future kings of spain
Review - Dane McMahon
As one of the best Irish acts around, FKOS with their shacks of sound, refined classic indie rock and handsome melodies I was in for a treat tonight. FKOS have proven themselves to be something special with possibly the finest slice of scream-along noise. The SpiritStore known for its reputation of good music always lets an artist shine. With the quality sound and the romance of the layout. This venue is one to mark off on your list of Venues to see.

The night Started of with local band wendimiller, this four piece are one of the heaviest bands in the area and have a strong following within the Dundalk community. Apart from some lyrics that wouldn’t be my favourite, I enjoyed the band a lot, with guitar styles similar to the deftones, pantera, metallica. Alan Anderson fronted the band with enormous amounts of energy and kept the crowd interested. Check out wendimiller out if you’re of the liking of ripping guitar solos and an all out heavy workout.

Next on the list was the Future kings of Spain, the last time I saw them was in Belfast where they supported the Strokes. I had missed the start of their support but this time I wasn’t moving. Future Kings of Spain are made up of three, but when they tour they have an extra guitarist. So at the time of ten forty five the four piece stepped onto the stage and blasted into their first song without saying a word. I do love it when a band just starts straight into the set, no nonsense or messing about. I was very surprised with Joey Wilson's voice as he screamed his was through Your Starlight, how could such a small body produce such a massive sound. He stood there motionless with his knees fixed together, only when he broke away from the microphone would he break into a motion. As they paced though the set there was very little talking between songs, he seemed distant from the crowd in theses moments but came alive when he played.

As the night came to an end they had played a lot of my favourites, including A Place for Everything, Venetian Blinds, Hanging Around, Meanest Sound and Simple Fact. They also played songs of the new EP, which I don’t have. One song called 1997(I think) impressed me the most, for this I think it’s worth a purchase. There is a great anger in their songs with a mix of catchy pop songs, so they ended off the night finishing with anger, Face I Know. Keep an eye out for this band as I think they are very promising and whatever needs to happen to become famous in the country lets hope it happens to them. Ireland needs some fresh talent to be mascots of rock for us.

Dane McMahon