Cork hosts double-header of metal and punk
Zealot Cult take pride of place at Oíche an Bháis metal event in Cork.
The Relapse Promotions house - originating in Limerick and Tipperary, and working predominantly in Cork - has expended tremendous effort and energy into the city’s heavy music communities over the past number of years.
The all-day punk events from which they take their moniker have been bellwethers for the genre’s live presence in the city, while their excursions into booking gigs and tours have led to a now-annual signature metal event at North Main Street’s St Peter’s Church, a deconsecrated church-turned-arts venue that lends itself well to a variety of cultural uses.
Last year’s Oíche an Dullahan, headlined by theatrical Belfast black-metallers Horrenda, saw bands descend on the city from all over the country to perform to a sold-out house. This time around, for the Oíche an Bháis event on Saturday August 26, veteran Limerick death-metallers Zealot Cult take pride of place on the billing this time around.
Sitting around the table with your writer at Tuckey Street’s trendy SOMA cafe, promoter/organisers Ciara “Fozzie” Hayes (also of crossover thrashers RPC) and Jim Spillane (also of metallers Dirty Casuals), are cautiously optimistic about the prospect of a gig at such an unusual venue for their work.
“Honestly, it's a bit nerve-wracking, because last year's event went so well, it's going to be difficult to measure up to, but we're feeling optimistic”, opines Hayes. “It was actually supposed to be a Celtic/folk metal night first, there was actually talk of getting (Celtic metal exponents) Cruachán or Waylander.
“Zealot Cult are a band we wanted to work with for a long time, so we kind of worked the night around them being a headliner, we just felt like two black-metal nights in a row would be redundant. Coming from Limerick, the death-metal scene there was always huge, injecting a bit of that into Cork would be fantastic.”
The venue is an unusual one for a metal night, to say the least, and even with the prior experience of having run events there, it must certainly present its own swings and roundabouts, in terms of staging, logistics, etc.
“My friend Dan is the manager there, he kind-of pitched that it'd be cool to have us there,” Spillane says. “He'd seen us around, with the festival and all that. Then we ran with it. With [the likes of] Fredz, you pay the venue fee and you get everything. They have their own insurance, their sound engineer, their desk and all that. With Oíche, we've got to get all that, security, and bring the equipment as well, and then sound engineers, photographers.
“Luckily, they've got new lights and stuff, the venue actually supplies a couple of speakers, some lights and candles, all that kind of spooky nonsense that you might need for the background. Genuinely quite easy to deal with, but it is definitely a once-a-year event, because it's quite stressful.”
For those of us who have fallen out of the local or national metal scene in recent years, it can be quite hard to gauge exactly what’s going on at gigging or grassroots level, which serves to emphasise the importance of big gigs like Oíche an Bháis to a community that maintains its iconoclastic place in the wider Irish music panorama.
"For the people we know it's a great day out, but for just one example, there was an entire family from West Cork who came down for it last time,” says Spillane. “There was one dad, he brought his wife and like all his children."
“One guy’s name on Eventbrite for six tickets, and we were like, ‘who’s this guy bringing?’, and it’s his wife and kids,” chuckles Hayes. “The more events like this for heavy music in Ireland, the better. I do still feel some sense that we are still recovering overall, within these spaces.
“We've made huge strides in such a short space of time, but there will never be too many of these events. Even when multiple things are going on, it's always nice to have an option. The more, the merrier.”
A little over two weeks later, Hayes, Spillane and crew open the doors at the Spailpín Fánach on Friday September 15 for the latest edition of their Relapse Punk & Arts Festival.
It’s the return of a previously biannual event, but as with many events in Cork in recent times, the subject of emigration is somewhere in the background, especially for younger heads at the sharp end of the post-crisis fallout, and the pair all but confirm hints on social media that it might be the last… on Cork soil, at least.
“It's a slightly stripped-back version of the event, slightly less bands playing, and there won't be a poetry break this time, simply because of the lack of venues in Cork City, and we were unfortunately only able to get it up and running on a Friday. It is a slightly toned-down Relapse, but we're still really looking forward to it.
“We're sure there'll be a big turnout, because it's the first one in a year. We are quite optimistic about it, let's be honest. It's going to be the last Relapse festival in Ireland, actually, so we are really hoping it will be something special.”
From the Melvins-esque sludge of Dubliners Strangers with Guns, to the innate way with melody of Leeside outfit Stanton’s Grave, to the distinctly Corkonian hardcore of distinguished gentlemen Uncultivates, it’s certainly not been stripped back in terms of variety and ambition, with the full lineup (see panel) sitting alongside local visual artists’ stalls.
"I don't know if you've ever watched Steve Hughes, the comedian, and it's like, yeah, "if you've listened to Slayer for eight hours a day, you're gonna want to listen to some Enya at the end of it", y'know? He's not wrong,” reckons Spillane.
"It is bittersweet," says Hayes, mulling over the future. "It's been such a big part of my life for years. No matter where I end up, I probably will continue the Relapse Festival, and even use it as an opportunity to get Irish bands over.
“I'm looking forward to being able to start other projects that I didn't have time for, because the promotion stuff took up so much time. So, I'm going to enjoy the hell out of these last couple of gigs.”
Oíche an Bháis takes place on Saturday, August 26, at St Peter’s Church, North Main Street; Relapse Punk & Arts Festival happens on Friday, September 15, at An Spailpín Fánach, South Main Street.
Here's what you need to know.
- St Peter’s Church, North Main Street
- Saturday, August 26; 7.30pm, €20; BYOB, 18s+.
- An Spailpín Fánach, South Main Street
- Friday, September 15; 3.30pm, €20.
