THE 4 OF US UNPLUGGED
SUPPORTED BY LOCAL ACTS CHLOE LEE & KIERAN AHEARN -
LIVE AT THE WALTER RALEIGH HOTEL YOUGHAL
FRIDAY THE 2ND OF JULY
DOORS 8.30
TICKETS €15 AT SCOTTS TREASURE SHOP 137 NORTH MAIN STREET YOUGHAL 024 90333
& THE WALTER RALEIGH HOTEL
UNDER 16S ARE FREE !!! ALL AGES WELCOME
STRICTLY NO ALCOHOL IN CONCERT

Brendan & Declan Murphy of The 4 Of Us will perform the highlights of their 20 year career, along with new material, on their upcoming Irish tour in May .
The Newry-born brothers have a critically-acclaimed back catalogue spanning 20 years and six Top 20 albums, including hits such as Sunlight – voted No 4 in a Today FM poll of Best Ever Irish Singles, and Mary – one of the most played Irish tracks on national and regional radio.
The two-hour shows will be an opportunity to hear their songs in an acoustic setting performed as they were originally written.
Brendan and Declan undertake a 20 date German tour in April alongside Kieran Goss before returning to Ireland to mix the new album, a largely acoustic affair that sets out to capture the quality of their acoustic shows.The album is due for release in Ireland in September 2010

Biog: The 4 Of Us
Formed in Newry in the late 1980s by brothers Brendan, Declan and Paul Murphy, The 4 Of Us appeared out of nowhere with the huge radio hit Mary taken from their debut album Songs For the Tempted in 1989, which helped them sweep the boards at the following year’s Hot Press awards. The slick commercial gloss of Mary belied the fact that it was a grim little snapshot of a deeply flawed relationship. The gimlet-eyed observations of Brendan Murphy’s lyrics demonstrated that this was a band who were always going to do it their own way.

Wary of the transient nature of pop, the band’s follow-up Man Alive in 1992 was a more rock driven album, featuring She Hits Me, a top 30 hit in the UK. The RTE Guide enthused ‘It’s brash, fast, catchy, dangerous and covered in sin, lust and anything else The 4 Of Us can get their hands on’, and it was nominated in Q magazine’s Top 50 Albums of that year.

The band then retreated into the studio where they spent three years working on their next record, only to do what most bands would consider unthinkable. Perfectionists to the core, they looked at the results and decided it just wasn’t good enough, tore up the blueprints and started over again.

At this point The 4 Of Us effectively became Brendan and Declan, as brother Paul left to pursue a more normal existence. Knuckling down to the task at hand, the band saw their perfectionist streak pay off when they emerged with 1999’s Classified Personal, a masterful record peopled by characters who went on blind dates, made a final stab at patching things up, promised not to mess up again and ultimately held it together. It was a record that saw the band emerge from the studio fitter, older and wiser and it raised the bar even higher for them.

In 2003’s Heaven & Earth the focus becomes more universal, with songs that hint at the turmoil that was to accompany 9/11. Sitting alongside the euphoria of U Make Me Feel and the unsteady nerviness of Breakdown or No Guarantees, the massive radio hit Sunlight reminded everyone that the Murphys can write world-class songs.

Again unwilling to simply repeat a formula, the band set to work on the album that would eventually become Fingerprints. Having spent a good deal of the previous three years co-writing with a very varied set of collaborators, Brendan knew that there would never be a better opportunity to deliver a great record, and from the chiming bouzoukis of What’s To Come to the shimmering strings of Flesh and Bone, this album combines the band’s strongest ever material with its most assured performances.

For band news and information check out:
www.the4ofus.com and
www.myspace.com/thefourofus

O EMPEROR (Ticket only)
SUPPORTED BY NIALL O CONNOR
LIVE AT  THE INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE CHAPEL SOUTH ABBEY YOUGHAL
SATURDAY THE 7th OF AUGUST  DOORS 8.30
TICKETS €15 @ SCOTTS TREASURE SHOP 137 NORTH MAIN STREET YOUGHAL 024 90333
STRICTLY NO ALCOHOL

The Waterford five-piece spent the last six months of 2009 astounding all and sundry with their unique brand of gorgeously crafted and constructed music.

Following on from their headline appearance on the New Band Stage at Oxegen, they released their first single “PO” which ignited the interest of the media and industry – between October and December the band performed numerous sessions on TV, radio and websites as well as shows and showcases increasing their fan base with each one; by the end of the year O Emperor was band to watch out for.

2010 has seen O Emperor in and out of the studio working on the EP and their debut album due for release in September. Never happier than when performing the band have also graced stages around the country and UK including supporting Ocean Colour Scene and more recently Mumford and Sons. To celebrate the release of “Reverie” O Emperor embark on an extensive Irish tour

“Gentle and delicate songs, guided by intricate urgently-picked guitars, grinding electric lines, expansive piano playing, some electronic tomfoolery, and wonderfully harmonised vocals – there’s a straightforward sincerity to the music of Waterford band O Emperor. Sounding a little like the Beach Boys, The Band, and The Smiths being digested by a cannibalistic Lee Mavers from the La’s, O Emperor haven’t even released an album yet and they’re already better than many decades-old bands I could mention…”

HOT PRESS – JULY 15th 2009

“O Emperor sparkled like the jewels in the crown of the Waterford music scene that they are”

THE IRISH TIMES

“Of all the bands I caught last night here in Dublin at the Hard Working Class Heroes Festival, the real standout was this band from Cork, O Emperor that played early on at Andrews Lane. It was warm and personal and genuine, but still has its best music ahead. Give this one some time and some sunlight and it’s going to grow into something large”

FUTURESOUNDS

“O Emperor seem uncannily older than their years. Boasting slick production along with meticulous arrangements, O Emperor have ticked off the right boxes to create a post-rock classic”

TOTALY DUBLIN

“Nothing short of genius”

HOTPRESS

“Beautifully polished songs, many of which should already be stamped ‘classic-in-waiting’; each seems to come complete with great verses, hummable choruses and gorgeous harmonies. Why can’t all bands be this instantly lovable? O Emperor are already different class”