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[review]
Hot
Press - Oxegen 2004 - June 30 2004
"Turn – Although we seem to be
perpetually terming Turn a band going through the wheels of change, this
time it’s more accurate than ever. While this show will literally mark the
debut of a new member on bass, it will also see them steering a new musical
path, as they turn down the volume and let the heart of their music shine
through. You may as well get used to it – nothing stays the same forever.
Look out for: the dawning of a brave
new era."
Sligo Weekender - July 31 2002
Another Year Over” is the title of the
latest release from Kells band Turn, who make a triumphant return to
McGarrigle’s tomorrow, Wednesday, July 31.
The band were one of only two Irish
bands (the others being The Frames) to play the Witnness Main stage on
Saturday, July 13, supporting bands like The Prodigy, Foo Fighters and Green
Day.
Their performance earned them high praise from the fans and from the press,
but that won’t come as a surprise to anyone who saw them live in Sligo in
April of this year.
That time the band were touring the
country in support of their EP “In Position”. This time around they play
McGarrigle’s to launch their double A-side “Another Year Over”/”Summer
Song”.
The single went on release last Friday, July 26 and is expected to shoot
into the Irish top 40 within the next fortnight.
The single also contains two B-sides,
“Radio Radio” and “Want It The Same”. The former was originally an Elvis
Costello song, but the Kells trio make it their own.
Ollie Cole, Ian Melady and Gavin Fox,
the dapper gentlemen who make up Turn, first got together in 1999 and
released their debut album “Antisocial” the following year.
However, a split from their record
company, a nasty incident with a microphone (no, not that kind of nasty:
Ollie was accidentally electrocuted) and an epiphany for Mr Cole saw the
band change direction, refine their sound and really start making waves.
“In Position” earned phenomenal air-play for the band, and so far their new
double A-side is doing likewise.
You’ll get to hear the new music and
plenty more beside in McGarrigle’s tomorrow night. Admission is 5 euro,
doors open at 8.30pm and the band will also be calling in the services of an
Enniscrone group, Midas, as support.
Featuring Daniel O’Hara (drums), Paul
Melia (vocals, guitar, piano), and Declan Laing (bass), Midas have been
together for just over a year.
Unusually for a young rock band,
classical music has even played a small role in their musical bias. The band
play mostly their own material but also cover songs from bands like Bush,
Silverchair, and The Jesus Lizard.
To find out more about Turn check out
their cool new website www.turn.ie
For fans who can’t catch Turn in
McGarrigle’s, they will be signing autographs and playing a tune or two
outside Star Music, Tesco Arcade on Thursday, August 1 at 1pm.
FC Music -
Turn live in Belfast - September 2003
Turn plus The Debonaires and
Headway Auntie Annies, Dublin Road, Belfast Sunday 21st September 2003.
Tickets £6.50 available from Katy Dalys
Turn have been described as “the
exuberance of the Pixies with the edgy angst of Nirvana producing in-yer-face
slabs of sheer sonic beauty”, while Melody Maker portrayed them as having
“more energy than a Duracell bunny with attention deficit disorder”. Formed
by long-time friends, Ollie Cole (vocals/guitar) and Ian Melady (drums), the
first solid Turn line-up was completed when Ollie met bassist Gavin Fox (who
has since joined Idlewild)in Dublin. The first fruits with new bass player
Adam Lee came in the shape of the magnificent In Position EP, released on
the band’s own Nurture label in March 2002. The six tracks offered a perfect
snapshot of a band on the rise and gave the band the opportunity to get out
and about with some solid touring honing their performance and expanding
their audience.July saw them release another batch of new tracks, the double
A-sided “Another Year Over / Summer Song”. By this stage Turn had
consolidated their fanbase to such an extent that the single entered the
Irish Top 30 at number 22 in its first week of release. The new album,
Forward, was released on the band’s own Nurture label on 30th May and
entered the Irish chart at number 16.
claus.com - Turn 'Antisocial'
Kells' most interesting cultural
export since, uh, that book
At last, Turn the Dublin based band but Kells born and bred (well, two of
them anyway), release their debut longplayer. And it's well worth the wait.
A mini album 'Check My Ears' preceded the release of 'Antisocial' and it was
an appetiser of the tastiest proportions. A superlative clutch of giddy
seven inches that first introduced us to this fine band, 'Check My Ears' was
a worthy statement of intent. However compare to it 'Antisocial' reveals a
different Turn appear. Now a three-piece following the hush-hush departure
of keyboardist/vocalist Fiona Melady, Turn are still one of the country's
finest live acts.
