This Club

HOARSEBOX are cool in that Razorlight kind of
way: They’re spiky and they’re sure of themselves
and, well, in touch with their feminine
side. Which is retro. On this five-tracker they
really don’t whole back, with “bad morning
breath” and “whore” being used in the same sentence.
I don’t see the connection, but then again I
am a lot more innocent than these rock ‘n’ roller types. Tales Of The Workplace
soars, like a Jack White song, complete with shrieky singing about having nothing
to lose but those dancing shoes. Do It To The Letter is a good, solid number
and All I Need Now is their effort at being deep. Youngsters today are so fickle,
but they can string those images together nicely ala Mika. There’s potential.
Catch them at the Phantom First Friday gig, Andrew’s Lane, Dublin, on May 1.
- Evening Echo

Formerly known as Hoarsebox, This Club release their debut single under their new guise this Friday. ‘I Won’t Worry’ is the kind of indie-pop song that deserves to be heard by lots and lots of people. It’s the kind of song that would sit alongside ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ in the summer song stakes with its cheery disposition, harmonies and bright instrumentation.
The song was mixed by Joe Zook, an LA producer who has mixed Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Timbaland and Weezer, Modest Mouse and um, VV Brown. If you’re impressed by that sort of thing.
Ireland’s new bands are certainly learning their way around a pop chorus. More of this please.
A debut album produced by Dennis Herring is forthcoming on Warner Music Ireland.
- Nialler9.com

Get ready for your minds to be well and truly blown, folks. Yesterday a brand new track appeared on the front page of Neon Gold. It’s exuberant, it’s lively and quite frankly absolutely genius. Titled ‘I Won’t Worry’, it comes from Dublin based four piece This Club and it’s quite literally the best thing since sliced bread, to coin the phrase.
This Club comprise of an all-male quartet – Johnny Holden, Philip Broadbery, Kieran Walkin and Max Carpio. It’s not really what you’d expect to hear in terms of sound and style coming out of Ireland, but it’s a timely addition to the world of new, exciting and quirky arrivals that are quite simply keeping afloat the sinking ship. They were formerly known as ‘Hoarsebox’, but have since returned under a new alias with their first single release, ‘I Won’t Worry’.
Let’s be honest here. If Cher Lloyd can get to number one with the drap that she called ‘Swagger Jagger’, you’d think it’d be pretty plain sailing for an outfit of such charisma, talent and character to do the same. Unfortunately, as we all know, it’s not how it works anymore – but there’s always us to give the real gems a good mention or ten.
This Club have recently been away for a while, spending a large amount of 2010 in Mississippi recording their debut studio album. The full length was produced by Dennis Herring, who we know well having worked with the likes of now-Shins-ex-Modest Mouse drummer Joe Plummer.
‘I Won’t Worry’ is taken from the forthcoming release, mixed by Joe Zook – a highly capable L.A based mixing engineer who’s catalogue features some of the industries biggest names. Filled with layered synths, sparkling guitar riffs and a whole heap of almost glam-pop magic, I Won’t Worry has to be one of the best debuts from a band in a good while, don’t you think?
Having completed two highly successful mini-US tours, it’s expected that the band will announce a string of Irish live dates in the coming months in the build up to the release of their debut full length, expected to be released later in the year.
The new single will be released on August 12th and will be available worldwide as a digital download. As the good folk over at Neon Gold put it, This Club won’t bring the people to the party, they’ll bring the party to the people. We tend to agree, and if there was an award for the most exciting Irish band out there right now, This Club would be running all the way back to Dublin with it tucked away in their back pockets.
Take a listen to ‘I Won’t Worry’ and let us know what y’all think!
- Clixie.co.uk

This Club, a four piece out of Dublin, arrive on the scene like the Robin to Delphic's Batman, but raised on a healthy diet of vocal acrobatics and mental gymnastics. The intro to "I Won't Worry" cuts in like the counterpoint to "Doubt", leading to cries of palpable emotion with optimistic (almost idealistic) synth throws and mega guitar riffs, elements kindly borrowed from the Two Door Cinema Club school of pop.
But there's also a heavy tropical influence somewhere between Fela Kuti and The Holidays that allows This Club to add up to far more than just the sum of its parts. Basically it's another summer staple for your headphones, complete with an epic breakdown that begins as a handclap-laden hook before being completed by a twisting bassline and shouting harmonies.
This won't bring the people to the party, this will bring the party to the people.
- Neon Gold Blogspot

