ATTENTION Cureheads: former drummer/keyboard wrangler and 'imaginary boy' Lol Tolhurst arrives in the north tomorrow as the Irish tour for his well-reviewed memoir Cured continues.
Lol will be appearing at Boneyard Records in Omagh tomorrow afternoon at 3pm for a reading, signing and Q&A event, so have your books, Cure LPs and burning enquiries at the ready.
Mr Tolhurst will also be DJ-ing tomorrow evening at Annie's in the town, before pressing on to his final Irish appearances at the Boyle Arts Festival (July 24) and Whelan's in Dublin (July 25).
It's a pity nobody booked him for a similar event in Belfast – but perhaps he'll return to share some Cure-ious tales here later in the year?
Keep an eye on Loltolhurst.com just in case, where you can also purchase a copy of the book in your preferred format.
Onwards we move from books about old music to news about new music: Tom Clarke from Belfast sludge-busters Bad Boat (and indeed Tusks and Howlin' Widow) has been in touch about another heavylicious project he's fronting at the moment, Causticgod.
This lot also feature members of other local headbangers like Astralnaut (bassist JJ Harrison and drummer Stephen Todd), War Iron (guitarist Ross Duffy) and Two Tales of Woe (guitarist Dan Walsh).
As well as lending his distinctive portentous crooning/shouting to the band, Tom is also releasing Causticgod's debut album Sullen Sanctuary on his very own label, RockRunAmok.
In fact, for those who can't wait for the limited-to-100-copies CD version to come out on August 1, he's already released the LP digitally: thus, you can get an earload of Causticgod's thunderous atmospheric riffage right now at Causticgod.bandcamp.com, where the CD is also available for pre-order.
Sound wise, this lot mix classic rock/metal style lead guitar action with lumbering desert rock riffs and doomy grooves – so if you like swaying back and forth on the spot while doing the slow-nod thing in between bouts of enthusiastic air guitaring, they should definitely float your (bad) boat.
Standout tunes include Epoch's woozy early Sabbath worship, epic and vaguely gothy slow-grunge paean Convergence, the majestically titled instrumental Precelestial Sojurn's spiralling heavy psychedelia and the raucous riffage of Bound To Abandon.
This accomplished debut record also opens strongly with the moody 'n' mesmerising slow-burner Mourning Scorn and climaxes in superbly noisy fashion with Illusory Solution's angry double-kick enhanced sludgebanger.
Interestingly, Causticgod have also unveiled a video for a new, non-album song titled The Grail. This hypnotic melodic chugger is apparently a swansong for drummer Stephen Todd, who's since been replaced on the stool by Tom's former Howlin' Widow colleague Tony Murray.
View the Excalibur-based video (put together by LessHelp man Baggy) now at Tinyurl.com/causticgrail and keep an eye on FB.com/Causticgod for details of their next live outing, which should come in the form of an album launch show sometime in August.
Belfast alt-rock troupe Gnarkats also have a new release that's worth hearing: their new single Something To Say is a nice slice of melodic grungepop topped with a catchy chorus and laden with oodles of crunchy guitar.
It kind of sounds like a cross between Sebadoh and Belfast's own prog-fuzzers Chocolate Love Factory, which is high praise indeed.
Call me crazy only after you've had a listen for yourself at Soundcloud.com/gnarkats – then get down to their free show at Donegan's Bar in Bangor this very evening and demand to hear it played live and loud.
Doors are at 9pm and support comes from solo man Mac Tíre, AKA Ross Jordan (Soundcloud.com/ross-jimmy-jordan).
Finally for this week's column, a date for your diaries: Shannon from Girls Rock School Northern Ireland (and local indie rockers Sister Ghost) has been in touch with news of a fundraiser at The Pavilion in Belfast on Friday September 8.
Dedicated to supporting women who want to get involved with the local music scene, Girls Rock School Northern Ireland (GRSNI) is set to return in the autumn for another year of workshops and events – but first they need to raise some cash for their volunteer-run donation-based endeavours.
To that end, they will be hosting a night or music-related happenings including a pub quiz and a fancy dress competition where you can compete to be recognised as your favourite inspirational female (musical or otherwise).
As if that wasn't enough to convince you to attend, there will also be cake (vegan and gluten free-friendly, naturally), highly collectible GRSNI mini-zines and a big disco celebrating women in music through the ages featuring all your female-created musical raves "from Bikini Kill to Whitney Houston" and beyond.
Open to all genders and persuasions, tickets for the GRSNI fundraiser cost £5 and are available now via Wegottickets.com/event/411080.
Befriend and support GRSNI online at FB.com/girlsrockschoolni.
