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Red Kid



Last Updated: 7/8/2009

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City: Dublin
Country: IE

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Monday, July 06, 2009 
a quick one:
Good news -  RTE have decided to screen
'The Silver Surfari' on Monday the 6th of July at 7pm on RTE2.  So we'd love
if you could spread the word to anyone who could be interested in seeing the
documentary and hearing our tunes... plus its monday! what else you going to do!
**
Ronán
9:16 AM 
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Wednesday, June 03, 2009 
Yo yo yo yo, what’s the skinny, bboys and bgirls?
 
This distinctly Mediterranean weather has us all on flying form at the mo, so long may it continue. We played last Thursday at the Oxjam benefit along with the Rambleers (quality rock n roll), the Deadly Nightshades (Bray city’s finest ethereal electro skapop) and the Hot Sprockets (country dirt at its finest) A great night was had by all, and on a personal note, I was well impressed with the Nightshades, it was the first time I’d seen them, and they were quality (go-on the bray!)

Last Sunday we were very cordially invited to play at the relaunch of the Sunday Roast in the Globe on Georges St. I love the Roast, and they’ve always been great to us, so it was an honour to play at the relaunch. Kieran and John were there usual fantastic selves and we had a blinder of a gig in a very hot and sweaty Globe. Thanks to everyone who came up to say hello after the show, it was great to get such positive feedback.
 
This is usually where I start my rant, but I’ve gotta be honest, with all this good weather I’m feeling the good vibes, AND we’re off to Holland to play this weekend, so I’ve nowt to moan about. Yes indeedy, Red Kid are off to the land of sexy football, Van Gogh and legal chunky nudge for three days worth of gigging, drinking and floating. I’ll be back bright and early next week to give you the low down on all our shenanigans. So, not much left to tell you other than we’ve been nominated for a Balcony TV award for most entertaining act. I’m sure anyone who knows us will remember that we appeared naked by request to celebrate the launch of our album last year. Well, that’s the BalconyTv clip that’s been nominated. (I personally think it was down to my fashionable pants) It’s our third year running in the nominations. We’ve never won before, so here’s hoping that third time (and my pants) are a charm!! Keep checking here for details of the awards ceremony, which will be announced shortly.
 
Ok red lobster cult members, I’m off to hide from the laser beam in the sky,
 
Keep it factor 40,
 
Keeto-out
Currently listening:
True Romance
By Golden Silvers
Release date: 2009-05-05
1:56 PM 
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Monday, May 18, 2009 

Wickidey whack, what’s the craic Jack?

 

Well, first of all, the business end- We’ll be spreadin the gospel of punkpoprockska in Laragh in Co Wickla this Saturday, so pop on down if ye are around that neck of the woods. We’ve also got a gig in Eamon Dorans coming up on the 28th of May, that’s for the Oxfam Oxjam gigs and it should be a cracker, so get thee to the Dorans for some quality shit. On the subject of gigs, We’d all like to offer big love and huge thanks to everyone who came along to Radio City for the Focus Ireland fund raiser. It was a fantastic gig and we all had an absolutely brilliant time. All the bands there agreed that we should do more gigs together, so hopefully it’ll happen again before too long. You can check out some photos of the night here or if you’ve facebook, you can check out Franzi’s frankly massive photo collection here

 

Now, on to the rant. This week I’ve a bee in my bonnet about something very close to my heart- independent music. Being in an unsigned band does help with this, but I’m not really going to moan about our situation, I’m actually levelling the blame at Irish music lovers (and buyers, which includes myself, so this is kind of a rant to self as well). I buy as much music as I can afford, and that means I probably average out at about 1 album a week per year, not including stuff I get for free off other bands or from magazines etc. I subscribe to a load of free iTunes music as well ( I highly recommend song of the day if you’ve got an iPod and access to iTunes)  What bothers me is that there’s a wealth of independent music out there, but there doesn’t seem to be much support for it. At the moment the record companies aren’t really signing anyone up, so our main sources of income are cd sales and gigs. The major music retailers (HMV, Tower, Zavvi, Golden Discs) have fairly stringent rules regarding how many cd a band can stock at any one time, how much percentage they take, how long they will stock a cd on the shelves, and where it’s located in their store. (Normally at the back of the shop, tucked away)  It’s s similar story with airplay on Irish commercial radio (with the notable exception of PhantomFM) As far as I know, there are no national radio stations that have a dedicated independent or unsigned music show weekdays before 7pm. I remember that Jon Richards on Galway Bay Fm used to have a drivetime type show that featured unsigned bands before 7pm, but I don’t know if it’s still going.

