Band – RCRD LBL

October 13, 2023

October 13, 2023October 13, 2023 Mew Zikwryder

Interview with Irish indie rockers The Burma

The Burma have returned with a stunning full length album titled Crazy Dreams & Cruel Realities, released on the 6th of October 2023 via their own label The Burma Music Group. Having received support from The Rolling Stone India, CLASH Magazine, NOTION Magazine, Hot Press, Atwood Magazine, and Medium.com/Pop Off, the trio has also earned spins on RTÉ 2FM with Dan Hegarty as well as RTÉ Radio 1. Their single ‘Holiday’ has already premiered and received support from EARMILK, and the boys have earned support slots for artists such as The Academic and The Strypes, while simultaneously gaining extensive airplay across Ireland, the UK, and the USA. Read our interview with their drummer Cian Doherty below.

Walk us through your creative process?

The songs always starts with either Peter (guitar) or Tony (vocals). One of them will come up with the initial idea and send some sort of a demo to the rest of us and it goes from there. Sometimes the demos can be full arrangements of a song, and other times they can be just a voice note with chords and a melody or one single instrument part, it varies. We do the majority of our work on our own at home, recording and writing parts etc. and then we send in a recording of it into our group chat and let the others sit with it for a while. We make adjustments from there. We wouldn’t really be the type of band to jam for hours in practice. There’s usually a plan for each rehearsal and we go in and get it done with parts that have been worked on and written at home.

Who are your biggest artistic influences?

The Smiths, Tame Impala, The Strokes and The Weekend.

What instruments do you play?

Tony O Donovan is the singer, Peter Piggott is the guitar player and Cian Doherty is our drummer.

What would you like to work with if you weren’t a musician?

I (Cian) would be working in the business side of the music industry as either an artist manager or tour manager.

Whats one piece of gear you can’t live without? What equipment are you using?

The Roland SPD-SX. We use some tracks for our live shows for extra synths and processed vocals etc. so we have the whole show built around the use of the SPD-SX. I am in control of the tracks from the drums so there’s a lot that goes on surrounding that and making sure it runs smoothly. Peter records each track himself and looks after the audio for each one and makes sure it’s show ready. We’re always updating and trying to improve them.

Tell us something unrelated to music. What are your hobbies?

We’re pretty boring. Music pretty much dominates our life.

If you could meet one performer/artist who would it be?

Eminem.

What does the future hold for you as an artist?

A life making a living from our music, hopefully.

Follow The Burma:

Website – Facebook – X – Soundcloud – Youtube – Instagram – Spotify – TikTok

September 27, 2023

September 27, 2023September 27, 2023 Mew Zikwryder

The Valmonts invite you to ‘Cry & Get A Little Drunk’ with their melodious new single

Dublin-based Indie rock/pop band The Valmonts released their new single ‘Cry & Get A Little Drunk’ on the 15th of September via Watts Hill Records. The single will come off of their upcoming EP Living In A Paranoid Trance. The band is composed of Darragh Whyte (vocals, guitar), Keith Whyte (Drums), Cathal Sweeney (Guitar), and Tymek Kocurkiewicz (Bass). Falling in love with music at a young age, The Valmonts were hatched and nurtured in one of their parents’ garages in Galway and have since blossomed into a successful pop rock powerhouse. Their influences include the likes of New Radicals and INXS. Their music has also been featured on major publications like CLASH and received airtime on over 50 international radio stations.

‘Cry And Get A Little Drunk’ is about finding solace in the universality of heartbreak and lost love, and the complicated feelings that arise from it. Jam-packed with a moving combination of emotion and energy, its pop elements give it a catchy danceability. However, the rock elements, reminiscent of the explosive boy bands of the 2000s (think The Kooks or The Vaccines), lend the song its depth and passion. The verses are minimal, measured and introspective while the choruses erupt with emotion, lush power chords, crashing drums and a fervent, full-bodied vocal delivery. The song is extremely moving and poignantly human – and you won’t be able to get the melody out of your head.

“This song came together in the most natural way possible,” the band said.“The four of us one day at rehearsal jamming. Darragh had some lyrics he had previously been working on and by the end of the day, we had a full new song. Recording it was a whole other story. There are more guitar tracks on this song than we can count”.

Follow The Valmonts:
Facebook – X – Soundcloud – TikTok – Youtube – Instagram – Spotify

June 28, 2023

June 28, 2023June 28, 2023 Mew Zikwryder

Black Light White Light express complex feelings in ‘Epilepsy’

Image credit: Jannick Boerlum

Admiration is a state, if we can call it that, full of conflicting emotions. There’s a shard of envy in there, a dash of desire to complicate things, an extra helping of high esteem and unconditional regard. It is the recognition of an ideal. An ideal that music tries to reach. Pursuing said ideal and capturing the accompanying emotions, the Indie rock band Black Light White Light has shared an emotionally-turbulent single from their latest album, a project titled The Admirer.

