I ment to go see the Immediate the other night but couldn't make it in the end. Heard really good things though. The Rags are good too, put on a class live show. Envelope again really good.

why has nobody mentioned Hal(yet)? personally i think their absence in this discussion is consistent with the fact that most, if not all the bands mentioned are going nowhere. most of the bands mentioned are big in dublin which is lets be fair or at least honest with ourselves, not much to write home about. Does the phrase big fish in a little pond mean anything? if the bands mentioned (and I exclude Director, The Blizzards, Humanzi and maybe the marshall stars) were any good, why have they not been picked up by a major? you can make all the excuses you want, but realistically if they were good enough they would be picked up. im not saying these bands are particularly bad, though some are, they just aren't good enough. some one mentioned a big list of bands from a few years ago that he/she thought would be big. all those bands are gone now. why is that? much the same will happen with this current crop. not due to bad luck. they cant sell enough records, why? because the music just is not good enough. and i dont want to hear any bulls**t excuses that people just dont get them. people dont bother trying to get them. music isnt a puzzle. the best irish album of this year: Hal, by a long long way. they have never really bothered with the Dublin/Irish scene, what the point, all it is, is a lot of big fish in a tiny pond. in a few years you will realise most of the band you are gettin so EXCITED about are not making it because they are crap

Apart from Hal, do you think there's anyone from Ireland good enough to break through beyond these shores?

i think Director are really good. like Hal and the thrills as another example, they shyed away from/ didnt bother with the dublin scene. i think their music, at least the little ive heard is very strong. they dont have the swagger of other dublin bands but instead they have solid songs. the marshall stars are very good too. The Blizzards have a chance too but to be honest im not a big fan. their songs chop and change far too much. thats just my opinion of them though and they in fact seem to be breaking through. another good band are the 747 aka the fluid druids. they got a major deal a year or so back, think they are recording(?). hopefully they'll come out with something really good. i just think being big in dublin is a poor indicator of being any good. if you are big in dublin it generally implies you are not big elsewhere which then begs the question why not. of the best bands ive seen come out of dublin, Hal Melaton director the thrills 747's, none of them were big in the dublin music scene. its not a healthy thing to observe. Dublin is a very clicky music scene which clouds a lot of peoples judgements.

I agree with your analysis completely, esp. the bit about the cliquey scene clouding people's judgments. But sorry, the bands you namecheck do your argument very few favours...

Of course, most of these bands are not good enough to 'break'. That is because they are local bands, small town bands, whatever - it's the exact same in every city. You only need one good single to 'break' - and what is 'breaking' anyway? I don't think there really is an all encompassing scene at the moment, and anyway , the scene is only ever the largest collection of people in a specific genre. It looks like a scene because there are a lot of people involved, but really, there's only really 10 or so. The last one to speak of was the loose collection of The Frames, David Kitt, Damien Rice, Mic Christopher, Mundy - and the only one who broke through was Damien Rice really.

The 747s signed with Island Records UK last year. Kickin live band. There a couple of reviews of them here on Cluas. But for more info check out www.747s.co.uk

Looking forward to hearing a 747's album. Agree with Gar, amazin live band. Last I heard they were in Liverpool gigging and rehearsing the album tracks. But dunno if they've recorded yet. Hope they can get the energy of their live performance into the studio.

Would love for them to come over here. One of my best friends from school moved over to join the band and I haven't seen him in about two years. xm

What about those hard working bands who make great music and give excellence live performances. Yes they may be from Ireland but that doesn't mean we can't recognise a good tune when we hear it. I'm thinking Channel One, Stanley Super 800, 66e, Betamax Format, there are more. Bands who are making exciting music, experimenting with different instruments and have all worked really hard. I think they don't get enough recognition on this site. Well not on this thread anyway. You don't even need to leave your sitting room to find great Irish music, check out myspace.com, you might be pleasantly surprised. Not every band is represented on every single Irish forum board. We all need to stop complaining and make an effort to go out and find fresh music!

Well I think the hardworking thing is real important to mention. When I pay money to see a band, I wanna know that they've had the courtesy to put the work in. VERY VERY true though, that lots of people work hard, but its pointless work. But there's others who work hard, and do the right work, and then get somewhere with it. Not just musically, but in promoting themselves, and showing that they give a crap and they wanna make something of themselves. Case in point: Delorentos. Anyway, as far as being blown away is concerned, I would say FRED. they are awesome. Keep an eye out for TKO too I'd say................ yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!!!

"bands working hard" - thats a quote u always hear from boy bands!

On the subject of supporting new Irish music: Jape and Stanley Super 800-trustmeimathief christmas 'split single' Last year (on Christmas Day to be exact!) Irish Independent label Trust Me I'm A Thief Records became the first record label in the world to release a record on Christmas Day! It was actually an internet only release that was uploaded to their site at 2:00pm on Christmas Day. It was a two track Split Single available in MP3 and Windows Media Audio featuring "Schroedersound" & "Beautiful Unit", priced at €1.75 - with cover artwork available to donwload for free. This year they are planning on doing something similar! At 2:00pm GMT on Christmas Day they will be releasing another "Split Single". It will feature two tracks again, one from "Jape" and the other from "Stanley Super 800". In keeping with the seasonal thing, the Jape track is called 'Eatin Turkey To Make Music To Eat Turkey Too' and the Stanley Super 800 track is called 'Dark Angel'. This year the release will be only available for a limited period. The plan is to remove it from the site and kill it on Valentines Day, and it will never be made available again. So, if you want to support Irish music, while Irish Music works hard on Christmas Day to support you - log on to www.trustmeimathief.com from 2:00pm on Christmas Day and download the Trust Me I'm A Thief Christmas Release Part Two!! You will not need a root kit, there is no DRM built into the files, its a mere €1.75, it will play on any device. So on Christmas Day while the big turkeys from the major labels are getting their chins soaked in goose greese and reflecting on the profits of another year of tangible sales, Trust Me I'm A Thief will be busy and working hard to bring you music that you won't see splatered all over the Christmas Balls and Holly in the windows of all major record stores.

Can you not buy it on cd or vinyl?