Just For Kicks

By Joe Kavanagh

Of all the cities in the south of Ireland, Limerick is perhaps one of the most underrated in the country when it comes to discussions about original music.

As the nation's capital, Dublin has invariably garnered much of the attention, with the so-called Whelan's set dominating the late 90s music landscape, while its thriving indie circuit is currently the most au fait music scene in the nation.

Cork had its 'Corkchester" scene in the early 90s, driven by acts like the Frank And Walters, Sultans of Ping and Microdisney, and Galway has always had a thriving trad-crossover scene that continues to this very day.

However, despite producing names such as The Cranberries, Woodstar and The Driven, Limerick has, for some reason, never been viewed as a hotbed of original music.

All that may be about to change with the recent release of their third album by proud Limerick band, Giveamanakick, whose early punk leanings have seen them blossom into the type of act that can genuinely vie for the attentions of music fans throughout the globe.

Created in 2002, Giveamanakick, formed from the ashes of two of the city's most storied acts, Calzino Fiasco and Tooth, a pair of bands that had an almost fanatical local following and a celebrated live presence.

Their hard rock edge saw both acts open for the likes of US band, Fugazi, but despite such achievements - and to the dismay of their fans - the bands decided to call time on their brief careers shortly after the turn of the millennium.

Upon the demise of Tooth, guitarist, Stephen Ryan, embarked on a solo career, playing his own brand of punk music, armed only with a guitar and a handful of effects pedals. Calzino Fiasco guitarist, Keith Lawler, sat in the audience for many of those sessions as a punter, until one occasion when Ryan informed him that he was about to begin looking for a drummer, in order to flesh out and dramatize his set.

Despite never having sat behind a kit, Lawler offered to learn the drums and the two men struck up a musical partnership that has remained together ever since. Initially, it was Ryan who did most of the songwriting but as things progressed, the pair began sharing the writing duties and soon had a hatful of songs for their new set.

Just months later, the duo decided to record their debut album, laying down all the tracks in a mere six days, in Lawler's dilapidated Limerick apartment.

With the album ready to go, the band considered releasing it on their own label, until local music aficionados, Albert Twomey, Richard Bourke and Ciaran Ryan came together to form Out On A Limb Records, a label designed to bring the best of local talent to national attention.

The band's debut, Is It OK To Be Loud, Jesus? became the label's first release when it appeared in 2003, announcing a powerful new force in Irish rock music.

Although a little disjointed and rough around the edges, the album was packed with enough imagination, innovation and raw energy to draw favorable comparisons to such notable acts as the Pixies and the aforementioned Fugazi, and it proved one of the most lauded Irish underground albums of the year.

Rarely, if ever, in the history of Irish rock had two men come together with such force, conviction and sheer ability to rock out on a grand scale.

The next three years were tantamount to graduate school, as the band spent much of the time on the road, opening for such names as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Soledad Brothers, Rocket From The Crypt and Presidents Of The United States, enhancing their reputation as one of the nation's most fearsome live outfits.

They also spent their first extended time out of Ireland, when they toured the UK with Derry legends, The Undertones, honing their craft and absorbing every iota of knowledge that was passed their way.

Aside from their live exploits, the band also kept itself in the limelight with a couple of singles in the form on the enigmatically named, Let God Touch Your Children and a Christmas single, cover-version of Merry Christmas Everyone.

By 2005, the band was back recording, this time in Letterkenny, Donegal, in a studio owned by Tommy McLoughlin, whose own band, Berkeley, were another acclaimed name on the Irish underground.

With a far better idea of their own identity, and having honed their sound immeasurably, they once again raced through the session, recording all of the tracks in less than a week, in an effort to reproduce the frantic power of their live shows.

The resulting album, We Are The Way Forward, represented the proverbial great leap forward, as the duo managed to add a couple of coats of polish without sacrificing any of the vigorous energy and grit that defines their sound.

Once again, they took to the road, this time reaching further afield as they traversed Europe and put in a couple of hugely acclaimed shows at Ireland's two premier music festivals, Oxegen and Electric Picnic.

One of the key components in the development of Giveamanakick has been their dogged determination to improve at every step, never willing to sit back on their laurels.

The only time this band pats itself on the back is to push themselves forward, a characteristic that too many acts often dismiss. Nowhere is this more apparent than in their live show, where the pair has gone to great lengths to keep tweaking their performance in their pursuit of perfection.

As a two-piece, they are acutely aware that a lack of innovation and imagination on their behalf would lead to much of their music sounding the same, so they continuously work on dynamics, time signatures and arrangements of the songs in an effort to keep things fresh, as much for their own sake as that of their audiences.

There are few bands on the island that exude anything near the type of energy as this outfit, and they are from the school of thought that says, if punters pay good money to see you then the least they deserve is a good show, and not just a reproduction of what is on the record.

As multi-instrumentalists, the duo change between guitars and drums, employing a host of tricks along they way, including a gasmask, into which they've stuck a receiver from a telephone, in order to produce a vocal effect that is both visually and aurally appealing.

They even control all of the lighting at their own shows, running everything from a plethora of switches that they use to manipulate the atmosphere and mood, in keeping with the ebb and flow of each track.

In May, Giveamanakick returned with album number three, Welcome To The Cusp, which has been widely hailed as one of the best Irish albums of the year, and certainly is the type of record that warrants international attention.

Commercially appealing without compromise and certainly their most complete work to date, the band has upped their game once again, expanding their sonic horizons on an album that is entirely accessible to even the most casual rock fan.

In keeping with this theme of change they even invented new names for themselves, with the duo now known as Steveamanakick and Giveamanakeith, and have evolved beyond their punk beginnings into a sound that is far more mature and far more their own.

It is, as the band claims, "like we always heard Giveamanakick in our heads", and with a little luck added to their arsenal, Giveamanakick should be on the other side of that cusp before the year is out.