On The Record

  • Competition - be a Hard Working Class Hero for a weekend!

    September 9, 2008 @ 1:52 pm | by Jim Carroll

    From next Friday to Sunday, around 100 acts will be taking part in this year’s Hard Working Class Heroes festival in a bunch of Dublin city-centre venues. There are dozens and dozens of new and semi-established Irish acts playing, plus a couple of highly regarded Scottish acts inciuding Frightened Rabbit, Sons & Daughters and We Were Promised Jetpacks.

    In a spirit of generosity not seen since Kilkenny allowed Waterford to knock over a few aul’ points last Sunday to take the dirty look off the scoreboard, On The Record has a pair of weekend passes to give away.

    To win, simply tell us why you are a hard working class hero. Some of you will have to use your imagination for this. And keep it clean. This is supposed to be a family-friendly blog.

    Usual rules apply - yes, even employees of Bud Rising can enter - and the competition stays open until noon tomorow to give those who only get around to reading the blog in the evenings a chance to enter.

    While you’re coming up with a suitably witty answer, here’s a video of New Amusement who are playing on Sunday at 7.45pm in Meeting House Square. (By the way, full schedule for the weekend is here)

  • Competition - win a weekend in Dublin’s docklands!

    July 8, 2008 @ 9:03 am | by Jim Carroll

    Ahoy, me hearties! It is time for another infamous On The Record competition. Walk the plank this way please…

    Thanks to the nice folks at Analog Concerts, we have a pair of main stage weekend tickets to give away to their forthcoming jollies in Grand Canal Square in Dublin. This stage features Hal Willner’s Rogue’s Gallery holding court on Friday July 18, a smashing triple bill with Tortoise, Efterklang and Liars on Saturday July 19 and Taraf De Haïdouks and Vinicius Cantuária in the house (or square) on Sunday July 20. Aside from the main stage, there will also be appearances over the weekend from the lovely Silje Nes, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Chequerboard, Jonathan Coe & the High Llamas and a special Ninepoint Records label night out. See the website for whole enchillada on the event.

    Producer Hal Willner’s Rogue’s Gallery features a right mad gallery of would-be pirates singing sea-songs, shanties and various tunes about bottles of rum, jolly rogers and looking like Keith Richards. Hal has already enlisted the help of Lou Reed, Tim Robbins (can he sing?), Gavin Friday, Guggai, Neil Hannon, Teddy Thompson, Ed Harcourt, Rachael Unthank and many more for this.

    Here’s the question to win that pair of weekend tickets for the main stage, simply tell us what singer or performer you think Hal should add to his crew for this hullabaloo in the docks. Make with the smart alec remarks, folks. Competition runs until sun-down on Wednesday and the winner will be selected by me on the basis of the amount of chuckles the answer provokes. Competition open to everyone (including Vodafone employees, former pirates and ex-employees of the Irish stock exchange).

  • Competition - win a night out with….

    June 12, 2008 @ 8:12 am | by Jim Carroll

    Hands up who wants to go to see Fleet Foxes and Beach House when they play Dublin this coming Saturday night?

    Thanks to our pals at Aiken Promotions, I have a pair of tickets to give away to go see this fantastic double bill with the wonderful Foxes and the excellent Beach House at Whelan’s on Saturday. The show is nearly sold-out - it will probably sell out after people read the 5 out of 5 review for the Fleet Foxes debut album in tomorrow’s Ticket, dontchaknow - and you really will want to be there so you can tell your kids and grandkids “I was there”.

    Seeing as you lot know nothing about ice-hockey (but, hey, it turns out that there is another Detroit Red Wings fan writing for the paper) and I’m blanking Euro 2008 because I ended up with Greece and Sweden in a dodgy rigged sweepstakes, it’s going to be an easy-peasy music-related question.

    Fleet Foxes hail from Seattle. Name your favourite band or musician from Seattle and tell us why they rule.

    As always, the judge’s decision is final (that’s me, by the way) and I’m looking for wit, sarcasm, enthusiasm, eccentricity, thinking outside the box, a couple of days off and a toasted club sandwich on brown bread from Fallon & Byrne’s, but you can’t always get what you want. Competition runs until sundown today and I’ll announce the winner tomorrow morning.

    If you haven’t done so already, download “White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes here and get humming.

    And big thanks to Padraic for pointing me towards this video of Fleet Foxes live in London last night

  • Competition - win a night out in the big smoke!

