Hiya everyone!
 
- hope all's well?

-just a quickie: we got a gig this weekend

- The Academy in the City Punk All-Dayer

(see the gig-list section) - & a whole bunch of stuff for the coming months & the summer festival season (ditto) - which is pretty cool + we hope to have some more exciting news to tell ya soon...
 
++ ahead of Sunday's gig, meself & Guido are gonna be guests on The Razor's Edge Punk show on Kerrang Radio this Friday (May 4th - erm, that'll be tonight, then!) @ midnight, talking a hell of a lot of shite, confusing the bejaysus out of the DJ (sorry, Chris...) & spinning some of our favourite tracks of all time, along with some of our some top Neck tracks - which includes a couple of surprises...

http://www.kerrangradio.co.uk/

 
If you got UK Freeview TV/Radio, it's radio channel 722 & if you live in the 'catchment area' (I think it's mainly in the UK midlands & Northern England) it's 105.2 FM.

Mad as a bucket of spiders!

G'luck ya bowsies!

Hi all,

- just want to make you aware of the resurgance of a brilliant Roots Music magazine:

Rock 'n' Reel:

http://www.rock-n-reel.co.uk/

...run by a good mate of ours, & another second-generation Irishman, Sean McGhee.

It's tag line is "Roots, Rock, Blues & Beyond..." & it covers loads of great bands including R.E.M., Flogging Molly, The Dropkick Murphys, The Waterboys, Wilco, The Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull & Neck... + I believe there's quite often a free cd with it...

You can order or subscribe a copy from the above web-site  - it's a right rivettin' good read, run by someone with a genuine passion & love for the music they write about!

- do yourselves a favour & check it out!

- all the best,

Leeson

Hi all arís / again,

- this is the second sad duty I have to perform here, & I am gutted, I have to say - The Irish Music scene lost one of it's most talented sons - &, for a lot of us, not just a decent mucker & a 'good 'oul shtick', but an inspiration too, just recently:

The official release is as follows -

"On December 15, 2006, Tom McManamon passed away after a long battle with illness. Tom played in The Popes, and has also played with Storm, The Pogues, Depeche Mode, Joe Strummer, U2, Sinead O'Connor, and many more. He had his banjo in his hands and was surrounded by friends when he died."

All of you familiar with Shane's band The Popes will know Tommy as 'Tom MacAnimal' or even just 'Beastie', with his 'Slash-like' cloud of black, curly hair & 'Electric guitar-banjo'.

 & it's just so sad, because it's not just the people that knew him & loved him that have lost him, but The Music has as well. Which is an awful tragedy.

He was such a gifted player & so obviously loved playing.

He grew-up in the middle of the Irish Trad session circuit, just down the road from where I'm sitting typing in a pub called The Favourite - it's now since been pulled-down for the new Arsenal stadium, along with another Irish boozer he played in regularly - Clancy's - & both of them, literally, over the road from where Johnny Lydon grew-up in County Holloway!

The Favourite was one of those pubs that was at the hub of the Irish Trad. circuit in the '50's, '60's & '70's (& probably even '80's & '90's) - the ubiquitous Trad. Irish music pub session started in London - not in Ireland - amongst the Irish immigrant population & Tom's parents ran The Favourite - a pub which played such an integral part in that scene that there's even a revered album of 'barfly-on-the-wall' recordings from there, way back (I think they mght even have a young Tom on some of them) called 'Paddy in the Smoke'...

Apart from Tom's gifted playing & his complete immersion in the The Music when he was playing, he was so generous, for someone of his ability: when your humble correspondant first started sitting-in on Trad. sessions on the London Trad. circuit, Tommy made a huge impact on me - he was so generous & so accepting - when other people were saying 'Feck off, ye little bollix - ye're too shite to be after playin' here!', Tom would say 'Ah - Fuck 'em! We all play The Music 'cos we enjoy it - it's not like a competition, so fuck 'em - I could turn round & give-out to them 'cos they ain't up to my standard if I wanted to, but I don't 'cos that ain't the point...' & he was right - the session should be a 'Come all ye' - he said he felt it was his duty to pass The Music on - & he's right there too!

The problem is that there ain't enough people like him around - there are too many that want to make it like a private club or keep it as a museum piece & it has to be played just so & that's all to hell & shite!

He loved playing, he loved a laugh & he loved a drink - & I'm priveleged to say that I've done all three with him: Himself & Brian Kelly may have been 'Duelling banjos', but me & him were once 'Sweeping banjos' for the sake of a pint! & Sweet Jesus, could he drink! I remember playing a session with him once - & he was grand to play alongside, Jeez, he had the profile of one o' them fierce old Celtic fellas like Cuchaillain, or yer man Foinn MacCumhaill - but Jaysus, if he wasn't drinking pints of Jack Daniels & Coke & me after making a Holy show of meself trying to keep-up & I was only drinking Guinness! But then, that's what kinda started him off down the slippery slope, it would appear...