 

I can understand that Irish radio stations make most of their revenue through advertising, which includes “first play” and “exclusives” in return for automatic playlisting. But surely they have some kind of responsibility to play some Irish music on their shows. Sorry, some independent, non commercially based Irish music. I really don’t think that the Irish music scene should be represented on national radio and TV solely by Westlife, U2, Damian Rice, Sinead O Connor, Mundy and other commercially viable artists who really don’t need the leg up like other less well known artists like The Mighty Stef, Delorentos, Cathy Davey, Hot Sprockets, Noise Control, RSAG, Walter Mitty and the Realists, The Heritage Centre, The Amazing Few, Lisa McLauglin, Murder of Crows, The Aftermath, Vesta Varro, Messiah J and the Expert, the Peakin Trippers, Odi…I could go on all day here, but hopefully you get the point.

 

Anyhoo, I digress. This is the point I’m trying to make. About 5 years ago there was No Disco, RTE axed it. It took 5 years to get a show like the Raw sessions on TV (check it right here), and only with corporate sponsorship. Road Records, Dublin’s premier independent record store, nearly went out of business a couple of months ago. Humanzi managed to sell less than a thousand copies of their debut, despite having a large publicity machine behind them, and a shit hot album. If we just amble along, it’s not gonna get any better. The recession might have an effect on it, but the problem existed before them. Large record companies nowadays more than ever before are littering our eardrums with pap and drivel of the poorest quality, and they have absolutely no regard for artistic integrity, originality or fresh ambitious songs and music. Most execs will admit to you that a hit single is simply a driver for corporate tie ins such as advertising and endorsements. In order for the Irish music scene to continue to flourish, we need to seriously re evaluate the way in which we listen to music.

  I’m willing to do my bit, buy my CD’s in Road, request Irish music on primetime shows, pay to see unsigned bands, spread the word to my mates and whoever I think might be interested in hearing new music, do whatever it takes to make sure that independent Irish music has a future. It’s time to get our shit together, realise that if we don’t spread the word, make the effort and put our hand in our pocket occasionally, there will a far smaller group, and it will be concentrated into a small clique of in the know musicians and artists who are lucky enough to either get signed or have the financial backing in place to keep them on the scene.  

 

All I’d ask anyone reading this is to check out one of the bands listed above (this goes out to musicians too, after all, we can help each other out too) Go tot their site, or if you’re into their tunes, pop into Road and grab their CD, or if you can’t, check it out on ITunes)

 

Ok, that’s it, now that I’ve guaranteed that RedKid will never get signed by a major…haha

 

Later peeps, Keeto-out

 

“The purpose of producin beautiful soul music is two-fold

One is fun - two goes to glue all the loopholes,

Let's build, useful tools, find some resolution in our lives

Three's to get your groove on, but it ain't like there's no

particular order, this ain't a true/false, answer only part of it

Everything's got an art to it”

Currently listening:
Something Outta Nothing
Release date: 2007-06-05
3:31 PM 
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Tuesday, May 05, 2009 

Hi All,

just a quick one, check out the new track "009" from our new album, we play it live on Balcony TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGKwMTH0A4s

See you all on the 9th of May 2009 in Radio City

 

2:26 PM 
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009 
Hello there folks,

Me again with some info on a cracker of a gig that we're doing next week
in the fantastic Radio City. Please come along, as its a fantastic cause.
We'll be playing all the new material we were demoing for album number two,
plus there's the chance to see Liamo, former Red Kid bassist, playing with
his new outfit, The Valentinos (complete with yours truly on bass)
You can also get a gander at Bray's finest Peakin Trippers. These boys
are absoulte dynamite and you really can't afford to miss them.And,
of course, our brother band, The Hot Sprockets, fresh from their
magnificant write up in this week's Hot Press.

