On The Album - Aaron McMullan plus a cast of incredibly talented musicians along the lines of Rebecca Jones, Andrew Gardiner, Andrew Warmington, Luke Page, Brian Magee, Ryan H Fleming, Simon Phillips and Sarah Gill.
Live - Either Aaron McMullan solo or joined by various friends and prodigies.
Influences
Lisa. Ballymoney. London. Dublin. The pule o' the power-lines at half five in the mornin. The sense of something extraordinary goin' on someplace else and the realisation that no, it's goin' on here, just pay more attention. The goon-shack. The Duelling Christs. The colours of Kirsten Dunst. The music of Billy Bragg, Woody Guthrie, The Dead Kennedys, Bright Eyes, Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, The Pogues, Shane MacGowan And The Popes, Bjork, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, The Libertines, Cursive, Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Ryan Adams, Randy Newman, Gillian Welch... The work of Flann O'Brien and James Joyce and The Marquis de Sade and Hunter S Thompson and Lester Bangs and Woody Allen and Ingmar Bergman and William Burroughs and Peter Watkins and William Blake and Bertolt Brecht and Will Self. The King James Bible. The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G Ballard. Insomnia. Nicotine. Caffeine. Benylin. Pulmo Bailly.
"If Johnny Cash had grown up in Northern Ireland, or if Janis Joplin and Leonard Cohen had created a lovechild in the Chelsea Hotel, the result might very well have been Aaron McMullan." AgentBedhead.com
"There is something about this disc that leaves me awestruck. I've not heard an album that has excited me in this manner since I heard my first Clash album years and years ago." Richard Marcus, Blogcritics.org
"McMullan’s debut album proper, should, if there’s any justice, see him catapulted into the limelight. Packed with wistful ballads, foot-tappingly infectious upbeat pop and at least one near-classic country-gospel fever-dream (the stunning album closer, Don’t Think I’ll Sleep Tonight), Yonder! Calliope? easily marks McMullan out as a different beast altogether from his earnest countrymen being both lyrically sharper and deeper." Greg Smyth, Swing Batter Batter / NARC Magazine
"Blackmill Rd." Live In Newcastle, June 2008, with the Lodge Road Players.
"Song Just For Tonight" Live In Newcastle, June 2008, with the Lodge Road Players and the wonderful Rebecca Jones
"Sundogs" Live In Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, June 2008, with the Lodge Road Players
THE BIO AND SUCH FROM EX LIBRIS RECORDS
Aaron McMullan has spent much of the past three years building a modest but committed band of blessed supporters and well-wishers via both irregular appearances at local venues and the release of five internet-only free-to-download “net-records”. The success of these lo-fi, hissy, reverb-soused recordings led, in part, to the development of a close relationship between McMullan and Ex Libris Records, a relationship which culminated in the craggy-toothed bugger’s signing to the label in late 2006.
The debut album, Yonder! Calliope? is currently available to purchase as CD or Download from Ex Libris Records and will be distributed from September, 2007 by NDN Distribution
McMullan is joined on the record by a cast of incredibly talented musicians and performers, including Ex Libris alumni Ryan H Fleming, Andy Warmington, Brian Magee, Rebecca Jones, Sarah Gill, Simon Phillips and Andrew Gardiner, who also took care of mixing, producing and arranging duties.
"Artists both famous and obscure have spoken at length about The Muse. Just where does that inspiration come from? Let's face it, we'll never know. To try and narrow in on a supposed "idea diamond" is to waste time that none of us can afford."
"Still, there's one resonant line of thought and that's the concept of a universal song, broadcast continuously to a select few. Those lucky ones who can tune in have no say in the matter. The ideas just flow, relentlessly, and are often the cause of great difficulty. Those raw thoughts have power - they know what they want to become. The artist may have other ideas, and that collision of the mind against the infinite can be a brutal one. When there's success, you can hear it."
"That's exactly what I hear when listening to Aaron McMullan: that he has no choice about making this music and, lucky for us and our ears, those raw thoughts have been harnessed."
Speaking about himself (his second favourite topic after The Cinema Of Kirsten Dunst), McMullan says;
"I write songs about what interests me. Me, mostly, but also religion and lassies and laddies and sleeping pills and daydreams and curious combinations of the aforementioned. I’ve been accused of being excessively emo, and maybe I am, but also, there’s a fair dose of country and folk and punk and what not in there, all genres in which a man can get away with not being fit to sing a note nor strum a damn chord, if’n the songs are maybe worth hearing. And I hope maybe they are. Mean, I did get 17 – that’s seventeen - votes on the NME unsigned page a while back. This might not seem like much, but I’ll remind you that it’s 17 more than Led Zeppelin got, and also, it means I’m more than eligible to appear on next year’s Celebrity Big Brother."
AND ALSO, WHILE WE'RE HERE
A couple demo-quality, reverb-soaked, hiss-laden pre-Yonder! Calliope? net-released albums are available for free download from aaronmcmullan.com and are as follows -
196 0r So... being some songs about songs and some other songs about Dublin, Ballymoney, Jesus and so on.
75mg being a collection of tunes of similar stock, with additional musical assistance from Darren Worth.
luscious boyfriend, thee and mr leafy were both displaying a fizzy online before. were you shouting in black and white to each other across the web walls? "pass us a custard cream" and such? speaking of food, i know what i gonna do us tomorrow....
Thank you so much kind sir! The video is ultra cheese though. I had a pizza for breakfast that morning. Extra cheese. We had a character switch and it ate me whole. Haha.
How's things man? Give me all the gossip :)
I'm going to see Dylan today in Dublin...I hope he turns up.
hey Aaron, just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading your reviews and just about anything that you write! You make me smile. I hope you're having a wonderful springtime. Love, Becky
For €50 you can plug your gig, your album, your label, your band or even your mother if ya wanted - for a whole f**king month!!!
You can choose the ad to either go on-line or in the mag, or €75 quid for both.
We’ll not only put your block ad (50 x 30) in our mag and into the hands of 20,000 people but also on our home page which receives an average of 5,000 unique visitors each month.
See if Hotpress will do the same for ya. HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!
If you want no one to know about you please ignore our contact details below:
Hey there. We’ve got some new tracks up. We’re also playing at the Steampunk Hidden Cabaret at the Marlborough Little Theatre, Brighton on Saturday, 21st Feb. Music’s 7.
You're welcome. I'm alright. I read an article you wrote about Richey James Edwards and I thought it was pretty interesting so I decided to check out your myspace. I rather like your music.
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