Animal Confession is one of those bands that immediately sinks into
your soul and grabs your pulse with their energetic and enthusiastic
alternative rock sounds. Their music encapsulates much of the good we've
heard in rock music over the past 40 years. elements of grunge, classic
rock, alt-rock and a big U2 influenced sound drive this Canadian band.
Their
first full album "Bright Light, Dark eyes" will be released in October
2012. The album was mostly recorded at Metalworks Studios in
Mississauga, Ontario and was produced by Chris Crerar. Crerar has also
worked with Prince, Nelly Furtado, Peter, Bjorn and John and others.
Animal
Confession sites Pink Floyd, Nirvana, U2, Nine Inch Nails and The Cure
amongst their influences. With their finely crafted music this band is
destined for greatness. Keep your eyes on these guys.
- Randall Webb
Pictured (left to right) Trevor Grey (Drums), Andrew Gharib (Vocals/Guitar), Patrick Quesnel (Bass)
A few chosen paragraphs from their official bio:
The Ottawa, Ontario hard rock band Animal Confession plans to invade
your ears and penetrate your brains in 2012 with their debut album.
Comprised of Andrew Gharib (vocals, guitar) and Patrick Quesnel (bass),
Animal Confession’s music combines the gritty toughness of Deftones,
with the moodiness of Smashing Pumpkins and The Cure.
When listening to Animal Confession music, you can hear traces of their
musical influences; and the artists that have impacted them the most are
also some of rock’s best. These include Chris Cornell (Soundgarden),
The Edge (U2), Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) and
David Gilmour (Pink Floyd).
When asked to describe Animal Confession music, Gharib calls it “hard
rock, somewhat experimental, heavy yet catchy.” Not surprisingly,
listeners oftentimes compare the group’s sounds to The Smashing Pumpkins
and My Morning Jacket – two groups that don’t fit nice and neatly in
one genre description.
Empire Saints are an Irish foursome who's music ranges from straight ahead guitar driven pop-rock tunes to electronic dance-pop/rock. However you put it Their music blends elements of U2, Depeche Mode and LCD Soundsystem to create and indie rock dance rock sort of sound.
I have had the opportunity to preview their upcoming release, a song called "Note The Meaning". I really enjoyed what I heard. It's a nice electronic tune which with it's driving dance beat and the echoing and dour lead vocal finds Empire Saints somewhere between Giorgio Moroder, Depeche Mode and LCD Soundsystem. They are currently working on a new album and if "Note The Meaning" is any indication of what we'll hear on the album I am certain that Empire Saints will find their career in music rising to the next level. "Note The Meaning" is a big step forward for Empire Saints, most particularly in the technical and production sense of their music.
- Randall Webb
Empire Saints are an Irish four-piece
band consisting of Fiachra Treacy (vocals and guitars), Uisneagh Treacy
(bass), Noel Healy (drums) and Pete Cheevers (guitars).
Formed in 2009 by brothers Fiachra and Uisneagh, they
began working with Noel on putting together a collection of material in
the studio, the result of which was their debut EP, Soundtrack to the
City. The four track EP was produced and recorded by Garreth Mannix in
Sun Studios, Dublin.
Last year they were joined by guitarist, Pete Cheevers,
who brought a unique quality to the band with his ethereal guitar
playing, that complimented the mood and sound of the music perfectly.
The band have gigged extensively both
in Ireland and abroad, playing in such venues as Whealan’s, Crawdaddy,
The Empire and The Hope and Anchor in London.
Empire Saints were finalists in the Guinness Our Thursdays
competition and as a result, played support to the Magic Numbers,
Imelda May and David Gray in Folan’s Quay Galway, as part of the
Arthur’s Day celebrations.
Appearing on the cover of the Hotpress magazine was a
great boost to the band’s profile. They are currently working hard in
the Vault studio in Dublin putting the finishing touches to their debut
album.
