News: Stuart Cable found dead

Former Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable was found dead this morning, according to police reports. A cause of death has not yet been confirmed, but police have said the death is not suspicious.

Cable, 40, had been the drummer in Welsh band Stereophonics from their foundation in 1992 to 2003 when he was sacked for spending too much time on his media career. In 2002, he began his television career with Cable TV on BBC Wales, before moving on to make Cable Connects and the radio show Cable Rock.

He started a new band, Killing for Company in 2008, and they supported the Who at their recent UK shows.

Watch 'Bartender and the Thief' at the V Festival in 2002:

News: Eurovision 2010 Results

By now the fallout is well over and most of Europe is getting on with the rest of their lives. However, Germany is probably already perparing to host next year's Eurovision Song Contest after 19 year old Lena took home the coveted prize with her song 'Satellite'.

It was a disappointing night for both Ireland and the UK, as both of the home countries were left propping up the table, with Ireland in 23rd and the United Kingdom coming in 25th from 25 acts on the night.

Eurovision 2010 Full Results table:

Place	Country	Performer	Song	Points
1	Germany	Lena	Satellite	246
2	Turkey	maNga	We Could Be The Same	170
3	Romania	Paula Seling & Ovi	Playing With Fire	162
4	Denmark	Chanée & N'evergreen	In A Moment Like This	149
5	Azerbaijan	Safura	Drip Drop	145
6	Belgium	Tom Dice	Me And My Guitar	143
7	Armenia	Eva Rivas	Apricot Stone	141
8	Greece	Giorgos Alkaios & Friends	OPA	140
9	Georgia	Sofia Nizharadze	Shine	136
10	Ukraine	Alyosha	Sweet People	108
11	Russia	Peter Nalitch & Friends	Lost And Forgotten	90
12	France	Jessy Matador	Allez Olla Olé	82
13	Serbia	Milan Stanković	Ovo Je Balkan	72
14	Israel	Harel Skaat	Milim	71
15	Spain	Daniel Diges	Algo Pequeñito (Something Tiny)	68
16	Albania	Juliana Pasha	It's All About You	62
17	Bosnia & Herzegovina	Vukašin Brajić	Thunder And Lightning	51
18	Portugal	Filipa Azevedo	Há Dias Assim	43
19	Iceland	Hera Björk	Je Ne Sais Quoi	41
20	Norway	Didrik Solli-Tangen	My Heart Is Yours	35
21	Cyprus	Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders	Life Looks Better In Spring	27
22	Moldova	Sunstroke Project & Olia Tira	Run Away	27
23	Ireland	Niamh Kavanagh	It's For You	25
24	Belarus	3+2	Butterflies	18
25	United Kingdom	Josh	That Sounds Good To Me	10

We also found out Ireland's position in the second semi-final. We came 9th (ten acts got through, the tenth was joint on 67 points with us). Turkey won our semi final with 118 points, and Belgium romped home in Tuesday's first semi-final. However, it was not either of their nights, and one of the Big Four won for the first time in 13 years. It was also Germany's second ever victory, they last won in 1982.

And as for the stage invader during the Spanish song, AFP reported "Some in Spain identified the intruder as Jaume Marquet Cot, better known as "Jimmy Jump," a real estate agent from the separatist-minded region of Catalonia who is known for pitch invasions of several major sporting events."

Here's the winning song, Lena with 'Satellite':


And here's a nice acoustic version of the song:

News: Villagers - Becoming a Jackal tops Irish chart

Congratulations to Conor O'Brien and his project Villagers, who have topped the Irish Albums Chart this week with their debut Becoming a Jackal. Fantastic news for Conor, whose career is going from strength to strength. He's set for bigger things than Jools Holland. This is just the start.

News: Franz Nicolay leaves the Hold Steady

Franz Nicolay has posted this message on his official website:

"You should know: I've left The Hold Steady. I told the band I'd be leaving in early September, played my last show with them in Minneapolis around Thanksgiving, and dotted the t's and crossed the i's this week. Five years seemed like a nice round number. Thanks to everyone who was a part of the experience, especially the Unified Scene, who are nice folks. I'll see you all soon in any case."

Where that leaves the next record, God knows, but the Hold Steady is not over. They'll still carry on, and probably find a replacement for live shows anyway, while Nicolay can focus on his own solo career.

Watch Franz Nicolay's own 'Jeff Penalty':

Awards: 2010 Meteor Music Awards Nominees

The nominees for this year's IMRO Meteor Music Awards have been announced. There's the usual names and faces as well as the total lack of David Geraghty in the Best Irish Male category. Jack L? Seriously? Didn't he only release a Best of this year, and hasn't released a successful single in years. The Awards Show will be held at the RDS on Friday, February 19 2010, and will be presented by Amanda Byram. Westlife, Snow Patrol, the Script, Florence and the Machine, Paolo Nutini, The Coronas, and Pixie Lott are all set to play live on the night.

