Cyber Punk, Synths and Arhthur's Day: Bressie Flies Solo

Whichever way you slice it, Mullingar's Niall Breslin i.e. newly solo pop hunk Bressie, is a busy man. As the front-man of The Blizzards he helped blaze a pop-rock trail through the charts, student unions and numerous live venues across Ireland. The group disbanded for a career break at the end of 2009 while Bressie headed to London to work as a songwriter for hire and to beef up his production and song-writing skills.

Photo courtesy of Ronan Healy

After an extended break from the public eye he returned in May with Can't Stay Young Forever. An 80's inspired Snow Patrol-y ode to the good times it's become a slow burning radio hit, notching up some serious airplay miles. While The Blizzards where a formidable live presence, constantly on the road, Bressie's live shows have been noticeably fewer. A sold out Whelan's gig, an Oxegen slot and a place on the bill at the recent Corona's Marlay Park have been well recieved but his next high-profile slot is as part of this year's Arthur's Day celebrations (a nationwide tour follows). 

The now-annual event brings a veritable feast of domestic and international acts to Ireland. The celebrations take place on the 22nd of September and the line up is undeniably impressive. Scissor Sisters, Stereophonics, Paloma Faith and Calvin Harris will be visiting Irish shores while local acts Cashier No. 9, Ash, Royseven and Ryan Sheridan join Bressie in flying their Irish flag while people countrywide sup on their pints.

Bressie's album, Colourblind Stereo is due 16th of September ahead of a nationwide tour and  before that is second single Good Intentions. At the launch of Arhthur's Day last week in Whelans, I caught a few minutes with Mr Breslin to get the lowdown on the new single, his new sound and his Arthur's Day memories.

Although Bressie admits that the second single uses "the same sound" as the previous he points out that lyrical content itself is quite different. "It came from literally an array of girls who I kept meeting" he begins, that "refused to believe that all men weren’t bastards." Becoming more passionate he continues "Just because some lads are bastards doesn’t mean they all are." The song, Bressie says sets out to "tell this particular girl who’s been battered her whole life emotionally, that not all men are like that and some men do have good intentions". He says that "it's not really a love song" but that it has "an uplifting positive approach". You can watch him perform it live below:

Speaking about the album itself Bressie says that it's takes it's cues from 80s pop such as Tears For Fears and Duran Duran that in his words is "really well produced" but also admits that "I like the cheesy Whitesnake stuff and the power ballad stuff." Again, he warms up joking that if "Here I Go Again comes on and you’re not smiling forget about it, just go live in Tasmania under a tree or something".

Although Bressie prides himself on his pop roots he has found himself taking on a slightly more serious edge with some of the subject matter on the new album. Pointing out that some of the song are "cyber punk" he notes that one track Animal has because a live favourit. He reckons it's because it touches on the the "things that have happened in the last 2 years" and "how badly we were treated it" and "how we’re gonna come back". 

Despite his brooding-hunk status Bressie cuts a quiet but confident figure as his obvious passion for his new project bubbles to the surface. As we wrap up he discusses his memories of the first Arthur's Day, when The Blizzards followed Dizzee Rascal which he points out shows you how "it's so eclectic". This time around he says he's most excited about catching Scissors Sisters and Ed Sheerhan. His nationwide tour kicks off after Arthur's Day and with Bressie saying "the live show means the world to me", it's sure to be a treat for fans of The Blizzards and Bressie himself. 

For more on Bressie visit his website. Colourblind Stereo is released on the 16th of September, Good Intentions is released on the 9th of September. Can't Stay Young Forever is out now. For more on Arthur's Day click here. Check out Sony Music Ireland on Facebook.

Pop Boys Do Pop Things: Calvin Harris, Will Young, The Drums and.. Olly Murs?

I don't know how many of you went festivaling (yes, it's a word. ahem) recently but I was down at Oxegen DJing multiple times last weekend. I saw only a few bands but given that one of them was surprisingly good Pretty Reckless and the other was Amanda Brunker and Friends it truly was a culturally enriching weekend. I didn't see Beyonce because I was DJing at the time so let's NOT TALK ABOUT THAT PLEASE.


It was a ball but it has completely knocked me for six, I'm only feeling normal now. The upside was having lots of pop treats to catch up on over the last week or so.


While I was "away" lots of male pop types did interesting pop things mainly through the medium of giving us new tunes to listen to. Here are my very succinct and journalistic comments on them:


(1) Calvin Harris has just given us new single Feel So Close. It's a bit dance-y as is Calvin's wont but is not the same sort of dance-y as previous efforts. It's a dance tune that is a bit sad and a bit slow but also fast because it is a dance tune. I really like it and the video is suitably lovely. I was a bit unimpressed with a label press release dubbing it an "emotional rollercoaster" but I felt like a proper cry watching it so be warned.  But overall I would give Calvin 4 slow but fast but slow dance tunes out of five for this one. Well done Calvin. Take the rest of the night off and have a takeaway.

