Category: OTL14 Earlybird

Sisters Karen, Lorna and Joleen McLaughlin, collectively known as The Henry Girls, make music that will give you goosebumps. The harmonising, lilting, melting voices imbue their music with overwhelming romanticism, although the very classic and traditional folk sound is given an edge with Americana, bluegrass and blues sounds.

Recent album Far Beyond the Stars has won massive praise, not least for the sister’s knack of creating authentic original material rich in traditional values. Their tight three-part harmonies are matched by soulful musicianship across a range of instruments including harp, fiddle, accordion, ukulele, piano and a few more in-between.

In our view there are few better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon.

 King Kong Company have “21st century swagger” (Irish Times) are “festival legends in the making” (Irish Examiner) and are “the best live act in Ireland today” (Pure M Awards).

Described as a “dubbed up Prodigy, a reggae-d up Chemical Brothers or a danced-up LCD Soundsystem” King Kong Company are most likely better summed up as a band that sound like a DJ playing at a party you wish would never end.

That ‘festival legends in the making’ comment comes from a series of mind melting performances at Irish & UK festivals in the last year.

There were 10,000 revellers screaming their hearts and lungs out at King Kong Company’s Electric Picnic mid-afternoon rave. There was the gig that set Townlands ablaze (literally) and what about that 2am slot at Body & Soul? If you can remember that, were you really there?

This is the band that have their own Buckfast infused beer named ‘Commotion Lotion’, who played a private gig at Aras An Uachtarain and asked the President of Ireland if he was ‘getting anything off that’, who took their award winning show on a 15 date tour of the UK and Ireland and where, on the final date at The Academy, having had the sold out audience eating out of their hands, there was a marriage proposal.

You don’t know what you’ll get at a King Kong Company gig. King Kong Company in 2019; new show, new tracks, same crazy.

Doors 8:30pm  |  Unreserved Seating

A man. A guitar. And a song.It sounds simple, doesn’t it? And it is.

Scott Matthews’ new record, The Great Untold, is a career-defining masterpiece. The sixth studio album by the Ivor Novello Award-winning singer-songwriter is the one that many have craved: it is a masterclass in honesty, instinct and reflection.

The ghosts of Paul Simon, Tim Buckley, Nick Drake and John Martyn loom large on a collection that ranks alongside work by some of the world’s great singer-songwriters. On his sixth record, Matthews has created songs that are breathtaking in their beauty and audacious in their simplicity.

There is no orchestration, no layered instrumentation, just, for the most part, sparse, minimal piano and acoustic guitar accompaniment and that glorious grainy, otherworldly falsetto.

Matthews has tested himself as a songwriter. The absence of a band means he is vulnerable and exposed. But, in many ways, it was ever thus. He started as a soloist and is ready to fly alone.

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

”These guys play with dust in their Levis and the road their hearts”.

We are delighted to host The Dodge Brothers performing songs from their long-awaited new album Drive Train and bringing their exuberant hybrid of country blues, rockabilly, jugband and skiffle back to Out to Lunch.

You will be one of the first to hear this long-awaited new album, coming 5 years since The Sun Set and described as “wonderful stuff” by Radio 2 presenter Bob Harris.

Firmly rooted in these traditions The Dodge Brothers bring to them a freshness that has feet stomping and hands clapping from California to Cropredy, from the Mississippi to the New Forest. Their songs feature vocal virtuosity and heartfelt harmonies underpinned by joyous guitars, thumping double bass and rattlin’ snare and washboard.

The Dodge Brothers features Mike Hammond (lead guitar, lead vocals, banjo), Mark Kermode (bass, harmonica, vocals), Aly Hirji (rhythm guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Alex Hammond (washboard, snare drum, percussion).

Their music has an authentically American tang – lead guitarist/vocalist Mike Hammond was raised in Alabama and his youthful musical travels took him all over the southern and western USA – but with a strong British perspective from Culture Show presenter and film critic Mark Kermode.

