Reviews

RTÉ - Road Relish announce 14th release

Thursday 4 November 2004

Cork's Waiting Room and Limerick rockers giveamanakick are the latest bands to appear on a Road Relish Singles Club release.

This will be the 14th in the Road Relish limited edition series of 7" split singles and the first time that bands outside Dublin have been chosen to participate.

Since their formation in 1999, Road Relish have worked with bands and musicians including The Redneck Manifesto, David Kitt, Large Mound, Glen Hansard, The Jimmy Cake, Nina Hynes, The Chalets and Tychonaut.

The launch of the Waiting Room/giveamanakick single will take place at the end of November with a series of dates around the country.

Waiting Room released their debut album, 'Catering For Headphones', earlier this year on the Limerick-based Out On a Limb record label. They are currently on tour in America.

Limerick two-piece giveamanakick contribute long-time live favourite track called 'Let God Touch Your Children'.

Tour dates:
Wednesday 24 November - Dolans (Upstairs), Limerick
Thursday 25 November - Roisin Dubh, Galway with special guests The Coldspoon Conspiracy
Friday 26 November - Cypress Avenue, Cork
Saturday 27 November - Whelans, Dublin (afternoon gig)

 

Hot Press - September 23 2003

Waiting Room's equipment destroyed in Cork fire

Due to tour next month, Cork band Waiting Room lost €10 000 worth of equipment in yesterday's fire.

As you doubtless read yesterday on hotpress.com, the Make Music rehearsal space was destroyed yesterday in a massive fire that swept through the old Sunbeam Factory in Cork.

Among those effected by the blaze were local rockers The New Messiahs and Waiting Room, who had €10,000 worth of equipment stored there. This now has to be replaced ahead of an extensive Irish tour in support of their Catering For Headphones album which is being released by Rory "No Disco" Cobbe's Lamp Recordings label.

You can catch them, hopefully with backline, at Whelan's, Dublin (October 3 + Hope Of States); The Lobby, Cork (12 + The Dudley Corporation & Rest); The Lobby, Cork (November 5 + Nad Navelus); High Stool, Limerick (7); Music Room, Dublin (8 + C40); FCM, Belfast (13 + McClusky); Old Oak, Cork (December 19 + Schneider TM).

 

Hot Press - October 20 2003

Cork bands to stage benefit concert

Waiting Room will be among the bands playing at the fundraiser for Make Music, damaged earlier this month by fire.

The Cork band community comes together on October 30 in support of the Make Music rehearsal and studio complex which was badly damaged this month when a fire swept through the Sunbeam Industrial Complex.

Among those effected were local band The Waiting Room who had over €10,000 worth of stored equipment destroyed in the blaze.

Having got their hands on replacement gear, they'll be appearing at the Half Moon Theatre alongside Fred, Stanley Super 800, Niall Connolly, Rulers Of The Planet, Rest, Annette Buckley, The Shades, The Man With The Hat, The Girls Of Summer, Waiting Room, The New Messiahs and Tone Control.

Completing the line-up are DJs Stevie G, Ashley Keating and Ashley Keating who, yes, is the bloke in The Frank & Walters. Tickets priced €10 are on sale now.

 

Hot Press - September 24 2004

Waiting Room equipment stolen from Vicar St.

Waiting Room had all their instruments and gear stolen after their Frames support gig on Monday.

The Waiting Room are appealing for the return of the equipment they had stolen on Monday after playing support to The Frames in Vicar St.

It's a major blow for the Cork band who'd only just replaced the gear they lost last year in a rehearsal room fire.

The items they're hoping to retrieve include a faded red Gibson SG Special and hardcase; black American Telehand hardcase; Travis Bean and hardcase, serial number 509; worn green Tanglewood Warrior bass; Fender Stage 100 amp combo; Fender Deluxe amp; and a Boss Turner Tu2 by 2 pedal.

If you're offered these or any other items of equipment in suspicious circumstances, contact your local Garda station or the band.

 

Road Relish 14

Road Relish release the fourteenth in our fab series of 7” singles at the end of November 2004. This record marks a new phase in the Road Relish project for two reasons. Firstly, we are casting aside our insular Dublin-centric ways by including bands from outside the capital, namely the wonderful Waiting Room from Cork and Limerick rockers, giveamanakick. Secondly, we are taking the Road Relish launch gig experience on the road with four dates in quick succession around the country.

We’ve been big fans of Waiting Room since we heard their excellent Catering For Headphones album which was released on Out On a Limb records earlier this year. Since then they have been wooing all and sundry with their mix of infectious pop and rock dynamics. Undaunted by the small matter of some bastards nicking all their gear, the boys recently set off for a string of dates in the US. We’re looking forward to seeing them at the end of November.

