Limerick Songwriters: February 2010

SongWriter Sessions @ The Locke Bar
Thursday 25th Feb 2010 9.00pm

The SongWriterSessions@TheLockeBar, continues

upstairs at The Locke Bar, George's Quay, Limerick 9.00pm February25th.

This weeks special guest is Vinny Fitzgerald from the band The Truth.

Vinny Fitzgerald lead singer and songwriter with Limerick band The Truth launched their debut album, Time O' The Signs, in Dolans Warehouse one year ago (Feb 27th 2009). The album was critically acclaimed at the time and some of the music was used in a made for TV film, The House, directed by Declan Cassidy. He described The Truth's music as "A rich soulful sound with lyrics that speak right at you, the album is a treasure trove of great songs". Now Vinny Fitzgerald will perform a special paired down acoustic version of the album at the Limerick SongWriters night at the Locke Bar Thursday 25th Feb.

As Usual all aspiring songwriters are invited to attend and play there songs in front of a live audience. All types of music and singers are welcome, a limited amount of instruments will be available for use on the night.

The evening will features songwriters doing short sets of two or three songs. There will also be an opportunity for getting a YouTube video of your performance made free of charge and uploaded to our site. Performances will also be recorded and broadcast as a Podcast at a later date. Host for the sessions are songwriters Brian Connolly, Chris Wood and Sean MacLeod. SongWriter Sessions@The Locke Bar takes place every 2nd, 3rd and 4th Thursday of the month.

If you wish to play contact Brian Connolly at limericksongwriters@gmail.com to book a spot or turn up on the night. Further details can be got at www.myspace.com/songwritersessions or from http://songwriters.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/limericksongwriters http://lockebar.com

All are welcome those who wish to perform or just listen. Free admission and free finger food.

In an era when shows like The X-Factor and The All-Ireland Talent Show encourage anyone to have a go, the open mic night is again assuming centre stage. Kevin Corbett visits a new open mic night in the Locke bar to see what happens
JOE from Castletroy hovers around the bar with an uncertain look on his face. Is he thinking stout or ale? Actually no, he's wondering whether he should whip out his guitar and play here at the new open mic night at the Locke Bar. co-organiser Brian Connolly

He did two weeks ago. I saw him sidle up to the organiser at the end of the night with his guitar and play his piece. I'm back and so is he, so I ask him: are you going to play tonight?
Maybe, he responds, he's not quite sure. His friend interjects, "You always say that."

Nobody seems quite sure whether they'll play or not, waiting perhaps to see what kind of crowd shows up, what kind of singers they'll be sharing the stage with.

Welcome to the Limerick Songwriters open mic night, one month into its residency in the Locke Bar, an open forum aiming to unearth any musical talent in the Limerick area and bring it to a wider audience.

A younger brother to the Three Songs open mic event that has been going in the White House for two and a half years, it shares one of the same organisers in Chris Wood and is following in the cultural footsteps of other events open to the public in the city like the White House Poets and the recent literary arrival On The Nail.

Chris along with Brian Connolly, Sean McLeod and Dominic Taylor sensed the time had come to expand on Three Songs and in the riverside bar found a venue that could accommodate their ambition.

Chris tells me that far from being in competition with the Three Songs night, he and his fellow organisers see it as a logical next step.

"I don't believe it is in conflict with Three Songs. In this venue you can go a different way. Last time there were two bands here, that would be very hard to do in the White House.

"If someone is writing songs, they can come to the White House, it's quite a small bar, it has a really good atmosphere but if you want to expand it, bring in a bass guitar and a drum set, they can come in here.

"This is only our third night and I think, so far, it's going really well. Obviously time will tell, as long as people keep coming in, but I expect they will. There are a lot of musicians who have turned up that I haven't seen in the White House at the other gig."
Has he seen anyone who really made him sit up and take notice?

