The Funniest Interview ever?? KISS (Gene Simmons) interviewed by Terry Gross

Is this the funniest interview ever? Probably not but it’s bloody close. Fair play Gene, you’re a fucking legend!

TICKETS THERE – ‘BROKE AND BLOGGING’

After months and months of pestering different publications and E-Zines to do an interview with us, we finally had to lie…and it worked. None other that Trebor Harrington from Rolling Stone magazine, agreed to meet us over the phone and conduct a short but published interview (take that Enya!). Read on..

‘Hated by the mainstream, loathed by the independents and feared by newer bands, Tickets There has climbed it’s way from being a gag MySpace into the supremo of the Irish music journalism market‘…at least that’s what the press release they handed me says. I find myself taken aback by this interview. After spending the last year and a half working hard to become a semi-decent music journalist, my path seems to have taken several steps back. Not only had I never heard of the so called ‘God Blog’, (Tickets There), but after I looked though some posts, I still didn’t get it. What I see is spelling and grammar mistakes, hastily put together images using characters from Eyebrowy.com animations, repeated claims of ‘Championing‘ Irish music and ten times as many posts damning every Irish band under the sun except for a half a dozen or so. So, despite my lack of interest, the unresponsive nature with the lads behind Tickets There and the smell hanging in the air when I meet them (Ed – You had a phone interview Trebor. Please do not add insult to injury), I decided to go through with the interview.

According to the rest of the press release, Tickets There was started in 2007 by two of Ireland’s pioneering live entertainment promoters and sales representatives, as a voice for unsigned and local acts who weren’t getting the support they deserve or need from the Irish media. However, according to the lads, it was all originally started as a joke.

“When we started Tickets There, it waz only because we were fucking bored, ya know. Eyebrowy had based these two lads on us and we tried suing em, but they told us to fuck off. Den we realized they hadn’t gotten the rites to da MoiSpace so..Score!”

Rolling Stone: And what was your original purpose with the site when you started it?

Tickets There: We didn’t really know at first. Anto came up with the idea of adding some of the eyebrowy clips n dat to the page, let people know who we are and wat we’re up ta and shit. Then a few months went by and we started heading into some of the shows we were ehm, promoting and realized ders all these fucking deadly bands in the country ya never hear off”

Rolling Stone: But surely if they’re good, they will be heard of eventually?

Tickets There: Listen bud, your in Ireland now. Just because something’s fucking deadly doesn’t mean people are gonna like it or even hear about it. Don’t forget, we’ve had Home and Away and Pat Kenny on our screens for years and they wont go away”

Rolling Stone: What about the accusations that you illegally sell tickets for concerts?

Tickets There: Ah no, that’s shite. I mean, we used to all right but haven’t done that in weeks. Ever since the site took off in a big way, there’s been no point. Between the dole and advertising, we’re bringing in over four hundred euros a week between us. No need to sell the tickets any more. But if you’re asking, I could get yaz Slane Tickets?

Rolling Stone: No its fine, thanks. So tell me a little about how Tickets There developed. You claim it to be Ireland’s leading music blog. Quite a strong statement to make, considering the number of ones out there, how do you justify it?

Tickets There: Just look at da bleeding stats man, they’re of the fucking charts. Some days we could get up to ten hits from all over the county. That’s fucking success ya can’t measure bud.

Rolling Stone: Well, our website gets up to ten thousand hits a day.

Tickets There: Again man, you’re in fucking Ireland now. No site in dis country gets dat many fucking hits, except maybe U2.com, and that’s probably in Holland or somewhere now. It’s all politics, ya no what I mean?. The main stream doesn’t want us to succeed so they fabricate all this nonsense bout us and the site.

Rolling Stone: What are you talking about, how does that affect your blog statistics?

Tickets There: I don’t know, you’ve lost me.