The final offering of the month made the biggest impression. Hoarse Box is a four man band out of Ireland. The EP they sent in has five songs on it in a pop/rock style. The packaging was a simple, mostly cardboard, case with a hand drawn mascot figure as a consistent theme throughout. I liked the simple use of color and art and felt it represented the band well. A track list was on the back and the inside cover had the who-does-what next to hand drawn pictures of the band members. Also contained within was basic contact and production information.
Seeing the band was from Ireland before I listened to it gave me some preconceived thought as to how they would sound. I imagined a U2 or Cranberries type of somber approach, and was surprised by music that was quite the contrary. The arrangements were tight and upbeat. The music was light and full of energy. Overall a complete musical identity was portrayed and the consistent musicianship was a joy to listen to.
These guys are all very talented musicians and while I can’t identify one talent above another, this speaks more to the consistency of the band members rather than there being a weak link. Most impressive was the use of jazz progressions throughout while laying a nice rock feel over it. Johnny Holden’s keyboards seem to be the glue holding many of these difficult arrangements together, but there are no weaknesses from any of the band members.
I was thoroughly impressed with all four members vocally. While most bands can’t put up one decent singer Hoarse Box seems to have four. I really enjoyed the use of dissonance and staccato rhythms that usually expose any vocal weakness. With Hoarse Box, however, it just drew me in and flowed really well. They must have fun writing the vocal arrangements knowing they can do almost anything with it, and pull it off.
Lyrics could use some work. With the musical ability in place I would have liked to hear a bigger exploration of thought. There was a real chance to push the envelope lyrically and I don’t think as much effort was put in to it as was put into the music arrangements.
Production was very clean and balanced. Philip Blaise Magee and Ger McDonnel stayed true to the sound and presented a great musical picture. There seemed to be special attention placed on each and every note.
I enjoyed what HoarseBox sent and would love to hear more.
- New Sound Magazine

Dublin quartet Hoarsebox have been causing quite a stir in the last year both on their hometurf and across the pond. As the first band in Ireland to launch their own iPhone app, Connected’s curiosity was tweaked and so we headed to Whelan’s on the 26th of November to witness the wonder of Hoarsebox in action.

Having been vitalised by a great support act, the crowd had grown and was chomping at the bit for Hoarsebox. Somewhere around 9.20 Hoarsebox took to the stage amidst some impressive flashing strip lights and looking distinctly cleaner shaven than their promo posters. Make no moustache about it, these guys didn’t mess about as they launched straight into a set that was packed with more effervescence than a Berocca in a glass of Red-Bull!
Standout track of the evening ‘Do it to the Letter’, their last single, induced a near whip-lashing frenzy of dancing and handclapping enmasse and was filled with more do-do-do-do’s than a thrill could shrilly trill! Showcasing tracks from the Cuckooland EP like ‘Tales of the Workplace’ and ‘All I Need Now’ but also testing out a couple of new tracks like ‘Work Party’ (a sort of 80’s disco meets The Life Aquatic vibe), spouting lyrics like ‘Help me party’ – as if they had to ask! – the punters loved them for it! A quirky mixture of rock, soul, pop, intricate melodies and desperately cleverly catchy lyrics, I defy anyone not to be drawn in by the part !!!, part Stevey Wonder, part Steely Dan elements of Hoarsebox’s sound.
Infectious melody ‘Rosey’ wouldn’t allow for a single stationary foot in the venue and demanded lots of feel good hands-in-the-air action ,while encore tune ‘Inside Out’ trounced out a slightly heavier sound to the rest of the set, it seemed the perfect end to one of Dublin’s most vital band’s performance. We highly recommend getting yourselves off to catch one of Hoarsebox’s shows, but if you can’t, well . . . . there’s an iphone app for that!
- CONNECTED MAGAZINE