Golden Lane

The Electric Penguins' new album came out last week. It's been a long journey - I remember hearing early mixes of the album back when I was recording in Sweden last year. Still, it's out now and getting good reviews, so that's all that matters. With that in mind, the first promotional activities started on Thursday with some back-to-back radio appearances on RTE 2XM and 4FM. We were booked to play some stripped down versions of a few tunes and to give some quick interviews. The 2XM show was recorded in the Filmbase in Temple Bar. We had a few problems with feedback through one of the vocal mics, and the producer graciously allowed us to do another take. People seemed to enjoy it. Once we were done recording it was time for the boys to do their interview, so I packed up my gear and headed up the road to 4FM. The studio was on the fifth floor of an office block, with amazing views over the city. This was the view that greeted me when I stepped out of the lift:

Not bad, is it? The girl who let me into the building showed me to a balcony that overlooked the entire northside of the city. You could see everything, it would be an amazing place to take a smoke break. Everyone else arrived a few minutes later, and we headed into the studio to do a few quick takes of the tunes. Apart from a little bit of re-arranging that we had to do, the whole thing was completely painless. The DJ was a very nice guy, and he was full of interesting questions for the interview. All in all, it was a very pleasant experience.


On Friday, we were booked to play at the HWCH festival in Sweeney's on Dame Street. It was my first time playing one of these gigs, and I wasn't sure what to expect. The whole thing was much better organised than I would have imagined, everyone was very helpful and friendly. Considering the tiny stage and the amount of gear that the band use, the whole setup was relatively comfortable. There was a good crowd at the venue too. Apart from a few tense seconds at the start of the show when the computer wouldn't seem to start up, the gig was fine, and I think everyone had fun. On Saturday afternoon, we were set to play Tower Records as a part of a second HWCH gig. I was looking forward to the show. Setup went very well, and a nice crowd had started to gather as we began to play, including a lot of friends and family members. I was having a great time. At the end of the first song, something happened offstage, and Mark the singer jumped off, followed by our drummer, Tony. From where I was standing it wasn't immediately clear what was happening, so I came offstage too, only to see the end of an argument. Some guy was talking about "assault" and calling the guards. Mark, Tony and I went back onstage and continued playing. After a few more tunes, the Gardaí arrived and we had to cut the set short. I shouldn't really get into the specifics of what happened here before I give any statement to the police, but in the words of music blogger Nialler9:

"Former electric penguins member attacked the band at the tower instore earlier. Guards called. Madness." 

At least nobody was hurt, just a little shocked. Still, it got people talking about the band and the album, and it looked like quite a few CDs had been sold. They say all publicity is good publicity, don't they?