Motormouth Ollie Cole is an endearing
and charismatic frontman. A man who for some strange reason has been
compared to JJ72's irksome Mark Greaney. But hey, other way round folks.
Where the amateurish Greaney, ahem, excels in causing pain to even the
hardest of ears, Cole comes across as the consummate pro. A bit of a
nudge-nudge twist here, a knowing disparity there and an obvious drinker
when he writes, he conjures up a brighter side of life than Greaney could
ever hope to imagine. Sure on the slower "numbers" he, like Greaney, can be
a tad irksome but there's that certain magic in the voice that carries
through. As a guitarist there's traces of a heavy metal upbringing that led
into a dark indie patch. Combine both and add a suit and you've got one of
Irish rocks most charismatic figures. Add in the class the top of the range
drumming of Ian Maledy and the low slung hard-hitting bass of Gavin Fox and
you could very well have saviours of Irish rock in the making.
Charismatic and exuberant performers, their stage image (vintage suits,
waistcoats, country squire ties) and stage presence is second to none. They
were one of the undoubted highlights of this years inaugural Witnness
festival, even if they were on at breakfast time. Thankfully their live
power has transferred onto the trusty longplayer format. The suits and
between song banter didn't, which in a way is a mixed blessing.
The album perfectly translates the myriad of influences at play with Turn.
From the chirpy pop leanings of T Rex (Queen Of My Heart: choc-full of "yeah
yeah yeah's) to the darker, more broody meanders into bar room isolation and
Nick Cave territory (the first three minutes of 'These Three Words' for
example) Antisocial touches base with every trick in the Turn deck. Of the
early singles only 'Beretta' makes it. 'Facedown' didn't which is a shame
but they print the lyrics to it on the booklet which is nice. 'Queen of my
Heart' is the obvious next single; their last, 'Too Much Make Up' opens the
album in blistering style, and it's as near to the old Turn as you can get.
A giddy anthemic rocker it works better live than on record but it's still a
bold opening to 'Antisocial' - a "dirty-oul-drunken-sex" song of the
dirtiest calibre it's probably the weak link on an otherwise faultless
album. Yep it's a great single but as an opening gambit? Hmmm.
The title track is Turn at their best, a slowish crackle burns through it
and when the band let rip it's a magic moment. Gav and Anne sounds a tad too
similar to Kula Shaker's "Shower Your Love" for these ears but an earthy
acoustic foot tapper like it will be hard to find elsewhere this year. After
We Go is another from the isolated bar room category and as a meditation on
life, death and, er, "wanting it that way" it's a sombre country-esque muse
that would fit into a Jubilee Allstars album with ease. Words brings it all
back to catchy chorus land and machine gun drumming breaks, an unforgiving
slo-burning 'Tired Love Song' is a crescendo of 'Facedown' intensity and the
album closes in anthemic "let's see those cigarette lighters" form with 'I
Still Believe'.
Overall, Antisocial hints at a very, very bright future for Turn. They can
still, to quote Ollie Cole on stage at Witnness, "rock like a motherf*cker"
but the (a dreaded word this next one) maturity that's on display in spades
with 'Antisocial' suggests that things are blooming in Irish rock.
Recommended.
Ronan Casey
Sorted Magazine -
"The Show Must Go On"
Ollie Cole speaks of how Turn are
determined not to let the loss of their bassist to Idlewild get in the way
of their rising popularity.
Ollie Cole first got a glimpse of his future standing outside a church in
Kells. In the true style of teenagers and towns, Ian Melady, the future Turn
drummer, was just arsing around. "I saw him and thought: He's very cool
looking!" says Ollie. "I went up and asked him if he wanted to be in a band?
'Yeah!' said Ian. 'What do you play?' 'Nothin', said Ollie, 'but I think I
can sing!'" And so Swampshack was born.
The lads enjoyed reasonable success, along with John Mulvany on bass. "We
released a couple of records and played at a couple of Féiles," says Ollie.
It was during this time that he and Ian moved up to Dublin. "We'd be playing
gigs there on a Wednesday and Saturday and it made sense just to move. So, I
went on the dole and got a bedsit on South Circular Road." During this time,
Ian and Ollie met bassist Gavin Fox, from Dublin, and formed Turn.
