Groom

Groom gigs coming up

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:01:22 -0400

Popical Island Saturday 2011 photos

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 05:43:40 -0400

Lots of photos from the Popical Island #2 launch are over on the Popical Island Facebook page. Fun day!

Go here to view: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150689951995393.705832.340644795392

Covers!

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 05:22:51 -0400

popicalisland:

Here’s six of the two hundred covers we made for Compilation #2. They were painted and stamped by Anna, Annie, Bronwyn, Cormac, Jonny, Mide, Mike, Nora, Pádraig C, Padraig O’R, Ruan, Saileóg and Valerie. Mike made the spinning contraption that gave them that lovely effect, we were all really impressed but we hid it and were all like “Pfft! Check out Doc Brown and his dumb machine!” to annoy him.

We love you Mike!

popical island: Popicalia #10

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 05:37:35 -0400

popical island: Popicalia #10:

popicalisland:

The launch party for Popical Island #2, a compilation featuring 18 of Ireland’s best indie pop bands.

Upstairs@Whelan’s, 25 Wexford St, Dublin 2

Saturday, June 25th, 2:30 pm
…
Admission: FREE

We had such a good time last year at the launch of our first compilation that we’re doing…

Some gigs coming up...

Thu, 26 May 2011 05:00:22 -0400

Check the gigs page. We better practice!

What life’s like in the evening chez Stevens. You can hear...

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:23:50 -0500

What life’s like in the evening chez Stevens. You can hear Lois make off with the recorder half way through.

Photo

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 05:42:50 -0500

The Irish Independent, Jan 1, 2011

The Irish Independent, Jan 1, 2011

Groom make end-of-year best of!

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 10:41:21 -0500

popicalisland:

In the company of Strands, Solar Bears, Dinah Brand and some other top albums. We feel quite proud:

http://harmlessnoise.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/top-albums-2010

Review of "This Golden Age" on Asleep on a Compost Heap

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 08:18:17 -0400

Some nice, well deserved endorsements of Thread Pulls, Porn on Vinyl and Holy Roman Army as well!

http://onavery.blogspot.com/2010/10/crow-returned-charred-black.html

Gig preview on "Harmless Noise" blog 21/10/2010

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 04:52:55 -0400

Gig :: Michael Stevens / Haley Bonar

Groom single This Golden Age out on November 10: review in The Ticket

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 04:46:27 -0400

GROOM

The Golden Age, Popical Island ****

It may be a golden age for the Irish music scene, but Groom’s Michael Steven remains the guy standing outside in the rain with his nose pressed against the glass. Much like Britpop-era My Life Story, Groom have an outsider edge that provides a nice counterbalance to their chamber pop pretensions. This is one of their finer moments.

(By Eoin Butler: read here)

Poster for gig on Oct 21 in Bewley’s

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 09:57:07 -0400

Poster for gig on Oct 21 in Bewley’s

I will be joined by Roy (Squarehead) and American songwriter Haley Bonar in Bewley's Cafe Theatre on Oct 21st

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 09:45:05 -0400

POPICAL ISLAND PRESENTS
Michael Stevens (Groom)
Roy Duffy (Squarehead)

and special guest Haley Bonar

Thursday, October 21st
Bewley’s Café Theatre, Bewley’s (top floor), Grafton Street
Admission: 8 euros
Doors: 8.30 pm

Michael Stevens

Photo: Laura Pyne

Songwriter and singer with Dublin indie-poppers Groom, Michael also writes and sings with Lie Ins and, previously with alt-folk band Settler. On this night, Michael will mainly be playing songs from Groom’s new album “Marriage”, which is out now on Popical Island.

What they’re saying about “Marriage”…

“An album of lyrical infallibility. 8/10” – Harmless Noise

“exuberant, creative, literate and impeccably produced indie pop…The frontman has that rare gift of being able to convey real emotion and wry humour in simple, beautifully clever language – sparkling couplets shine from every song. 8/10” – Alternative Ulster

“…there’s not an ounce of filler to be found…File amongst ‘poetic, heartfelt, genre-bending pop’, grab each other’s hands and dance along to the realities of love, sappiness aside. In Marriage, Groom have it nailed right on. 8/10” – State.ie

Watch Mike
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnLUWcQpKaQ

More here: http://www.myspace.com/groomtheband

Roy Duffy
Singer and songwriter with Squarehead, Roy (centre in the photo below) is quite simply one of the best songwriters in Ireland.

