Noise Annoys: new music and gigs from Tom Hingley, Screaming Eagles and Sister Ghost

Tom Hingley – The Grand Mal (album, New Memorabilia)

LONGTIME Noise Annoys readers will be well aware of my love for the organ-grinding garage pop sounds of 1990s indie heroes Inspiral Carpets, so you can imagine my excitement at the news that their former frontman turned solo star Tom Hingley is returning to Ireland this month.

Even better, the Oxford-bred Madchester icon has a brand new album ready to release in the form of The Grand Mal. Written during the pandemic and due out next Friday, it pretty much serves as a showcase for the full spectrum of songwriting and vocal styles Tom has at his disposal.

Listeners who share my enduring affection for his former outfit will definitely enjoy the ‘Inspirals-like throwback’ – his words, not mine – of Farfisa organ-powered garage pop moment Take It Like a Woman, featuring Mock Turtles bass man Andrew Stewardson on the keys (although sadly he doesn’t also serve up a complimentary Clint Boon-esque backing vocal) and Paul Heaton’s drummer Pete Marshall on the stool.

Likewise, How Could I Be So Wrong is a melancholy epic which shares a similar heart-on-the-sleeve vibe to the Inspirals’ top-drawer hit Two Worlds Collide (“what have I done with my life?”). It’s a real stand-out moment, which also features Pete Marshall on drums as well as Kelly Wood (aka Mrs Hingley) on piano.

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Pete is still on the kit for a dirty, swirling space rock grind called My Madness featuring some tasty guitar antics from Mr Hingley himself, who definitely knows how to batter an acoustic into submission but also proves himself to be a capable riff-master here.

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Elsewhere, the sensitive, soulful acoustic guitar-led folk pop tunes like Open Up, White Feathers, Open Up, Actors and Another Bird on A Wire find Tom operating quite comfortably in a more mellow and reflective mood/mode, with heartfelt lyrics about love, loss and life’s uncertainties.

Another album highlight which kind of sits apart from the rest of the record is Easy, a dreamy, bossanova-beat powered ditty which shows off just what a great singer the former Inspirals leader really is – he’s a crooner in the best sense of that term.

See also This Is My First Rodeo, an epic tune with bags of programming-enhanced atmosphere befitting its ode to innocence lost, and the catchy, affecting account of parental indifference that is Harder.

Hopefully, the above will leave you wanting to hear The Grand Mal for yourself, both on record and in person next week alongside a slew of Inspirals favourites at one of Tom’s upcoming Irish tour dates.

Hit up tomhingleynew-memorabilia.bandcamp.com to pre-order the limited vinyl and CD, and put the following solo acoustic live dates into your diary immediately:

• September 13: Portrush, Gathering of The Clans Scooter Rally
• September 14: Dicey Riley’s, Strabane
• September 15: Deer’s Head, Belfast
• September 16: Spirit Store, Dundalk
• September 17: Whelan’s, Dublin

Sister Ghost – I Bite Back (single, Third Bar)

ANOTHER appetising sample from the forthcoming Sister Ghost debut album, I Bite Back finds Ghost host Shannon paying musical tribute to her pop punk-informed past with a defiant ode to exorcising the pesky inner demons we’re all plagued with from time to time, along with those external ghouls who thrive upon exploiting such emotional vulnerabilities.

“This song is about battling depression and anxiety in a world that wants us to give in and give up,” explains the Derry-born musician of her latest melodic rocker.

“It’s about putting in the self-work and understanding the value of your own emotional intelligence, as well as the realisation that people who have low emotional intelligence aren’t worth losing any sleep over. Pick yourself up with kindness and grace and always keep moving forward.

“Musically, it’s mostly highlighting my love of the late-90s/early-00s pop punk and rock diet I fed upon as a kid; Foo Fighters, Green Day, Avril Lavigne, Jimmy Eat World, Sum 41, Blink 182 etc. I also obviously adore playing guitar solos, so this single from the album is a fun example of that.”

Yes indeed, that’s a pretty spot-on assessment of a tune which pairs moody, bass-led verses with soaring, uplifting choruses to shout along to, successfully showcasing another side to the Sister Ghost sound in the wake of previous dreampop-informed single, Dark Matter.

Chew it over at sisterghost.bandcamp.com, where you can also pre-order the aforementioned album, Beyond The Water, due out on October 31.

Screaming Eagles – High Class Rock ‘N’ Roll (album, self-released)

YOU’VE had some High Voltage rock and roll, courtesy of Antipodean guitar gods AC/DC’s recent visit to Ireland, now brace those still-bleeding lugholes for some High Class Rock ‘N’ Roll courtesy of Co Down Accadacca disciples Screaming Eagles.

The Eagles’ third album was a long time in the oven: the Chris Fry-fronted rockers put out their excellent second LP Stand Up and Be Counted way back in 2015, and they only got around to recording this follow-up in 2022 due to the usual Real Life Problems and (obviously) Covid.

Happily, it was worth the wait: High Class Rock ‘N’ Roll delivers exactly what it promises, with 10 big-riffing tracks of no-filler fun tailor-made to get toes tapping, heads banging and pints downed. Big singles like Thunder and Lightning’s unabashedly Bon and Angus-worshipping album opener, the title tune’s mid-tempo Southern-fried blues boogie and Cry Baby’s stomping, driving fusion of the Cult, the Mission and the ‘DC show that Chris and co are pretty handy at assimilating their formative influences in much the same manner as their beer and sweat-soaked brothers from Down Under, Airbourne.

Indeed, that lot would surely be proud to claim late album highlight Burn It Down as one of their own. Elsewhere, the moody and melodic anthemics of Heart of Stone should be studied by Joe Elliott and co as a reminder of the kind of honest-to-goodness catchy, radio-friendly hard rock song they used to specialise in pre-Pyromania, while future single fodder Better Days puts an appealing, Buckfast-flavoured local spin on the classic ‘you and me against the world, babe’ big riffin’ love song formula.

Although the record was actually released in October last year, the DIY-operated ‘Screagles’ (as they like to refer to themselves) are only getting around to celebrating their new magnum opus with an album launch show this week – tonight, in fact, at The Limelight 2.

Expect to hear the guts of HCRNR banged out loud and proud, plus whatever oldies they can remember besides. Tickets are £11 via wegottickets.com, and you can prep your ears with a copy of the album via screamingeagles.com.

GIG RADAR: Upcoming live dates for your diary

• Arab Strap, Arborist - September 11, The Empire, Belfast

• Swami & The Bed of Nails - September 20, Ulster Sports Club, Belfast

• A Place To Bury Strangers - Saturday September 28, Oh Yeah, Belfast

• Kerbdog - Kerbdog 30th Anniversary, Saturday September 28, The Limelight 2, Belfast

Can’t wait for this one: your humble Noise Annoys scribe is so ancient he remembers purchasing Kerbdog on cassette (ask your grandad, they were a bit like mp3s but made of plastic and prone to boaking their guts out at inconvenient moments) from legendary Belfast city centre music shop Dr Robert’s (again, ask granda) on the strength of their Top 40-bothering Dummy Crusher single and some words of praise from a certain Mr Andy Cairns of local alternative punk/metal heroes Therapy?.

Many folks prefer the catchier sound of the ‘Dog’s follow-up LP, On The Turn: admittedly the Kilkenny rockers’ songwriting probably hit its peak on that record, but for my hard-earned pocket money, it’s still hard to beat the Jack Endino-enabled metallic crunch of their 1994 debut.

Expect middle-aged moshpits a-go-go - hopefully St John’s Ambulance will be on stand-by for the incoming wounded.

Tickets via ticketmaster.ie.