It is that time of the year again when every one goes bit crazy. Shops become a war zone! But i also means we are getting close to the end of the year. And what an year it has been! And as usual, the next one seems to be even busier:-)

 At the end of January Sliotar is going touring again. This time it's Denmark, Germany and Belgium. And we won't be back in Dublin until early March. 

 Also the bookings for the summer tour is in full swing, and I should have more info on that in the next few months.

  Also few other things are in the pipe line, but more on that when we get confirmations;-)

 One question we have been asked a lot lately is: When's the next CD coming out? So here is the inside info. We are in a process of  writing the new material, and these things just can't be rushed. I mean, we could just throw together a few tunes and bang it out, but that was never what Sliotar was about. We wan't every new album to be better than the last one. We want to believe in what we do. So bear with us. The creation process includes, well... creating and maturing. But we are getting there:-) Between the tours, residencies, promotion, booking tours and general maintenance of equipment, cars and our poor livers yes we are working very hard on the next CD:-) 

  Now the year is not over yet! Sliotar will be in the Porterhouse this Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 6pm and 9pm. Also we all know that after few days of Christmas bliss, the house can get bit claustrophobic and the dear relatives... So Sunday the 27th of December Sliotar will be performing their last concert in 2009 in the Porterhouse, so come along! 

  And for those of you we won't see before, have a very merry Christmas and we will see you in 2010!

Hi you all. Hope you are having a good autumn, and haven't got cought in the rain... Ireland has had some of its worst rain in the past 30 years! So to dry and warm things up, Sliotar will be doing the usual Saturday and Sunday slots in the Porterhouse this weekend, and then we are off to Israel on Monday morning, well before Rays beauty sleep;-) As usual we are there to celebrate the Birthday of the first genuine Irish pub Molly Blooms. Also shows in Irish house in Haifa, Leo Blooms in Ramat Hahayal and Baroque club in Beer Sheva. All the dates are on our web site. 

Sliotar will be playing this Saturday the 31st of October, in the Porterhouse. It is the annual charity Halloween night on behalf of the Temple street children's hospital. Fancy dress every one! Show starts at seven, music all night and loads of fun stuff. Hope to see you there.


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  Once again, what a night in the Leeson lounge! Thank you all who came in. It was magic!

  Last night in the Leeson lounge we got our good friend Tomek "Qra" Jastrzebski to join Sliotar on the bass. He was thrown in to the deep end with less than 24 hours warning, it was sink or swim... And swim he did:-) So for the next two Mondays in the Leeson lounge, Sliotar will be performing as a four piece. Come along and let us know what you think.
  Now I would like to use this opportunity to let every one know that our new website is up and running! http://www.sliotarmusic.com
Let us know if you like it, you can leave messages on the chat page. Also to celebrate the site, we have dropped the price of CDs to €15 on the site. This does include post and packaging:-) There will be more merchandise soon as well, we had few requests for T-shirts this summer, so they are on the way.
  There are lots of new tour dates coming up shortly, so keep an eye on the site. And we want everybody to sign up to our mailing list, and text list. You can sign up on our website, or at http://sliotar.fanbridge.com
And pass the word around, get all your friends to sign up as well:-)
  And in the mean time, in the Porterhouse Saturday night, 8pm!


