Ballroom # 56- Friday 22nd of Sept, The Lower Deck

Holyghost

Ballroom #56

Spellbound
Lungs
Stagger Lee
& 1 TBC


Friday 22nd of September
The Lower Deck, Portobello
Doors 9pm
€8 entry
Free CD-r

NOTE: This was due to be a tour date for the Black Diamond Heavies and the High Plain Drifters but they've been forced to cancel.

Spellbound



When you look at the Psychobilly movement of the 1980’s, Ireland is not a country that springs to mind as having played much of a part. However, in 1986 the bars and clubs of Dublin were quite literally crawling with demented rockabillies and quiffed-up mutants.

Spellbound was formed in 1986 by brothers Frankie and Adrian Hayes, who came from Bray, Co Wicklow, 15 miles south of Dublin City. Unlike other Irish bands of their time, Spellbound decided to head directly to mainland Europe, where their 1988 debut album ‘Mystical Madness’ was very well received and notched up many thousands in sales (amazingly, that album was never released in their home country). The boys blazed a brief trail across the rockabilly and psychobilly festivals of Germany and Scandanavia before, it seemed, vanishing back into the ‘Hellfire’ woods of County Wicklow.

Tentative moves toward a re-union were made in 2003 when guitarist friend Doyley (Klingonz, Demented are Go) contacted the Hayes brothers to inform them that copies of ‘Mystical Madness’ appeared to be changing hands on the internet for astronomical sums and to suggest he sit in on some gigs, if they could find a bass player.

They drafted in Simon Farrell (ex- Sharkbait) and this was the line-up that appeared at Die-In-Style’s ‘Kings of Psychobilly 3’ At Speyer, Germany in November 2003. Unfortunately, both Doyley and Adrian were forced to drop out soon after due to existing commitments, and were replaced by Dave Mc Donald (ex- Kroozers) and Brian O Higgins (a drummer Simon worked alongside while touring with American rockabillies The Blue Moon Boys).

Their most recent album, ‘A Fistful of Spells’ is the result of ever-increasing calls from fans for that long-awaited follow-up to ‘Mystical Madness’. The 2005 Spellbound line-up, while remaining true to the style and spirit of the original, brings the band bang-up-to-date with a new batch of original songs, alongside some (previously unrecorded) versions of old-school, rockin’-psycho classics.

http://www.spellbound.ie/


Lungs



Featuring members of Oak and Inches, Lungs formed in early 2006 and made their live debut at the excellent Rock and Roll Mother****er minifestival in April 2006 (according to them "where we played a storming set to 12 people and the rest of the bands hahaha") They've also done a tour of Ireland with UK rockers Threads.

http://www.myspace.com/lungsmusic


Stagger Lee



Roll up, roll up...ladies and gentleman take your seats and listen well, the tale of Stagger Lee is a dark, eventful and ever twisting one, which has become synonymous with notoriously rebelious characters. Born in 2005 four misfits, finding infamy to be their greatest vice were pulled together through chance meetings and like-mindedness and began to create a distinctive tincture of feral blues and Rock'n'Roll noir.

The tale of Stagger Lee found expression in songs of jealousy, debauchery and treason. They embody the spirit of Robert Johnsons Devil-at-the-crossroads and Mavis Staples sultry gospel cry combined with the energy and attitude of artists such as The Stooges, The Cramps and Siouxsie Sioux.

Honing their distorted tales in a dark dank underground of night time Dublin City, Stagger Lee bring you all, louder, dirtier and sleazier than ever before, songs to twist your filthy little minds. The result is a combination of trashy blues, new wave and out and out rocknroll.

Supports in Stagger Lee's young life have already included Sleater Kinney, The Kills and Jon Spencer Blues Xplosion. This year alone they have delivered storming sets at the Dublin leg of the Myspace Festival and as support to The Long Blondes as part of Aprils BudRising at Psychotic Reaction - one of the most respected underground live nights in Dublin.

With shows in the pipeline to include a European support to Dublin terror merchants 'The Things' and recordings with renowned producer Leo Pearson (Elvis Costello/U2/The Things) Stagger Lee were given a taste for new blood. Now, they want more....!

http://www.myspace.com/staggerleeband

One more TBA very soon...