It's all in aid of Focus Ireland. Paul (our manager) is raising funds by
doing the 4 peaks challenge ( you can read about it in the press release
below)

You really can't afford to miss this one- Spread the good word on yer
facebooks, myspaces and what not.

KeetRedKid-out


Official Press Release :

On May 9th at Radio City, Dublin

The Hot Sprockets
Red Kid
Peakin Trippers
The Valentinos

will be performing in support of the 4 peaks
challenge for Focus Ireland. The charity looks after the needs of the
Irish Homeless and campaigns for the rights of people out-of-home and
the prevention of homelessness.

"This is going to be a night to remember, with 4 quality Dublin bands,"
says KeetRedKid.
"We're all doing it for the same reason, because now more than ever, people need
Focus Ireland,
and they need cash, plain and simple. They're on the front line, helping the homeless,
the most vulnerable people in our society" "Everyone has the right to place they can
call home,
and we're doing are bit. We're asking people to do theirs, by coming along,
supporting Focus Ireland, and enjoying an amazing night of music.
Where would you get it, €10,come on!"


Manager of The Hot Sprockets & Red Kid; Paul Cotterell, is taking part
in the Four Peaks Challenge for Focus Ireland in June and is putting
the gig on to raise much needed money for the charity. The challenge
includes 4 peaks (Carrantuohill (Kerry), Mweelrea (Mayo), Slieve
Donard (Down) and Lugnaquilla (Wicklow)) and 800 miles in 3 days. All
proceeds from the gig will go directly to the charity.



Details :

Date : May 9th

Venue : Radio City(opp Busaras), Store St, D1

Doors : 7.30pm

Admission : 10e

Websites : www.myspace.com/thehotsprockets
www.myspace.com/redkidtheband
www.myspace.com/peakintrippers
www.myspace.com/paddyvalentino
>
Charity : Focus Ireland – 4 Peaks Challenge
www.focusireland.ie

> If you need any more information, band pictures or biog's, please do
> not hesitate to contact me,
>
> Cheers, Paul.
>
> --
> Paul Cotterell

>
> +353 876379113
Currently listening:
Blue Lights on the Runway
By Bell X1
Release date: 2009-03-03
4:51 PM 
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009 

Well well,

It's that time of the week again. I'm back once again blogging away to my hearts content, happy in the knowledge that at least 4 people will get a kick out of it. We've decided (that is, RoRedKid and I) that this blog should be updated a little more often than it currently is, and so I've been given the task of updating it. As some of you may know, I'm a bit of a moan, and I frequently moan to Ro and the boys about stuff and things. Ro took it upon himself to tell me to shut up and put it down here, so here it goes.... this week, Pro Tools recroding sessions -

I was 18 when I first recorded in a proper studio (Parr St in Liverpool) It had been recently frequented by local lads Gomez, who had just put the finishing touches to their brillliant debut album, Bring it on. I managed to convince my folks and the boys in my band to cough up the cash to record there.(£400, a lot of wedge in them frugal times) I can't actually remember how I managed to get the studio, but it involved blagging and a whole lot of what George Orwell would call "bumsucking" (look it up, its not what you think) Anyway, we duely arrived in the small hours of a dreary, soggy Sunday morning for a day session which we were all looking forward to and extremely nervous about.

I often feel that when you first enter a recording studio its a little bit like being shown round a swanky hotel room. The most incredibly normal things take on a hallowed significance all because you're in a "studio, man" The provision of a kitchen or television suddenly fills you with awe and wonderment. Should there be anything really out of the ordinary, such as a table football table (K9 in Deansgrange) or a playstation (K9 and Pulse), you're practically gushing with oohhs and ahhh's. It was the same for us at Parr St that dreary morning as we were shown around.