(2) Will Young has come along with his newie Jealousy. We haven't heard from Will much lately as he has been busy doing acting type things and probably clearing out his Sky + box (do you reckon he watches Made In Chelsea?) but now he is back with a sad sack but amazing synth-ish pop number about ... deep stuff. It's V.G. and apparently there are lots more synth delights on the way. I mean if you like Will Young and you like synths this'll be right up your Will Young Synth Street. There is an album coming that is produced by Richard X which in itself is EXCITING news.

(3) The Drums have also popped up with a new number called Money. It sounds like all their other songs but not in a bad way and I would give it 4 Songs that Sound like Your Other Songs out of 5. In other words, I quite enjoyed it. I never understood why The Drums didn't become properly properly huge as they are the perfect jangly indie band with a pop undercurrent but perhaps their new stuff will send them into chart orbit (yes, I just wrote that phrase. Yes, I do feel an appropriate level of shame about it)

(4) Olly Murs has shocked us all with a song that is not stomach-churningly dreadful. Heart Skips A Beat slaps all kind of vogue-ish UK dance music trends together and works way better than it should. It also helps that Rizzle Kicks, the painfully cool but also brilliant rap duo, are on hand to keep things moving along. The song is a little corker and could be the first proper "everybody enjoys this not just X Factor fans" crossover tune in his arsenal. As long as we ignore the video which would be perfectly good if it had less Olly Murs mugging throughout. WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO RUIN YOUR OWN VIDEO OLLY? WHY?

That is your pop boy lot for now. I would like to thank all the pop boys involved for their time and tunes. Calvin Harris and Will Young in particular have made me a bit of an emotional wreck as I type this in a bustling (kind of) Dublin cafe. And if that's not the mark of a good pop tune, then I don't know what it is.

Mistaken Identity & Good Work of ReachOut.com

Confession time: I don't often get to take part in photocalls. Despite my best efforts photographers and PR agencies don't really call me to stand in Stephen's Green holding a banana and winking seductively in a swimsuit. THEIR LOSS I say. 

So you can imagine my surprise when I ended up at a photocall just yesterday. Now, it was for ReachOut.com, a charity I did a video for recently so it wasn't too much of a shock. ReachOut.com is a web service that takes about mental health issues for young people in a matter of fact way that is much needed.

Their latest campaign involves Oxegen festival, wellies and just a smidge of spray paint. This weekend in Dundrum Town Centre the team will be styling up festival headed wellies for only a fiver. They'll put stars, hearts and all sorts of lovely things on them. It's a great way for them to raise funds for the charity and everyone who gets their wellies did (technical term) goes into a draw for VIP camping tickets for Oxegen. It's a welly good prize. Get it? Welly go- never mind.

Part of the photocall involved us running around tied together in wellies, leaping over a sign, and working it while holding a wheelbarrow. It was all very exhausting and quite frankly I can see why Naomi Campbell throws phones at people now. Modelling is hard y'all. Despite my flawless model credentials (I am definitely getting the cover of Cosmo in like, Malta or something soon) the real draw was of course Brian and Dara from Spin 1038 who very kindly use their Spin show to give Reach Out a mention.

So, while I was working it for the camera (Tyra Banks came to me in a vision and said... "SMIZE GURL" and "PACK YO BAGS, WE GOING TO JAAPPPAANN") alongside some festival lovelies  little did I know what was about to happen.

In great news for the charity the lads landed themselves on the frontpage of today's Metro Herald. Lovely. Except, hang on -

WHY AM I ON THE FRONT OF THE PAPER?!? Could it be? My moment of fame? Somebody call my agent! Somebody get me an agent! Somebody call someone!

Oh. Hang on:

Cool. Metro's mistake. Thinking I was Brian "Meagher" from Spin (it's MAHER goys). My dreams of front page glory tainted. Obviously this has not stopped me booking high profile interview slots with many high profile publications (which I cannot name right now) and booking numerous high profile appearances at events which I cannot name at this time.

Meanwhile you can get your wellies made all fabulous at Dundrum this week and rock them down at Oxegen. The line up this year is pretty stellar and yours truly will be DJing on Sunday! How exciting. I'll also be standing around saying things like "Um, I was on the front of the Metro Herald once? I'm basically the male Georgia Salpa".

For more on ReachOut click here. If anyone needs me I'll be e-mailing Assets Models begging for a gig.