But I ain't here to get all preachy or hypocritical, ('cos it's not like I've got all the answers, for a start-off & there's the old matúbagh about people that live in glass houses not droppin' their trousers too often...), or to cast aspertions on the official version of events, so.  - Suffice to say that, as a race of people we do seem to make a grand job of makin' shite of ourselves...

At the end of the day, with Tom, it's such a shame & such a waste - for someone that was so vital & alive & full of The Music - he will be sadly missed - not just by us mortal feckers but also the thing he devoted his life to: The Music...

My heart goes out to his family & close friends & Sue, of course.

God rest ye, Tom & I hope you're at peace

- I fully intend to follow your example & carry your attitude on with The Music & I really hope more people do & keep it the living, breathing, growing thing it should be!

- slán agat, agus go N-éirí an bóthair leat, mo cara

Leeson

p.s. keep it warm for me down there & we'll have the few scoops & a few oul' tunes next time I see ya, so ;-)

Hi all,

- this is the first of two sad, belated duties I've to perform here:

I just want to pay tribute, fistly, to a guy most people - meself included - knew simply as Wiz.  He was the songwriter & lead vocalist & lead guitarist with Mega City 4 & later Ipanema. He died suddenly recently, but, at least, he was surrounded by his close friends & family when he did. My heart goes out to them - particularly Karina, his partner, & Danny, his brother, who supported Wiz more than ably with harmonies & rhythm guitar in MC4 & who I also knew & got on with.

I met Wiz & The Mega's - the other guys being Gerry on bass & Chris on drums: together they made-up a phenomenal band - when Jon Fat Beast's 'TimeBox' & 'Hype' gigs @ The Bull & Gate were, pretty much, the hippest shows in London & Mega City 4 were , unwittingly, starting to spearhead a grass-roots scene of bands that played fast & furious 'Pop-song Punk' - which is a bit of an over-simplification - other bands that came out of that scene (or rubbed shoulders with it) that you may have heard of were / are: Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine; The Senseless Things; Snuff; Neds Atomic Dustbin & Leatherface (the last two being more of the 'rubbed shoulders with', due to doing some early supports to MC4, variety). If memory serves me correctly, Steve Lamacq (or was it Simon Williams?) - then of the NME, did us all no favours by dubbing the scene 'Fraggle', but, to be fair, he championed all the bands - & did his level best to get reviews in of all the gigs & releases.

Mega City 4 - & Wiz's songs & ideas - were incredibly influential & MC4 gigs were incredibly uplifting & inspiring - which is why they inspired such respect, love & dogged devotion. Their ethos was to play anywhere - & they did! It certainly worked for them & it spawned the title for their seminal (& Indie chart-topping) first album 'Tranzophobia' - referring to the 'cabin-fever-on-wheels' experience of relentless touring in the back of a Transit van. The music was something else though - altho' they were very much a great live band, that album in particular, became the touchstone to a whole generation of people that either went to their gigs or played in bands that played with them (which usually meant the same thing anyway). We all knew even the daft samples between the tracks off by heart ("This little box...", "Stop yer grinnin'...",etc.) Playing that album on the way to gigs in our own transit defo was the perfect way to wind-up for the band I was in at the time. Something which struck a chord for me this year when bands we (Neck) played with in the U.S. were saying the same thing about our album!

I should mention Wiz's song-writing here: he really knew how to put a song together - both in a Punk Rock sense (altho' more SLF Punk, it seemed to me - which, as you'd think, is no bad thing at all, in  my books! - tinged with a big slice of U.S. bands like Husker Du & The Pixies & The Replacements) & also a Classic Melancholy Pop-Song sense. - his songs were at the same time brutal, crushing, punk-as-fuck, melodic, sensitive, world-weary & some of the most beautifully melancholy yet defiantly uplifting sounds I've heard - again, for me, no bad thing at all. He also pulled-off the pretty good trick of being heavily influenced by a lot of American bands, but still sounding very British (& I don't mean in a flag-waving kind of way, but in a Punk & classic Kinks / Squeeze / Blur melancholy pop song way). He flew the flag for honesty, sincerity, sensitivity & even introspection - all wrapped-up in melodic Punk Rock Buzz-saw melancholia - a winning combination!

