Two hundred and sixty acts over five nights in seven venues is the deal as the twin Noorderslag and Eurosonic festivals return to the northern Dutch town of Groningen from January 12 to 15.
While the former focuses on domestic talent, the latter is the shop window through which such major acts as Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Editors and Marina and The Diamonds have caught the eye of Continental DJs, journos and concert promoters who flock there in their thousands.
It’s also been extremely kind to Irish artists like Imelda May, And So I Watch You From Afar, Fight Like Apes and Delorentos who’ve all returned from Holland with more contacts and concrete gig offers than you’d get from a year of social networking.
“The internet’s great, but not as great as watching a band live with other music lovers and a glass of Dutch beer!” laughs festival organiser Peter Smidt who goes on to explain why he decided to base the event in Groningen rather than Amsterdam.
“All the industry people attending Noorderslag and Eurosonic are away from home, so they have to spend the night together getting drunk! That’s how a lot of the business is done. Also, you’ve got seven top class venues that are within walking distance of each other and a large student population, which means you’ve normal fans at the gigs too.”
Another thing, which marks Eurosonic out from other showcases is the dozens of radio stations they have broadcasting from it including our own 2fm under the watchful ear – allow us the poetic licence! – of Ian Wilson.
“I love the idea that a band from Dublin is being listened to by a kid from Belgrade,” Smidt enthuses. “It’s all about bringing different countries closer together culturally, and exposing artists to new markets that they might have overlooked in the past. Oh, and having lots of fun!”

James Vincent McMorrow
All great artists are a bit eccentric, and James Vincent McMorrow is no different. Hailed as one of the most bewitching and interesting musicians of the past year, rumour has it that he banished himself to social Siberia for six months in order to make his debut album, Early In The Morning. “Well I suppose that’s true in the most basic sense,” laughs the Dubliner. “I moved to a pretty isolated house to make the record and lived there on my own for the entire period. But it’s not like I ex-communicated myself monk-style or anything, I didn’t ban people from visiting and it’s not like I had no means for escape! I came up to Dublin every now and then and met up with people to keep myself sane. But it was self-imposed, I just wanted to remove as many distractions as possible and make… something. I had no grand plan really. I just like recording on my own, I like having space and having no clock on the wall, I just find it a more relaxing and creative environment than your typical studio set-up.”
Okay, so he’s not a complete hermit then. It seems that gigging is still a pretty daunting experience for the unassuming performer.
“Touring is like starting from scratch, I had never done much gigging and had never performed these songs. Going from spending six months writing all the drum and guitar and horn and string parts and then going out to play with just a guitar is really quite strange, it’s been quite a learning curve and I’ve just about got my head around it. I used to be terrified of performing, it wasn’t really until Electric Picnic that I finally felt comfortable and really enjoyed a show. Now I love playing live, whether it’s playing here in the Button Factory where 650 people are singing along with every word or in Paris where no-one knows me. I think each gig is a challenge to connect with the audience, and I love doing it.”
And his beguiling, somewhat mysterious music seems to connect with each audience member in a unique way. “Everyone has their own interpretation of the songs, I’ve been as nondescript as possible in regards to what the songs are about because I think it allows people to draw their own conclusions. I get lots of mail and fans telling me what the song means to them, and I think that’s the goal, to get people to hear a little bit of themselves in your music. That’s one of the reason I’m so looking forward to Eurosonic, the venue only holds 140 people so you can create a really personal, intimate atmosphere.”

Sacred Animals
Not to exaggerate in the slightest, but talking to Sacred Animals is akin to interviewing Batman. After months of avoiding giving his full name in interviews, I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say about the mysterious Wexford musician. What is his real identity? Or, perhaps more importantly, why exactly is his identity a secret in the first place? “It wasn’t really that I wasn’t revealing my identity, it was just that in some early interviews I didn’t want to disclose my full name, because I’d been in a band before and I didn’t want my new stuff to be compared to it… not that people would know my old stuff anyway! But I just wanted my new music to be its own thing and for people not to form an opinion of it before they heard it.”
So I can reveal that his name is Darragh Nolan without being afraid for my life? “Yeah,” he laughs, “I’ll let you away with it.” Good thing too, because I’m sure if he wanted me killed, there’d be some heavyweight fans ready to do the dirty work for him. Even before releasing his debut EP Welcome Home, the hype surrounding Sacred Animals was unprecedented.
“I suppose having that hype around an unreleased EP was pretty unique, so I’m really grateful. People only heard about us during the summer, even though the EP wasn’t officially out until October, but playing Electric Picnic really got the name out there. I’m reluctant to call the Picnic the highlight of the year though because that indicates that it’s been all downhill from there!”
Quite the opposite in fact, with Welcome Home receiving widespread acclaim. “I just went into it to make the music for me so it’s really incredible that other people are listening to it and appreciating it.” Among his fans are the organisers of Eurosonic, though Nolan laughs at how little he knew about the festival before he was invited to perform there.
“I didn’t actually realise what a big deal it was until I saw the line-up! They ask very few people to do it, so it’s an honour. And the other Irish acts, James Vincent McMorrow and Heathers are doing so brilliantly and are signed to major labels that’s it’s amazing to be held up beside them. And I’m really looking forward to some of the bands who are playing there like Delorean, Gold Panda and Mount Kimbie.” But as for plans after Eurosonic, a cloak of mystery surrounds Sacred Animals once more.
“I’m releasing a second EP in January or February but apart from that I don’t really like declaring great plans because they can constantly change, but maybe we’ll see an album during the summer… maybe.” Well, he can always send up a Bat-Signal to let us know.

Heathers
Having finished a whirlwind year of touring and gigging, as well as releasing their debut album in the UK in October, Heathers would be forgiven for just wanting a jolly nice break. However, Ellie is more than geared up for their upcoming show at Eurosonic.
“We’re really excited. But unfortunately we’re not sure if we’ll be able to stick around for long, because we have college! But we’ll definitely have to sneak off and buy some clogs at some stage at least – I love passing shopping off as culture!” she laughs. And while I’m not sure Ellie will convince James Vincent McMorrow or Sacred Animals to join her in her shoe-shopping expedition, she’s hoping to see the lads in action. “There seems to be a good Irish contingent going over. It should be great. Even in the past there’s been some great names who have played there, so we feel really lucky. It would be great if we got to see the Irish acts, though we’ll have to see how busy we are.”
Given how hectic the past few months have been, keeping busy doesn’t seem to be a problem for the duo.
“Our album was released in the UK at the end of October, so we’ll be going back and forward between here and the UK touring it over the next while. We’re also recording our next album, a couple of songs are done and we’re working on another few. With college and everything it’s difficult to focus completely on just writing new stuff, but we’re happy with the progress. Our plan is to introduce new instruments and stuff. So we now have someone playing drums, we’ve a cellist, more guitar, so the sound is a little different – it’s louder anyway! It is exciting though. For Eurosonic we’ll be playing a mix of the first album and one or two of the new songs. We’ve only done two gigs so far with our new material, and luckily people seem to like it, so hopefully it’ll go down well over there too.”
And despite writing, gigging and touring together, Ellie is happy to report that the sisters have yet to get violently sick of each other. “You’d think we’d be completely sick of each other’s faces by now, wouldn’t you? But we like each other’s company and we know when to give each other space. I think especially when travelling it’s nice to have your sister there – at least then if you get lost you can panic together!”