Fionn Regan - 100 Acres of Sycamore

Fionn Regan's third album arrives without much fanfare a mere 18 months after his previous record and it sees him slightly shift direction once again. Following the electric folk pop of The Shadow of an Empire, the Irishman has moved back towards his debut. However, just because 100 Acres... lands closer to the acoustic nature of 2006's The End of History, that doesn't mean it is a regression in any way.

Bold and lush orchestration compliments the acoustic melodies and reflective narrative on the record. Its opening title-track is an emphatic example of this. Atop strings and guitar which create a dramatic atmosphere, Regan proclaims, “If he darkens your doorway/Come and tell me where he resides/Text me or bell me/Rise up, sister/I'll make sure he never darkens your doorway again.” It is a stunning start, combining achingly beautiful instrumentation with powerful imagery which flits between romance and menace, dark and light. The album continues in such a fashion, strings sweep and soar but are never overblown, while tracks like Dogwood Blossom pare things back. The album also illustrates what a fine lyricist Regan is. The poetic folk displayed here has intelligent sincerity to it that is reminiscent of Laura Marling. If The Shadow of an Empire was Regan looking out of the window into the world, this is a clear look in. These slow-burning songs revolve around a central love story which is intimate, captivating and believable.

A well-crafted work of sad-yet-warm beauty, 100 Acres of Sycamore is Fionn Regan's finest work to date. It is the kind of album that deserves your full and undivided attention from first note to last.

Review by Bobby Townsend. It first appeared in Sydney's Drum Media.

Getting To Know... Modern Error

Modern Error (pictured here with Aloe Blacc), recently won the nationwide Guinness Live Thursdays competition, and jetted off to Dublin for to perform at the Arthur's Day celebrations. Here, they tell us a bit about themselves:

Modern Error are a high octane five-piece hailing from Western Sydney, full of flailing limbs, soaring harmonies, slightly messed-up characters and a jilted view on creating pop rock.

We take inspiration from an unspecified amount of avenues. From the darkest of ambient and mathematical extreme metal bands to Top 40's R'n'B and dancehall dubstep. Everyday antics are the defiant influence upon lyrical content with stories being stripped from any and every possibility.

Winning the Guinness Live Thursdays Competition was the kick in the arse we desperately needed! Being told that in 4 days time we would be flying out to Ireland was the most terrifying, mind-racing, heart-pumping shock that we had experienced in a long time. With so many other bands competing it was amazing that we had come out on top and definitely an opportunity we were going to take advantage of.

Going to Ireland for the Arthur's Day celebrations was kind of intimidating for a few of us, challenging for others, but exciting for all. It was Dave's (lead vocals) first trip overseas and he was by far the most excited. I mean, not only was it his first flight overseas, but he was getting to do it for his music. We couldn't really ask for more. Except for a few more days over there!

It might surprise people to learn that although we all seem like clean cut pretty boys playing pop rock, all of us in past bands have done something completely different. Dave was in an alternative rock outfit shredding on guitar and singing, Max (bass/back up vocals) was a throat destroying screamer in multiple metal bands, Phil (Rhythm guitar/back up vocals) was in skate punk bands and then did some solo acoustic pretty things, Elijah (lead guitar/back up vocals) just gave people eargasms being lead guitarist in multiple outfits, and Dane (Drums) held his own in a metal Starwars band, a progressive metal/rock outfit as well as a few other projects.

In the future Modern Error will make a name for themselves by either A) continuing to wow crowds with their energetic shows chock-a-block with catchy-as-a-cold tunes, ooooorrr B) wind up like so many childhood movie stars, addicted to substances, sleeping with hookers on their way to an early grave... your pick (please pick A).

Follow Modern Error on Facebook.

Interview by Bobby Townsend

Modern Error win the Guinness Live Thursdays Grand Final and head to Ireland!

Last week, Modern Error from Blacktown overcame three other bands - Iron Bar Hotel, from Sydney, Buddha in a Chocolate Box, from Hamilton and Palatial Digs from Perth - to win the Guinness Live Thursdays Grand Final.

Over 200 music fans supped the black stuff at the event at the Gaelic Theatre in Sydney as judges elected the five-piece to be the band that should head to Dublin for the upcoming Arthur’s Day celebrations, where they will play alongside the Scissor Sisters, Stereophonics, Paloma Faith and Calvin Harris.

In our opinion, the panel made the correct decision. While the Blacktown band's performance was a little high on the histrionics (we could have done without the guitarist striding to the middle of the stage and delivering his solo with one foot on the monitor while the lead singer was on his knees and the bassist was head-banging open-mouthed, if we're being honest), in terms of tunes, these guys were the best. Now, having frantically ordered their passports they'll be taking their melodic heavy pop-rock with nu-metal and emo edges across the world.
 