    June 4, 2008 @ 8:57 am | by Jim Carroll

    Well, sort of.

    Thanks to our pals at POD Concerts, we have a pair of tickets to give away to see majestic German indietronica outfit The Notwist on Saturday night at Dublin’s Button Factory. You really want to see this show because (1) new album “The Devil, You + Me” is the business and (2) their Irish gig in 2002 was one of the finest shows I’ve ever seen.

    And, just to make sure you can really have a big night out, we’ve also a pair of tickets for the Ed Banger do with DJ Mehdi and label boss Pedro Winter AKA Busy P at the same venue after The Notwist gig. You’ll even have enough time between shows to nip out to get a kebab or a sausage sandwich or some sushi (and no, we’re not paying for that). Judge’s decision is final and no reason will be given for that. No cash substitute given in lieu of the prize. Employees or those who earn a crust from the Irish Times, POD or the Button Factory are illegible (but Vodafone employees are OK because we’re nice like that).

    Because none of you have a clue about ice-hockey, we’re not going down that route again when it comes to the question. To win, simply tell us in the comments below the name of your favourite German group and why they rock your world. Competition runs until 5.45pm today and I’ll pick the winner based on the usual grounds (ie mirth, wit, intelligence, amusement, enthusiasm etc)

    To whet your appetite, here are The Notwist with “Chemicals” from their last album “Neon Golden”

  • Most Serene Republic competition

    May 26, 2008 @ 1:51 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Canucks The Most Serene Republic are in Ireland this week and play shows in Dublin (Whelan’s, Wednesday), Galway (Roisin Dubh, Thursday) and Cork (Cyprus Avenue Friday)

    Thanks to Aiken Promotions, we have a pair of tickets to give away for each show in our dastardly competition.

    As all you bright and well-connected On The Record readers know, the Stanley Cup play-offs are underway at the moment and the Detroit Redwings slaughtered the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-0 in Game One on Saturday night…. You did know that, right? Hold on, you did realise that ice-hockey’s premier mash-up was on at the moment? No?

    Well… Whatever, all you have to do is study the following clips of ice-hockey action (warning: one of them is X-rated) and imagine what RTE football pundits Eamon Dunphy, Liam Brady, Johnny Giles and, sure why not, Bill O’Herlihy would have to say about them. That’s right, Jim has fixed it, you are the pundits. Remember to tell me which show (Dublin, Galway or Cork) you’d like to go to see. Entries close noon Wednesday and the wittiest ones win.

    Goal!

    Handbags

    Ouch!

    And here are the band in action. I’m assuming they’re ice-hockey fans

  • Want to go to some gigs in May for free? Read on

    April 28, 2008 @ 11:51 am | by Jim Carroll

    It has been noted on this blog a few times that May is the mother of all months when it comes to gigs in Dublin. Well, thanks to Forever Presents, here’s a chance to go to see some top-drawer shows next month without having to pay a bean. We have ONE pair of tickets to give away to the following shows:

    (1) The fantastic Octopus Project (video for “Truck” from the new album “Hello, Avalanche” below), with support from the excellent Duchess Says (Sugar Club, May 13)

    (2) Xiu Xiu (Whelan’s, May 22)

    (3) The lovely Silje Nes (we’re still loving her “Ames Room” album), with support from Madam (Whelan’s, May 23)

    (4) The Young Republic (Sugar Club, May 27)

    To win the booty, simply predict who is going to be in this year’s Champions League final. C’mon, there are only four teams left in it (well, three - you don’t really expect Chelsea to win on Wednesday, do you?). Entries close when Barcelona and Manchester United kick-off at Old Trafford tomorrow night. In the case of a tie, the poster who makes the funniest comment wins. Winner announced on Thursday morning.

  • Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip competition

    April 15, 2008 @ 11:44 am | by Jim Carroll

    Thanks to our pals at Shock and PIAS Ireland, there’s a pair of tickets to the forthcoming Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip gig at the Button Factory, Dublin on May 7 PLUS a copy of the duo’s forthcoming smashing debut album “Angles” up for grabs this afternoon.

    To win, simply say what act you’d add to the DLSvSP’s “just a band” rant of infamy from “Thou Shalt Always Kill” and why.

    Competition closes at sundown and the entry which makes me laugh the most wins the booty.

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