THE HOUSE PRESENTS SEASON 8 LAUNCHES 4TH OCTOBER!!!

Oh yes, it is difficult to get our heads around it but we are 8 in October!!

This is something to feel cheerful about for us and for YOU. Supporting small venues and high quality performers is definitely something this city needs more and more. Discovering a new artist you love or hearing words spoken that ring true for you or just having a really nice, relaxed night with us is a really good thing. We have a season already brimming over with new talent and old friends and our launch night will be the most glorious mix of just that.

Doors open at 8.30. It's €10 on your way in we will get started very soon after that. Upstairs at Annesley House on The North Strand.

Every penny goes to the artists on stage.

Minnie & the Illywackers
We are honoured to welcome this superbe combination of virtuosity to be part of our launch night for season 8. We've had them in the jotter since April and it will be just great to see them. For those of you who don't know them, here is a small piece that goes some way to describe their incredible energy and joyous sound.
Minnie and the Illywhackers are a Swing Band centred around the vocal talents of Angie McLaughlin. The band are influenced by early Jazz, Country and Blues and create a speak-easy supper club feel that would well be at home in early last century cabaret. Their instrumentation includes Ukulele, Mandolin, Double Bass, Cornet, Fiddle and Guitar. Their set is comprised of original songs, augmented by forgotten classics of the pre-rock and roll era. McLaughlin is joined by veterans of the Dublin music-scene and fellow Sick and Indigent Song Club members, Sheila Sullivan (Violin), Christian Volkmann (Double Bass), Carl O’Byrne (Cornet) and Colin (percussion).

Mícheál Ó Catháin
Mícheál Ó Catháin grew up in a musical family in Kildare, immersed in Irish language, singing and music. Performing for decades as a traditional fiddle player and singer, in recent years he has built on these foundations to develop a comprehensive command of the early Irish harp or cláirseach.
Faithful to historical practices, Mícheál sings with the harp on his left shoulder and employs specialised fingernail techniques to shape the resonance of these metal-strung instruments. His arrangements of manuscript pieces, guided by the rhythms of his sean-nós singing, breathe fresh life into Ireland's ancient harp music for contemporary audiences.
Mícheál has performed around Ireland in such beautiful venues as the Mussenden Temple in Derry, the Fumbally Stables in Dublin and Naas Arts & Culture Centre in Kildare. A soloist in his own right, he has also shared the stage with Cormac Begley, Fiachna Ó Mongáin, Ultan O'Brien, Siobhán Armstrong and Javier Sáinz, as well as with his long-time mentor and collaborator Ann Heymann.

Currently he is working on a debut solo recording, on harp & voice, of pieces collected from Denis O'Hampsey, the eldest of the harpers to grace the 1792 Belfast Harp Meeting. This recording project features an accurate copy of O'Hampsey's Downhill harp, and shares the fruits of Mícheál's 2017/18 Arts Council Traditional Arts Bursary. As an open process-forum sharing insights from artists he admires and who influence his musical journey, including some of the leading lights of the early Irish harp, Míchéal regularly posts multimedia interviews to his website at michealocathain.com/interviews. “De bhunadh Chill Dara é Mícheál Ó Catháin agus clú bainte amach aige mar dhuine den ghlúin nua a chasann

This will be a rare treat of harp and voice in the tradition of the harpists of the 1700s. We are really looking forward to this!

October Fires
This exciting Kildare based band are really making (beautiful) noise out there. Just have a look below at all the stuff people are saying! This will be great!!

Fresh from their performances in the National Concert Hall in September and Knockanstockan Festival, October Fires have recorded their latest single 'Caught In Your Design' in the stunning Black Mountain Studios.

In the words of producer James Darkin, the song is “Moody as F**k!”

October Fires have been described as haunting, dark pop, weaving in and out of different genres, fusing them together to create their unique and distinct sound.

Since the band released their first radio single in June 2018 they have been greeted with a number of glowing reviews from Hot Press, Nialler 9. Remy, The Last Mixed Tape and Barry Gruff.

Following from the release of their debut EP ‘Everybody knows’ in October 2018 they have received steady radio play on RTE 2XM, RTE Radio 1, Radio Nova, 98 FM, Dublin City FM, Galway Bay FM, FM104, WLRFMand KCLR FM and have been interviewed and performed on RTE's 'The Arena Show' with John Rocks, 98fm’s Totally Irish with John Barker and award winning DJ, Roddy Cleere on KCLR FM.

The band's name was inspired by the smoky scent in the air walking home from practice one autumn night. October has a unique vibe, with its perfect blend of beauty and eeriness, a trademark of the band's sound and their music is continually inspired by this balance.

“Weaving large-scale indie-folk, bold harmonic flourishes and an icy backdrop, October Fires’ individualistic sound comes to the fore on ‘Screaming Red’”.
(The Last Mixed Tape)

“'Pray', is a gothic pop gem that marries slow hypnotic harmonies to a jarring, haunting, yet gorgeous melody”.
(Hot Press Magazine)

"Kildare based band October Fires channel Lisa Hannigan-esque vocals on their new track ‘Pray’…Altogether, it makes for an eclectic listen".
(Nialler9)

“The vocals invoke a ritualistic incantation, free-flowing plonking piano progressions and bass add to that nonchalant care-free sense".
(REMY)

"October Fires have found the perfect blend between beauty and otherworldly eeriness"
(Barry Gruff)

"There be sorcery at work here and one listen will have you under their spell”.
(Hot Press online)

And then there's YOU. Our oh, so cool, sophisticated and daring audience - Good looking, discerning and always willing to take a chance and see something brand new. We couldn't do this without you!