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The first record I bought was Michael Jackson's Dangerous, I was obsessed when I was a kid and actually cried when he passed. My earliest memory of entertaining my friends was as a 6 year old in school in Dublin I'd jump up on the table and do the Jackson twirl followed by the crotch grab and pointed at the sky.
The last record I bought was Biffy Clyro's double album Opposites which is a triumph. I've been following the Biff for years and love that I've just seen them in an arena (hoping to get to see them headline Reading & Leeds too) after seeing them in Mandela and St.Georges market. Simon Neal is the sexiest man on the planet too.
The gig that made me want to be in a band was in Sligo when Turn came to town and blew the roof off our local venue, McGarrigles. Myself and Ian are MASSIVE Turn fans. Our old band Hy-koo Thiefs got to support them and it was a huge deal for us. Turn recently had a farewell tour and asked us to support them on their last ever show which was unreal. They asked me to join them on stage to play guitar on their penultimate song which was one of the greatest moments of my musical life.
I think the last album we all listened to together was Manchester Orchestra's Everything To Nothing. On tour we mostly listen to mix tapes of various artists but there was a copy of that album in the glove box when we toured the UK with Kasper Rosa and it was on pretty much every day.
The one musician who inspired me to start performing was a guy in Sligo called Trevor Callaghan from a local band called Petronella. He was electric on stage and possibly the best guitar player I've ever seen. At a young age he showed me that just because you were from a small estate in Sligo you could be a rock star and not settle with just being a failed footballer. He had so much fun on stage and took the piss out of the audience. Everyone left Petronella with a smile and I still have old poster on my bedroom wall. Other than Trevor, Kurt Cobain.
We all have our own personal tastes in music but the one band we can all agree on is Radiohead. They get 8 thumbs up.
We rarely do covers but I remember we had a song called Stones Throw and used to always finish it by mixing in the chorus of Whipping Boys 'We Don't Need Nobody Else'. Epic tune. At our Christmas show in Sligo we played Dario G's Sunchyme and the room went nuts. Troy started playing it at practice one day, we all joined and it was so much fun we said we'd give it a go and it worked.
I have a confession, I'm a massive Garth Brooks fan. There I said it.
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A Plastic Rose headliner Radar next Thusday with support from A Northern Light and The Late Twos.