"Absolutely. I've got to say that everyone has been good, but one or two really have been brilliant. You don't make a point of it though. It's not nice to go up to someone and say 'You're better than everyone else' even though maybe they obviously are."
We're back downstairs with Joe and his friend Ian.

"I'm undecided, I'm going to have a go, probably," wavers Joe. "I played here two weeks ago, that was my first time playing here. I played a couple of times in the White House and at an open night in the Cellar in Galway once or twice, I went to college there for four years."

Joe is contemplating playing a cover or two, he says he's not really ready to bring his own stuff into the public glare just yet.

Ian chimes in: "I've a new song I was going to try, but it's a bit rough."

But they're a forgiving audience, right? They won't be throwing any bottles, will they?

He laughs, "If everyone who was bad at an open mic night got a bottle thrown at them, there'd be glass everywhere."
Ian is a comparative veteran of the music scene having been in a few bands down the years.

As for public performance, however, he says he's a bit rusty, he's starting to get "unused to it".

I get the feeling that a night like this might be the best thing to help him with that.

"I write a few songs, yeah, then I dump them and write a few more and then dump them. I get bored of them really quickly. Sometimes you go back and think 'maybe this one will grow on me' but mostly you think 'they don't really do it for me'.

The time is coming to get things started, I approach Brian Connolly and ask him how many performers he has on his list.

"I've eight so far, eight stroke nine."

Will there be more by the end of the night?

"I hope so. Do you play yourself? No? We've had very busy nights the first couple of times, but it's only 9.10, so by 9.30 when we kick off we should have a few more on the list. The last few nights we had more at kick off and I was thinking they'd only get to perform one song each. Since everyone made such an effort to turn out we'd have to give em a go. Still eight's not bad for this time."

Brian has been writing songs himself for three or four years and his involvement in nights like this, he feels, has brought him on.
"I'm finding even some of the songs I wrote three or four years ago, I'm rewriting now. When you meet people at these things and hear them you get ideas off them.

"You're taking it out of the secluded nature of the bedroom, coming in and talking to other songwriters, people that have been at it a lot longer, getting ideas off them, then you can improve your songs and your songs develop the more they're performed."

It was from Three Songs that Brian got to know his fellow organisers and got to air his own work in the first place. It's a route that has worked for him, he's made good contacts.

"It's something I've always wanted to do and the opportunity was there and it's a nice atmosphere to do it in, go up and perform two or three songs a nice way to bring you in to it."

"The first couple of nights here I have seen so many new guys perform. I've been going to the White House for a long time, so 99% of the time I would have seen them before, I'd know what they're about - the odd time you'd get a new guy or woman - but the first time I came here there were new faces and it's amazing the level of talent that's there, musicianship, songwriting, singing, some excellent people."

The organisers record every performance and post the video on YouTube, while there's also a Limerick songwriters blog and photographs as well. There are also plans to invite recording artists, producers, managers and publishers, anyone who may be looking for fresh new songs. Two weeks ago, Damien Drea of was the special guest.

The last word goes to performer Tom Kelly who is complimentary of the efforts of the organisers and in many ways personifies the spirit of such events.

"Sean had a great line-up the last night, I didn't want to go up at all, just wanted to sit and listen. It's great to hear new acts. I stayed for a year with the one in the White House. You try something out and you get to the stage where you go 'I've had enough'. These are a great crew, I think new people need to come in to keep it fresh. You don't want old fogeys like me playing all the time."

"Everybody who plays or sings, I say 'let's do a collab sometime' and they go 'Oh Jesus!'. I'm very open like that, I love to meet new people, I love to hear new people, that's what it should be about for me. Playing with yourself isn't fun, ha ha ha!"

Limerick Songwriters open mic night is on the second, third and fourth Thursday of every month in the Locke Bar. The first Thursday is taken by On The Nail. If you wish to play contact Brian Connolly at limericksongwriters@gmail.com to book a spot or turn up on the night. Check out Limerick songwriters on YouTube
(reproduced from The Limerick Leader W/E 20th Feb 2010 http://www.limerickleader.ie)