Afternoon Doors 1.45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating
Evening Doors 7:45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

SUPERFLY FUNK AND SOUL BELFAST & OUT TO LUNCH PROUDLY PRESENT THE ALLERGIES.

Since forming in 2012 The Allergies have made a massive name for themselves with their take on sample-led beats and breaks.

Over the course of two funk-fuelled albums on Jalapeno Records the dynamic duo of DJ Moneyshot & Rackabeat have stacked up accolades and topped charts along the way.

Their last album, Push On, was a melting pot of vintage licks and modern production. It featured heavily on many end of year roundups when it dropped in 2017, and took the Album of the Year gong on BBC 6 Music, thanks to Craig Charles’constant championing.

On record their infectious fusion of hip-hop and rare grooves has won them fans worldwide. And live they recreate that old block party madness on the turntables, cutting up wax like no others with their party-starting DJ sets. From ram jam stages at Glastonbury festival to rocking the legendary Space in Ibiza, they have one mission – to rock the spot.

The Allergies are fast becoming ones to watch, and with a new album release, Steal The Show, this year, these Bristol-based B-boys are just getting started.

“The Allergies are neck deep in the world of scratchy samples…This is truly funk and soul for the 21st century!” – Craig Charles, BBC 6 Music.

Doors 8:00pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

CHRIS SMITHER. Songwriter. Guitarist. Performer. Bluesman.

A profound songwriter, Chris Smither draws deeply from the blues, American folk music, modern poets, and philosophers. Reviewers continue to praise his dazzling guitar work and gravelly voice. Call Me Lucky is the new record from Chris Smither and is his first set of brand new originals in six years.

The record features Smither – trademark songs that offer commentary on the human condition with a wink of an eye and pulls from deep in the soul. A couple of surprise covers remind us of Chris’ deftness as a song interpreter as he makes the songs his own.

‘His songbook is overflowing with rollicking, clever blues-based folk tunes, and he has been a consistently engaging live performer for more than four decades”’ – THE WASHINGTON POST

On this tour of the UK and Ireland The Suitcase Junket (Matt Lorenz) who also played on Call Me Lucky will play a short opener set of his music that is rooted in the salvaged sounds of mountain ballads, blues manifestos, American juke joints and back porches; it’s that and his road-worn voice rising over the grind of a tube-amped dumpster guitar, and the wild double pitches of throat singing that drew Chris to Matt’s music.

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Bronagh Gallagher is a singer, songwriter, and actress from Northern Ireland. She is delighted to bring her new show to the Black Box.

Bronagh and her band are currently in the studio recording new material, and planning the next album.

Since releasing their third album “Gather Your Greatness” in 2016, Bronagh and her band have toured extensively in Ireland, and also in the UK and Europe. Furthermore, Bronagh’s acting career continues to blossom, not least with a starring role in ‘Girl From The North Country’ in 2018 – a new play written and directed by Conor McPherson with music and lyrics by Bob Dylan.

At the age of 17 Bronagh was cast as Bernie McGloughlin in Alan Parker’s The Commitments. Since then her music has alternated with film roles in Pulp Fiction, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and Sherlock Holmes, plus theatre work in War Horse, The Street Of Crocodiles and TV dramas Pramface, The Street, and You Me And The Apocalypse.

Bronagh maintains a special place for singing, writing, producing and performing her music. Bronagh’s first album was the Meteor-nominated “Precious Soul”, followed by her second album “Bronagh Gallagher”.

‘One of the purest, clearest talents I know – a fabulous singer, bursting with raw Irish soul. Striking and original songs and an effortlessly brilliant band’– BRIAN ENO

‘Swaggering like Carole King in her golden years ‘ – **** Q

‘A deep Irish Soul record full of passion and tunes.’ – MAIL ON SUNDAY

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Twin Bandit and Steph Cameron join forces on The Winterwood Tour which comes to Europe in January and February 2019.

Life and art both move in cycles. While Twin Bandit were working on their second full-length album, the aptly titled Full Circle, Twin Bandit grew personally and creatively amidst life’s unpredictable ebb and flow.