In case you haven't been paying attention, Arthur’s Day is a globally celebrated event honouring the life and legacy of Arthur Guinness – The man who introduced Guinness to the world when he signed the lease on the St. James’ Gate Brewery in 1759. 47 other countries will also be holding high-profile music events and celebrations to honour the remarkable life and legacy of Arthur Guinness.

As you can see by the below reaction to the judges' decision (which, from what our sources tell is, was not taken lightly at all and was a very close-run thing), the Modern Error boys are pretty happy to be heading to Ireland. We don't mind admitting we're kinda jealous.

Guinness launch Live Thursdays

With Arthur’s Day around the corner, Guinness last night launched an eight-week nationwide campaign, entitled Guinness Live Thursdays, to celebrate craftsmanship in music and with the aim of finding Australia’s next up-and-coming band.

It's a competition totally worth entering too, as the winning band will score an all-expenses-paid trip to Dublin to perform alongside some top live acts - and Stereophonics - at the Arthur’s Day celebrations on Thursday 22nd September. Arthur’s Day, incidentally, honours the date in 1759 that good old Arthur Guinness signed the lease on the St. James’ Gate Brewery and introduced the black stuff to the world

Anyway, after playing an intimate live acoustic performance at yesterday's launch, ambassador for Guinness Live Thursdays and APRA award winning blues and roots artist, Ash Grunwald, told us, "I am so excited to be part of something that helps untapped quality talent get noticed by the Australian music industry. We have a lot to offer here."

WANNA GET YOUR BAND INVOLVED?
From today, aspiring bands from Australia can upload their MP3 tracks on the Guinness Australia Facebook page to enter the competition. The entries will be shortlisted to 30 bands who will play in 15 regional judged heats across Australia. The four finalists will then progress to the Guinness Live Thursdays National Final, due to be held in Sydney on 15th September. The lucky winners will then whizz around the globe to take part in the third annual Arthur’s Day global celebration - alongside the Scissor Sisters, Stereophonics, Paloma Faith and Calvin Harris and more - on Thursday 22nd September, in Dublin.

So get uploading today - and you could find yourself on stage on the other side of the planet in a few weeks!

Henry’s juggling sparks plenty of debate...

Thierry Henry’s bit of juggling last week certainly sparked plenty of debate. The Irish, poor souls, are in uproar, the French are as embarrassed as they are relieved, and everyone else seems to be chipping in with their opinion. I find it interesting that morality, in this instance, seems largely to depend on which team your sympathy lies with.

Had Robbie Keane handled the ball to give Ireland the win, would there have been such a fuss, or would we merely have labelled him ‘cheeky’? Rather than focusing on this one indiscretion, we’d more likely have hailed Ireland for being wily enough to squeeze past France.

As a Brighton supporter, I can recall a couple of instances when my team were guilty of some rule-breaking. I have a vague memory of full-back Johnny Crumplin slapping the ball in with his palm at Cambridge one time. Everyone, including Crumplin, looked at the ref and waited for a free-kick and a yellow card, but, amazingly, a goal was awarded. At Withdean, striker Gary Hart punched one in with his fist in the last minute against Southend. Did you find Brighton fans suggesting the game should be replayed? No, they laughed all the way home, delighted with the three points.

Calls from the Irish Football Association for the France game to be replayed were frankly ridiculous and possibly the greatest ever example of clutching at straws. If a game were to be replayed every time a ref missed a key decision, teams would end up playing every day of the week. Every time Manchester United lost, Sir Alex would be straight on the phone to the FA demanding the match be voided because the linesman got a throw-in decision wrong in the first half.

In his distinctive, brilliantly angry way, Roy Keane put it best during a press conference. “France are going to the world cup. Get over it,” he shrugged. Okay, maybe he was a bit harsh, but he made a good point about how, earlier in the campaign, Ireland won a game which saw them score from a dodgy penalty, and there were no offers to replay that game.

People are labelling Henry a cheat, but he is no more a cheat than any winger who dives or any centre-half who grabs a handful of a striker’s shirt. It was an instinctive reaction to use his hand, and people who say he ought to have owned up should put themselves in his boots, in a game of such importance (remembering that this world cup might be his last) and ask themselves whether, honestly, they would have told the ref to disallow the goal. I’m not sure I would.

Regardless of this incident, I’ll always think of Henry as one of the greatest players I’ve ever had the privilege of watching. He transforms football into an art form, and outraged moralists should forgive him this one blemish and instead focus on the sheer beauty he has brought to the game. After all, even though Diego Maradona ruined my summer in 1986, I still regard him as the greatest footballer that has ever lived.

We all know that instant TV replays are a good idea but until they come in, we just have to accept that sometimes, no matter how heartbreaking it can be, you’re going to be stitched up by bad officiating or plain bad luck.