Ballroom #95: The Spook of Thirteenth Lock, Mumblin' Deaf Ro & more Jan 22nd

Holyghost

Ballroom #95:

The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock
Mumblin Deaf Ro
Groom
Owensie

Friday 22nd of January
The Lower Deck
€10. Doors 9pm

The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock



The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock is music from Dublin, Ireland. Named after a poem about a haunted canal lock, The Spook play in the Irish folk tradition delving into the realms of psych, prog and post rock. Sometimes a single player, a folk trio or a full on psych-rock band, the Spook have a unique take on the idea of Irish folk rock, making the familiar sound innovative, the ancient new, and the local sound universal.

To date the Spook have released a critically acclaimed self titled debut album on renowned Irish/Japanese label Transduction records which is distributed by RMG in Ireland, Cargo in the UK and by Catune in Japan. The Spook played all around Ireland, including a performance at the 2008 Electric Picnic festival, and toured Japan in early 2009. The second album is due Autumn 2010.

"an album that combines vitality, bold vision and vivid imagination. Time to ditch those tired old Celtic-rock retreads. This is the real stuff" - Rock and Reel

"One of the best pieces of contemporary Irish rock music we've heard in an age" - The Irish Times

"The best album I have heard from Ireland since Fionn Regan's 'The End Of History' and like that masterpiece this a record that is exceptionally beautiful and inspired yet truly deeply disturbed" - Americana UK

"Haunted, rabble rousing folk" - Evening Herald

"the best tunes are wrapped in the kind of guitar blizzard mostly associated with Sixteen Horsepower or early Dirty Three" - Uncut

"Irish album of the year by a country mile (with hairpin bends every 15 yards), haunting doesn't even begin to describe it" - MP3 Hugger

http://www.thirteenthlock.net
http://www.myspace.com/thespookofthethirteenthlock


Mumblin' Deaf Ro



Mumblin’ Deaf Ro has released two albums. ‘Senor my Friend . . .’ (2003) was described by the Irish Times as ‘A rare thing: a genuine cult classic’ and ‘The Herring and the Brine’ (2007) made it to the business end of many end-of-year lists and into the Cluas top twenty Irish albums of the past ten years. Ro’s unpasteurised music combines storytelling narratives with fingerpicking bass and melody lines. At the Ballroom of Romance on 22 January, Ro will be playing a full band set with his long-time musical bridesmaids Donnchadh Hoey, Conor Rapple and Brian O’Higgins. Ro is currently writing his next album which is taking bloody ages.



Groom



GROOM began life in 2004 in Dublin, arising out of the ashes of alt-folk band Settler. Starting off as an electro-folk two piece centred around the songwriting of Michael Stevens, they played some intimate gigs in Ireland’s capital, and shared a stage with Deanna Varagona (LAMBCHOP). Having released a short experimental album, Stitch, GROOM soon expanded into a four piece and began to explore synth-folk-rock territory. They played this particular brand of indie folk-pop around Ireland in late 2005, made some appearances on various compilations, and even released a Christmas single. 2006 saw the release of GROOM’s first album proper, All This Happened, More Or Less on Fairview House Recordings. The record was well-received all round and got GROOM some deserved supports with Jawbone, Jeff Tweedy (WILCO), Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, and Evangelicals.
GROOM are Michael Stevens (guitar, vocals, synths), Jeroen Saegeman (guitar, melodica, keyboards), Wil McDermott (bass, synths), Brian O’Higgins (drums), and Ruan Van Vliet (drums, percussion, synth, autoharp).

"...childish, playful, not-at-all wise...Groom have almost realised the lie - but still they're yelling it, all together, like fools, like fools, like lovesick fools." - Said The Gramophone music blog

"very catchy indie rock sounds with lots of old style crunchy analogue synth sounds, some lovely vocal harmonies and some seriously bouncy singalong choruses" - Road Records web site (review of All this Happened, More Or Less)

"gorgeous choruses...manages to fill something of a spacy sadness, that's built for those who might like a little melancholy sometimes, but without the hang-ups." - Eclectic Honey (review of All this Happened, More Or Less)


Owensie



Solo folk guitar from Dublin scene veteran Owensie, described by the man himself:

"This music has been written over less than two years since I picked up an old classical guitar in a charity shop on Francis Street, Dublin. What began as a means of relaxing and taking my mind off things turned gradually into a minor obsession, while always remaining the most effective means of getting through the bad times; just plucking away and humming or singing quietly to myself. Now that i've started playing gigs I have become locked in a struggle to prevent my primary source of relaxation from becoming a source of uneccessary stress and apprehension. The shift of the songs from personal meditations to public performances has not been an easy one, though i'm trying my best not to take myself too seriously and just have the craic. Seems like the best way forward anyway... At the start of this year I bought a new flamenco guitar in Granada, southern Spain. In that same week I visited a small town at the top of a mountain called Ronda and an instrumental piece I wrote is named after that place for the wonderful time that I had there."

http://www.myspace.com/owensie