Goldenplec Magazine - James Hendicott

Music August 10, 2015

GoldenPlec Magazine Issue 3

GoldenPlec Magazine 3 GoldenPlec Magazine issue 3 is now with us! You can find spots around Ireland to grab a copy here (we’ll be adding a London location shortly), and if you’re outside of our immediate area, we have a few copies left on eBay, here.

While we’re proud of everything we’ve put out so far, I think it’s fair to say issue three feels like something of a coming of age. It defines everything I hoped this magazine would turn out to be – we look at the macro story of Irish music (through the development of BIMM, for example, and through an analysis of the value of music photography, and an incredible chat with musician turned filmmaker Myles O’Reilly).

We also take the chance to hype some acts we really care about. Bitch Falcon might seem an unlikely cover choice, given they’ve only released three singles, but that’s kind of the point: we think they’re potential world beaters, and running a magazine like this is a chance to throw a serious hat-tip to someone when you think they warrant it. Bitch Falcon warrant it (go and listen to them, or better still, see them live, where they really excel). Having done the cover interview myself, I can also tell you they have a lot to say about who they are and what’s going on around them. This was an interview that was chopped to probably 10-15% of what we actually talked about, and it was an effort to condense as a lot of it was truly fascinating.

We also chatted to Lisa Hannigan about her move into voice acting in ‘Songs of the Sea’, and Wolf Alice, who are proving one of 2015’s great rising stars. We covered the Marlay Park action for Longitude Festival, as well as the usual selection of Irish album reviews.

There’s a lot of work that goes into this stuff by a lot of people: Stephen Byrne, my co-editor, is one of those people who just gets things done, and done well. If you’re not impressed by David Dooley’s design, well, I don’t know what to say, because I think it’s fantastic (he’s available for freelance work, head over here). Ros Madigan and Sean Smyth were both their usual powerhouse selves.

But you can’t judge a magazine by its online blurb, so you’ll have to pound the pavements (or eBay) and tell us what we did right/ wrong this time round.

I’ll throw up an online link when all the physical copies are gone (and they’re flying, so grab one quick!). For now, it’s paper only, folks!

Music May 20, 2015

GoldenPlec Magazine Issue 2

gp mag2 If you’ve somehow managed to miss GoldenPlec Magazine Issue 2 by some strange quirk of life like… I don’t know… living outside of Ireland (or the general Shoreditch area… go ahead, call us hipsters!), it’s now online for your leisurely perusal through Issu.

We decided to go with Conor O’Brien’s Villagers on the cover for issue 2, for a number of reasons which obviously include his latest release. Perhaps more important, though, is his personal and emotive stance on the up and coming marriage equality referendum here in Ireland. Conor’s interview piece is an evocative take on his own love life, and how it plays out in the music of his fantastic third album Darling Arithmetic (check out the limited edition gold vinyl if you can still dig one out; it’s a work of art), through both lyrics and the general though process behind what he put together this time out.

Other interviewees at the forefront this time are HamsandwicH, who joined Villagers in getting to number one in Ireland with their album Stories from the Surface, out the same week as the magazine hit the shelves back in early April. The Vaccines talked about English Graffiti, while the prolific Anna Job gave us a lowdown on her second home, Berlin, or more specifically it’s world-renowned clubbing scene.

The festival section offers up a brief foray into what’s hot for the coming months, and we have nine Irish albums and a few top gigs, including Muse’s first show in nearly a year in Belfast, all reviewed.

If you can’t resist the smell of print in the morning, give me a shout, we still have a small pile left that’ll go out at cost rate. Otherwise, dig in!

Music February 9, 2015

GoldenPlec Magazine Issue 1 – Issu/ Wrap Up

We’re absolutely blown away to learn that almost every copy of GoldenPlec Magazine has disappeared from the shelves after just over a week. Tower in Dawson Street (Dublin) still has some on stock, as I restocked them Friday afternoon, but most of the 2,000 we printed, most seem to be already occupying people’s kitchen tables or providing some good screen-free bathroom reading. The last place I can absolutely guarantee you a copy (for now) is over on eBay, where we have forty something left up for grabs at cost price, deliverable anywhere. If you’re feeling lazy/ cheap/ don’t want to wait, though, we have it up on Issu here, so dive straight in:

Music January 27, 2015

GoldenPlec Magazine: Issue 1

It’s been a full-on few weeks getting GoldenPlec Issue 1 to the full-on print stage, and a long, rewarding journey to going to print at all. There’s no denying that print is a risk these days. Let’s face it, print publications are dying out all around us, yet when Stephen and I met with GoldenPlec head honcho Aidan back in October to persuade him that going to hard copy was an add on to the long-standing (and mighty impressive after its recent re-furbish) website might be a good (bold) idea, it actually wasn’t that tough of a sell.

I think the reason is quite simple: the people at GoldenPlec aren’t looking at financials, largely. I mean I’m sure Aidan would love to be rolling in cash from the whole endeavour and dispersing it across the team and the scene, but the reality is that the team is made up of people more interested in promoting and contributing to the local music scene than in the practical realities of the time, money and effort that involves. Barriers just seem to break down in the place. Not that they don’t take the realities seriously: if they didn’t, we wouldn’t be close to having such a beautiful magazine hitting the shelves this week.

It’s just spare time, favours and positive vibes galore to get this thing off the ground, and the whole team have been absolutely magnificent, particularly Stephen with his hardcore editing, David with a design that genuinely takes my breath away, and Ros for the sheer volume of successful PR and being the driving force behind it all. From sorting content back in November to the mad rush of the last week, which has been full of (ongoing) distribution, late-night edits and a thread of emails as long as my arm, it’s all come together so well. Between us we’ve been live on RTE television, 2FM, 98FM, TxFM and Radiomade, made a radio ad on TxFM and expect coverage in the Sunday Business Post and generally had a really positive reaction which has been pretty overwhelming at times. The tweet below kind of sums it up for me – the magazine out in the real world, doing what it was intended to do, and someone we don’t know sending us a message to say how much they’re enjoying it. I know it won’t always be such a love-in. It can’t possibly be. But it’s been really quite special.