Song of the Week: Foo Fighters - 'The Pretender'

I remember the Summer when Foo Fighters released 'The Pretender.'  It was 2007 and what was/is MTV2 played this song on a loop for weeks (hats off to Zane Lowe).  This song was blaring throughout our house all Summer as we waved the Foo flag proudly.  To this day, I still have not got sick of this song.  Foo Fighters may have provided a weaker album that was Echoes Silence Patience Grace in comparison to previous greats, but this song makes up for the whole album.  Such a banger of a song only Dave Grohl & co. could have done it.  Listen below and remember - if you haven't heard of the song you clearly weren't a neighbour of mine.

  

Sound City Documentary Official Trailer Released

Released only moments ago on the Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age Facebook Fan pages, Sound City Documentary director and Foo Fighters frontman, Dave Grohl, has officially published his trailer for the long-awaited music documentary.

Sound City Studios is one of the world's most famous rock'n'roll studios, where none other than Guns N' Roses, Fleetwood Mac, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Nirvana, Cheap Trick, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, and of course, Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age.  It's undoubtedly one of rock'n'roll royalty, directed by rock royalty.  Take a peak at the official trailer for Sound City Movie now.  Dates of cinema release to be announced.

Live Review: We Were Giants | Whelan's, Dublin

Who: We Were Giants, w/ Holy Ghost | Holy Grail

Where: Whelan’s, Dublin, Ireland

When: November 29^th, Midnight Hour

                        

The underground music scene has become a huge love affair again for the first time since the 90’s.  Most of the bands who originate on the indie scene (to use its literal term of independent) prefer to do things their own way in the end, even if they are offered a record deal.  Many acts have been high profile for independent artists, but nothing has added excitement to underground rock music of Ireland like We Were Giants.

Originated from Dublin and Offaly, Ireland, the quartet hit Dublin’s well-known and well-loved venue Whelan’s to play the Midnight Hour accompanied by support act Holy Ghost | Holy Grail.  The band set up as a three piece in October 2011, and became the four-piece they are today in the Summer of 2012.  The band, who’s members are Colm O’Loughlin (vocals/lead guitar), Ste O’Loughlin (rhythm guitar/vocals), Danny Farrelly (bass guitar/vocals) and Jay Maleney (drums/vocals), have released 3 EP’s over the course of the year, including a Christmas EP, an Acoustic Promo, and their most popular EP, part one.  With only three EP’s up their sleeves, you wonder how could a band be as stellar as they are.

On the night, each member of We Were Giants had, quite obviously, their own role on the night, but not one person was out of the spotlight.  Stand-out member was vocalist and lead guitarist, Colm O’Loughlin, blew away the crowd with his vocal abilities.  Inside that talented voice-box of Colm’s was Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft, and at times, Kelly Jones.

The energy on stage between the four was nothing short of heart-warming.  Every so often, glances and smiles would be exchanged between each member, almost as if they were feeding off one another’s energy and passion.  It’s amazing to see a band be so connected with one another, and to see that they want to do this for the rest of their waking days.

Highlights of the set-list include the definite radio hit single “She Said,” a stupidly catchy-in-a-good-way song with similarities to General Fiasco; “Satellites,” a dreamy song that Chris Martin could’ve written, if either Thom Yorke or Damien Rice were to sing it; and of course, “WarWren” that has those passionately-blasting vocals delivered by Colm.  It was difficult to tell that these boys have only been working together as their official four-piece for only a handful of months, as they showed no stage fright, talked to the crowd throughout the night, and threw off this ‘we know what were doing’ attitude. 

Drummer, Jay Maleney, stood out of the back of the stage, although the drummers are known to be behind the spotlight, he killed that stereotype.  At one stage during the night, if you looked at Maleney, you would see Dave Grohl in the Queens of the Stone Age music video for "No One Knows".  Passion was not running dry that night, to say the least.

There’s a rule of thumb that if you are reviewing an unsigned, unknown band, you compare their sound, techniques and skills to musicians or bands of a higher recognition to inform the reader.  I’ve reviewed a handful of unsigned bands and musicians, and never in my year of writing have I had so much difficulty in pinning down on who these guys sound like.  In each song, you can hear elements of many different musicians, bands and genres meshed together to create their own unique sound.  That night you could hear Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, Canterbury, Sonic Youth, Blink-182, Twin Atlantic, Stereophonics, The Verve, Bloc Party, Biffy Clyro and Jimmy Eat World.  This unique ability to not only absorb the sound and the energy from their favourite musicians, but they reproduce it to make it their own, and this is a gem to find in the music industry, and even more in the unsigned music scene.  These boys don’t realise how talented they are, as their humbleness stays true when off stage, in comparison to their explosion on-stage.

Will you hear these guys on your side of the world away from their native Irish lands?  There’s only one answer: You will.

Setlist: We Were Giants

·         This Is Silence

·         Satellites

·         All I Want

·         WarWen

·         The Messenger

·         Life Without A Tear To Fall (Unplugged)

·         Tree Song

·         [Interlude]

·         She Said

·         Hey You

·         [Interlude]

·         Vampires

·         This Is It

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