Some of the later MC4 singles are classic examples of this & stand-out even more: Finish ("& the only pleasure that I get is knowing it" - brutal, chilling stuff, but incredibly resolving too - & I bought it on the way back from the Poll Tax Riots, Triv fans, on the way to see C.U.S.M. play Brixton Academy - what a bizarre day that was! I'm sure I saw meself on the news...), Shivering Sands (stands up alongside anything by anyone at all, for me - absolutely beautiful, 'band-at-the-top-of-their-game' masterful stuff  & it was great seeing 'em playing it in Finsbury Park supporting The Cult) , & Iron Sky (a bit more claustrophobic, but an immense chorus).

Basically, he made it acceptable to be sensitive, introspective & to give a fuck on a personal level in an all-too easily 'testosterone'-fuelled scene. He definitely influenced my song-writing - more obviously so then, but that influence is still there to this day, along with Shane & the rest...

They helped a fuck of a lot of people out too & paved the way for many more. Which is something that should always be credited to them & him.

I suppose, when all's said & done, the best way for his legacy to be remembered is for his example to be followed  - honesty & sincerity, a willingness to help other people out, to 'think outside the box' (they didn't fit in to any scene, so they made their own - thru' a mix of hard slog, inspiration & perspiration) & for all those people he inspired - meself included - to stay inspired & carry that on.

God luv ya, Wiz & thanks for everything! 

p.s.

If anyone that reads this knew Wiz or Mega City 4 & you'd like to leave a message for him, tributes have been set up. www.myspace.com/wiztribute and via the Mega's site, www.megacityfour.co.uk

Also, Wiz saved four lives by being a registered donor.

And, if you feel strongly enough that you would like to give something in memory of Wiz in lieu of flowers, the family have chosen two charities that Wiz would have liked donations to go to. Please send your donations with a cover note saying these donations are for Darren 'Wiz' Brown to either:

International Fund for Animal Welfare
Helen
87-90 Albert Embankment
London SE1 7UD

or

Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice
Waverley Lane
Farnham Surrey GU9 8BL

Jesus, Mary & Joseph!

Bizarre things are upon us! Just a very brief quickie ("That'll be a first!" - I hear the sarcastic little bollix at the back yelpin' behind a bigger fella's back! - I'll fetch ye a sceilp, so - me little man & back in yer box!)

Now - meself & Guido went along to the Virtual Festivals annual awards ceremony at the Islington Academy on Thursday night to give Tink some moral support (she's a big part of the VF team & their main photographer - & damn fine she is too!) &, of course, we'd heard there was a free bar, so we had to stick our snouts in the trough there! (Sad to report, but us Necklings aheva free bar song - it's just 'Gay Bar' by Electric Six - Tink's chums, as it goes - with the word 'Free' substituted for 'Gay' , altho' poor oul' Guid's had a few too many drinks taken oncet & sang 'Fay bar' (Fey bar) which we thought was entirely fitting for the man, dear...)

Anyway, I digress ("NO!" -there's that little fecker again yellin' out in mock astonishment - I'll swing for 'im yet, the sarcy little gob-shite! - the worst thing is he's gettin' the floatin' voters sniggerin' into their shirt sleeves, the maggot!)  - a great night was had by all -The Levellers were grand, as usual, & their Beautiful Days Festival (which has been absolutely brilliant for us) deservedly won Best Grass Roots Festival.

So that was a great night & everyone went away happy...

Then I got a phone call off yer wan yesterday, demanding "Who were ye talkin' to on Thursday night, ya slack-jawed eejit?" ("She has your number, ya yahoo - & it ain't 118,11-shaggin'8!" - I'm gonna have to do somethin' about this - don't you worry, me little man - I'll be introducing you to couple of little numbers of me own: a swift one-two, directly I'm after finishin' this yoke, ye little hop-o'-me-thumb!)

Anyway, so - to cut a long story short ("Me arse, ye will!" - Jeez, he's got half o' them out there laughing now -yer man in the emerald green scally cap - must be an American: sorry, lads - only slaggin'(it's a 'The Quiet Man' thing) ;-) - nearly burst his shite laughin' at that! - ignore the little fecker: Im a bigger man than he is - & not just me boot size... it would appear the VF awards got a write-up in The Guardian, but, bizarrely enough, it was in the Saturday Travel supplement (the tenuous link was that going to festivals is travelling - it was giving folk tips for what festivals to go to next year, including Beautiful Days...) BUT - & here's the mad bit, Ted: they had "What the fans say" & "What the bands say" type-quotes for the different fessies, & this, bizarrely enough, is what they had for Beautiful Days: "What the bands say: "It boots serious botty," Leeson O'Keeffe, lead singer from Irish Punk band Neck." ("Wha'???!!! - did ye make that up yerself?" - shut up, you, or I'll burst ya!)