Rolling Stone: Ok, moving on. I’ve read your manifesto and you claim Tickets There! to be a champion of Irish talent. Yet when I read your MySpace Review blogs, they seemed to focus more on slating the bands in Ireland and pulling them apart for bothering to get of the couch and make an effort at creating music. Don’t these ideals clash?

Tickets There: Bollocks. We don’t go out looking for bands to tear apart, they just seem to keep popping up. Da MoiSpace reviews were originally started to find random Irish bands and give them a bit of unbiased exposure rather than harping on about the select few we already like. It wasn’t meant to be about ripping every bands songs apart for our readers entertainment. It’s meant to be a real search for good Irish acts.

Rolling Stone: Was finding so many bad acts the reason you took a break from writing the reviews earlier this year?

Tickets There: Ya, we were becoming so frustrated and demoralized that there didn’t seem any point doing any more. We almost always choose acts we hadn’t heard or seen before so there wouldn’t be anything but their music to praise or criticize but after so many bands like Grand Pocket Orchestra, Fight Like Apes, Bats, We Should Be Dead..etc. Der didn’t seem any reason to continue. We did manage to find a few good ones like A Lazarus Soul, One Day International, Mass Extinction and Le Galaxie but then there just seemed to be so many we refused to go through with (Such as The Script) and the reviews ended.

Rolling Stone: Does it look likely that you’ll start doing them again soon?

Tickets There: Since we’re getting near the 100^th post on the site, we decided to hurry things along a little and we did a couple of special reviews which included Bell X1’s new tracks and the new ASH single. They turned out to be fucking wicked.

Rolling Stone: Those are very well established acts in this country, don’t you think you should have given the space to a more unheard of act like the others?

Tickets There: No.

Rolling Stone: So, you’re now in your second year of running Tickets There. Have you got anything special lined up for the future?

Tickets There: Well, the main thing is our Turn History Blog which will be fully published on July 16^th, the third anniversary of their split. We have a lot of surprises in store for that one including a competition to win an original 2000 copy of Antisocial and the Beretta 7″, and possibly, exclusive comments from the band. But all that’s under wraps at da moment and we’re still working everything out. Hopefully we’ll have all the details posted soon and we’ll start previewing extracts from the blog when the final copy is finished. Currently it’s over five and a half thousand words so be prepared.

Rolling Stone: Have you any plans to bring back your monthly ‘Wall of Shows’ and gig calendar?

Tickets There: We only ever really did dat when there was a good pile of shows on and this years been shite. But it will return wither this month or June. Also, the fucking Moispace calendar keeps acting the bollocks on us and deleting it’s self every bleeding time we sit down for three hours, looking through hundreds of bands for up and coming shows and that’s gets a bit tiresome.

Rolling Stone: One final question, we only know one of your names, can I ask the other?

Tickets There: Anto.

Tickets There will continue celebrating it’s 100^th post with more MySpace reviews, previews from the Turn history and more in the coming weeks. Find out more @ www.myspace.com/TICKETSTHERE

Words: Trebor Harrington.

Photo: Eyebrowy.com and Tickets There Studios Inc.

Concerto for Constantine Interview – Rock returns to Ireland

If ever there was a night in my life I should have been prepared for, this was it. An exclusive interview with one of Irelands newest and most exciting groups ‘Concerto for Constantine’ and (as I discovered later), their first since forming last August. The band comprises of Mark Greaney (Vocals, Guitar and formally of JJ72), Gavin Fox (Bass and formally of Turn, Idlewild and Vega4) and Paul ‘Binzer’ Brennan who was played drums for Mundy, The Frames and BellX1 among many other’s. To say the prospect of sitting down with Concerto, at such an early stage of their career, is exciting would be an understatement and topped with it being their first interview (Minus Binzer) made it all the more special.

