Blue Syndrome at The Academy

Blue Syndrome

Kiss the girl E.P. Launch

The Academy

04/04/09

Angela Macari O’Looney

Rock Indie band Blue Syndrome hailing from North Dublin are a quartet who were recently recommended to me. They were performing at The Academy for the launch of their new E.P. ‘Kiss the Girl’, so I headed down to have a listen.

For such a young bunch of guys, this band has a polished sound. The lead vocalist Colm is a good front man who performs each song with great style, whether original stuff or covers. Band members are Colm – vocals/guitar, Tom - Drums, Stephen – Guitar vocals and Dan – Bass/ vocals. They have been compared to Mark Geary and Paramore. Influences also include Foo Fighters, Muse, The Frames and Iron Maiden.

On this night I was treated to three acts before Blue Syndrome. The first of these was a Pop/ Indie/ Rock band fronted by a fiery haired lead vocalist with a powerful voice and a great range. They were called The Problematic!

Band members include Gavin Wigglesworth – Lead Vox/guitar, Ian Mahon – Drums/ Vox and Noely Musgrave – Bass/ Vox. Influences are ;Jeff Buckley, Biffy Clyro, Kings of Leon, Pearl Jam.
They did seven numbers;
I thought it was over – has a catchy melody line, a sweet lead solo and excellent riffs.
Closer – A rhythmic number, well written with gorgeous bass throughout, close harmony and a catchy bit where Gavin sings ‘Closer, Closer’ that I absolutely adore!

Nothing Ever works – In this there are lots of interesting changes of tempo, yet another sweet melody line and generally it’s a feel good song!

You’re so sorry – This is by far the nicest of all the songs in The Problematic setlist. Fab baseline, catchy key change, memorable riff and the coolest chord combinations all go into making it so appealing. The chorus is memorable and the harmony and riffs are everything!

They did a song called No other Way with a quirky lead intro and it was more moody and slow than all the others. I liked this one!

The final song was If I don’t go. This has a fast bashing intro, with Noely playing a wonderful baseline, Gavin doing a great lead solo and they performed this as if it was their own favourite. They got a great response from the now slightly bigger audience!

Jon Dots

Next up was a singer/songwriter who looked very suave in a red velvet jacket and red shirt. Jon Dots reminded me of Mark from Take that to look at, but when he opened his mouth to sing I was reminded of early David Bowiemeets Radiohead, with that excitingly imaginative style that is removed from anything you heard before or will hear again!

On My Space Jon’s band are described as ‘an enigmatic rhythm section, along with a mysterious cohort of musicians’. He also describes his influences as ‘Muchly numerous’!
Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
However, this music made me sit up and take notice, for sure. I hung on to every note and line, fascinated as any lifelong lover of alternative music and Bowie might be!
It was like being in a time warp that took me back to those days when you could put glam make up on, spike your hair or donned a psychedelic jacket to perform music, that was an oral experience of abstract proportions and it was cool!
A treat indeed!

The first song Dance had a very haunting melody line, lots of distortion and that air of ‘genius–at-work’ about it!
He did Planets second which involves lots of sound effects created with guitar, an extraordinary melody line and the use of feedback from the mike to give the atmosphere an echoic, haunted touch!
Jon sings passionately, with two very good musicians helping to perfect the sound; a great bassist and a passionate stixman, who does cool percussion also!

A rumbling drum takes you into the calm acoustic intro of The Party. A song which involves a lot of tragic minor notes with big distortion packed chords and sound effects. There’s a kind of church organ sound going on and wonderful slides up and down the frets of the guitar. Chorus is dramatic and there’s a lazy sleepy quality to it.

The First beat was performed with emotion. It’s a slow sweet ballad with gorgeous chords and a very catchy tune!
He slides his voice up to falsetto for certain parts. Bass and rhythm are magical and generally this number has a laid back quality like the previous one.

Acoustic – This had a more cheerful beat, with an unpredictable style to it. Percussion gave an exotic feel to things and Jon performed some exciting lead guitar along with energetic, hair raising vocals!

He finished off with Hipster Dying which starts off with a choppy bass drum sound and what sounds like sampling. Then it builds up with bass coming in for the haunting verse. For a bassist who stepped in for the evening and isn’t Jon’s regular man, this guy wasn’t doing too bad!
Discords and a sense of mystery are the key factors in this popular number. It is more appealing and dynamic than all of the other songs and left me vowing to go and see this guy again soon!

Heritage Centre

This was some gig and the third support act were yet another high quality band that performed a great set. They are a rock/ Alt/ Pop band whose sound has been compared to that of Weezer and Blur. Conal – Lead vox/guitar, Brady - Drums, Liam – Sampling/Rhythm, Roge - Guitar and Stephen - Bass are a marked contrast to the current crop of Indie/ Buzz bands about.

They are building up a strong following and have recently recorded a new E.P. The City, The tree and The Fox!