Anyhow, here'e the full list of nominees:

Best Radio DJ - National
Ian Dempsey - Today FM
Damien Farrelly - 2FM
Tony Fenton - Today FM
Ray Foley - Today FM
Larry Gogan - 2FM
Dan Hegarty - 2FM

Radio DJ - Regional
Leigh Doyle - BEAT
Jim & Niamh - FM 104
KC & Lenny - Red FM
Michelle McMahon - Spin SW
Jon Richards - Galway Bay FM
Shona Ryan - Spin 1038

Best Irish Band
Bell X1
The Coronas
Delorentos
Snow Patrol
U2

Best Irish Male
Colin Devlin
Jerry Fish
Jack L
Christy Moore
Mundy

Best Irish Female
Wallis Bird
Julie Feeney
Valerie Francis
Laura Izibor
Dolores O' Riordan

Best Irish Pop Act
Delorentos
Laura Izibor
The Blizzards
The Script
Westlife

Best Irish Pop Album
Blue Lights on the Runway - Bell X1
Tony was an Ex-Con - The Coronas
The Duckworth-Lewis Method - The Duckworth-Lewis Method
Up to Now - Snow Patrol
No Line On The Horizon - U2

Best Irish Live Performance
Bell X1
Christy Moore
The Script
Snow Patrol
U2


NON VOTING CATEGORIES

Best Folk/Traditional
Kathleen Loughnane
Kila with Bruno Coulais
Christy Moore
Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh
Sharon Shannon

Best International Band
Black Eyed Peas
Florence & The Machine
Green Day
Kasabian
Muse

Best International Male
Michael Buble
Jay-Z
Morrissey
Paolo Nutini
Bruce Springsteen

Best International Female
Lily Allen
Lady Ga Ga
Little Boots
Pixie Lotts
Taylor Swift

Best International Album
Lunatic Asylum - Kasabian
Lungs - Florence & The Machine
Sigh No More - Mumford & Sons
Sunny Side Up - Paolo Nutini
The Fame Monster - Lady Ga Ga

Best International Artist Live
Leonard Cohen
Coldplay
Florence & The Machine
Bruce Springsteen
Take That


Thanks to Darragh Doyle for the heads up.

News: Soundgarden Reunite

Great news Chris Cornell fans, Soundgarden have gotten back together. So instead of awful Timbaland produced crap, we'll have more grunge rock from one of the finest bands of the early 90s.

Not much news is out there yet, but they're going back to the studio to record a new album.

Fans are urged to sign up to their newsletter to find out the latest news:
http://www.soundgardenworld.com/

The announcement there and on PearlJam.com reads:
"The 12 year break is over & school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again"

More news when I hear it...

Remember these days?

News: Meteor Irish Music Awards 2009 Results

Full results of last year's awards where Westlife won once again! Great to see Mick Flannery and Imelda May getting the credit they deserve.


Best Radio DJ - National*
Ray Foley - Today FM

Best Radio DJ – Regional*
Dermot, Dave and Siobhan - Dublin's 98fm

Best Irish Band*
The Script

Best Irish Pop Act*
Westlife

Best Irish Album*
The Script - The Script

Best Irish Female*
Imelda May

Best Irish Male*
Mick Flannery

Best Irish Live Performance*
The Blizzards - Oxegen 2008

Best Traditional/Folk
Damien Dempsey

Best International Live Performance
Leonard Cohen – IMMA, Kilmainham

Best International Band
Elbow

Best International Female
Duffy

Best International Male
James Morrision

Best International Album
Only by the night - Kings of Leon

RTE 2FM Hope for 2009
Wallis Bird

Most Downloaded Song
Galway Girl by Sharon Shannon and Mundy

Lifetime Achievement Award
Sharon Shannon

Industry Award
Niall Stokes Founder of Hotpress

Humanitarian Award
Fr. Shay Cullen, Preda Foundation

* denotes public vote award.

Best male, Mick FLannery performing 'Wish You Well' on Other Voices:

News: Ryan Adams and Mandy Moore married

What the hell?

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/03/11/ryan-adams-and-mandy-moore-marry-in-georgia/

News: NME Awards 2009 Results

Any award show that has Best and Worst Dressed awards should never be taken seriously. And the importance of these awards becomes more evident when you consider that last night Oasis took the crown for Best British Band. What is this? Ten years ago. Surely there was somebody else nominated who more exemplifies British music today. Because it's certainly not Oasis.

I'll let you judge for yourself. Here are the results in full.

