HAVING recently signed to Strange World management, irrepressible Castlerock indie kids Brand New Friend continue their rapid rise towards 'next big thing' status with the release of a brand new single.
Out today, Your Friends Hate Me is a noisy sub-three minute blast of joyful guitar thrash and perky pop punky melody which meets and indeed exceeds the high expectations built up by last year's well-received debut, the American Wives EP.
Comprised of siblings Lauren (keys/vocals) and Taylor Johnson (guitar/vocals), bassist Aaron Milligan and drummer Luke Harris (nephew of Dirty Stevie man Paul 'Bum' Harris), Brand New Friend always seem to be having the Best Time Ever during their gigs.
Having won over an impressive number of Irish fans over the past 12 months, the quartet's aggressive enthusiasm is now becoming infectious beyond their home patch: the relentlessly upbeat bunch recently went to Hull and back for a performance at Radio One's One Big Weekend Festival.
Find out why by giving your ears a blast of Your Friends Hate Me and the debut EP right now at Brandnewfriendz.bandcamp.com or your preferred digital music retailer.
However, if you manage to catch the band live in the next while, you might be able to pick up a CD copy of their newie, which also includes some bonus tracks – or B-sides, as we used to call them back when all this around here was in black and white – including a rather good acoustic tune called Seatbelts For Aeroplanes which will hopefully be given a full band treatment at some point in the near future.
Their next scheduled outing is on Friday June 23 at the Sea Sessions music festival in Bundoran.
From Brand New Friend to faithful old favourites, namely Doagh desert rocking alt/metal outfit Skypilot, who have been going almost as long as this very column.
In fact, the trio will be celebrating 15 years of peddling atmospheric heavy riffage with a special anniversary show at The Limelight 2 tomorrow evening, where they will be treating listeners to a run through the highlights of their back-catalogue.
Attendees will expect, nay demand, everything from the heavy grooving crunch of Stomper from their debut LP, Monument, to epic early days attention-getter Lifter, On – so good it also featured as the climactic track of the album.
Doors are at 5pm, admission is £5 and you also get three support bands in the form of Conjuring Fate, Roscos Riot and By Any Means.
Finally for today, a red-letter date for your gig diary: The annual Gascan Ruckus Summer BBQ is back for a second all-day feast of live bands and finger-licking fire-cooked food at Queen's Student Union on August 19.
This year's line-up features the Ruckus themselves atop a bill also featuring Emerald Armada, Anna's Anchor, Beauty Sleep, Empty Lungs (acoustic), Fox Jaw, Franklyn, Goldie Fawn, Joshua Burnside, Larks, Life Goals, Making Monsters, No Oil Paintings, Pillow Queens, Susie Blue, Tuskany, The Wood Burning Savages and Via Barvikha.
Limited 'early bird' tickets are on sale now for £10 via Wegottickets.com, so don't dawdle if you want maximum BBQ-flavoured bang for your buck.
THIS WEEK'S MOST ANNOYING NOISES (ELECTION SPECIAL)
Another Bloody Election - Killing Joke
Elected - Alice Cooper
Electioneering - Radiohead
The Candidate - Urge Overkill
Me & My Buddies Would Vote For You - Torgas Valley Reds
If You Tolerate This - Manic Street Preachers
Freedom of Choice - Devo
Changes - David Bowie
Yesterday's Men - Madness
Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who