Stars – This was an upbeat rock ‘n’ roll song. With sweet chords, Conal’s exciting vocals and a catchy melody line; they were on to a winner here!
Bassist does great backing vocals, there’s a thumping beat, and Liam does some great harmony too!
The chorus is fabulous and they have a very original style!
Lots of rocking lead guitar and there’s seductiveness in Conal’s vocals!

Very polished, their sound is new and with five members there’s fullness about each number. However I found a little bit of sameness at times in the set. Despite this they went on to do songs that involved a great opportunity to prove each member’s ability to play an instrument. This impressed me!

I will protect you – This has a big sound and Conal’s delivery of it was seamless!
He has a lovely stage presence and a deep but clear voice.

Leaders – This is a choppy number with closely sung harmony in the chorus. It has romantic lyrics. Liam did a nice bit on synth. The audience were a bit quiet for this band. But they are extremely special and although I wasn’t crazy about every song, I definitely found them quite captivating!


Whatever This has a nice riff intro with beats gradually drifting in. The riff continues for the verse and Stephen on bass performed backing vocals for this. Distortion in the guitars and lots of dramatic stops and starts added atmosphere!
They didn’t perform Losing Touch but it gets some serious praise from Alan Jacques on Limerick Live on 95fm. I feel that Heritage Centre will a band to watch out for!


Blue Syndrome

The stars of the show proved themselves worth the wait when they opened their set with a plucky guitar intro for the first number; Sign which got a huge response from the cheerful and now sizeable audience!
They have a way with their song writing whereby nothing is left out. Perfect riffs and hooks and lovely harmony seem to come naturally to them. Beat picks up speed in this song and then you are into a choppy chorus with one particularly catchy riff constant throughout!
Their set continued with Concerned, Just another Day, Come Alive, Over and out, Everything Eventually, New song(untitled), Tomorrow I’ll be gone, My Heart(Paramore cover) and Kiss the girl. I picked out my favourites!

Just another day is fast with a lovely chorus. They really come alive for this one and so did the audience. The lead solo is absolutely outstanding!
Guitars do an in synch riff. They do a bit of ‘I kissed a girl and I liked it’! Then they go back to the chorus ‘You showed me the rest of the world tonight and I thank you for that!’

Colm tells the crowd about the single launch and that they did a live gig at their old school in Malahide this week, which was pretty awesome. I think they’ll be playing in much bigger venues than their old school very soon!

Over and Out

A fab chorus in this one! Stephen shares vocals with Colm. What a voice and a seriously talented guitarist too!
I could feel the power of this bashing number hitting me like a clap of thunder! There’s a lovely choppy beat, the melody is catchy with a sweet lead solo too! Huge reaction from the crowd here!

Everything Eventually

This song has nice chord combinations, distortion packed and a great chorus!
It’s an exciting and fast moving rock ‘n’ roll number with a cheerful and memorable melody. This like the previous song involved two of the lads singing it together and the harmony in the chorus and catchy refrains are superb! Very Jaded Sun sound!

No Name

Stephen introduced the next song which as yet hasn’t a name. It opens up with a distortion packed guitar riff. It changes from a fast beat to a choppier one and they play lots of minor chords to add drama. I liked this one which has a nice line ‘So long, but I needed to be there tonight!’

Tomorrow I’ll be gone

This is the second song from the E.P. and is catchy, with acoustic guitar and a laid back tempo! The notation in the chorus is gorgeous and the beat alternates for the big dynamic Wait for me girl bit!
Guitar riffs divine and are done in synch with Dan’s baseline brilliant as in all songs!
There’s a pull back of instruments for the last chorus where Colm sings the first few lines, then gradually they come back in for a big crescendo finish!

They did a Paramore cover; My Heart!

Colm slides his voice up into falsetto for this. Pretty tricky but he handles it exceptionally well!
There’s a soothing rhythm to this number. Baseline is very noticeable and sweet. No drums here but Colm sings with great passion, doing it justice!

Kiss the girl

The big ‘Wo oh’ at the beginning of this song is the catchy part, to be followed by a sexy elaborate lead riff. Harmony is wonderful! A Powerfully sung verse! Distortion gives the fluently played guitars lots of oomph!
A lot of thought has gone into the arrangement of this song, with Colm singing the lead vocals and a constant refrain behind him for the chorus, almost like two songs being sung at the same time. They do a middle eight with the same idea of two separate refrains being sung in synch which makes it pretty special indeed! There’s a big sudden STOP!

Very effective before the final chorus which the crowd helped with. The roof was almost lifted off The Academy with everyone singing out ‘Wo oh, wo oh’!

Colm introduced the new bassist Dan before they did the inevitable encore. This quartet has taken some time to tame and tweak in order to achieve what I hope will be the sound that Blue Syndrome stay with, because they are without a doubt a class act!

My Hero (Foo Fighters cover)

This has a really appealing chorus where everyone sings the line; ‘There goes my hero’ along with Colm. I liked this choice for an encore and felt it was a perfect hat trick to bring a superb evening to a close!
Four fantastic young acts provided one brilliant night’s entertainment!