Fast forward eight years or so and Ollie is sitting in Whelan's bar,
contemplating the gradual success of the band. Last year was one they won't
forget in a hurry. In 2002, Turn gained a much bigger fan-base, got good
write-ups and airplay and recorded a new album on their own label. They
played the main stage at Wittnness and supported Aslan at a sold-out Point.
They played in the UK, New York and at the South By Southwest festival in
Austin, Texas. The Arts Council funded the flights to the last. "The
contacts we made there have really paid off," says Ollie.
However, the lads will undoubtedly remember 2002 as the year that their bass
player was poached by Idlewild. "It caused a lot of bad feeling at the time.
Idlewild were supposed to be friends of ours - they used to come over and
stay in our houses and email us. I don't think they should have even asked
Gavin to be their bass player." But they did and, after a few month's
deliberation, he chose the route to instant success. "I think Gavin was
looking for a shortcut to fame. This way, he gets to be in a band that
features in NME every week If he had hung on though, the success he could
have with us would be 100 times better because it's his band instead of
someone else's."
Ollie has a feeling that Gavin will do a u-turn, so to speak. "By all
accounts he's really lonely. They're not his people. The songs are not his
songs." While there is no ill-feeling between Gavin and Turn, Ollie doesn't
have a lot of time for his UK "friends". "I'm sure the next time I see them,
I won't have a whole lot to say to them." However, the show must go on and
in the ongoing bass odyssey, Alan Lee, formerly of Skindive, quickly stepped
in.
Ollie is the only Cole in his family of eight pursuing a career in music,
though his elder brother was undoubtedly an influence in his formative
years. "He was a drummer in the first ever band in Kells - The Blackhawks.
They used to rehearse in our garage". When he was 15, Ollie started singing
with them. "My mother didn't want me going on tour with this heavy metal
band, who were about 10 years older and were drinking and stuff." Still, it
got him a lot of attention. "I thought I was king of the world!" he says.
"People would look at me and say: Ah, look at the little kid, he's
brilliant!"
But despite his love for Kells, he concedes that if you're a musician living
there, the first thing you have to do is go to Dublin to play gigs. Turn
hardly ever play around Meath, apart from once a year at the Wittnness
festival at Fairyhouse. "There's a real lack of suitable venues around. I
think it's changing though. I have a feeling some of the former dance music
venues will be turned into live music venues." Fingers crossed.
However, Ollie says it's a great place to become a great songwriter "because
you're away by yourself and not getting influenced by other bands. We had
been playing in a caravan, oblivious to whatever scene was going on in the
early '90s. All we had was Neil Young and AC/DC records." While the rest of
the world was trying to be cool, Ollie says that growing up in Kells, he
didn't understand what cool was. "Which was probably a good thing!"
He believes that there's some great songwriters in Meath. "John Mulvaney,
our Swampshack bassist, is a brilliant songwriter, as is Martin Flannigan
who used to be in a band called Vanwinkle." Michael Brunnick from that other
great Kells band, Little Palace, who have since broken up, also gets an
notable mention. The schoolteacher, now living in the US, rings Ollie during
the interview looking for gift advice for a mutual friend. Ollie suggests
the Aerosmith biography!
"I'm really into '70s rock bands at the moment", he says by way of excuse.
"I'm in the middle of reading every band's biography. The cheesier the
better. Motley Crue's is fucking hilarious!"
There was never any doubt that Ollie would be a musician. When he was
younger, he was always taking things apart and building amplifiers out of
household items, no doubt both frustrating and amusing his mother. "Calling
yourself an artist sounds really arsey, but I suppose that's what I am. I
get up in the morning and pick up a guitar or sit down at the piano and play
and write all day. I'm driven by something out of my control."
This becomes evident. As Irish band, The Last Post, play on Whelan's stereo,
Ollie starts picking out the guitar riffs in the air, with eyes sparkling
and a goofy grin on his face.
Turn's next album, Forward, comes out in March.
by Anne-Louise Foley
Sorted Magazine - October 2002
Turn plus guests, Whelan's, Dublin,
24th October 2002
The word on the street before this gig was that the very special,
unannounced guests were going to be Idlewild. The plan was they'd do an
acoustic set as a sort of warm-up before supporting Coldplay in the Point on
the Friday. That was what was supposed to happen anyway. Instead we got
Delarencos, an uninspiring young four-piece from Dublin and a Bell-X1
acoustic set. Now I've never been a big Bell-X1 fan, in fact, I find them
pretty boring. Tonight's set, however, was okay. If it had been a full
electric show, it would have been better, but even stripped down to their
core, the songs were still there, struggling to get my attention. Who knows,
maybe the new album will be worth buying!