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I thought I would not write one more week, but last week kinda ended up being part of the tour anyway. So here we go.
  Sliotar got home on Monday night. The trip home from the Folk woods was fine. Ferry from Zeebruge to Hull (Entertainment P&O, Entertainment!). Then we drove cross north of England and in to Wales. Ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. We had very mixed feelings when we got back. It was great to see the loved ones, sleep in our own beds, wash our clothes... But at the same time, there is a little part of you that just wants to keep going.
  But a quick remedy for that came on Friday morning. Early out off bed and off to the airport. 8.10am Ryanair flight to Frankfurt-Hann. Sliotar was on their way to Zweibrucken Folk and Rock festival. After a comfortable flight, and a rough landing (it felt like the plane just dropped last two meters straight down and hit the runway, we needed few minutes to stop shaking) we were in Hann. Here we had a rental car waiting for us. Now as many of you know, Des is our driver most of the time, and very good one as well. But he is also bit of a car enthusiast. And in the home of Mercedes, what did he get to drive? Fiat punto! Oh we laughed... except Des. "Your not telling any one about this one"
   So we hit the road once again, and hour and half later we arrived in to Zweibrucken. One of our favorite sound men Spider met us at the stage. As we hadn't seen each other for a year, there was lots of caching up and jokes to tell. Soon Bernard came along, he is the boss of the festival, and a wonderful pub in Zweibrucken called Killarney. I don't think we ever walked out of the door of the pub sober...
   Bernard had organized everything just perfect. Quick check in to the accommodation, then off to pick up our equipment. Our fellow musician and a good friend Michael Wack (Check out Blues Himmel) gave us a lend of Drums and guitar amp, as this kind of stuff just wont fit in to budget airlines weight restrictions. We have dealt with lots of rental equipment over the years, and it was great to see that Michael had good drums and a great guitar amp:-) I want your bass man Michael!;-)
  Now the festival is on the town square just outside the court houses, so we had to keep the volume to reasonable level until 5pm. But as Spider is a professional of the highest degree, we managed to do the sound check early. So off for a cup off coffee and watch the world go by.
  After Bernards Delicious burger, and few pints of the black stuff, Sliotar was ready. And from 9pm till midnight Sliotar rocked the Zweibrucken town square. The after party went once again till not so small hours of next morning. Great concert, great party, what more can you ask? Thank you Bernard, and we will be back in Zweibrugen next year:-)
  7.30am Saturday morning. J.P. and Des wake up in panic... We slept through two alarms... So we dragged Ray out of his bed, ran to the car and hit the road. Our flight was at 9.40am and its about hour and half drive to Frankfurt_Hann. As some of you know, Ryanairs check in stops 40 minutes before flight, with no exceptions. Fiat Punto was put to test on German motorways. Des is thinking of writing a congratulations letter to Fiat;-) But we got to the airport at 9.10 (Road works on the motorway had closed our exit and we ended up taking an extra detour...) and the only way we could got on the plane would have been us leaving J.P.s guitar and Des's cymbals behind...
   So we had a concert in Dublin at 4.30pm and again at 7.30pm and here we were in Frankfurt-Hann. Next flight to Dublin, Sunday 6.30pm... And we only had limited amount cash with us... So put it nicely, we were screwed! But Ray noticed there was another flight to Kerry in three hours. So we ran to the Ryanair desk, and the lovely lady promised to put us on the waiting list, if there were cancellations and she could do this for a small amendment fee of €100 per person (better than buying a new ticket for double of the price). So at this point we realized there was no way Sliotar would make it in to the Porterhouse on Saturday... But a phone call to a good friend of our Alan Doherty was all it took and the gig was covered:-) Thanks once again Alan!
  So 45mins before the flight we were told that we are on the Kerry flight. So quick check in, and through the security. Now I am going to make a small point here: for any one working in the airport security any where in the world. If you come across Uilleann pipes, and the owner tells you it is a very delicate instrument, please be gentle!
  And we were on the plane on our way to Kerry. Two hours later we landed in the south west corner of Ireland, lovely part of the country, but still far away from home. There would have been a flight to Dublin, but the ticket price was out of this world. So bus it was. First two hours to Limerick, change of Bus and another three and half hours to Dublin. I can't remember when last time it was so good to see Wellington monument appearing in the distance. Our quick flight home had turned out to be over twelve hour journey. And we could only blame our selves.
  Next day we finally got back to the Porterhouse after six weeks. And it was good to be home! It was a busy night and Sliotar shook the house once again.
  So this is the end of our tour Blog this time. It has been, well mixed bag... The head casket was an expensive start to our tour and at the end of it all we just about broke even. But we had wonderful concerts all around Europe. We felt the love of our audiences, and we were completely swept away by it as well. So this is not the end, just a set back. We will be back!
Now back in Dublin things are tough. I think the pubs have been hit hard, and the Music unfortunately is the first expense to go. For the month of September Sliotar will be only playing Saturdays in the Porterhouse from 8-10pm, Sunday is still normal 6-8 and 9-11.20pm. Also we will be playing four Mondays in the Leeson Lounge, just over the Leeson street bridge starting from 7th of September. It is becoming a great little venue, in the hands of Paul Thomas. So come along, we start around 9.30pm. If it goes well, it might end up being a regular thing. Pint of Beamish €3.50! Now there's a recession buster for you!


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Week five started of with a crazy night in Kortrijk. The Guinness and whiskey were flowing in large quantities. And Sliotar warmed up for the week. On Wednesday we were joined by a local musician Dirk De Vriendt. If you're ever in Kortrijk on Wednesday night, check him out in the Porter House. He's got a repertoire of over 1000 songs! So Dirk got up with us at the and extempore version of Johny be good and Hey Jude were the highlights of the night for a lot of people. Thursday was our last concert in Belgium on this tour, and we said good bye to old and new friends once again. Ray and Sarah, thank you so much for everything! We can't wait to get back:-)
  On Friday morning we headed for Eindhoven and for the Folkwoods festival. And you could feel the anticipation in the car. We have been waiting for this one for a long time! We played in a wonderful old circus tent with chandeliers. The sound grew, organizers and all the staff were just wonderful and once again Sliotar had two magical concerts on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, Des's side of stage was filled with young kids dreaming about being a drummer some day:-) The hours show seemed to just fly by. And sooner than we realized we were off the stage and enjoying some good music. Mala Vita you rock!
  On Saturday we had the whole day time to enjoy the festival as we were playing at 23.00. The Bad Shepherds were our favorites of Saturday:-) At eleven the stage two tent got filled to its fullest and Sliotar took to the stage one last time. The atmosphere was just electric from the first bars of "Tinkering on the bridge" and it did not stop for one hour and fifteen minutes! What a way to finish of a tour. Thank you Tinus for having us!
   So two ferries and about five hours of driving later, we are back home. It is kinda hard to look back, as it all still feels so surreal... We got to play so many amazing places and concerts. We got to meat so many cool people and of course try so many great beers;-) But most of all we were blown away with the reception we got form the audiences cross Europe. People asked me along the way, where is the best audience, and with all honesty I can say: Everywhere! Respect!
  And just when you think its over, It is never over;-) On Friday we are flying to Zweibrucken for the Irish folk and Rock festival, and back to Dublin to our home, The Porterhouse for Saturday and Sunday.