Limerick two-piece giveamanakick are about the most incendiary rockin’ live band in Ireland at the moment and we’re pleased as punch to have their riff-tastic noisy rock’n’roll on a Road Relish record at last. Their contribution is the track Let God Touch Your Children which is a long-time live favourite. The ‘kick will be dishing out lessons in rock at all four dates and we’re all going to be taking notes.

 

University Of Limerick - Waiting Room

WAITING ROOM
CATERING FOR HEADPHONES
Out On A Limb Records
(Ooal0002)
Release Date: Friday 13 February 2004

Hailing from Cork, Waiting room deliver a unique sound that comfortably slides and cuts through genres with an infectiously laid back air. The three-piece formed only three years ago, and almost instantaneously set about putting their first songs to record. The resulting debut album, "Losing Patience" was very much a mellow indie record; which Mark O' Sullivan (Hot Press) described as "packed full of three minute pop gems", while Inside Cork's Michael Carr compared the album to "Pablo Honey's more vibrant moments...slower...more imaginative".

Since that particular release, the band has embraced the likes of Mogwai and Fugazi to showcase the full scope of their talents. Audience feedback from time spent in various haunts across the country was enough to encourage Waiting Room to become a more audacious and experimental outfit.

The proof of this shift from the band's earlier material can be seen in the forthcoming release of "Catering for Headphones", Waiting Room's new album that is to be released by Limerick/Cork-based independent label Out On A Limb Records. From the opening instrumental assault of "Waller St" and "I took some painkillers" to the aching tenderness of "Angel" and "Today Left Me With", the album moves melodically across diverse territories. Singer Nigel's gentle and mellifluous yet enduring vocals, and the incredibly taut and meandering rhythm section formed by bassist Dave and drummer Wayne, are now complimented in studio by lush string arrangements and sweet, subdued female harmonies.

The eagerly anticipated release of "Catering for Headphones" will be met by the return of Waiting Room to the live circuit. The tour for the album will take in dates across the country, before the band leave for the UK at the end of February.

"…incisive three minute rock-outs topped off with the sweetest voice in the People's Republic." Leagues O' Toole, Irish Examiner.

 

RTÉ - "Catering For Headphones"  March 16 2004

Finding themselves in an adventurous mood, a three-piece from Cork decided to add to the solid indie-based sound they had cultivated on their debut album 'Losing Patience'.

Dispensing with verses, choruses and other unnecessary restrictions and letting atmosphere substitute for structure, they have created one of the best Irish records of the year. 'Catering for Headphones' is an album filled with music of quality. From the first eerie samples on 'Waller St' to the brilliantly titled 'Return my Rabbits', this record constantly manages to surprise.

The dreamy quality of the music is sustained well over the course of the ten tracks, with the weaker songs being unremarkable rather than annoying, and rarely inciting the urge to hit the skip button.

Successfully making music that is both experimental and listenable is a tough needle to thread, and with such a young band allowances could be made if the results were less than perfect. That no such excuses are needed is a testament to the quality of an album that can comfortably stand toe-to-toe with anything released by the bands that so clearly inspired it. Mogwai beware.

With a rhythm section that is every bit as inventive as the band it supports, and a knack for surreal and catchy melodies, Waiting Room stand every chance of doing as well as they deserve to.

Ray Donoghue, 4/5

 

Hot Press - Oxegen 2004 - July 12 2004

Waiting Room

Anyone who thinks that music festivals are an orgy of drunken mindlessness clearly was nowhere near the New Band Stage for Cork’s finest Waiting Room. They appear to be nervous, and it is precisely this nervousness that gives one the impression that, as performers, they have yet to grow into the songs that they have created.

Giving new bucks like Razorlight and Sons & Daughters a run for their money, Waiting Room blur the boundaries between languid, dreamy, Pumpkins-eque euphoria and sturdily built lo-fi rock. Finally, their nerves give way to reveal a band that is fuelled by pent-up, pained energy. In all, it makes for superb listening, and it seems that the hype surrounding them is justified.

The smart money says that the Waiting Room are not long for the anonymity of early afternoon stints at music festivals.

 

Hot Press - "Catering For Headphones" - March 5 2004

Catering For Headphones beats with an experimental heart, backed up by superb musicianship and genuinely moving songs of real artistic and musical merit. Refreshingly inventive, often magical and consistently brilliant.

Cork, for many years, has been the hotbed for many of Ireland's more absurd or bizarre musical offspring to vent their creative spleens. The Sultans and The Franks all hailed from the Southern capital, and even Microdisney had their moments, but there's nothing ironic or fun-filled about Waiting Room. Maybe it's the fact that they had their gear destroyed in a studio fire during the making of this album, but there is something remarkably serious and focused about Catering For Headphones that belies the band's relatively tender years.

