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College Tribune | September 30th 2008
Music
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Demented tripping Sebastian Clare caught up with the Peakin’ Trippers at Crawdaddy for the launch of their single Tin Tin A demented chicken struts and jerks about the stage, squawks into the microphone, pours half a can of lager over his head, then flings his tambourine on a high parabolic arc into the audience. As introductions to a band go, this is surely up there with the most surreal and intense of them all. Animal rights activists need not fret however, the ‘demented chicken’ is none other than the Peakin’ Trippers’ exuberant front man Scott O’Neill, who explains his unorthodox nickname. “It’s just the way I dance on stage; with a bit of energy, giving it loads – bit of Jim Morrison, ya know?!” The Bray five-piece have just released their debut single Tin Tin, and played Crawdaddy for the single launch. The band is excited to have sold out the Harcourt Street venue. “It’s our first proper single launch – we recorded songs before, but we just kinda gave them out at our gigs”, reveals chief songwriter and guitarist Dave Butler, whose support vocals provide a useful foil for Scott’s more manic, uninhibited stage antics. “We’ve played here before, but this is our first-time headlining”, adds understated bassist Shay Fogarty, “We’ve been gigging quite a lot, for the last year and a half… It’s just starting to kick off now. We played to about a thousand people at Summerfest, which was amazing. Supporting Mundy as well, we were delighted with that.” The Peakin’ Trippers have their origins in secondary school where, three years ago, Dave and Scott first discussed forming a musical outfit. Dave elaborates; “Yeah, we kinda started when we were 16. We were in fourth year and we were doing this play, so
we decided to take up the guitar and it just went from there really.” The band also cites a variety of figures they de-
“It’s just the way I dance on stage; with a bit of energy, giving it loads – bit of Jim Morrison, ya know?!”
rive influence from. Eric Clapton, The Band, Kings of Leon… The list goes on. And as for the name? Scott provides the account of its genesis; “I was sitting in Dave’s cousin’s house one day and Dave was about to head off to Thailand. He was reading this map of things to see, places to go, and he just says ‘ah look, this bar’s called the Peakin’ Trippers’, and I thought ‘oh that’s a cool name’. We’d had a few ideas with some really shit names, but this one just fits.”
Volcano
»»The Peakin’ Trippers play The Student Bar tonight.
»»Tin Tin is available to buy from all good record stores.
Alice in chains
paperwork The Chicago band follow up their 2006 debut, Beautiful Seizure, with Paperwork, a genre-straddling experimental album with elements of electro, pop, rock, and free-jazz. There is an evident sense of humour about it that separates it from typical experimental music and it is undeniable that this trio are talented musicians. The music is refreshing and playful. Africa Just Wants To Have Fun is a good access point to the album; upbeat and close to what you might find in the indie mainstream. This is not an album for the conservative or faint of heart, and few of the songs have the traditional chorus or verse. Instead, the music goes through phases of intensity using pace and volume to dramatic effect. This is one of the remarkable but also problematic features of the band. These are not solidly structured songs – at times it seems that all that is holding a song together are the drums and bass. Occasionally, it seems that the
Tin Tin has received widespread critical acclaim, with publications including Hot Press, HeraldAM, and the Irish Independent all praising the single for its strength, catchiness and distinct sound. The band is resolutely down-to-earth about media input however, and is determined to take such acknowledgements in their collective stride. This represents an arrival, not a breakthrough to superstardom. As Shay points out, “This is more of a calling-card; we’re saying ‘here we
are’”. Scott recognises that media attention, while welcome, pales when compared to the rollicking live shows that are their bread and butter; “It’s great to get in the media as well, but when you’re at the gig you see it faceto-face, and it’s just deadly.” Dave identifies quite accurately that since Aidan Coughlan became the band’s manager, the prospects of the Peakin’ Trippers have brightened considerably, to hitherto inconceivable levels. “Since we got a manager, it’s gone amazingly well. He wants to just let us develop and I think we are developing.” The fact that they chose to go with Aidan reveals considerable maturity. Shay discloses that, prior to picking him, the Trippers were offered a generous contract. “Yeah, two or three years of management and then we’d be signed to a record label - the thing was though that the deal seemed too constricting. Seemed to be too much too fast. Now, though, we’re all pulling in pretty much the same direction.” The effervescent collection are typically mischievous when quizzed about how they see their future. “Death metal song next!” yells Scott cheekily. Shay chuckles, “Might become DJs for the next few weeks. Just for the next few weeks. Bit of house music on the decks.” However, the band’s sterling lead guitarist, Cillian, has the definitive answer: “Barbershop.”
dirt
boundary between experimental music and simply irritating noise is breached. For example, you may feel your migraine flaring up at the beginning of Tension Loop. That said, Paperwork offers alternative music to make you smile and dance! With that in mind, along with their reputation for being a great live band, catch them at Whelan’s on the 19th of November. CLAIRE SPELMAN
hhhhh
Fresh from the success of their first album, Facelift, and follow-up EP, Sap, Dirt became Alice in Chains’ most successful album. Released sixteen years ago this week, it went Quadruple Platinum and received resounding praise from all corners. What made Dirt such a success? Well, above all else, its context; Dirt was released a year and five days after the best known grunge album of the era - Nirvana’s Nevermind. Fellow Seattleans Alice in Chains had a more cohesive sound while remaining raw and gritty, traits that defined the Seattle Sound of the early nineties. Dirt, entirely written while the band was on the road, opens with a bang with Dem Bones’ hard guitar riffs, front man Layne Stayley’s haunting voice and guitarist Jerry Cantrell screaming duet. Dem Bones is just one of six songs on the album that deal with Stayley’s chronic substance abuse, and his struggle would ultimately lead to his death. If you think all this moaning about drug addiction will get dull, you’re wrong. What Dirt does is put many faces on a complex problem, much like Stayley himself and the band as a whole, whose music is the work of consensus as opposed to Nirvana, and more like the
September 1992
work of that other great Giant of the Seattle Scene; Pearl Jam in their early years. The fifth track, Rooster, is about Jerry Cantrell’s father and his experiences as a member of the 101st Airborne, whose nickname was Rooster, fighting in Vietnam. The video for this song features Cantrell and his father talking about Vietnam, and stock footage of the conflict there. The video also features a fictionalised representation of Cantrell Sr in Vietnam interwoven with the band playing. The song itself is based around eerie guitar-strumming and almost choral singing, with Stayley’s voice again raw and haunting. In typical Alice in Chains form, its leaden, slow progression builds louder and more intense with the chorus line of “They come to snuff the rooster... you know he ain’t gonna die.”
Another track to pick out would be Down In A Hole, which again uses the eerie voices of the two leads, lyrics of introspection and soft guitar-picking fused with heavy riffs. One of the finest tracks on the album, this is not to be missed and is definitely one of the band’s defining movements. Dirt ends with the track Would? which relies on hefty drums and bass in tandem, which along with Stayley’s vocals were the band’s stock and trade. Dirt is the best representative of Alice in Chains’ work and one of the finest examples of the Seattle Sound of the early nineties, and of the entire genre of grunge. If it’s not in your collection it should be.
KEV DOYLE