Who would you like to see play in Maynooth?

skelloggs wrote: »

Mick from Adebisi Shank is in the college so it should not be hard for him to give a few bands.All these bands are under the Richter Collective label or concerts are being promoted by them.

Adebisi Shank
the Cast of Cheers
Redneck Manifesto
And so i watch you from afar
BATS

Aslo Heathers are attending maynooth.

Aw no way! That's savage to know :cool: Enemies are with Richter Collective too

And So I Watch You From Afar are probably gettable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EOi91-Ge6c

Also, God is an Astronaut are from down the road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqUW4IidID4

One Man Party!
http://www.myspace.com/onemanpartyisadj

He's the drummer from soulwax/2Many Djs... Would be cheap enough i'd say, he djs around ireland a good bit. Would be a whopper gig!

The Frames
Heathers
Adebisi Shank
Villagers

Last year was the worst year for gigs. Seriously, no more novelty bull**** please!

This has been perculating in my head since the topic was raised and I have concluded that it must be hard to do ents. In terms of balancing getting an act, assuming that the student population will like it, getting an act you can afford, thats willing to do it, trying to get one that will pull a crowd and then trying to get the students to part with their money and make it into an 'event'.

Its all about marketing as I see it.

The biggest problem the last couple of years has been that the coronas/saw doctors style acts that are easy to get and you can afford and have name recognition, any self respecting person is sick of and the others will just turn up as an excuse to get drunk.

Regardless of what you do, the latter group are going to turn up. Fact.

I think what needs to be done, on a bigger scale than what the individual socs are doing, is to build an NUIM community, something that sets Maynooth apart from the rest of the colleges because it is Maynooth, not just for the sake of it.

Just from this thread it is obvious that Maynoothians are involved in some of the biggest up and coming acts out of Ireland - from those in the Richter Collective to Heathers to name just the ones that stick in my head. Ents should make supporting those bands top of priority. And I'm not saying just to stick them on a ball/rag week for the sake of it. I mean sell it, market it, promote it as one of our own. People will be much more likely to turn up and support fellow Maynoothians for the sake of that support, out of curiosity, and because they might know them, or be friends of friends. Do you know what I mean?

Secondly, and just a step away from that, is taking advantage of the area that we're in, and by that I mean, Kildare/Meath/Dublin. I remember YEARS ago (I've been lurking in the tall grass for too many years now) just after Juniper split and Damien Rice and BellX1 went their seperate ways, seeing Rice play, and Paul Noonan came in and did an acoustic set in the SU - before any of the hype. While they were still 'the locals' who we thought might all make it. The area around Maynooth (and of course into Dublin) is situated in is crazy fertile for musicians and I think you could sell a 'next big thing' style format. Again, you can't expect people to come and listen to bands that they've not heard of (as the past years have proven) just for the sake of it. I think however if the ents had sufficient 'good quality radar' that an assumption could be developed that although you haven't heard of them you know they're going to be good because the last x gigs we've put on in that format have been good. And those bands make it big, and then you, as NUIM SU have developed a relationship with them and they come back and headline bigger gigs that you might not necessarily have convinced them to do before.

Don't get me wrong when I mention Rice and BellX1. Of course indie rock isn't going to be to everyone's taste. Getting something to everyones taste is impossible, and its something that needs to be considered strongly. This tread is a testament to that. Two possible solutions are to section off parts of the night so that, consistently style a goes first, leads to style b second, ends with style c. Or that style a is in the bar, style b in the main hall etc.

More importantly. No more tack. As I said above, you are going to get the people who just want to get drunk no matter who you put on. And that tack is really playing to those lowest common denominators an no-one else, and you're just pissing the rest of us off. Develop an SU ents programme worthy of our respect. All of our respect.

That was more of a rant that I'd intended

I wasn't thinking of marketing the bands as "one of our own" but rather marketing the SU as supporting our own. There's an important difference there.

I was in no way suggesting that a battle of the bands is supportive of local or upcoming acts. Those things are a pathetic excuse made by people who want to come across like they're "supportive".

Your reaction is actually exactly what I was trying to get at. No-one goes to hear a band they've never heard of. The question is why, not shure give up it doesnt work.
And if tack gets the crowds in and thats what pays the bills and its working, then why have a thread like this at all. I'm suggesting this because I think that there's a general discontent with what the ents have been putting on in the past couple of years, an opinion was asked, I gave.

irish_goat wrote: »

I'm not trying to be overly negative here or argumentative but in my experience local bands don't pull great crowds, especially in small towns. The reasons no one goes to see a band they've never heard of is cause they don't know if the bands are any good, don't know any of the songs and because it'll end up being expensive if they don't enjoy themselves.

Tack gets the crowd in on the few nights they put "tack" on but you can't have those kind of bands on every week. Once a semester is almost enough.

The thread's here cause Aengus genuinely wants input into what bands we want to see and because it's better to be asking us than for the ENTs team to assume they know what students want.



On a similar note to this I think there should be more done to encourage clubs and socs to use the SU as a night out venue. Most clubs and socs have a night out together every month or so and this should really be taken advantage of by the SU. All it takes is a few discounted drinks/entry tickets. Queen's SU have a monthly quiz for clubs and socs with the winner getting a cash prize for their club, guaranteed way of getting a decent crowd in once a month as every club and soc want more money.

Speaking from experience, trying to book the SU Venue is a nightmare unless you're one of the two or three huge societies. I had to cancel two or three big events just because the SU double booked the venue so the mature students could have a "walk-in meeting" or some other tardy tomfoolery.

or more seriously,

it wouldn't be bad seeing whats-his-face from the divine comedy or maybe a sort of guitar dude like Preston Reed or someone.

y'know, decent but possible

Disconauts!

Only just thought of it; Cloud Castle Lake's guitarist is going into third year in Maynooth. They could be on the cards, maybe?

The Coronas are always a good bet and regardless whether you like them or not, they always put on a good set.

Don't know if you've heard of The Lynchburg Mob? They won last year's Battle of the Bands in DCU and are actually really really good!!

Sure, check em out anyway!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLQF8uVtAFQ
or
http://www.myspace.com/thelynchburgmob