This Wednesday May 8th @ The Zodiac Lounge, Tomato, Harcourt St, Dublin 2 Zodiac 7 Damien Dempsey, Blotooth, Babelfish, Jack Hudson Welcome fellow Zodiac’s to week 7 of the Acoustic Heaven known to us all as the Zodiac Lounge. Off the back of some encouraging news that both the Event Guide & Hotpress have bestowed the “Club of the Month” title on us we are keeping the momentum up by brining you some great acts to check out this Wednesday. This week’s instalment from the Zodiac Lounge brings you a diverse background of musicians with many varied dimensions of talent to tempt you away from your couches this Wednesday evening. Damien Dempsey (a personal favourite of mine) headlines this weeks gig and it could be your last chance to see him this summer before he heads over to New York for an 8 week tour. Bottles of Corona (with a slice of lime) are three euros each and cocktails go for three euros fifty all night. As you know by now the acoustic sessions normally wrap up around midnight and then our Alternative club spark kicks in with the Colbert brothers serving up the best in Indie and rock classics until 3am. The Zodiac Lounge, this & every Wednesday at Tomato Night Club, Harcourt St, Dublin 2. Doors: 9:30 pm Adm: €8 / €6 with student ID & €5 with a copy of this email Band Biographys: Damien Dempsey Damien Dempsey is 26 years of age and comes from Donaghmede on Dublin’s Northside. His Father is a panel beater who believes his sons musical ambitions are a way of avoiding real work in the real world. His adolescence was split between his separated parent’s homes, at a time when divorce was still unavailable in Ireland. This led to Damien going crazy for a few years. His earliest musical influences were the post-pub singsongs that his parents used to have when he was a toddler. Good, bad, or indifferent everyone had to sing. Damien would watch the attention following the voices around the room and was glad that his parents had not noticed it was way past his bedtime. Today he sings traditional Irish songs and runs song-writing workshops for children and single parents from the poorer parts of Dublin. Damien has boxed for Dublin, and practised Kung Fu and Karate. But he has not always been too disciplined. On one particularly wild night he bit his tongue in half in a street fight. It was while he was in hospital recovering that he realised how much he wanted to pursue his own musical interests. The operation to stitch his tongue back on meant he could not speak let alone sing for two months. Damien left Dublin and spent three months in New York working in an Irish Bar on Lexington Avenue. A daily routine of working till 4am and feasting on dim sum helped him put on a stone for every month he was there (see N.Y.C. Paddy on the Album). The New York lifestyle was too excessive and he felt he’d return in a coffin if he stayed any longer. He came back to Ireland because the bars closed earlier. In 1997 he recorded and released a single called Dublin Town that went to number 18 in the Irish charts with little or no promotion. The single was the most played track on Irish Radio for two weeks and was the first commercial affirmation of Damien as a performer and artist in his own right (track 11 is a re-recorded version of that single). They Don’t Teach This Shit In School is set to establish Damien Dempsey as a fearless and confrontational songwriter. His lyrics are compassionate and coherant, he understands the human dilemmas that we all face. “ Someday we’ll be happy and free, in harmony, that’s right. Everyone will old hatreds kill, differences will unite. It’s important, it’s important, it’s important, to us.” Blotooth Having once played together in 'The Swing', Myles O Reilly - vocals, Dara Diffily - Bass and David shakespeare(shaky) - Drums, formed Blotooth and flew to Lanzarote in the spanish canary islands in december of '97 to spend a year playing cover tunes to holiday makers in 'Charlies' live music venue, Puerto Del Carmen. It was during that year Blotooth began to write their own material, testing them on cover-happy audiences. If one of their own tunes would incite table dancing and drunken cheer as much as 'brown eyed girl' or 'sweet caroline' it passed the test. Only once flying home to compete in a Bacardi/Hot press band competition, Blotooth eventually wrote a full set of original material and decided it was time to come home for good. As a Holiday island music venue would suggest, the music of Blotooth is positive and upbeat. Not disregarding strong indie influences stretching from the quirky humour of Ben folds five to the meloncolly grace of Jeff Buckley, Blotooth write to the basic principle that their live audience likes to have fun and feel good. Acoustic based songs that are extrovert without being annoying introvert without being depressing and humorous without losing their dignity, their material is an intelligent but simple formula designed to make you drunk on music. Babelfish Babelfish are Gerry Horan on guitars, Karl Odlum (ex Mary Janes) on bass and programming, and Catherine Dowling (ex Cassa) on vocals, guitar and keyboards. Although only together since March 2001, Babelfish have moved faster than most. Their tracks have appeared on a number of leftfield compilations as well as on film soundtracks for both Irish and International productions. Record company interest has been steadily building from at home and abroad. The eclectic melting pot, which is Babelfish, has led to the recording of Sometimes, which is their eagerly awaited debut EP and was launched on November 8th at the Shelter. "Sometimes", a mere hint of what Babelfish are capable of, was recorded over a short period of time, generally during the early hours of the morning using bedroom technology and large amounts of nicotine and coffee. The result is an upbeat fusion of electronic, ambient sounds and leftfield pop. The mood is chilled; the melodies lazily sweet and the songs all have a universal appeal. The interest that is brewing about this Dublin-based trio is set to explode on release of this infectious debut. Jack Hudson: Up & Coming new songwriter, Jack Hudson has already graced the stage of the Zodiac Lounge. Given a rapturous ovation on his last time out we had no hesitation asking Jack to open this Wednesdays proceedings. An great voice and a very intelligent mix of songs would certainly make the Zodiac Crew say he is one to watch.