However, half way through the dart journey into town, I discovered that the trusted blank tape in my recorder, that was supposedly sitting idle for the last eight or nine months, was missing. The notion of doing this interview by shorthand did not sound appealing, so once in town I went on the search for these relics of the 80’s and 90’s. After several unsuccessful attempts I finally found MoJo records in temple bar, was open. I managed to purchase a very rare album entitled ‘Goodbye Diana, I’m tired of climbing mountains’. I’m sure this album was very special to someone at some stage and will soon be on the crest of a new wave that will forever change music as we know it, tonight however, It would serve as the first official introduction to Ireland’s newest hope for an Rock N’ Roll, When I finally arrived, ‘Goodbye Diana’ ready to go, Mark informed me that Gav was running late, so we ordered drinks and had a chat. After awhile Mark told me Concerto had been given the support spot for the Smashing Pumpkins Dublin and Belfast shows. ‘A dream come true’ in Mark’s words, who came very close to supporting Zwan when they toured Europe, however faith stood in the way, only to give him his chance again.

Once Gavin arrived, we settled in for a night of rock stories, memories that all revolved around Def Leppard, types of wood and Walkers crisps. Not to mention a few questions thrown into the mix.

· How did Concerto for Constantine come about?

Mark – Myself and Gavin have known each since for years and we were always saying ‘Oh we have to form this band or that band’ basically that we had to play music at some stage together.

Gavin – Even, Mark at one stage hinted that I might join JJ72 and play guitar on tour with them, but at the time Turn had just formed and were kicking off and JJ72 worked well as a three piece. Eventually the chance came up when I left Vega4. Mark was in New York working on his solo album and I gave him a call and said ‘Let’s do this, lets form a rock band now’.

Mark – Gavin got Binzer to come down to the first rehearsal and I had never met him but I knew as soon as I heard him play he was right, perfect for the band.

· Are any of you working on anything else at the moment or, are all your energies invested into this group?

Mark – Well I was working in New York last summer on my solo material when I got the call from Gav. I was doing a lot of writing and trying to capture a different sound from rock but at the same time, not appearing like a singer songwriter. When Gavin called and said he was freed up, I thought ‘well, my solo material will always be there and I should do this now while there’s a chance.

Gavin – I had left Vega4 just a few months before I called Mark. Binzer is still working with Mundy, BellX1, The Frames and loads more, but a lot of them aren’t touring at the moment so he had the time to start this with us.

· What do you want to achieve from this group, are you aiming for the top, or do you just want to and enjoy yourself without any pressures?

Mark – I think we’re realistic in what we expect to achieve from this group. Off course we want to be a big band, but our main aim is to play in front of a lot of people. To get out there to the biggest crowds we can. I see a lot of bands out there and think stage presence has begun to slip away from newer groups. When I go to a show, I want to rock out and get blown away by a live performance. We are playing music I’ve always loved and I want to play that music for big crowds.

Gavin – I don’t know if what we do is capable of hitting the type of masses it used to, but you see acts like Queens of the Stone Age and they’ve managed to keep growing in popularity despite very little involvement with the ‘mainstream’. It shows that it is possible. I’d just hope we do get as much out of this as we can.

· Mark, you originally found fame with JJ72, Binzer has played with almost every established band in Ireland like Bell X1, The Frames and Mundy, and Gavin, you started your career 10 years ago in Turn, before moving onto Idlewild and then Vega4. Would it be unjust to call Concerto for Constantine an Irish indie Super Group?

Gavin – Yeah, because it’s kind of embarrassing. When you look at super groups out there you notice that in general, they don’t come close to the quality of their original bands. This can lead to bad name for the band before they get a chance to show what they have to offer. We’ve all been in bands, but not on the level of Rage Against the Machine merging with Soundgarden. Almost all musicians play in loads of groups before hitting it big.

· Concerto for Constantine recently went out on the road around the country to play your first shows on the ‘2FM 2MOROR 2OUR’. How did you go down with the crowd?

Gavin – The first show in the Sky Venue, Portlaois, was a bit shaky. It was our first live performance together and it didn’t come together on the night. After that everything started to get better and the people at the shows seemed to really like us and the type of music we’re doing.