So she was nearly eatin' the head off me for bein' a drunken gobeen, when I remembered that VF had actually asked me to write a review of B'Days - which is up on their web-site, so that must be where they got the quote from...>phew!< & if yer want to read it the whole yoke it's up there on http://www.virtualfestivals.com ("What - do ye mean to say there's even more o' this drivel maskeradin' as actual shaggin' journalism???!! - God give me strength!" - right, that's enough, ye little maggot! - Sorry, readers, dear - but he's after havin' the rest of 'em laughin' an' pointin' now, so I have to get me shitty stick out to bate the little fucker wid! Gang-way: DONNYBROOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ... ensuing sounds of general turmoil, women screaming, furniture splintering & general givin'-out, while some other wag's doin' a Michael Caine impression: "Your a big man, but your out of shape..." & your next, me bucko!....

Hiya everyone out there, so!

- just quick missive (yer wan was slaggin' me for not keepin' ye all up to date, so here y'are):

AND: we have a massive "Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!" to all of our friends out there old & new, who made our festival appearances in August at Wasted, Beautiful Days & Solfest some of the best gigs we've ever done in the UK!!!!

We can't thank all of ye enough! - All the nutters down the front & in that crazy shaggin' pit @ Wasted on the Thursday & the looneys that made the 'acoustic' set the right laugh that it was (the highlight has gotta be yer wan - our very own Punkette Irish dancer! - deadly!) + mentions in despatches to the Bristol contingent! ("Don't be nasty, show us yer pasty!" - indeed!) ; Everyone @ Beautiful Days that made this year even better than the last time & for shouting so much that we got an encore!! - incredible! ; And the same again to everyone @ Solfest - even when you were told we couldn't play any more -you just wouldn't shut up until they gave-in & let us play an encore - outstanding!

So all of you out there that lept about like eejits, sang along to the songs, shouted yer heads off & even laughed at us slaggin' each other - we surely do love ye all!!!!

Right, so - we have a glut of London gigs for ye [London Callin' & The Galtymore should be rapid!] + WE'RE GOING HOME!!!!!!

& then we got a smattering of UK gigs - including BARROWLANDS in Glasgow! - Get in, ya bhoy, ya!

- see details on the profile page - I'm off to get slaughtered down the boozer & dream of bein' tantamount to no amount in Sandymount!

Jesus, Mary & Joseph! - a way of life AND a song title!

& there I'll leave ye:

G'luck!

The O'Keeffe

Hi everyone,

-just to update our stage-times for Wasted:

We're playing a full electric set on The Arena stage @ 10.05 pm on Thurday 10th August

& we're now playing a late-night 'unplugged' set on The Acoustic stage @ 12.40 am (i.e. 40 minutes past midnight) on Friday 11th August (Altho' , technically, it's actually Saturday 12th by then...)

The acoustic set is confirmed yesterday with Wasted, so us being absent from the running order is a mistake - anyone that caught the previous late-night unplugged set we did at Wasted will remember that it was the right craic, so & a good time was had by all!

So -see yiz down the front & the last one in The Pit's a cissy!

-all the best,

The O'Keeffe

Jaysus, Mary & Joseph!

-we got a blast from the past comin' at ye, if you live in the UK (& probly Dublin if ye have one o' them real tall masts on top o' the house like they have in Coolock!):

 @ 3.35 a.m. on Thursday night / Friday morning , they're showin' the Belfast-set 1999 fillum 'With or Without you' on Channel 4, featuring a 'blink-and-you-miss-it' clip of Neck playing at a Hooley!

We're doing parts of two songs: the back-end of our own 'The Ferry Fare' & the front of our interpretation of the Traditional ballad 'Carrickfergus' - with grand shots of our former whistle-player Marie McCormack, while I'm looking kinda blurred & fuzzy ("Type-casting!" - I hear some demented eejit at the back squeal wid delight, prior to huggin' himself wid glee - & he oughtta be careful doin' that now - I'm not aware of himself likin' to be hugged by any class or manner of yoke!) ...yeh -well I s'pose I'll give ye that one - I just wasn't quite aware that I actually look how I feel... not enough gargle!

So -set yer veejoe veejoe playas & have a right oul' giggle - it's actually not a bad fillum - Chris Ecclestone & Dervla Kirwan star in it (with a special mention to Julie Graham's 'star-turn') & it's directed by Michael Winterbottom, & considering the only other songs in it are 'Love will tear us apart' by Joy Division & the U2 song of the title, we're in pretty good company & it was a great experience doing it...

>sigh< ah -memories...

right, I'm off to wipe-off 'Uncle Derek does Dallas' or summink off McCiste's home movie reel he left round here, so I can stick it on!

So - get some beer & pop-corn in, put yer feet up & enjoy!

G'luck

-The O'Keeffe