Throughout that experience, the Vancouver-based duo—Hannah Walker and Jamie Elliot—progressed as songwriters and musicians, delicately expanding their sonic palette of folk, alternative, and country and opened up lyrically like never before.

Steph Cameron arrived on the scene like a bracing gust of fresh musical air with her 2014 debut record Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady receiving unanimously enthusiastic reviews. Superlatives again to describe Daybreak Over Jackson Street– Steph’s new album – navigating subtle changes in stylistic terrain.

If the debut felt as if it emerged fully-formed from the bohemian streets of Greenwich Village circa 1963, then the extra maturity of Daybreak gives it more of an early ‘70s Laurel or Topanga Canyon atmosphere.

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Space Oddity. Suspicious Minds. Pinball Wizard. Whole Lotta Love. Come Together – 1969 could easily be said to be a vintage year for music, the end of a decade that changed the world and the introduction to one that would prove equally inspirational.

It would also see the birth of a band that would start as an idea to electrify traditional music and would go on to become one of the most enduring stories in the folk world and beyond.

Fifty years on and Steeleye Span are set to mark this incredible milestone with a tour that will celebrate a band that are still as creative and vital now as they were all those years ago.

Led as ever by the iconic Maddy Prior, the latest seven-piece line-up will draw on the group’s incredible history to provide a night of favourites and surprises from down the decades.

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

The Delines debut album Colfax surprised fans and critics alike. The band had only been together a week when they went into the studio and cut the record.

Uncut gave it 9/10 stars and praised its “widescreen romanticism”, calling it “the richest collection of songs Vlautin has written.” Evoking the feel of a beat-up Dusty Springfield or a weary Rickie Lee Jones, Colfax made a dozen top ten records of the year lists and the Delines sold out venues in the UK, Ireland, and had successful tours in the Europe and Australia.

The Guardian declared them the surprise hit of the End of the Road festival and then it all came to a stop. Lead singer Amy Boone was hit by a car and put into the hospital and recovery for many months, finally putting the band on hold for over three years.

Amy is finally on the mend and The Delines are back with their sophomore effort released next January ahead of their UK tour.

The Delines are led by vocalist Amy Boone( The Damnations, TX), the keyboard and horn work of Cory Gray, Tucker Jackson (The Minus 5) on pedal steel, as well as Richmond Fontaine members: Sean Oldham, Freddie Trujillo, and Willy Vlautin.

Vlautin, the acclaimed novelist and songwriter for Richmond Fontaine, has penned all ten tracks. Vlautin’s book Lean on Pete was recently released as a major motion picture. Richmond Fontaine broke up in 2016 after releasing over ten records.

Doors 7.45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

Newfoundland has a storied history of stunning songwriters, poets and players. Over the course of the last decade The Once have writ and knit themselves into that story. Within the nine songs on their new album Time Enough, The Once offer some of the most vulnerable and honest material of their career.

They craft a sonically understated, but emotionally fulsome sound that accomplishes what they’ve always done so well: stun listeners with what Amelia Curran calls “perfect vocal harmonies, thick enough to stand on.”

The Once are propelled by the rare chemistry that comes from a decade of writing and touring together. Their songs have been placed in international film and television, they have YouTube videos with millions of hits, and there’s a trail of trophy nominations and wins from the East Coast Music Awards, the Canadian Folk Awards, and the JUNO Awards in their wake.

Since first hitting the road in 2009, The Once has earned one of the most loyal followings in the country. Geraldine Hollett’s voice is a large part of the band’s ethereal sound, and there is nowhere it would sit better than in between the rhythmic and supportive voices of Phil Churchill and Andrew Dale, and the lush soundscapes they build.

The trio’s instrumentation and vocals meld together like gold, building something stronger together than any one songwriter could muster alone. Their harmonies grab you by the heart, and their music melts what’s left of it. Building on the wave of creative energy that defined their last album, Time Enough is a striking and subtle sea change for the band. Dive in, get lost, click repeat.

Doors 1.45pm | Unreserved Seating