Uni tunes
Never mind the Champions League, if it’s fierce competition you’re after look no further than the National Student Music Awards. Doing his third level best to pick the winner: Neil Brennan.
Neil Brennan, 11 May 2007
Funny what can happen to a band in the space of just two years. As a heap of nervous but surprisingly polite new acts schlep their gear into the squashed backstage area at The Village (the toilet is crammed full of guitar cases), a few minutes away Delorentos are preparing for their headline show at the Temple Bar Music Centre.
They won this prize in 2005, and now they’re being rightly feted as one of Ireland’s brightest prospects. But that was then, this is now – and six new Irish bands want their title. Their brief is simple: three songs to impress the audience, and more importantly, the judges.
Vamos kick the night off with the charmingly brash ‘What’s The Craic?’, the kind of punky anthem this country once specialised in. The crowd are still meandering in, but it doesn’t take long for most of them to take notice of the hooky tunes and energetic performances these boys trade in. Vamos wear their influences as proudly as their lanky bassist Vinny Vamos wears his sleeveless t-shirt, but when those influences include early Green Day and Feeder, that’s no bad thing.
Despite accepting the poisoned chalice of going on first, these boys make a real impression and possess a stage presence that is bound to win people over. But backstage Scouse vocalist Tom Vamos wasn’t overly impressed with their performance.
“We fucked up a bit, it wasn’t as good as it could have been,” he rues as yet another band lugs their equipment past us and into the tiny band room.
That band would be the Kinetiks, who have amassed a pretty impressive amount of groupies for a bunch so young and fresh-faced. It’s not hard to see why – these four Dubliners offer hints of XTC and Franz Ferdinand, as well as some other less clichéd influences. Frontman Gaz Harding doesn’t just possess a fine voice and a nice line in buttoned-up shirts, but also an onstage intensity that belies the poppy treats the band’s music offers. Set closer ‘A Smile’d Crack Your Face’ deserves to soundtrack a million lazy summer afternoons. The competition’s already heating up.
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