The session in Parr St was a fairly simple set up. One large room, divided up into four sections, with drums in one corner, bass player and amp in another, guitarist and amp in another, and singer/rythm guitar in another. Everything was close miked, and we all had cans (headphones) and a talk back mike to communicate with studio and each other. There were two room mikes set up in the middle of the room, although I'm not too sure if this was the engineer's idea or standard practice. We played each of our four songs from beginning to end until the engineer was happy, and we then went on to the next track. Overdubs were done in the same room, with guitar and backing vocals being the only two overdubbed tracks we had time for. There was no Pro Tools, no computers at all, just a 24 channel console, and the entire session was recorded onto half inch tape. At the end the whole thing was manually mastered down to a DAT tape, and we took that and made CD copies. The quality was fantastic, even if we were just a young band and were a little out of time in places, the vibe was there. To this day its still one of my favourite recordings.

Fast forward 7 years. Bray, 2001. I had bought an 8 track digital recording unit. I was recording with a band called Magic Belly (short lived but absolutely brilliant craic, I still miss the collective song writing inspiration and endless cups of tea) We managed to record an EP in the guts of 6 weeks, using limited overdubs and drum machines to keep the beats. We all sat together in a front room on Elm Grove terrace, pressed the big red record button, held our collective breath, and off we went. It didn't always work out, but those recordings have soul and some really out there production qualities. (at one point Shea stood on the street shouting backing vocals through cupped hands while I stuck the mike out the window, it was a great effect on the finished song) Sadly most of the copies of The Elm Groove Ep by Magic Belly are lost, but you'll have to take my word for it, the thing had soul, and I loved every second of it.

One more time, fast forward 12 months, The Cauldron studios, 2002. My first session with Red Kid. This session was done in stages, with Danny and myself playing together in one room, with John in the other room, and Ro putting down a guide vocal track. It was recorded onto Pro Tools, and we were free to add overdubs as we pleased. In the end we through in the kitchen sink with some far out wurlitzer keyboard which just sat in the back of the mix of Soup, and some backwards looping that Ciaran stook on the start of Definitely Not Chick Corea's Electric Band. The first Red Kid Ep, Music By Number, was born out of that. I enjoyed my time in the Cauldron, and I loved the finished product, but what I enjoyed most was the sense of collaboration and ownership that we all had.  

The last three sessions we've done, including the album, have all been done seperately. Sorry to spoil the magic folks, but when I recorded my bass parts and backing vocals for Rocket Ship, I was alone in a room, with headphones on, and in one session, without an amp. I simply had to plug my bass directly into the mixing desk and Pro Tools magically emulated my amp.

That's the way engineers and producers like "unsigned" bands to record. Studios have got smaller and smaller, which is a fantastic thing if you run one, but not so great if you happened to be a musician who wants to record in one. Most of the singles, Ep's and albums that are recorded by Irish bands in Irish studios are done in the same way. You sit down alone in a room, put on headphones, listen to a little metronome going tick tick tick and off you go. Make a mistake- don't worry, we'll just take a piece from the last verse and copy and paste it over. If the drummer goes out of time, we'll beat detective it to even it out. The technology is staggering, and has made records sound brighter, tighter, and cleaner than ever before. And boring as fuck.

I know I'm not the first one to say this, and I know I'm most defintely know alone. There's a whole movement that distrust the digital generation, but I'm not one of them. Well, not exactly.

I'm not asking for a return to the analogue heyday of the beatles and the stones, simply a return to the good old fashioned practice practice practice and then record together in one room, live,with diveiders or even in different rooms (although that's super pricey, so the former might be more realistic) It's sure not going to be perfect, but then, why should any recording be perfect. Everyone knows the missed beats and fudged notes and coughs and mumbles on their favourite Who, Beatles, Doors or Stones track. Gerry Fish agrees with me, he's just made his new album live set up and totally analogue for fecks sake! Franz Ferdinand's new long player was done in teh same way. I really feel that the pro tools digital generation is taking away from the work ethic of musicians, and ultimately affecting the quality of live performances. Bring back the old new school, even if it means its takes a little longer. Nothing worth accomplishing happens overnight...or something like that.

