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)

mp3 sample
http://www.thomastruax.com/soundfiles/TTruax_prove_it_xcpt.mp3

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3tyZ00JOjY"

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