Now to Turn, with a new album in the works, a growing following and an
upcoming extensive tour of the country supporting The Frames things appear
to be on the up for the boys from Kells. That is unless you're of a
suspicious nature. You see members of Idlewild were spotted in the crowd
during Turn's set and let's not forget that Idlewild recently parted company
with their bassist. Anybody else wondering why they didn't play tonight?
Maybe it's just me speculating, but if this was Turn's last ever gig with
Gavin on bass, it sure was a mighty good one*.
Turn have always been great live and tonight was no exception. Ollie Cole
was on fire for the entire set tearing through such modern classics as 'In
Position', 'Beeswax', 'Summer Song', 'Another year over' and the ever
fantastic 'Queen of my heart'. The crowd response to the two almighty
singles 'Beretta' and 'Too much make-up' was unreal. Both songs were huge,
guitar-led sing-along anthems, raging though the tiny confines of Whelan's.
We were also treated to a few new songs and, while they are unfamiliar now,
they sound like they could quickly become firm favourites. What's next for
Turn? I'm really don't know, but I think fans of the band should keep an eye
on their message board very closely over the next few days.
Ken McGrath
* Official statement from Turn: Gavin has not left Turn to join Idlewild.
Sorted Magazine - July 2002
Turn, Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin,
25th July 2002.
Ok, remember back a few years ago to when Muse released "Showbiz". At the
time, it didn't seem like much and pretty much everyone wrote them off as
second-rate Radiohead wannabes, me included. At best, it was a decent album
that showed they had potential and might be worth watching. Then they sprung
"Origin of Symmetry" on an unsuspecting world. Where the change occurred and
how this all right enough band had managed such a metamorphosis was
astounding.
Here, with Turn, I think we've just found the missing link. Turn give off
the same vibes as Muse, but have their feet rooted to the ground in that
they haven't dipped into the prog rock pond. Yet. Ollie Cole, while his
voice may not be as super-sonic as Matt Bellamy's, is definitely a match for
the man in every other department. Over the past two years of solid gigging,
he has developed into a great frontman. He manhandles his guitar, while
casually alternating between creating small talk with his adoring audience
and churning out great songs.
They haven't yet reached the extremes in sonic sound creation that Muse have
mastered, but they're getting there. 'Beeswax' still slices through the air
with force, while 'Queen of my heart' and 'Too much make-up' provoke mass
singalongs from the ever-growing mass of fans. Newer songs, like 'Heart
attack' and 'In Position', from last years EP, are loud and abrasive, but
with a real control and an ever-present sense of dynamics. Elsewhere, old
live favourite 'Beretta' turns into an animal, all jagged teeth and sharp
claws, that cuts straight through you and leaves you roaring breathlessly,
"Why can't you look after yourself?".
Both A-sides of the new single ('Another year over' and 'Summer song') were
aired tonight and show that the band have continued growing in the direction
the 'In position' EP pointed. This was probably one of their last live
appearances of the year what with them planning to head into the studio to
record their second proper full length. A great set and a great live band,
they could pull a Muse out of their hat yet. Just wait and see.
Ken McGrath
Blogger.com - September 7 2004
Turn returned to the venue of their
Galway debut with a rousing gig of both old favourites and brand new shiny
numbers in the Roisin Dubh last Friday. Featuring Ciaran Kavanagh, their
replacement bass player, the lads rocked harder than with former bassman
Alan Lee. Ollie Cole (vocals & guitar) informs us "Things just weren't
working out. Alan is a lovely guy but in the time he played with us we only
wrote one song. Since Ciaran joined a short while ago we've written seven
new ones". Most of the new songs got an airing tonight. Ciaran certainly
added a new dimension to the band being a very active onslaught compared to
Alan's passivity. The band kicked off 'Never Needed' and proceeded into such
rocking nuggets as 'Beretta', 'Queen Of My Heart" and 'Ain't It A Love'.
Along with 'Antisocial' and 'In Position', the middle of the set slowed for
some of the newer numbers, with Ollie explaining that the new songs had to
get an airing as the band were going into studio soon and wanted to get them
tight live first. No one was complaining anyway! The front of the audience
were still moshing right to the end. The band finished with 'Another Year
Over' to rapturous cheering only to inform us that they'd played past curfew
and couldn't do an encore. Shame, Really!
Sean McCormack |