After the eerily intriguing intro that is "Waller St", we're dragged along with the muscular instrumental 'I Took Some Painkillers', which manages quite a number of tempo changes over the course of its 87 seconds. 'Another Take' is the first real sign that Dave, Nigel and Wayne mean business: think Mercury Rev jamming with Sparklehorse and Mogwai, and you're part way towards appreciating its stop-start staccato rhythm and gorgeous melody, augmented by some deliciously understated cello. 'Message Received' starts off in a similarly low-key manner, builds up a noisy wall of distorted guitars, before spiralling back down to earth for the fragile finishing bars. Then there's the slightly angular, almost military, rhythms of The Flaming Lips-esque 'Angel' to get your head around, or the soaring guitar wig-out that is 'Carousel'.

The three-piece prove themselves accomplished musicians throughout Catering For Headphones but it's not about dispassionate musing or choosing style over substance. 'Amsterdam' and 'Today Left Me With' practically glow with warmth and emotion, while I defy anyone with a heart to listen to the mesmerising 'Return My Rabbits' and remain unmoved.

It's fantastic to see a young band unafraid to take risks, diverting from the mainstream musical motorway onto a series of less direct but far more beguiling byroads. Catering For Headphones beats with an experimental heart, backed up by superb musicianship and genuinely moving songs of real artistic and musical merit. Refreshingly inventive, often magical and consistently brilliant.

John Walshe

 

The Ticket, Irish Times - February 26 2004

"From deepest, laid-back Cork, Waiting Room don't sound like they're in any particular hurry, but their second album still manages to go somewhere special. It begins with a lonesome instrumental, Waller St, all plaintive cellos and picayune spoken word samples, then tumbles into the Mogwai-evoking I Took Some Painkillers, before pulling up abruptly and shifting into such gently persuasive alt.folk songs as Another Take, Message Received, Amsterdam, Return My Rabbits and Today Left Me With, the music almost catching its breath to give the vocals room to resound. True to its title, this record caters nicely to those who like to kick back, put on the headphones, and float into the heart of darkness."

Kevin Courtney

 

95FM.ie - "Catering For Headphones"  March 10 2004

Initially I made this mistake, I expected Ian and Guy wannabes; post punk angular guitars and anti corporate, moralistic politics in a Cork accent.

Thankfully, my fears were not realised. ‘The Waiting Room’ may well be fans of the DC legends but it is the band’s other influences; Mogwai, Nad Navillus, Low and Sebadoh, whose echoes can be heard reverberating most clearly throughout ‘Catering for Headphones’.

Hailing from Cork this is the three piece’s second album. Their first "Losing Patience" was a much more indie affair. Since then there has been somewhat of an evolution in the band’s sound and their latest album, ‘Catering for Headphones’, released on the Cork based independent label ‘Out On A Limb Records’ is an altogether more adventurous and experimental effort.

The album opens softly with a gut wrenchingly beautiful melody over which Charles Manson ominously discusses the nature of reality before concluding, ‘ Believe me, if I started murdering people… there'd be none of you left." From this point on the scene is set, a mixture of art and entropy looks set to ensue.

The rest of the album takes us on a journey through muted, sombre and tranquil terrain that sounds like a broken heart on a winter’s day. Imagine smooth as butter bass lines; odd time changes, a loud(ish) quiet dialectic, subdued female harmonies, the rather sublime resonance of a cello and a xylophone and you’re half way there.

The influences are obvious Mogwai, Unwed Sailor, anything from Louisville, but think reverence not emulation.

Some of the tracks are instrumental like the enigmatically titled ‘I Took Some Painkillers’ and the carousingly climactic ‘carousel’. However, the tracks which feature Nigel’s vocals are the most haunting. With just a delicious hint of a Cork accent his voice is all at once creamy, warm and thick. Yum.

Lyrics recount the agony of missing the one you love, trying to get over the one you love, loving the one you love, ‘All that matters is that your heart beats with mine’ Nigel whispers on ‘Amsterdam’.

Whilst on ‘Angel’ he softly laments "I miss your smile / I miss your face", Just how many unhappy relationships and emotional turbulence can one person endure? Mind you the band did undergo some trauma recently, losing around €10,000 of equipment when the building next to their practice rooms caught fire.

Bands from their native Cork and from farther afield like the Dudley Corporation came to their rescue and saved the day. Proof if it were needed of how well respected and admired ‘The Waiting Room’ are.

The title suggests that this music caters for headphones and just as the experience of listening to music through headphones is intense, intimate and personal, so too is this album.

However, I have to say I prefer to listen to this album just before I fall asleep, as like a dream it is bittersweet, haunting and intangible. ‘Catering for Headphones’ will usher you into an ethereal dream world without sending you to sleep.

