Oneida Interview Aug '09

There’s no way he’s going to answer. It’s 7:30am on a Friday morning in Brooklyn, New York, where Kid Millions of Oneida is, to the best of my knowledge, sprawled across a bed with his cheek pasted to his drool-laden pillow. I try again, the third time, still no answer. I leave a message and wait patiently – three fags and one cup of brew later the phone hops, a long drawn out voice mutters: “Hey, this is Kid from Oneida.” Success! I offer to call back. “No man let’s do it, I’m ready.” I get a quick mental image of Schwarzenegger taunting the Predator: “Come on, do it, do it!”


The band have just released the second LP of the long promised ‘Thank Your Parents’ trilogy (the first instalment, ‘Preteen Weaponry’, comprised just one song). ‘Rated O’ is a little different. Miles different. “Basically the last time we were in Ireland I was asking our friend that books the shows about some great Irish bands that I might not have heard of and Virgin Prunes came up. So I picked up some albums and did some research and I learned about how they did a similar kind of thing, where they did a collection of releases under the name A New Form Of Beauty. I loved the records, and at the same time we were looking through all this material that we had recorded and we were wondering what would be an interesting way to present it.

“I thought it would be cool under one name, one project, and we had already tried to make a triple album called ‘Thank Your Parents’ and it didn’t work out. We tried a few years ago and the album that was released was called ‘Happy New Year’. But we still had this name and this idea so I thought why not make ‘TYP’ this all encompassing concept to try and contain everything that Oneida can do and what we are capable of.”


The result is a triple CD album laden with furious guitar riffs, electronic explosions, abrasive beats, all the feckin’ good stuff that Oneida is capable of producing. Some songs clock in over the 12-minute mark, namely ‘10:30 At The Oasis’ but this is nothing out of the ordinary. “There is nothing conceptual like that. It is conceptual in that it’s like, ‘what are the boundaries of what we can do?’ It’s just music by Oneida. I don’t know what the next one is going to be. It may be more than a single but we don’t have that one done yet. We have some ideas and a lot of stuff recorded but we’re not quite there yet.”

‘Rated O’ will be the fifth full length offering in as many years but the Oneida train keeps on a rollin’ down the tracks. “It’s just what we do, it’s funny, and we don’t know why bands aren’t more prolific! We like to have that work ethic where we keep producing and recording and playing. It is hard to balance making money and making music and a few of the guys do have families so it’s a challenge, but Oneida is a challenge for all of us. It’s not ‘the priority’ but it is ‘a priority’ so we do make a lot of sacrifices to do the band.”

Bon Iver The Big Top Galway July '09

They’ve been talking about this one all summer. Bon Iver’s only Irish gig of the year and a come back special for Justin Vernon to city he once called home. Return of the (prodigal) Mac.

The atmosphere inside the big top tent seems varying. Support act for the night Alela Diane struggles to overcome the hum of the nattering crowd who seem more interested in catching up on the week’s soap action. Unfortunately much of this drunken chatter continues for the foreseeable.

Shortly after 9:30 Bon Iver emerge to rapturous applause. “It’s good to be back” is the greeting we receive from a grizzly Vernon before the first notes of ‘Flume’ send the crowd into inharmonious bawls. ‘Lump Sum’ and ‘Creature Fear’ quickly follow with a cover of Yo La Tengo’s ‘I Feel Like Going Home’ thrown in for good measure. ‘Skinny Love’ is the song of audience choice for the night, so much so that one reveller to my right wants to hear it again. I bite my tongue.

This is supposed to be an almost spiritual experience. Sure, I had my hang-ups about seeing Bon Iver in such a large venue but respect where respect is due I thought. Unfortunately not tonight but that being said it doesn’t seem to affect the energy and feeling coming from the stage. The cry for Galway Girl is nearly the nail in my endurance coffin but a moving rendition of ‘Bloodbank’ shifts my attention. The sound is anything but clear, which could be intentional, but Vernon’s voice warms the murky night air like a stiff whisky to a wanting belly.

It’s been eight years since a fresh faced 19-year-old JV sold phones and busked here in Galway and according to the man himself “nothing has changed”. Bucky is still the drink of choice, madmen still lurk behind every rock at the Spanish arch and the Rosín Dubh is still where the cool kids hang. The only thing the wild Wisconsin Sasquatch can complain about is the lack of fried chicken carcass on Shop Street. “I come back here and all I want is a snack box…what’s with that?”

A rousing singing of happy birthday for baby faced guitar player Mike Noyce leaves each band member smiling like a Cheshire cat. Despite the unorthodox crowd this has been a special gig and its clear that the band, tired as they look, are all the better after it.

‘The Wolves (Acts I & II)’ bring the curtain down on the night and features spine tingling audience anticipation for the crescendo. “What might have been lost” are the words howled repeatedly by the pack as Vernon thanks us “from the bottom of (his) heart.” The circus tent empties… the animal are loose.