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Snuggel’s bar Wednesday night, it was 30 degrease out side. Sliotar eased in to the first sets, beer hadn’t kicked in yet. There was about 20 people in the place, which means a full house in Snuggle’s. After the first set the temperature cooled down a bit, beer kicked in and Sliotar was on full force. We shuck the little bar until about 23.45, when the neighbors came in to complain. So we turned off the sound and finished the concert with “Fine friends” No microphones, just two voices. We sat down and had a drink with friends. Wondered off to Eck house about 2am for some more drinks. After one, Des and J.P. went to find a Kebab shop. Ray eventually fell out of Eck house around 6am.

   Friday we got an extra gig due to some help from some really good friends. Zur Gemutlichkeit, an Irish band in a Greek bar in Germany! Beer garden packed to the gills. Sun setting over the fields. Sliotar played to an audience, of whom most had no experience of irish music. And what a lovely night it ended up being.

  And Sundays concert in the Neues Schutzenhaus warmed our hearts once again. All our friends from the past, and new ones we made this time came to enjoy a great afternoon of sun shine, Schnitzels, music and beer.

   Now as to the days and nights between… Snuggels, Eck house, Trend… Need I say more. Once again thanks to Tina, Swetlana, Janis & Jotta for everything. Also you mad people of Wiesbaden, thank you for friendship and good nights out. You know who you are! Sliotar has left the town and Wiesbaden can sleepJ

  Now the last week is head of us, tomorrow we are back in Kortrijk for three nights and we are really looking forward to the Folkwoods on Friday and Saturday. Might see you there.

  Just when you think the tour had peaked things got crazier.  The green towers of Muhlgarben appeared between the trees as we arrived, Peter had closed the pub for the day and invited all the locals to his house for a party as Sliotar arrived to town.  Manfred roasted a pig and cooked a feast fit for a king, the self service Guinness tap had a constant flow and of course in a party like this a session had to break out.

  Next day Sliotar took to stage in The Irish Rover and shook the foundations of the old firestation for nearly three hours! Big thanks to Peter and Martina for their hospitality once again.  Also we'll be back in Tiechen next summer on the 31st of July:-)

  Friday we had a lovely concert in Fiddlers Green and the party after went on untill 5am.  Maik has promised us a copy of the video he recorded on the night so when we get it we'll post some on youtube.  A big thanks for Maik and we'll see you next year back in Fiddlers Green on the 30th of July:-)

 On Saturday we were back in Czech, at the Lughnasad Festival and this was a wild party once again. Our first time at this festival. It�s in a beautiful old castle and had a courtyard full of rocking people dancing to Sliotar.  We were all immersed in the music and party atmosphere and at the end of the set we had the first casualty of the tour.  J.P. lifted his guitar up in the air and hit the strings with enough force to pull a muscle in his shoulder... but it was a fun night!  Thanks to all the organisers who once again looked after us so well. 

   Now we have had few days to rest and grow some new muscle tissue... Tomorrow is the beginning of week four and Snuggel's bar in Wiesbaden.  Hope to see you there! 

It seems like the past week just flew bye. The TV on Wednesday morning went very well. We got rained on in Kurim, but amazingly people stayed till the very end:-) Thank you so much! Keltska noc was just one unbelievable party. And Rays call for Pivo must be the only way to describe the night. Telc was as magical as always. Sliotar had one of their best concerts in years, and the session in the club went on to the small hours of Monday morning. Keltska noc afterparty was a big surprise for us. The location changed only a week before, and we thought no one would come, but once again Czech republic showed their love for Sliotar. Playing on a beach, sun setting on the other side of the lake... It was just a beautiful setting. Once again a big thank you to Tomas Somrs and all our friends in Czech.
  Now we are heading to Muhlgraben for the Thursday night concert. Fiddlersgreen on Friday, and Back in Czech on Saturday for the Lughnasad. Roll on week three!


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