Let’s start the year, as we hope to go on: in praise.

We mentioned Clone Quartet’s (pictured) Well-Oiled Machine in the Christmas issue, and are happy to confirm it still sounds great in the time since the decorations have come down. In fact, if another local band manages to conjure up a record with half as much wit, bravado and southpaw imagination, then 2008 will prove to be a vintage year indeed. You may have to work with it for a while, but given time, Well-Oiled Machine confidently blossoms into provocative life.
Fighting With Wire will finally deliver a long-awaited LP this side of Easter. 'Man Vs Monster', it’s called – and it’s been a long time coming. Cahir and co have been mainstays in Northern noisemonger circles for years now, so we’re hoping this provides the gale-forced endorsement that a band of such can-do impetus and talent deserve. It’s fair to say that if this record pushes them over the top commercially, there would be no crew better equipped to progress. Best of luck, fellas.
Is it a coincidence that both these records are being put out on the Small Town America label? Based in London, but with a strong Derry flavour – this collective offer a positive (and sensible) model for all aspiring labels: titles and act picked with care; sensible release schedules; and canny online support.
They are also re-releasing Oppenheimer’s debut album, which many people missed on its first trip round the block. Rocky and Shaun’s newie (the intriguingly titled Take The Whole Mid-Range And Boost It) will be with us this year, so it would be a good idea to familiarise yourself with their oeuvre so far. Just so you can sing along with everyone else at their increasingly fervent live shows.
Talking of labels, Jennie McCullough’s plans to conquer the known universe take another small step closer to fruition with the release of ‘I Am Cursed‘ by The Olympic Lifts on the shiny, new Bruised Fruit imprint. Given how the BF crowd have turned their hand to everything from gig nights to plugging it was only a matter of time before they moved in this direction, which all involved hope is the first volley in a long campaign. A full O.L. LP is planned for later in the year; while The Fools will hopefully provide the label with their next EP.
Then there’s Only Gone Records – the new label of Oh Yeah’s Davy Matchett. This also looks like a contender for great things in ’08. At the moment it’s gearing up to put out ‘The Worthy Cause EP’ by the much-tipped Burning Codes, while members and former members of the shockingly talented Amazing Pilots diaspora are expected to provide tunes in the future.
AndSoIWatchYouFromAfar have big plans for the next 12 months. Their debut EP ‘This Is Our Machine And Nothing Can Stop It’ will be released in the UK, while there are a number of nationwide tours and further singles promised. Catch them in Auntie Annie’s on February 20 to see what the fuss is about.
The 30th Anniversary of Good Vibrations Records will also hopefully be celebrated in grand style this year. As the ‘Big’ Ian and Marty love-in continues, ‘Daddy, what did you do in the War?’ type questions, while politically inconvenient, have never been more important. It’s about time, then, that Northern Punk was given its fair due. In its own snotty way, it kept Belfast alive after all.
News too that Robert McLiam Wilson, author of Eureka Street, is finally readying himself to emerge from his 10 year creative hibernation with (in typical bravura fashion) not one but two novels: Extremists and The Dreamed. Seamus Heaney (who he famously, and viciously, dissed in E.S) may not be too happy, but for those who consider him to be the finest and most vital Irish novelist of his generation, this is indeed a cause for much celebration. And an opportunity to find out if, as rumour suggests, he really did spend a considerable part of his absence mastering Championship Manager.
With all this, and no doubt more, to come: 2008 looks like fun, doesn’t it?