Rigsy Reminisces: Five Years On - The Class of 2008

November/December 2008 - the start of something special. Or so we assumed.

'A Little Solidarity', the mini-festival curated by And So I Watch You From Afar, filled the Mandela Hall. Lafaro, Panama Kings, Ed Zealous, A Plastic Rose and Two Door Cinema Club all performed, each tipped for stardom. That lot hadn't released an album between them - a mere handful of EPs and single tracks was enough to make us certain that - yes - things were about to kick off. General Fiasco and The Answer had headline shows at the mammoth Ulster Hall in the pipeline and a number of weekly band nights were doing great business. This was our boom.

Around this time, ATL published it's annual run down of the top 20 Northern Irish bands, voted for by our family of contributors. Makes interesting, if slightly depressing reading today....

1. Andsoiwatchyoufromafar

2. Cashier No. 9

3. LaFaro

4. The Lowly Knights

5. General Fiasco

6. The Jane Bradfords

7. Panama Kings

8. Ed Zealous

9. The Japanese Popstars

10. Cutaways

11. Desert Hearts

12. Not Squares

13. Kowalski

14. Skibunny

15. Here Come the Landed Gentry

16. RL/VL

17. Two Door Cinema Club

18. In Case of Fire

19. Escape Act

20. A Plastic Rose

First of all - exactly half of the bands have split up or find themselves (very) inactive - Escape Act, In Case of Fire, RL/VL, Here Come the Landed Gentry, Skibunny, Cutaways, Panama Kings, The Jane Bradfords, General Fiasco and The Lowly Knights.

Five bands have gone on to release debut albums yet remain (in our very humble opinion) scandalously underrated outside of their own backyard - Kowalski, Not Squares, Lafaro, Cashier No.9 and A Plastic Rose. While we were extremely grateful for a third album from the recently pimped Desert Hearts, it still feels like nowhere near enough people know about that band. As for Ed Zealous - bizarrely we're still waiting for an album - that will finally arrive in February - so I guess they remain on ice, for now.

Which leaves three. And So I Watch You From Afar, who find themselves in rude health, having racked up more airmiles than most and the last five years. The Japanese Popstars are still doing the business - recently collaborating with legendary producer and DJ John Digweed. And on the subject of decent electronica, it's worth pointing out that another recent success story is incognito on our 2008 list - RL/VL became the world-touring producer Space Dimension Controller. As for the act at number 17 - well, we all know what happened there.

So, while many of the twenty acts went on to make superb albums, arguably only four of them could declare themselves 'successful' - in that they tour enough to make a living from their music. Is that a good return? Perhaps I'm as naive now as I was back then, but I'm a little dismayed by that figure.

But lets end on a note of positivety. There's a new wave of bands too 'young' to have appeared on that list, many of whom capable of 'doing a Two Door'. Wonder Villains, Silhouette, Little Bear and Ryan Vail (for a start) are yet to release debut albums and thus still still 'in with a shout'.

Girls Names, Space Dimension Controller, The Answer and Gama Bomb (as well as many others) are doing music 'full time' - should that be how one gauges success.

Then there's the Snow Patrol syndrome - what's to stop a dormant, split or about-to-split band releasing a random piece of music that makes them superstars overnight? Perhaps that's the naivity kicking back in.....