A few words from band member and founder Fiachra Teachy
Empire Saints are Fiachra Treacy (guitars, vocals) Pete Cheevers
(guitars, keys) Uisneagh Treacy (bass, vocals) Noel Healy (drums,
grovebox) We have just finished recording our debut album, which we
recorded and produced ourselves. Looking back it was a very difficult
process. We enjoyed it at the start but when it came to chopping and
changing we all have very strong opinions and this can lead to
arguments (had to dodge a few drumsticks, cheers Noel!!!). It meant the
album took a lot longer than we expected. In hindsight a producer would
have made it a lot easier, even if they were to act merely as an
adjudicator. We could not agree on mixes and drafted in Phil Hayse
(producer with Bell x1 and Cakesale to name a few) to sprinkle some
magic on the album which he so expertly has done. He has made the tracks
sound more like an album, putting a dance feel on the guitar tracks and
really bringing the electronic tracks to life.
The majority of the tracks on the album start off as a song written by
Fiachra on an acoustic guitar but don't really become Empire Saints songs
till the rest of the boys get a hold of them. Noel and Uisneagh have
come up with some of the initial ideas also with Noel specializing in
the electronic songs he puts together on the grovebox.
The band has a wide variety of influences which took a while to hone
into one particular sound. The Stone Roses, The Cure, Massive Attack,
Bob Dylan, Joy Division, Leftfield. I think all them have one thing in
common that the songs come from the heart and do have an emotional feel
which we try to emulate.
We have played gigs all around Ireland and in London, and have been
on the same bill as The Magic Numbers, David Gray and Newton Faulkner at
Arthurs Day in Galway. We played in front of 3500 people that day and
it really gave us a boost and made us think if we work hard we could
have something really special here.
We are all finally happy with the album and think it is something to be
very proud of. Every song has its own place on it and we feel it is the
type of album people will be able to put on and listen the whole way
through, the kind of album people used to make before the emphasis
became solely on 'the big hit'.
The album will be called 'Product' for a couple of reasons. The songs
are about the environment we are in and have grown up in Dublin and
Bray. There are stories about people we know and also ourselves so the
songs are a product of our environment. We also put in two years of work
into it and are eventually left with the album, It seems to sum all the
bu**s**t up into one 'product'. To sell, to give away. Personally I
just want people to listen to it and hope they can relate to the songs
and come see us live.
The album should be released at the end of March and will be available worldwide on itunes. People can check us out on myspace, facebook and follow us on our website www.empiresaints.com
It is with extreme happiness that I introduce to you Audio Kings of the Third World. I discovered them when I did a google+ search for unsigned bands. They were mentioned by someone in one of my circles. I did further searches on youtube and other areas and quickly came to really like their music. I emailed the band and got a response from Jack (one of the band's founding members). As I researched these guys I came to discover they're just normal everyday looking dudes who make really excellent music. Somewhat steeped in new wave 80's meets 60's psychedelic rock. What a powerful combination. I'm convince, these guys are great!
- Randall Webb
Audio Kings of the Third World (2011)
Jack Cannon - Bass, Keyboards, Guitar, programming
John Oates - Vocals
Jim Hall - Guitar
Peter Heleva - Bass
Drum Machine - Drums (Jack Cannon programs the samples the beats)
Why the name Audio Kings of the Third World. About ten years ago the band was playing a gig with the band Monkey 101. The poster for the show read, "audio kings of the third world Monkey 101". Of course it was just a phrase to introduce Monkey 101, but Jack and John liked the sci-fi primitive nature of the phrase and decided that would be their band name. Audio Kings of the Third World has been a band for about 20 years in different incarnations. It's been mostly in the past 2 years that the band has really come into it's own and has been active again recording and playing gigs in the Philadelphia, PA area.
Audio Kings recently released a 5 song EP called "Do It Now Till It Hurts which is available as a free download @ bandcamp: CLICK For Free Download
Hailing from the greater Philadelphia area, the Audio Kings sound
emerges from a dark corner of the new wave era. Their finely crafted
dreamlike pop tunes represent an idlike angst lurking just beneath the
conscious world of the twenty first century. Gravitating between the
spacey and the aggressive, their commitment to pop structure and
contrasting indie sensibility evokes Joy Division's post punk and New
Wave fringe like (Pixies, Sonic Youth, Gang of Four and The Fall ), and
at times channels the Kraut Rock Kings of old.