Results:
Best British Band - Oasis
Best International Band - The Killers
Best Solo Act - Pete Doherty
Best New Band - MGMT
Best Live Band - Muse
Best Album - Kings Of Leon, Only By The Night
Best Track - MGMT, Time To Pretend
Best Video - The Last Shadow Puppets, My Mistakes Were Made For You
Best Dance Floor Filler - Dizzee Rascal, Dance Wiv Me
Best DVD - Arctic Monkeys, At The Apollo
Best Band Blog - Oasis
Best Album Artwork - Muse, HAARP
Best Dressed - Alexa Chung
Worst Dressed - Amy Winehouse
Worst Album - Jonas Brothers, A Little Bit Longer
Worst Band - Jonas Brothers
Sexiest Male - Matt Bellamy
Sexiest Female - Hayley Williams
Outstanding Contribution To British Music - Elbow
Godlike Genius Award - The Cure

Irish Blog Awards 2009: Shortlists announced

Sadly, yours truly did not make the final five this year, but we're only young, and can always build for next year. I'll need a new template for this. If anyone wants to make one for me, I'd give them lots of hugs. (I have very little money!)

But congratulations to everyone who made the shortlist in each category, and especially the 5 who beat me in mine!

Full list of finalists here:
http://awards.ie/blogawards/2009/02/17/2009-irish-blog-awards-finalists/

Best Music Blog - Sponsored by DownloadMusic.ie

* mp3hugger.com
* nialler9.com
* state.ie/blog
* onavery.blogspot.com
* irishtimes.com/blogs/ontherecord


But to make me feel better, please follow my new project on twitter here:
http://twitter.com/twistories
It all starts on Monday...

News: Delorentos split

Now I was never the biggest fan of the band in the first place, but they did have promise. They also showed that it wasn't so hard to make it on the Irish music scene. And when you do make it, you can end up supporting great acts (like Dave Matthews Band at the Point a few years back). Sadly, Delorentos are no more. Here's the press release:

We've got some sad news.
It's with a very heavy heart that we have to let you know that Ronan has decided to leave the band. He feels its best for him to move on and do other things. The three of us will still be making music and will let you know about what happens next.
As our songs always came from the four of us playing together we've also decided that it wouldn't feel right to continue "delorentos" without him.
We're all very proud of the songs we've written over the last year, we feel they're some of the best we've ever done, and as a result we're determined not to discard them or let them go.
Next month, the four of us are going to record this album together and plan on making it something we'll all be proud of. It'll be our last collection of songs as delorentos, and we hope you'll like them.
We want to thank everyone that's supported us since we started, we'd never have gotten this far without you. We hope to play a gig or two to say goodbye.
We'll be in touch soon with more details.
Ross, Neal and Kieran and Ro.

Here's what they did:

Update: Dublin Bus Crash

Disappointed that there was no topless pics on page 3 of either Metro or Herald AM. Topless bus pictures!

Thanks to Sinead for the pic.

News: Dublin Bus makes further reductions

Dublin Bus makes further reductions as it downgrades to single-decker buses!

Thanks to D Meagher for the photo, which no doubt you'll be reading about in all the newspapers tomorrow.

News: Meteor Awards Nominees 2009

Forget the Oscars, these are the real awards. No really. Yeah, I agree, it's sometimes hard to take them seriously. There should be an edgier alternative. The Best Irish Band has Fight Like Apes in it, which is a plus, but Republic of Loose are definitely past their sell-by date. Best Irish Male is probably the best category, as all 5 are solid artists. Best Irish Female is always one they have trouble filling and usually wollop Sinead O'Connor in there. This year, it's Enya. Live performance? Who nominates these...?

Best National DJ
Tony Fenton – TodayFM
Dan Hegarty – 2fm
Alison Curtis – Today Fm
Dave Fanning – RTE Radio 1
Ray Foley - Todayfm
Rick O’Shea – 2fm

Best Regional DJ
Dermot, Dave & Siobhan – Dublin’s98
Keith Cunningham - Red FM
Leigh Doyle – Beat 102.103
The Zoo Crew – Spin South West
Mark Noble - FM104
Jon Richards – Galway Bay FM

Best Irish Band
The Blizzards
Republic of Loose
Fight Like Apes
The Script
Snow Patrol

Best Irish Male
Mick Flannery
Damien Dempsey
Duke Special
David Holmes
Jape (Richard Egan)

Best Irish Female
Enya
Lisa Hannigan
Gemma Hayes
Imelda May
Tara Blaise
Camille O’Sullivan

Best Irish Pop Act
Boyzone
The Blizzards
The Coronas
The Script
Westlife

Best Irish Album
Fight Like Apes – Mystery Golden Medallion
Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns
Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
Messiah J & The Expert – From the Word Go
The Script – The Script

Best Irish Live Performance
The Coronas
The Blizzards
The Swell Season
Fight Like Apes
Republic of Loose

Vote here:
http://meteormusicawards.meteor.ie/nominees.aspx

News: HMV buys Irish Zavvi stores

Good and bad news here. Good that the Zavvi stores in Ireland aren't closing down for good, but bad because it gives HMV a greater monopoly on DVD prices. Thus it means I'm paying more for Season 5 of House whenever it comes out!