Published 10/03/2004 by Mo Doran (Alternative Ulster)

 

Campus.ie - "Catering For Headphones"

"Hailing from Cork, Waiting room deliver a unique sound that comfortably slides and cuts through genres with an infectiously laid back air. The three-piece formed only three years ago, and almost instantaneously set about putting their first songs to record. The resulting debut album, "Losing Patience" was very much a mellow indie record; which Mark O'Sullivan (hot press) described as "packed full of three minute pop gems", while inside cork's Michael Carr compared the album to "Pablo Honey's more vibrant moments...slower...more imaginative".

Since that particular release, the band have embraced the likes of Mogwai and Fugazi to showcase the full scope of their talents. Audience feedback from time spent in various haunts across the country were enough to encourage Waiting Room to become a more audacious and experimental outfit.

The proof of this shift from the band's earlier material can be seen in the forthcoming release of "Catering for Headphones", Waiting Room's new album that is to be released by Limerick/Cork-based independent label Out On A Limb Records in February 2004.

From the opening instrumental assault of "Waller St" and "I took some painkillers" to the aching tenderness of "Angel" and "Today Left Me With", the album moves melodically across diverse territories. Singer Nigel's gentle and mellifluous yet enduring vocals, and the incredibly taut and meandering rhythm section formed by bassist Dave and drummer Wayne, are now complimented in studio by lush string arrangements and sweet female backing vocals.

The eagerly anticipated release of "Catering for Headphones" will be met by the return of Waiting Room to the live circuit. The tour for the album will take in dates across the country, before the band leave for the UK at the end of February.

"....given their penchant for incisive three minute rock-outs topped off with the sweetest voice in the People's Republic." Leagues O' Toole, Irish Examiner.

 

The Lobby - Waiting Room profile

"Hailing from Cork, Waiting Room deliver a unique sound that comfortably slides and cuts through genres with an infectiously laid back air. The three-piece formed only three years ago, and almost instantaneously set about putting their first songs to record. The resulting debut album, "Losing Patience" was very much a mellow indie record; which Mark O' Sullivan (Hot Press) described as "packed full of three minute pop gems", while Inside Cork's Michael Carr compared the album to "Pablo Honey's more vibrant moments…slower…more imaginative".

Since that particular release, the band have embraced the likes of Mogwai and Fugazi to showcase the full scope of their talents. Audience feedback from time spent in various haunts across the country were enough to encourage Waiting Room to become a more audacious and experimental outfit. The proof of this shift from the band's earlier material can be seen in the forthcoming release of "Catering for Headphones", Waiting Room's new album that is to be released by Limerick/Cork-based independent label Out On A Limb Records. From the opening instrumental assault of "Waller St" and "I took some painkillers" to the aching tenderness of "Angel" and "Today Left Me With", the album moves melodically across diverse territories. Singer Nigel's gentle and mellifluous yet enduring vocals, and the incredibly taut and meandering rhythm section formed by bassist Dave and drummer Wayne, are now complimented in studio by lush string arrangements and sweet female backing vocals.

The eagerly anticipated release of "Catering for Headphones" will be met by the return of Waiting Room to the live circuit. The tour for the album will take in dates across the country, before the band leave for the UK at the end of February."

 

KNIT - Knitting Factory, NY live review

"Late show :
Waiting Room, Little Brazil (feat x mem of Goodlife/ Desapapacedos)
Price: $7.00
Date: Wed, Oct 20
Start Time: 11:30 PM

The four guys in Omaha indie rock band Little Brazil carry themselves with such an easy-going vibe you'd think they were brothers instead of a group of just-turned 21-year-olds trying to get people to hear their music. The appeal comes from their seemingly effortless -- and probably deceptive -- innocence. Other than being unashamedly indie, the band doesn't have a particular sound. It's certainly not emo. What gives Little Brazil a leg up on the plethora of indie competition is Hedges' love for basic melodies, great guitar lines and his strange, childish warble. The closest comparison could be to the long-defunct Topeka band Vitreous Humor and, at moments, Hedges' old band The Good Life, especially on the faster numbers that never lose sight of their embraceable indie-pop roots.

Rounding out the bill is Waiting Room, on their first American tour. Hailing from the shires of Ireland, Waiting Room deliver a unique sound that comfortably slides and cuts through genres with an infectiously laid back air. The three-piece formed only three years ago, and almost instantaneously set about putting their first songs to record. The resulting debut album, "Losing Patience" was very much a mellow indie record; which Mark O' Sullivan (Hot Press) described as "packed full of three minute pop gems", while Inside Cork's Michael Carr compared the album to "Pablo Honey's more vibrant moments...slower...more imaginative". Since that particular release, the band have embraced the likes of Mogwai and Fugazi to showcase the full scope of their talents. Audience feedback from time spent in various haunts across the country was enough to encourage Waiting Room to become a more audacious and experimental outfit. If you're an indie scenester, this is a show not to be missed."