Ballroom #68: Thomas Truax (USA, SL records) with Queen Kong Pixie Saytar Grand Pocket Orchestra The Boom Boom Room, Sat July 28th €10 admission. www.ballroomofromance.com http://www.myspace.com/ballroomofromance Thomas Truax New York City's Thomas Truax (pronounced troo-aks) is a left field troubadour and inventor/player of strange self-made instruments like his now legendary 'Hornicator' and a motorized mechanical drum machine called 'Sister Spinster'. He employs these and other contraptions as well as traditional instruments in exceptionally crafted, witty and often touching songs. Splendid magazine recently called him "one of the five or ten best singer/songwriters in the world that you've never heard of...an exceptional talent, unique and resistant to comparison, yet fairly accessible even to casual listeners." He's got three acclaimed full length albums under his belt: 'Audio Addiction', 'Full Moon Over Wowtown', and 'Why Dogs Howl at the Moon', and numerous singles and compilation tracks. He has toured nearly constantly for the past five years, most recently doing support tours with the Dresden Dolls and Duke Special. He's played Glastonbury and Edinburgh Fringe festivals and appeared on MTV. His own radio serial, The Wowtown News, plays on Resonance FM in London. "In Truax's hands music is merely a vessel for his scattershot imagination, earning him a place in a lineage that includes Captain Beefheart and Viv Stanshall and, latterly, a less-frenetic Liars. Equal parts music-hall, avant-garde and garage rock, 'Full Moon Over Wowtown' is far more accessible than these references imply, thanks chiefly to Truax's lycanthropic bark... and his obvious love of primal rock 'n' roll. Had the bands that exploded out of CBGB's in '76 been inspired by LSD rather than cheap speed one suspects that the results would have been disturbingly like this, and that today's bands hell-bent on recycling those days would be more interesting as well as a hell of a lot better." -Alan Downes, LOGO Magazine (UK) "Prove it to my daughter" mp3 exceprt "Inside the Internet" Video www.thomastruax.com www.myspace.com/thomastruax Queen Kong Remember the scene in Silence of the Lambs when Buffalo Bill is dancing around in front of the mirror, putting on make up? Go watch it again, but this time listen to the music in the background. THAT'S the kind of music Queen Kong strive to make. A delirious collision of synth drums-sax-guitars, Queen Kong's gut punching performance at the HWCH festival, combined with support slots with Saul Williams, the Like and Good Shoes prompted Today Fm's Alison Curtis, Hot Press magazine to name them as "ones to watch" for 2007, and the NME to call them "the kings and queens of the Irish music scene". http://www.myspace.com/qk Pixie Saytar Girl from new york making her music in belfast. It's deep. It's real. Dark and melodic. It's her "if there is one example of why immigration to our little corner of the earth should be welcomed instead of opposed, Saytar is it. Hailing from New York, this Across the Line favourite moved to Belfast, bringing with her a great voice and some great tunes. The set is all electrified, with her backing band providing some depth to Saytar's guitar and lone vocals. There's a feeling that tonight's crowd are really digging what she does. Interlude and These Dead Hands are stand out tracks. It's not Jeff Buckley, but it's not far off. Watch this space." - BBC, Across the Line review.March 2007 "Pixie has found a core group of musicians who respect the songs and are able to supply some cool dynamics. It never crowds the work, but the melodies are rising nicely and those savvy drum accents are just the thing." - BBC, Across the line review by Stuart Bailie. April 2007 http://www.myspace.com/pixiesaytar Grand Pocket Orchestra The genesis of Grand Pocket Orchestra first came into being through the question of, what if? This question was raised by the writer and star Paddy Hanna, who through his boundless lazyness, could not be bothered coming up with a better question. It went into production in December 2006, under the working title of 'The Creeping Death'. Upon realising that this was a s**t name Grand Pocket Orchestra was born, by default. It was published by the publisher, liscened by the liscenser and distrubuted by the distributor. Everyone took 20%. The product also starred the comic duo of MayKay and Pockets, fresh from their starring roles in 'Fight Like Apes' and with fine young upstart Lee Boylan (voted by 'Motorcycle Magazine' as: 'The One to Watch') the potential of Grand Pocket Orchestra began to flourish. Though the filming only lasted two days, it was nevertheless entered in competition at the 'Sundance Film Festival'. the production was rejected however, by Sundance chief of staff, Robert Redford who went on record as saying: 'You are not a film, youre a band, stop sending me flowers!'. http://www.myspace.com/grandpocketorchestra
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