However, they didn't buy the one in Blanchardstown, as they already have a HMV there. Just wondering though, is that Zavvi sale now over, or should I get my ass out to Dundrum quick smart?

Read more online in today's Irish Times:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/0115/1231738224114.html

News: State Magazine RIP

The death knell has come. Ireland's best contemporary music publication State Magazine will no longer be released in physical form. This is sad, sad news, as it was so much better than Hot Press. That and I never got the chance to do a guest article for them!

State will continue its online role, so that is a huge bonus. However, my bus journeys to and from work will never be the same. The magazine will still be available in online format, so at least that's something.

Full information:
http://www.state.ie/blog/state-issue-10-an-announcement/

We wish the guys the best of luck with the online endeavours.

News: Choice Music Prize 2009 Nominations announced

Here's the full shortlist for the 2009 Choice Music Prize (great news, no Snow Patrol!):
Fight Like Apes - Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
Mick Flannery - White Lies
Halfset - Another Way of Being There
Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew
David Holmes - The Holy Pictures
Jape - Ritual
Messiah J & The Expert - From The Word Go
Oppenheimer - Take The Whole Mid-Range And Boost It
RSAG (Rarely Seen Above Ground) - Organic Sampler
The Script - The Script

But the Script? What the...? I hope Mick Flannery, David Holmes, RSAG or Fight Like Apes win it. Please please please. Winner to be announced March 4th at Vicar Street. And if any free tickets are going, I'd love to report from it!

Official site:
http://www.choicemusicprize.com/

News: State Magazine to go Free

Lots of rumours have gone around recently about the future of State Magazine, however the real truth has finally come to light. The magazine that features the wonderful insights of our good friend Nialler, is due to follow in the footsteps of Analogue, and be available free of charge.

Now this is great news for the music lover, but what will it mean for the magazine itself? Will they still be able to afford the same great writing team? Or will those writers move on to newer pastures? Well, we'll just have to wait and see. But hopefully this free magazine will continue to exist. Because it's an excellent alternative to Hot Press, and something which is badly needed in this country. Although I must say I do prefer The Ticket in The Irish Times, but that's just me.

Their own blog has this to say:
"State is heading down a similar route. We’re taking a month to continue rearranging the furniture and when we return at the beginning of next month State will be available to pick up in a venue, bar, cafe, shop, whatever near you for free. And if you can’t get one yet we’ll post you one for the price of a stamp. Aside from the price, what else will change? Well, nothing really. State Magazine will still bring you the best in music writing on the best music around, from the well known to the stuff that you really ought to know about."

Hopefully things do remain the same. But free magazines/newspapers tend to have more advertisments in them, and the lack of a cover charge can often mean some redundancies. But as with everything else, we'll just have to wait and see...

Also, Dave from http://toofamoustogetfullydressed.blogspot.com/ has said that the name should change to "Free State". Genius.

News: Noel Gallagher's Top 10 bands

Seems some of these musicians are getting into this blogging malarky. Some may say it's just a way to get advertising for the new Oasis album. But if it is, it's working. Because I for one am writing about it.

Noel Gallagher has posted his top 10 bands of all time on
http://www.oasisinet.com/Index.aspx
for the reading pleasure of members. Luckily, I know what they are, so to save you some time (i.e. don't bother registering - you'll get loads of email!), here they are:

1. The Beatles
2. The Rolling Stones
3. The Who
4. Sex Pistols
5. The Kinks
6. The La's
7. Pink Floyd
8. The Bee Gees
9. The Specials
10 (Peter Green's) Fleetwood Mac

Wonder would Liam's be similar. And is the Who at #3 because of a certain drummer?

Here's Noel talking about The Smiths, who amazingly didn't make the cut:

Live: Coldplay to play The O2 (Point Depot)

Everybody's favourite marching band uniform wearers (i.e. anyone who's not My Chemical Romance) are the first act to be officially announced for the O2. Yeah it's just called The O2, not The O2 Depot. Sounds weird. Well every time I mention it, I'll still say Point.

Anyhow, they're due to play on the 21st of December, and tickets go on sale this Friday, priced €54.80.

News from Rick O'Shea, great blog. Go and read it. Well after reading mine of course!
http://rickoshea.wordpress.com/2008/07/22/coldplay-play-the-02/