We are ecstatically pleased to have been chosen to progress to the final of the Pick For The Picnic yoke despite serious competition from Junah, Neon Stars and Zombie Cops on thursday. Thanks to the judges and all the heads who came down to support us and the other bands. Hopefully the final on the 19th of August will be similarly bad-ass.

Thanks also to the people of Waterford who let us rock out on their awesome Plaza at Spraoi Festival, especially the break-dancers. Seriously, Dublin crowds, get your shit together!

Castlepalooza was beautiful, as always, and Indiependence kicked ass. Our drummer Adam won a national competition with Monster energy drinks  couple of months ago and we ended up playing the Monster stage at Indiependence so we were plied with more energy drinks than an average human could consume in a lifetime on Sunday, which may explain why we hadn’t passed out at this stage of the weekend.

Richy, his bro Mark and myself got a guided tour of Mitchelstown Cave on Monday, which was pretty cool. Apparently they occasionally have concerts in one of the caverns where the rocks form a natural stage. The Celtic Tenors played there once. Lads, you know what to do; SOSB for Mitchelstown Cave 2011!

Crawdaddy showcase with a chance to play at Electric Picnic

Firstly we’d like to thank everyone who came to see us at Knockanstockan, we had a blast. Also big respect to the organisers this year, who put together the most bad-ass and pro small fest we’ve been to in a while.

We’re gearing up for a crazy bank holiday weekend, with gigs splattered all over the country. First up on Thursday we’re playing a showcase at Crawdaddy which may result in a slot at Electric Picnic. It’d be great for everyone involved to get a crowd down to that so pop down if you’re not under house arrest or otherwise indisposed.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday we’ll be at Spraoi Festival in Waterford, Castlepalooza in Tullamore and Indiependence in Mitchelstown, respectively. Stage times are as follows:

Spraoi: Plaza Stage 20:15-21:00pm

Castlepalooza: Boudoir Stage 18:35-19:20

Indiependence: Monster Mash 20:15-20:30

Monday schedule is as follows: Sleep.

Geordi Laforge - SOSB Guitar Tech

Hey folks! We’ve a load of gigs coming up in May and we thought we’d do a little round-up to let you know what’s happening. If you’re not arsed reading this, the short and sweet version of our gig listings is, as always, just to the right.

Tomorrow night (Sat 1st May) we’re playing the Vantastival festival in Dunany Estate, Co. Louth. If your heading down make sure to check us out at the Second Stage at 9:30. If you’re not going, congratulations, you made Jack L cry.

Friday 7th May we’re down in the Porter House in Bray for a charity gig in aid of SERVE with a bunch of other deadly bands, drinks promo’s and turntable fiddlers.

Soon after that, we’re going to hop onto a ferry and drive down to foggy London town for our first ever international gigs! We’re very excited to be playing the Hope and Anchor in Islington on Thursday 14th May and Water Rats in Kings Cross on Friday 15th of May. If all you London dwellers could big this one up to your mates it’d be awesome, we’d love to see a crowd for these shows!

On Tuesday 18th May we’re playing something called the Jagermeister Freezer Sessions in The Sugar Club with Codes and The Cast of Cheers. If you haven’t checked out TCOC yet I highly recommend grabbing a free download of their debut album here. This is a free gig but you have to apply for tickets here.

Next up, Knockanstockan Launch Party in the Sweeny Mongrel on Dame Street on Friday 21st May will no doubt feature the following: Excessive drinking, jumping around, The Hot Sprockets and us.

On the 27th we support an international act on an actual record label (oooooh!). Ragged Words are bringing The Ruby Suns (Sub Pop) over from New Zealand and we’ll be joining them in the Twisted Pepper. Tickets are 14 euro and are available here.

Whew, that’s it, I’m exhausted and going to go lie down.

Angry Topless Musician

Thanks a million to everyone who voted for us in the London Calling competition. Unfortunately we didn’t get that one (congratulations to Bipolar Empire) but don’t fret; we’re been selected to play in the Tiger Untamed competition in Mullingar. Top prize for this baby is twenty grand’s worth of music gear, recording time and cashmoney!

It’d be great if we got a crew down to root for us. The Annebrook hotel is doing a deal of €50 per person based on 3 adults sharing apart-hotel suite, entry into Tiger Untamed competition and the late night after-party and breakfast the next day. Give them a shout on (044) 935 3300.

Lastly, we’ve got a couple of London dates lined up, we’ll be playing Hope and Anchor in Islington on the 13th of May and a gig the next night which still has to be confirmed. Keep an eye on Gigs for more details.

Respect.

Trafalgar Square, 17th March 2010

SOSB are in with a chance to play in Trafalgar Square on St. Patrick’s Day, thanks to a Hot Press competition called London Calling. There are 20 bands competing for this slot and it’s gone to a  public vote. This would be a massive boost for us if we were to get selected, so please take a minute to click on the following link, register (voting membership only), and vote for us:

Hot Press London Calling Competition

You can also listen to our track “10 Pack of Johnny Blue” on the same page. Thanks a bunch.

Aftermath of Album Launch

Big thanks to the staff of the Village, Betamax Format and Angkorwat and everyone who made the album launch the awesome thing that it was. We also have a few thank-yous that should have been included in the album art but were omitted: Big thanks to Fiona Chambers for the wonderful portrait of the band for the album art and Ivan Jackman for giving us such an excellent deal in Silverline Studios for the final mix of the album.

Big thanks also to all the folks who helped us with promotions, including Neil Smyth of the Gorgeous Colours, kDamo, who also took these wonderful photos, the lads from The Chapters, Gill and Maria Verrecchia and anyone else we have forgotten (again). Finally, a monstrously huge thank-you to everyone who came along to the launch. It meant a lot to us.

Peace,

Rob, Richy and Adam

Octopus Attack

Don’t worry, we’re fine, and we’ll see you tomorrow night from 7:30 in the Village.

From tomorrow you can pick up our album from Road Records and Tower Records and you can download the album from amazon.com. We’ll be adding HMV, iTunes, eMusic and others to that list soon. For folks outside Ireland who want a physical CD, Road have a good online shop:

www.roadrecs.com

Check their FAQ for delivery rates and times.

Update: The album is now available to download from Amazon, eMusic, iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody

SOSB launch poster

We feature at 1:20 in this promo for Ceol ar an Imeall.  The show will air on TG4 every Thursday from January 14th 2010 at 11.45pm, not sure yet when we’ll be on but we’ll let you know.

Ceol Ar An Imeall promo from Ceol Ar An Imeall on Vimeo.

We’re heading down to Galway tonight, with plans to do a sneaky gig somewhere, then tomorrow we’re off to the TG4 to be filmed performing a few songs for a new show called Ceol ar an Imeall. Very exiting, but I’m starting to feel guilty about my lack of Gaeilge. We’ll let you know when the show will be aired.