Steve Battle

Ardiff take to the road for 3 in a row

Dublin based band Ardiff are readying themselves for a return to the live circuit at the end of the month where they will bring audiences through an eclectic mix of Indie-folk, rock and blues.

The band is pencilled in for 2 Dublin dates, the first taking place in the Turks Head on Thursday 24th September as part of the worldwide Arthur’s Day celebration. On Friday 25th they are joined at The Cobblestone by San Francisco folk-rockers The Blank Tapes for the first of two shows together which culminates at The Roisín Dubh, Galway on Saturday 26th.

After spending the last few months developing and perfecting a healthy bunch of original songs, Ardiff feel as though the time is right to bring their music to the masses. With each member a keen traveller, their time abroad is immediately apparent especially with frontman Robert Ardiff’s vocal delivery of English, French and Spanish lyrics as well as a mergence of instruments such as ukulele, trumpet, glockenspiel and charrango.

The group, completed with Steve Battle on drums, Louise Gaffney on keys and Dave Gunnigan on bass came together only 12 months ago and are all still in their early 20’s. Yet, in that short space of time they have played to audiences at venues such as Whelan’s, Pravda, Anseo and Eamon Doran’s.

Ardiff describe their musical output as “a cross blend of everything we love about music, smart words and nice melodies with effective rhythm and bass progressions throughout.”

With an album in the pipeline for 2010 and many more gigs to come in between, it promises to be a busy year for this young quartet but they are more than ready for the challenge. “We write songs for people to dance, rock out and sing along to. The live experience is all about having fun and that’s what we intend to do.”

Thurs. 24th September – Turks Head, Parliament Street, Dublin 1
Fri. 25th September – The Cobblestone, Smithfield, Dublin 7 w/ The Blank Tapes
Sat. 26th September – The Roisín Dubh, Dominick St., Galway w/ The Blank Tapes

For more information on Ardiff check out – www.myspace.com/ardiff

Adebisi Shank

Adebisi Shank are an instrumental piece Robot/Dance rock trio group based in Wexford. They have been touring the shite out of it since the release of their debut album back in September and trust us, they know how to get a place moving. The Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank was recorded with none other than the legendary J. Robbins (Clutch, Jawbox) and has been garnering serious interest of late. Steve Battle caught up with Guitarist Lar before a recent show at Whelan’s .

How has it been going for Adebisi Shank since the release of the Album?

I think the album got released in September and we’ve done, let me think, two tours of England and a tour of Europe.

How were the shows received?

I’m guessing pretty well. I can never really tell with us because when we play I kind of worry about reaction. But I think in a weird way we get away with playing to different crowds, people that are mad metal heads seem to hear the heavier side of it. My uncles are in a showband and my Dad brought them to a gig in the Twisted Pepper a few weeks ago. I don’t know if they were pissed but they seemed to really enjoy it! I was completely bricking it all day waiting for them to ask me what the hell I am doing!

Things seem to be going good for you on The Richter Collective label…

Yeah, Mick our drummer runs that with another guy called Barry and they’re starting to do really well. It’s really taking off for them. They are releasing the BATS album in August and we’re going to do a tape when we get back from Japan.

Woah woah woah hang on, you’re doing a cassette tape?!

Ya! I think we were going to do it on record but we couldn’t afford it so we decided to do it on tape.

What’s the most important thing about your live shows?

A lot of the time all I can hear is my guitar and I just hope that it makes sense out the front. But as long as its loud and maybe so loud that people can’t tell what’s going on!

Is it easier releasing on a label that your band mate is involved in?

I guess it’s a bit more human. It’s done more out of trust and friendship. We’ve met a lot of really good people and close contacts over the last few years and Mick has done a lot of DIY stuff for us. I don’t think we’ll go past that point, its cool the way it’s working at the moment. We have enough pressure keeping ourselves happy rather than having someone telling us that something has to be done on time

So what is the plan for Adebisi Shank over the next few months?

Well we head off to Japan on Monday for a two-week tour and when we get back we’re going to release this tape. The album has just been released in England on vinyl so we’re probably going to head back there and promote that too. I think after that we’re just going to start working on the next album.

Have you been doing much press in England?

Yeah loads. We toured with a band called Blakfish (www.myspace.com/blakfish) who are getting really well known over there. We just hopped on their crowd. It’s really nice to play in England and to be guaranteed a good crowd there.

Do you all come from a metal background?

When we got together we all had similar influences in one respect. We all went through that metal stage especially Mick and Vinny – you should put that in because they were fuckin’ obsessed with Fear Factory and that’s been on in the van a lot along with old school Spineshank, but I’m pretty obsessed with Radiohead. Vinny’s mad into Prince and Mick loves this band call Oingo Boingo, which was Danny Elfman’s band back in the 1980’s, they’re absolutely amazing.

What have you been listening to lately?

I’ve been getting mad in to Jetplane Landing again. I think all Vinny does is sit at home and find new music! I’m always flicking through his iPod.

If you take anything from this article take this - listen to Oingo Boingo!

...and The Shank of course, they're touring now.