparison to an Immediate gig a Director gig would bore you to tears, but having said that they are a very tight live band. How on Earth you think this band are boring is beyond me.

And make up your mind about Director

Jane Doe

Musicman you seem to know the band very well. Any more information you have that would shed light on the situation?

Hopefully the lads will stick with the music and produce more brilliant material. Those who compare them with Director and the Blizzards don't appreciate good music. The last song they posted on their myspace makes you realise just how talented they are and what a loss they are to the live music scene.

'They split up cos no one bought their ****e': Klaus Flouride- really insightful! I wouldn't call In Towers and Clouds ****e. Far from it.
As for those who said there are better Irish bands around. Names please? If director/blizzards/chalets etc are mentioned thats a joke.

Piste

It was very sudden alright, I know Barra's brother and he was so shocked when it happened, he hadn't thought there was anything wrong with the band or that they had any reaon to split.

Captain Smiggy

"existential differences" ha, nice. And they're not using it just to sound overly clever, they're clearly just taking the p***.

Also, better Irish bands? Of their age? And stage(i.e. that of only having released their album)? Examples, please?

Sure, anything HotPress says has to be taken with a pinch of salt, but the Immediate were something special. If you want Irish music defined by the likes of 21 demands keep buying albums by Director and then whining about them, while allowing bands with real talent who try to do something different to die in such ignominius circumstances.

*Cssssh* over

catch--22

Piste wrote:

It was very sudden alright, I know Barra's brother and he was so shocked when it happened, he hadn't thought there was anything wrong with the band or that they had any reaon to split.

Anyone else ever think that they might have rushed into this choice and before they knew it had announced it live at a gig. And not wanting to look like idiots had to go through with it in the end?

Just a thought!

Musicman23

Piste wrote:

It was very sudden alright, I know Barra's brother and he was so shocked when it happened, he hadn't thought there was anything wrong with the band or that they had any reaon to split.

Hey Liz:)

klaus flouride wrote:

Indie music has always been around- the only reason you hear so much about it at the moment is cos theres nothing else to talk about. I saw the Immediate play live, they threw alot of shapes and swung their guitars around quite a bit- i guess thats what people think being a good live act is all about nowadays. They split up cos no one bought their ****e.

The "throwing shapes and swinging guitars" thing (although they didn't do much of that) is generally just a tongue-in-cheek thing for entertainment, sort of a gimmick but when you're up there playing music it's different. They enjoyed playing live.

If you listened to the album properly you'd think otherwise. It receieved huge critical acclaim and was marked as the finest Irish debut album of recent years. They were also said to really be the only band we have tipped with international potential.

Garret wrote:

better Irish bands around

Who do you think are better? Definitely a matter of opinion but we're looking at so many things here i.e originality, albums and live shows.

Jane Doe

If anyones interested I asked someone to upload the Immediate playing an acoustic set at the London Calling festival to youtube and they very kindly did so. LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JRmocXN7K4

Maccattack

\0/

Great news. The down side of course is that there is plenty more sh1t to take their place.

yevveh

catch--22 wrote:

Anyone else ever think that they might have rushed into this choice and before they knew it had announced it live at a gig. And not wanting to look like idiots had to go through with it in the end?

Just a thought!

I doubt it, unless they did a Frank Black and announced their breaking up on an interview on some radio station without the other members knowing about it. It's kinda hard to do that on stage without the other members exploding (not that I was there, maybe they did explode!)

Piste

Musicman23 wrote:

Hey Liz:)

Hehe hey Sam! I'd love to act surprised and say "fancy talking to you here!" but seeing as you told me you replied to that post earlier today I can't really :P