Great unknown
Chart-topping ravers
Rudimental are happy to keep using unknown singers — because they can boss them around easier.
The London lads hit the UK No1 spot in May with Feel the Love, featuring little-known garage singer John Newman (21).
But despite being well-connected, the quartet have vowed to shun star names and keep working with unknowns on their debut album, out early next year.
Producer Piers Agget (25) said: “The trouble with big acts is they come with their own style — people expect a certain sound from them that you can’t mess with too much.
“We’re trying to establish our own style, so we want to work with singers who don’t mind fitting into what we’re trying to say.” The lads are the latest stars to emerge from East London, after the likes of Plan B (28) Labrinth (23) and Dizzee Rascal (27). Hackney local Kesi mused: “You grow up listening to all sorts of music in Hackney... that makes for a modern range of influences.”
Bad Boy blasted
Acclaimed singer
Badly Drawn Boy was slammed yesterday after he launched a foul-mouthed rant at fans during an outdoor family concert. The Mercury Music Prize winner swore at fans in the English town of Northampton — which included young children — before moaning about being “bored”.
Taking it all in his Stryder
Rap star Tinchy Stryder has so much material for his new album,
Full Tank, that he might have to rush release another one. Tinchy said: “I write differently and think differently now, so Full Tank is sounding really fresh — but I’ve also got something else ready to go.
“I might have to put out two albums because it’s all so different and I don’t like to mix sounds.” But the 25-year-old won’t be pinned down to a release date, adding: “It’s not something to be rushed. I’m just excited to be releasing my new single Help Me in September.”
Tour de Picnic?
Fancy cycling from Tallaght in Dublin to Stradbally, Co Laois, for
Electric Picnic? Saddle up with Tour de Picnic and radio star Ray D’Arcy and help raise money for kids’ charities. You have to raise €380 but the fun at the end is worth it all. Go to
give2go.ie for all the details.
Breather OK for Kel
Taking a Bloc Party breather has been good for the band, singer Kele Okereke thinks.
New album Four is four years in waiting. Kele (30) said: “If we’d made another record it would have been a poisonous head space for us. Taking time out was the best thing we could have done.”
Noisettes to go for gold
The Noisettes are going for gold with cracking new album
Contact. Singer Shingai Shoniwa (30) joked: “What we do is Olympic!”
★ Experimental Brooklyn pop star How To Dress Well hits Dublin’s Twisted Pepper on November 2.
Tickets priced €15.50 go on sale next Monday.
★ Indie rockers THE WALKMEN are set to play a Dublin show. The US group recently released sixth album
Heaven to critical acclaim and will play Vicar Street on October 29, with tickets available from
Ticketmaster for €26.
★ Maverick singer FRANZ NICOLAY is in the capital tomorrow for a much-anticipated show. Backed by Land Lovers,
tickets for his Workman’s Club gig are €10.
★ The second album of brooding trio BEAK> was recorded in just one afternoon and the intensity of the record is to be brought to Dublin. They play Whelan’s on November 18 and tickets are priced €16.50 from
whelanslive.ie.
★ Choice Music Prize winner
Adrian Crowley is to launch his new LP I See Three Birds Flying in Dublin. Tickets at €20 are out now for two shows at the Abbey Theatre on September 14 and 15.
★ Folk star RONAN O SNODAIGH is playing five nights in Whelan’s, Dublin, between September 11 and December 4. Full details of his ambitious retrospective project can be found on his page on
fundit.ie.
★ Danish punk rockers Iceage have announced details of a Dublin show this winter. Tickets are priced at €15 for the
Academy 2 gig on November 22 and are on sale now.