The Spirit Store = Music, Comedy, Gigs, Venue, Bar, Drink...
George's Quay, Dundalk, Co. Louth +353-42-9352697

The Trampz
The Tramps are indicative of a sea change that is happening to the local music scene(as in people who make their own music not cover bands).Its payback time!The Tramps have something .I've seen several local live acts throwing the odd funk shape but this seems more as a nod to the current slew of international bands taking their cues from the 81-82 "anti rock"stance of labels like Y and Postcard than any belief in the cleansing power of soul music.The Tramps on the other hand seem to have true D-U-N-D-A-L-K funk fervour. You can hear it at this gig in the Spirit Store on the great Dexys/Motown number in the middle of the set in which Micky Mc Kenna and Peter Baldwin supply great Smokey and the Miracles backing vocals,the Parliament shapes employed on "Freaks"" ,and Niall Clarkes white boy funk guitar take on the Chic Organisation sound which he spills over each song like liquid mercury. There is now a definate feeling of self confidence on the local music scene that has'nt been around i dare to say it since the early eighties,and i'd go as far to say that the Tramps are probably the true inheritors of the spirit of the last great soul/funk band with local connections namely Some Kind of Wonderful whose single "Did you read my letter?"is a forgotten gem from 81.In fact if you were into any of the new dance shapes of that era and were suddenly beamed into the year 2006 and landed at this Spirit Store gig you would probably find a lot to make you feel comfortable with sound wise as the Tramps have a lot in common with the scratchy white post punk funk 1981 sounds of bands like pre Trevor Horn ABC,Haircut 100,Pigbag,Bush Tetras ,Higsons,Blue Rondo,Fire Engines.There seems to be some sort of a portal opening up that makes it possible to believe that the Tramps can make Dundalk believe in its "right to party"again to its own special dance beat,no shit!.This is no pretty boy art college bunch ,these guys look like a gang in the best Dexys Midnight Runners tradition, hilarious with it ,and frontman Jonny has more than a touch of the Shaun Ryder about him even though he seems a bit self conscious here tonight.Its time there were more "head the balls"making music in town its been too precious about itself for too long. In general 1981/1982 was the last time that Dundalk bands had a true swagger about them,then a local act like The Choice could be seen on RTE at tea time giving it loads,the forementioned Some Kind of Wonderful were never off the radio and even short lived acts like Bezique were making interesting New Order shapes.But it all went pear shaped due to a number of factors including some economic and political ones which we will not get into.Its easy to laugh at now,,but i truly believe that the shock appearance on Irish saturday morning TV by local art punks Bouquet of Blue Roses in spring 1985 pulling out a huge crucifix in front of the cameras gave the" powers that be" in the national media an Edgar G Hoover type excuse to be extremely wary of bands from Dundalk(the Corrs are the one exception),a wariness that has dogged this town until now.
So now things are finally looking up ,local acts are finally getting the confidence to cross the Rubicon (the Castletown River) on a regular basis and travel the length and breath of the land with a confidence and swagger that was generally lacking in a lot of their descendents .And just listen to the Tramps new e.p./demo its not perfect but theres a lot to like and its definately got local flavour.I feel that the Tramps are like the Earth millions of years ago when it was a great ball of gas waiting to solidify.The Tramps need one more jolt of electricity that will help make this Frankenstein monster of a town get on its feet and move to the sound of its own beat.Somethings going on at last and D-U-N-D-A-L-K funk is no longer a cigarette cloud of smoke, its a turkish steam bath ready to detonate......now! Jinx Lennon