Mark – I think the really satisfying thing about it, is that we are doing something that was really unexpected, Rock bands aren’t really out there any more, (and As the tour went on) You could see the crowd’s faces just go Huh! Really surprised looks and then they would get really into it. There was this feeling of ‘Brilliant an Irish Rock band’

· Which do you think was the best show?

Gavin – Ballyshannon (Co. Donegal and birthplace of Rory Gallagher) was pretty special.

Mark – Ballyshannon was mad, really great. We played in this converted cinema and it was great fun.

· I have to ask this, but how did you come up with the name of the band?

Gavin - Well, we needed a name really quickly because we had been offered a place on the 2FM 2MORO 2OUR.

Mark - We were confirming the details and they asked ‘what’s the name of the band’ because they were doing up posters for the tour, so I said yeah it’s ready…I’ll call ya back in a couple of Hours’.

Gavin – So I started looking through I Tunes at names of songs for some ideas. Eventually I came to the classical section and I saw a title ‘Concerto for…’ It sounded cool, so I told Mark and he completed it using a name from a dream his mother had just a week previously. So Concerto for Constantine was born.

· Obviously you guys are in early stages with this group and you’re still finding your feet, but have you any immediate plans for 2008? Will we see material released or will you spend some time collecting a fan base first?

Gavin – Well we have some shows coming up in February. We’re supporting the Smashing Pumpkins in Dublin and Belfast, the Futureheads in Sligo and we’re playing our own show in Fibber McGee’s on the 22^nd February. Hopefully those shows will attract some new fans and some industry attention.

· Are you going to try and release a single or an EP at all?

Gavin – We’re recording a song at the moment and we’re going to do it to a really high quality and release that as a single and make a video for it. At the moment there’s nothing out there for us with regard to radio, apart from a session we did for 2FM.

Mark – We want to make a record as soon as we can. If a label steps in and offers a producer that we want to work with, it’ll just make things move along faster.

· So what is your opinion of the current state of Irish Music? Do you feel the music you guys are writing is still relevant today?

Mark – I think the thing about bands that do something special is, initially their not relevant to the whole ‘what makes a band good’ definition of their time. I personally feel really exhilarated doing this, from our very first rehearsal I thought, that this was something different, something special that I haven’t heard in Irish bands in a long time.

Gavin – There was a scene in Dublin in the 90’s, like now, where every band is following one major influence. You can’t blame anyone for this because it’s those influences that inspire people to start bands in the first place. We were into bands like Nirvana and the Pixies and we started bands because of that. The difference is, we’re still into that music and haven’t been as inspired by the newer groups in the same way as The Pixies.

It’s also great to look around at other bands and think ‘Wow, we’re the only ones doing this’.

· You both come from very successful groups who have played all around the world. Between you, you have toured with The Rolling Stones, The Pixes, R.E.M and countless others. Is it hard adjusting from that life style back to basics?

Gavin – Not really, I miss it, I want to record and tour all the time. When I left Vega4 I started to get withdrawals from not being on the road and that was hard but then we started up Concerto and its building back up again and it’s something to look forward to and get excited about.

Mark – I really miss the extent of touring I did when I was in the JJ’s. The feeling of being so young and walking down the street in Osaka, Japan and 20 girls start following you down the street was incredible but, anytime I’m playing makes it for me. When you can’t do that anymore, when you cant give people the best version of yourself it gets very hard. During the summer some girls, who were about 14 years old, came up to me in the street and started going on abut JJ72 and it turned out, one of their older sisters had given them a JJ72 album and they had gotten into us. That when it’s worth while, when you know you can affect people like that.

Be sure to catch Concerto for Constantine at their up and coming shows around the country,

17th March – Fibber Magee’s

18th March – London – Dublin Castle

19th March – London – Club 328

15th April – Whelan’s