So that's it, rant over. More next week.

Keeto Out.

  



 
Currently listening:
It's Blitz!
By Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Release date: 2009-03-31
3:02 PM 
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Tuesday, March 31, 2009 


Hey ho strangers,....

Long time, no
blog! Yes I know I’ve been pretty shy on the whole blogging bit lately, but
that’s not to say that we haven’t been busy here at RedKid HQ. Nice to see that
Ronan’s been keeping y’all updated on what’s goin on while I’m away, and for
the record, I wasn’t on hols, I was at a weddin in ....Spain....! Oh, the rum hangovers are killer!

ANYways… as usual we’ve been soldiering away, quietly putting together songs for the next album, which we’ve already started recording out in Shankil. It’s shaping up to be an altogether different set of sounds than the last one, which is great, as it's a breath of fresh air for all of us, working up those jamming muscles and getting our teeth into some new riffs. I have to say I second Ro’s sentiment on
the gigs lately. We played a very quiet Sunday night session in Dalkey a couple
of weeks ago, and despite nightmare probs with gear (first Aidan’s amp died,
then my pedal board went all buck wild and weird) the gig was a cracker. Maybe
the fact that Ro was just back from the states helped, but there seems to be a
vitality in us this year, the new songs seem to be breathing new life into us…woah,
just got all hippy there, ahem, better compose meself here…so, where was I…oh
yeah, flash mobs, I’ve a question or two regarding the very 21st century
phenomenon of flash mobs. For the uninitiated, a quick explanation -

A flash mob is a group of people who arrange to meet in a public place (usually organised electronically) and then at an appointed time, perform an unusual act, and then disperse quickly (like this) I was wondering whether anyone has tried to do something similar in Dublin? Cos I’d love to organise one, although somewhere along the lines of this. So if anyone knows anything about it let me know purlease.


In terms of the new tunes, my vote for the next release would be either the way or the master, but that’s just my own cup of tea. I’ll be back very very soon with a blog, right now I just have to get out in that sunshine, so hasta luago peeps…..oh yeah, one last thing…I’ve decided to alternate the lyrics quiz with a new ickle quiz. It’s easy peasy lemon squeezy, so give it a go. All you have to do is find the connection between these seemingly unconnected people-

This time, what connects Kurt Cobain with Robert Duvall’s character (Colonel Kilgore) in the movie Apocalypse Now?

Answers underneath

Later funk
soul brother and sisters....




Currently listening:
Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition)
By Dennis Wilson
Release date: 2008-07-08
4:48 PM 
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Saturday, March 28, 2009 

Current mood:  cheerful
Category: Blogging
Oh my god! i got to get on top of this digital. Finally got myself an internet connection, Keith is away on hols so i'm going to fill you in on what were at.
 
Currently working on some new material for the second album, the first one is still selling well, however we have had a problem with our digital distributer who shut up shop and took all the profits... shit happens. (so if you want an album, just buy it from our website(need to update itunes with new digital distribution, www.cdbaby.com will be handeling it)) ... sorry got side tracked there... right we're in studio in Shankill, yes there is one there, we are in HALs studio and its kick ass. we've two tracks down, a bit of tidying to do on them, then when were happy with the sound, we put the next 8 down. Anybody who has been to a gig of ours in the past 6months will know "The Way" we opened with this in Galway lastnight and it went down a storm. This is my tip for next single(mid summer) b-side "Superman" - however this could change :) gotta let the lads have a say :)
 
anyway, with far too much rambeling from myself, gotta say i'm really enjoying the gigs lately, feel revived, and refreshed. the new songs are going down really well live, and we're having a laugh playing. We've had to pull out of the first liverpool trip, however we will be going over there later for the second single(November - ish) I'll confirm this in April. Amsterdam is in June, and i'll book a German tour for all you over there, it'll be later in the year. Hey, you know how it is, if you want us to play, just let us know a venue near you, we'll do our best to take all their money :)
lastly, hope you are all having a brilliant saturday, if not - please take 2 minutes, and think of the happiest day you every can remember, and hold on to that thought.
have a great one
Ronán
All the next gigs should be up on the myspace / redkidtheband so make yourself seen - :)
2:41 PM 
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Saturday, February 14, 2009 

