Hothouse Flowers to light up weekend's festival in Skibbereen
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Thursday July 29 2010
THE story of the Hothouse Flowers is the stuff that legends are made of.
Over the past quarter-of-a-century they have gone from busking on the streets of Dublin to selling out venues across the world, along the way earning a deserved reputation as one of Ireland's most exciting bands.
From 1985 to 1994 the band recorded three albums and toured the globe, their unique brand of Irish-rooted 'rock 'n soul' allowing then to step above the bland, popinspired music that dominated the period.
From the min-nineties on however the band stepped away from the limelight as each of them perused solo projects, never quite going away but happy to take charge of their own musical direction.
"In many ways we did not feel in control of what we were doing," said guitarist and co founder of the band Fiachna Ó Braonáin.
"We had achieved a huge level of success which was incredibly exciting. However we all felt as though we needed a time-out in order to take stock of what we had achieved and what we wanted to do in the future in our personal and private lives," he told The Corkman.
Over the next couple of years Fiachna, along with the other two founding bands members Liam Ó Maonlaí and Peter O'Toole between them performed an impressive list of guest appearances alongside the likes of The Waterboys, Michelle Shocked and Carly Simon.
"Liam summed up the general feeling when he said that we were really 'putting the ship into dry dock'. That period really allowed us to reinvigorate ourselves, both individually and collectively," said Fiachna.
In 1997 the Hothouse Flowers released their fourth album Born and began touring again with the three founder members at the core of the band.
Since then they have reremerged as a true force on the live global music scene, playing venues across the world and appearing at festivals including Glastonbury and Oxegen.
This coming weekend the band will play the Cork Southwest X festival in Skibbereen, appearing on the bill alongside other headline acts including Martha Wainwright, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and the Frank and Walters.
"We love playing the smaller festivals. Part of the fun of them is that you get to meet with other bands and mix with fans, unlike the bigger events where that connection is often lost," said Fiachna.
"We are very much a live band and enjoy the intimate atmosphere at smaller events such as this. That we are still being invited to play them at all after 25-years is a great thrill for the band," he said "We are really looking forward to getting back down to Cork and being part of this brilliant festival," he added.
Tickets for next Saturday's Murphy's Cork X Southwest Festival cost €55 from www.tickets.ie.
For more details of the festival and a full line-up visit www.corkxsw.com.
- BILL BROWNE
