back track magazine - april 2011
DESCRIPTION
Sampler from issue one of Back Track Magazine, an alternative student pop-cult-ure rag with articles on music, comedy, tech and college lifestyle. Featured ads are fictional. Spring Break Special Issue.TRANSCRIPT
BELFASTOUT OF
They’ve united a homeland known for its divides. But now APlastic Rose and The Rupture Dogs need to focus on the UKat large. This month Daniel Robinson sat down with bothbands to find out where the Irish scene’s been, where it’sgoing and the horrors of DIY tours....Belfast has been brought to it's knees
by a community of acts steadily rising
and roaring since And So I Watch You
From Afar first alerted the country to
a scene then largely unrealised with
their mini-festival “A Little Solidarity”
just over two years ago.ago.
Solidarity was a historic moment in
time for Irish music that preceded the
boom of bands like Lafaro, Two Door
Cinema Club, General Fiasco and
ASIWYFA themselves. It would never
be an easy feat to match, never mind
go beyond.
Over the last month Back Track spoke
with The Rupture Dogs and A Plastic
Rose, two Belfast bands in their infant
stages at the time of Solidarity who've
since established themselves locally
and before Christmas were involved in
the winter-long “You Are” festival, a fif-
teen gig NI-wide toast to what the na-
tion had going musically.
A Plastic Rose felt like the time had ar-
rived to spearhead a campaign that
would give the “momentum a kick up
the arse” and “gel people together”
once more.
It takes massive balls
to do what we've
done”
“I felt like after ASIWYFA went away
there was a lot of pressure for them to
be involved in the scene. But they can't,
they're doing their own thing. Instead
of passing the baton on they just put it
on the ground and went 'Right, away
you go'. We felt like 'Right, we'll take it'”
said Gerry Norman of APR, “It takes
massive balls to do what we’ve done, I
don’t think anyone can deny us of that.”
BreakingWORDS: DANIEL ROBINSON
PHOTOS: CRAIG MCCOLLOUGH
“GERRY NORMAN
F e a t u r e s . . . M u s i cBACKTRACK
7
Of course many might argue that
every scene needs it's leaders. With-
out forerunners to motivate the up
and coming and unheard of and to
draw interest from the wider world, a
scene will choke on the fear of fruit-
less touring, recording and promo-
tion.
So when indie-hopefuls Panama
Kings called it a day last year just as
Fighting With Wire seemed damned
to post-production hell, Lafaro had
caught their break traipsing around
Europe with Helmet and ASIWYFA,
while still as adoringly conjoined to
their homeland as ever, had flown the
nest with the aid of Them Crooked
Vultures and years of graft, APR were
ready to fill in the gap.
“It was more of a void than a pressure
really,” agreed guitarist Ian McHugh.
“There were just no figureheads, no-
body locally really putting the work
in.”
Although dented by delays, APR's
headlining Mandela Hall performance
culminated the celebration, once
again consolidating a moment for NI
music. But did the tireless grass-roots
publicity pay off?
“I don't think it could ever have failed.
It was more of an idea and there was
no real pressure for there to be twelve
hundred people there, but we got
more people to that gig than some
chart-topping bands last year.” af-
firmed Gerry, “Even before it was a
success people just applauded us for
trying”.
What place then did The Rupture
Dogs have in all of this?
The Belfast enthusiasts of all things
raw and grungy were barely out of
school when the thought of Solidarity
rolled around the heads of ASIWYFA.
Now senior noise-makers of the
North, they've opened for the Sopra-
nos-soundtracking Alabama 3 and
been announced by Placebo's ex-
sticksman as the loudest three-piece
he's ever heard.
There were just no
figureheads, nobody
putting the work in
Glasgowbury”s a celebration
of the scene for summer, we
wanted to start one for the
end of the year
““
Ian McHugh
A Plastic Rose: Gerry Norman at the You Are finale
The Rupture Dogs: Gareth, Allan and John
The Mandela afterparty
4NI
bandsto check
outAXIS OF
Tooth and nails punkrock from the Northcoast.LISTEN TO:Port Na Spaniagh
TEAM FRESHThe causeway rockshave never been rocked as hard.LISTEN TO:Recipe for Disaster
LAFAROBruising Belfast crewsound like QOTSA in a quarry.LISTEN TO:Tupenny NudgerAnd so IWatch Youfrom AfarInstrumental in thestate of Irish music.LISTEN TO:Search: Party: Animal