Current mood:  cooky/wacky

Hey Hey,
 
A good friend of ours is releasing his album tonight. Its in Crawdaddy @ 9pm. Its gonna be a stomper and I highly reccomend that you head down if you can.

This is an important album for Irish music, and it sounds amazing. Well done Stef!

You can buy "100 Midnights" online and in all good record shops.

Cheers, P.

Currently listening:
Sins of Sainte Catherine
Release date: 2007-04-17
12:36 PM 
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Monday, January 12, 2009 
..........................

Happy New Monday!!! ....

.. ..

What’s the craic with y’all folks? Hopefully, Santa/Papa Noel/ Olentxero/the three kings or whoever it is you happed to pin your beliefs to, brought you festive merriment and fun and frolics. For those of you who, like myself, choose to believe in this, lets hope that it didn’t take too much out of ya. So, what have we been up to???? Well, first of all, we had some mighty fine gigs over the course of the end of 2008. We were up in Bundoran on the 27th and had a fine ole time, we then played two rip roaring gigs in quick succession on the 31st for ring in the new year (apparently, whichever way you start the new year is the thing you’ll end up doing all year, so that bodes well for us, if of course your idea of fun is drinking and gigging, which in my case, it is. Yeah! ....

.. ..

We were supporting The Amazing Few, and for those of you who didn’t make it, it was a spectacle to behold, as it always is. The 5 minutes before midnight were especially hilarious, with a lovely lady dressed up as a clock with her face set to 11.55 being hoisted into the air and lifted, crowd surfing, from the front of the stage to the back, while Kieran Amazing encouraged everyone to chant “Bye Bye 08” Priceless. Without a doubt, it was the weirdest and most wonderful way to ring in the New Year. ....

.. ..

So, we’re still cooking up new fast and furiously fantastical sounds for you in 2009. At the mo we’re holed up in our new HQ (up the road from one of ....Dublin....’s finest purveyors of creamy Guinness…ah, happy days indeed) and we’re working hard on getting a fresh set together for our 09 gigs. It's a funny ole game- the more we practise the more ideas we come up with, so the plan is to get the 8 track out and commit everything to tape (well, binary code actually) and see what concoctions come out in the end. Can’t wait! ....

.. ..

I’ve tried to make myself a little more internet savvy these days, so it you see hyperlinks its cause I’ve finally manage to suss them out. Anyways, I got loads of info back regarding how water comes out of the tap, so that got me thinking on the whole electricity thing….more importantly, why does it stay in the plug socket and not jump out at ya???? Hmmm?? Anyone got any (simple-ish to understand) ideas???  By the way, for those of you who think I’m a little touched in the head department, check out this super cool dude’s story, he’s an absolute inspiration, and if he hadn’t wondered about the way stuff works, electricity, recording things  and such….well, there’d be no modern music. (not sayin I’m like Les Paul, but ye know, I’d like to think I’m curious is all) ....

.. ..

Anyway, enough of this ranting nonsense, I’m off to cause trouble, and I suggest you do likewise. Only one thing left, it's the lyrics game, here we go people……....

.. ..

“Consider this the hint of the century, ....

Consider this the slip that brought me to my knees”....

.. ..

Answers under the blog as per usual. ....

.. ..

Hasta pronto funky people. ....

.. ..

Keeto out....

.. ..

  ....

Currently listening:
The Crane Wife
By The Decemberists
Release date: 2006-10-03
4:39 PM 
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