R51
Maybe I am just a little bit biased on this one because my boyfriend is the drummer, but I FRICKIN' love this band. The first time I ever heard R51 play live was on me & Matty's like 5th date maybe? He asked me to come to a gig and of course I said yes, whenever a guy is in a band and asks you to go to a show you always say yes. And ever since then I've seen them preform countless times and had perhaps too many sing-a-longs in the car to their EP Pillowtalk which they released on the 25th of March 2015.
Gigs - R51 are forever playing all sorts of different gigs including one at Culture Night Belfast, another for Queen's University Fresher Fest, the Stand for Something Tour in partnership with Dr. Martens and even their own gig in a HMV store (more).
They have played in some pretty awesome venues all over Belfast & N.I. including; QUBSU bar sub & Mandela Hall, Oh Yeah Centre, Nerve Centre, Bar With No Name, Empire and Limelight just to name a few.
Festivals - Even more impressive than that, they've performed in some local festivals too; Aperture, and NI Science festival which seen them perform in the Ulster Museum.
Stendhal Festival of Art
Sunflower festival
The biggest OMG moment I feel that R51 have had thus far is being asked to play on the BBC Introducing Stages at Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2015. There is luckily a video in which you can watch them on stage in action at Reading; R51 - 'I Hate That Too'
Check out ChordBlossom's Tour Diary: R51 – Reading & Leeds
The band are constantly being played on local radio, they've done an electric session for BBC Ulster Radio and I couldn't contain my excitement when I was in work and walked into our stockroom to hear Blast 106 playing 'I Hate That Too', I actually grabbed my phone, started recording it and sent it to Matty! They've also been featured on BBC Radio Ulster's show Across The Line's Track Of The Day a couple of times which you can read about here and here. ATL also wrote a blog post about the band here.
Media & Press - Chordblossom have some articles about the band;
They listed 'PillowTalk' as their no#3 in the Top 25 Northern Irish Songs Of 2015 which is awesome!
Encore NI ALSO named 'Pillowtalk' (which they played in their podcast, episode #3, listen from 16 mins in) as the number 1 track of their top 20 tracks of 2015, read what they had to say here. They wrote a brilliant review of the EP which you can read here and also of the single 'Absolutely Nothing'.
The Thin Air have given R51 some great reviews, read for yourself here, here and here.
Pastie Bap were highlighting a Northern Irish track everyday they were away on a break and featured 'Absolutely Nothing' and then played the song on PastieCast #10, tune in at 2.45 mins in. They too wrote an EP review of Pillowtalk.
Belfast Vibe featured R51 in an article about 6 New Sounds Of The City and they can be found at number 3.
ReverbNation have ranked them #16 in the Belfast, NIR, UK charts, see their profile on the band here.
In a review from GiggingNI, they had this to say about R51 when they performed with Gone All Year; "Backing up the headline slot also presented us with another home grown talent, in the shape of R51. The band delivered an electrifying opening set, filled with electronic sounding alternative pop rock, that threw out some big hitting rocking choruses, alongside hypnotic guitar solos and riffs, all while being glossed over by some massive sounding effects on top. A set that from start to finish was played out like it was being performed in front of thousands of fans, brimming with real energy, passion and a great buzz to start off the night, R51 didn’t disappoint, and lived up to their growing reputation from start to finish."
Also check out their track 'Seaweed' on the Next Generation:Belfast #NextGenBFS podcast by Silas Armstrong available on British Airways flights! (on at about 23:50 on MixCloud)
More info - A couple of ways to find out more about the band is through their website, BandPage and Facebook page, be sure to check for any upcoming gigs and future EP releases.
You can watch the band's music videos and listen to their songs here; YouTube
iTunes
Spotify
Bandcamp
Soundcloud
Matty has made an R51 album on his Vimeo profile in which you can check out all of their music videos.
R51 - 'Pillowtalk'
R51 - 'Seaweed'
R51 - 'Modern Age'
R51 - 'Absolutely Nothing'
I might be the biggest country music & Taylor Swift fan ever, but I do have great taste in music lol trust me. Give them a listen and I promise you won't be disappointed.
Later skaters
Love S xoxo
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