Photo: Loreana Rushe

With a workrate that would put us all to shame, Squarehead have recently been dazzling audiences all over the place with their smart, cardigan grungepop and soaring, timeless anthems. When “Fake Blood” initially appeared on the recent Popical Island #1 compilation it instantly became the song of the summer.

“Squarehead’s “Fake Blood” is a charmingly ramshackle slice of indie pie and stands out a mile on the Popical Island compilation.” –Jim Carroll, The Irish Times

Watch Roy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SETe4RZpnU&feature=related

More here http://www.myspace.com/squareheadmusic

Haley Bonar

Photo: Cameron Wittig

Haley Bonar is twenty-five years old, and already on her fourth album. Her new album, Big Star, is a watershed moment for her—a record like a Cormac McCarthy short story: simple on the intake, but revealing universal truths with a powerful emotional impact as it sinks in. In the words of filmmaker Ali Selim (Sweet Land) “Her voice is an invitation to amazing places.”

“[Bonar] possesses a voice that’s ideal for conveying mixed emotions about romance, fame, life, what have you: On ‘Arms a Harm’ and opener ‘Green Eyed Boy’, she sounds freshly bruised and tender, but sings forcefully rather than quietly. Tempering that vulnerability is a natural wryness on ‘Better Half’ and the country-tinged stand-out ‘Highway 16’. She never sounds better than at the end of opener ‘Green Eyed Boy’, singing wordlessly but emphatically as the song crashes around her.” -Pitchfork

Watch Haley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YRRdfnJHLg

More here http://www.myspace.com/haleybonar

Review of Marriage in Alternative Ulster blog and mag 5/10/2010

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 07:26:17 -0400

Read in full here: http://bit.ly/9uonYz

Before they banded together with a bunch of like-minded Dublin indie-popsters under the Popical Island umbrella, Michael Stevens and friends were already knocking out choice tuneage as Groom, and this third album is evidence of their talent. A concept album of sorts, Marriage is fixated with relationships, and the 10 songs flow together via seamless instrumental segues, but that is where the prog allusions end.

Instead what we are dealing with is exuberant, creative, literate and impeccably produced indie-pop. Melodies and arrangements are grin-inducing good, but best of all are Stevens’ lyrics. The frontman has that rare gift of being able to convey real emotion and wry humour in simple, beautifully clever language – sparkling couplets shine from every song. Fans of Belle & Sebastian and Neutral Milk Hotel will find much to clutch to their bosoms, and in ‘Mysteries Of Life’, a tongue-in-cheek tale of unrequited love from the school science labs to unfulfilled adulthood, the band have a genuine indie-pop classic on their hands. Chris Jones

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

KEY TRACKS: ‘MYSTERIES OF LIFE’, ‘MY BOHEMIAN LIFE PART I’, ‘DOORWAYS’.
FOR FANS OF: BELLE & SEBASTIAN, NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL.

"A Music Lesson" nominated for MAP, Sep 2010

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:37:00 -0400

Nialler9 has nominated Groom’s song “A Music Lesson” to represent Ireland in the Music Alliance Pact, or MAP for September 2010. In the man’s own words: “Every month, MAP (Music Alliance Pact) asks 35 music bloggers across the world to share a track from their home country that they think you should hear.”

Read more here

Hot Press interview with Groom, Sep 10 2010

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:46:45 -0400

Hot Press interview with Groom, Sep 10 2010

Review in Alternative Ulster (AU) Issue#68

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:57:00 -0400

This is an interview with Mike. Read here: http://issuu.com/iheartau/docs/au68-online/18

(….or buy the magazine)

"We were in NME again a couple weeks ago and only just found out. Check it out:..."

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:27:31 -0400

“We were in NME again a couple weeks ago and only just found out. Check it out: http://popicalisland.tumblr.com/”

- Popical_Island

"Smileface. Groom are “Album of the Month”; on the Icon show on PhantomFM..."

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:52:56 -0400

“Smileface. Groom are “Album of the Month”; on the Icon show on PhantomFM http://bit.ly/9DbbUW”

- Groomtheband

Review on Nick Thinks....ahem

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:40:18 -0400

Groom – Marriage (Popical Island, 2010)

Posted on September 1, 2010 by ruanvv| Leave a comment

Why do you wanna do this?

Nick: Why not? Why avoid it?

Isn’t a little close to home? You’ve met the five people who made this record, I’m one of them.

Laugh at Ruan being embarrassed here