Stream / Download: Black Light White Light – The Admirer

“I think the album presents the band’s most personal, versatile and certainly most adventurous release to date,’ said Black Light White Light. ‘It delivers psychedelic rock, cosmic pop, and piano-driven ballads with wandering melodies, layers of keyboards, sizzling delay guitars, and manipulated effects to an intoxicating mix that jumps and has plenty of edge in 10 songs with personal lyrics about pain, doubt, love and confusion. My most personal songs to date.”

The single, ‘Epilepsy’, sees songwriter and band member Martin Ejlertsen pen a tale that disturbs but entices in its free-flow lyricism. Available now under the Forward Backwards Recordings label.

Follow Black Light White Light:

Website – Facebook – Twitter – Soundcloud – Youtube – Instagram – Spotify

March 1, 2023

March 1, 2023April 11, 2023 Mew Zikwryder

Interview with lustrous band KARMACODA

Image credit: Bill Shupp

Singer Jessica reclines on the lid of the grand piano, bleeding her heart on stage, crooning soul-soaked high notes while producer Brett caresses the black and whites of the piano, laying silken notes over Jazzy drums. Dressed to the nines, the members of KARMACODA tell a story of closure and letting go. With their offering ‘Lovely’, the trio leave a trail of rose petals guiding listeners to their recently released album Lessons In Time (read our feature on the LP here), available under the Sola Musa Music imprint. Furthermore, we asked them about where they have been and where they are going:

Stream / Download: KARMACODA – Lessons In Time LP

What is the story behind your record ‘Lovely’?

Jessica Ford: It’s about a relationship where they try and try. It’s never going to work, but she tried one more time; this is the end. Too many games to continue so she’s giving up, even though it hurts, and writing him a song which is his last goodbye song. Looking back at years of breakup songs written, this one is the last one. Writing about it isn’t making the pain better or easing her sadness, so she decides to sing about it and burn up all the old lyrics and songs in an ashtray, metaphorically speaking. She’s setting her memories on fire, ripping up their old pictures and putting their last song as her ringtone. It’ll never get released to the public. She wrote it for herself (it’s one she wrote that they’ll never know)… but she thinks if she hears it every time he calls, she’ll be reminded she’s done.

Riffing on the theme of time, what advice would you give your younger self?

Jessica Ford: Always choose light over darkness. Be kind to people, you never know what they are going through behind the scenes. Work on your spiritual self and healing and dream BIG. No matter what happens in your life, you will learn from it, grow, and make it through no matter how painful it was. You’re going to be OK.

Brett: Don’t be afraid to pursue what you are passionate about. The worst thing that can happen is the answer may be no.

What are some of your earliest memories of music?

Jessica Ford: Earliest… One of the first album obsessions I remember is Olivia Newton-John in Grease, and I was also obsessed with Barry Manilow’s Copacabana. I found the album covers and photos visually stimulating, and I would listen to the vinyls on repeat looking at the pictures.

Take us through your songwriting process. Are there any particular steps you take when putting music together?

Jessica Ford: B. sends me tracks to write to. I listen to them and see which one hits me and inspires me in the moment. I start there. I also like to challenge myself as a songwriter. B. always gives the instrumental tracks a temporary name. They are very odd names like Kindred, lovely, Deja Vu, Agency, Velvet, etc. My challenge to myself is, I make sure I either write about that word, or I make sure that word is somewhere in the song. This is also what inspires me to have a topic to start writing with. Once I’ve written a song I’ll send it back to B. for approval or “keep working on it”. This is the process when I am writing the song; B. writes some too and has his own process.

Studio work and music creation or performing and interacting with a live audience, which do you prefer?

Jessica Ford: They are mutually exclusive. We LOVE being on stage. Performing to a live crowd is always exhilarating. Being in the studio and writing is exciting on its own. However, it’s a different excitement, a different calm, a different type of zoned-in feel and passion vocally.

What is the most memorable response you have had to your music?

Jessica Ford: Our first award stands out to me… then the second and then so many more… I never thought I’d win an award for our videos, and it never gets old. It’s always an incredible moment to be acknowledged and seen.

If you could put together a radio show, what kind of music would you play?

Jessica Ford: KARMACODA, of COURSE, mixed with CCM Inspirational music and Gospel House. Also remixes and Dance.

Name five artists and their albums who would appear on your radio show

Jessica Ford: I’ve never been a fan of specific genres, I listen to EVERYTHING from House to Country, to class RnB to music from the ‘30s. I love good singing in general and music that makes me moved. I love music that inspires me to create, and I would search for new and up-and-coming artists who need a break, need airplay, music the world needs to hear, underground stuff that needs to surface and give local talent some praise.

What would you like to achieve with your music? What does success look like to you?

Jessica Ford: Joining KARMACODA was an art project for me. I never dreamed it would do what it has done and is doing. Every accomplishment is a success, and I’m thrilled to have what we have and to be a part of what we have done. Getting our music “out there” and heard far and wide is always on the agenda. After all, that’s why we make it, to share it. I’m thrilled with what we have accomplished and, for me, that is success. Anything else is just gravy.

One last thought to leave your fans with?

Jessica Ford: Thank you for listening; we have some new music in the works!