Ham Sandwich
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Ham Sandwich

Dublin 1, Leinster, Ireland | Established. Jan 01, 2003 | SELF

Dublin 1, Leinster, Ireland | SELF
Established on Jan, 2003
Band Alternative Rock

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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"ham sandwich"

One of the better Irish albums of 2008 was Carry the Meek, from this Kells band with the wonky name. It was good, but White Fox knocks six bells of crap out of it, such is the advance in songwriting, arranging and the general sense of achievement. Structurally, also, the album is leagues ahead. Coming in at 33 and a third minutes, which is a nice retro joke, White Fox’ s brevity is matched by a level of quality that breathes through songs such as The Naturist, title track Models , The Fog, In December, Anim als and all the rest. In fact, there isn’t a duff tune here, which makes it that very rare thing: an album you can listen to all the way through without being tempted to press fastforward. - the irish times


"ham sandwich"

One of the better Irish albums of 2008 was Carry the Meek, from this Kells band with the wonky name. It was good, but White Fox knocks six bells of crap out of it, such is the advance in songwriting, arranging and the general sense of achievement. Structurally, also, the album is leagues ahead. Coming in at 33 and a third minutes, which is a nice retro joke, White Fox’ s brevity is matched by a level of quality that breathes through songs such as The Naturist, title track Models , The Fog, In December, Anim als and all the rest. In fact, there isn’t a duff tune here, which makes it that very rare thing: an album you can listen to all the way through without being tempted to press fastforward. - the irish times


"Olympia review of ham sandwich"

From the second that opening track, Nevertalk , kicked in, it was clear that it was going to be a gig to remember. Ham Sandwich certainly delivered. There are few bands who are more deserving of a big stage than Ham Sandwich are, and showed they were immensely grateful for anybody who had packed into the Olympia to see them play.

The band were accompanied by a duo of violinists and a trumpeter for the entire set, who added an extra layer to a band who already sound so full, and it enhanced it greatly. The stage had anywhere between nine and twelve musicians on stage during the gig.

From start to finish, they never once slowed down. It’s hard to believe that Ham Sandwich have only released two albums to date, with a third due out at the tail end of the summer. The brilliant ‘White Fox’ was played almost in its entirety, and the audience sang along to every word of each song they were treated to. Podge looked like somebody who was playing music in front of people for the very first time, and rarely stopped leaping around during the entire set. At the end of the first song, he addressed the audience with a simple: “Are you’s ready for a good time?!”

Four new songs that will feature on the new album were played, as well as a cover of Donna Summer’s Show Me Love. Models was a particular highlight, with the audience accompanying the overwhelmed Niamh during the chorus. The main body of the set finished with The Naturist, but it wasn’t long until the band re-emerged onto the stage. The ever enticing Ants closed out the set on a soaring high note, while giant balloons filled with confetti bounced above the crowd.

Despite the size of Ireland, the calibre of music that we churn out is at a very high level, and Ham Sandwich are testament to that. They are a band that have remained humble despite their continuous success and ever growing fan base, and it just adds to their appeal.

The release of their much anticipated third album at the end of the summer will be one not to miss, as well as the shows proceeding it. - Golden plec.com


"Arcade Fire and Pixies supported by Ham Sandwich"

A near capacity crowd at Marlay Park delighted in the over the top production and belted out the Canadian band’s numerous anthems. Win Butler came out accompanied by his band mates dressed in U2 bobbleheads to ‘Where the Streets have no name’, before quickly apologising, much to the amusement of the crowd and launching into Reflektor single ‘Normal Person’.

That was a mere appetiser however as ‘Rebellion’ set the tone for the rest of the set with the crowd bellowing along with the chorus. The following hour and half treated the crowd to a range of material off each of their albums with Butler even “going to church” with rarely performed ‘Intervention’.

The new album got a good airing as the stage show embraced the sci-fi, kaleidoscopic feel of ‘Reflektor’ and Butler gave his support to the recent gay pride parade in Dublin before a group of skeletons danced along to ‘We Exist’.

Other stage elements included a reflective robot man speaking in Irish and Regine crooning from her perch for ‘Joan of Arc’ while there was a ceremonial tearing up of a Miley Cyrus photo, referencing the Sinead O’Connor saga earlier this year. The headliners closed with a confetti-laden ‘Here Comes the Night Time’ as the sun set, before a special, raucous rendition of ‘Wake Up’.

Supporting the headliners were influential rockers Pixies who provided a striking contrast to the following act. Frank Black has never been overly interested in presentation or crowd interaction, preferring to power through a 22 song set at breakneck speed.

The American legends attracted a number of older fans which lent an interesting blend to the crowd. Those fans were not disappointed as the Pixies played a ‘Doolittle’ heavy set with early releases ‘Ed is Dead’, ‘Isla de Encanta’ and ‘Nimrod’s Son’ also included.

‘Hey’ and ‘Where is my Mind?’, always live favourites, were particularly well-received but the atmosphere noticeably dipped during the new releases. The set came to an abrupt end after ‘Tame’ when Black’s guitar died, just one of a number of technical issues during the set, and they subsequently walked off with many expecting an encore that didn’t arrive.

It was a slightly sour end to an otherwise cracking set and sadly deprived the crowd of ‘Debaser’. Pixies are obviously not the visceral force of nature they were in their prime but such is the quality of the material they released back then that the set was thoroughly entertaining.

The fact that their entire set was played in daylight didn’t help but it didn’t seem to effect Irish group Ham Sandwich who as usual produced a hugely enjoyable, energetic set. Seemingly incredulous at having achieved their “10-year project of supporting the Pixies” they were spurred on to an excellent performance that culminated in ‘Ants’, their signature song. Also supporting were Dublin electronic/indie band TVVINS who went down well even if much of the crowd didn’t arrive until after their set.

In general, it was excellent day out even if unfortunately that’s how many of the crowd treated it. For most of the supporting acts, including Pixies, most of the crowd were still sitting down, chatting and getting food. The atmosphere wasn’t helped by the long summer evening with a noticeable change in mood after darkness descended.

Also logistically it was a nightmare at times with massive queues building for the toilets, to the point that people were queuing to leave them! Meanwhile, poorly signposted exits led to delays and a number of people had trouble with buses and taxis as a result.

None of that is Arcade Fire’s fault though and they certainly held up their part of the bargain sending the crowd home happy, even if did take longer than they hoped. - The Daily Shift


"HamsandwicH at The Olympia Theatre, Dublin 2015"

“We’re Ham Sandwich“, says a beaming Niamh Farrell.”We’re still Ham Sandwich”. There must have been times in the past ten years when that was in doubt, in terms of the name but also their continued existence as a band. Those testing times seem long behind them though and tonight, as pretty much everything since the release of Stories From The Surface, is about celebrating the present. It’s not their first time headlining this grand old venue yet there is a sense that this time they mean business.

A little too much business perhaps. Tonight the five full time band members are joined by their regular brass / keys / violins trio plus an additional quartet of players, as well as an impressive stage production. While the latter is used to great effect, the extra musical components are deployed perhaps a little too often – in contrast to the album’s hugely effective moments of light and shade. The desire to fill this space is understandable and at best it’s stirring stuff (this is perhaps the best live act on these shores right now after all) yet at times it’s overplayed, even messy at points.

The distance they’ve travelled is evident when they dip briefly into the Carry The Meek era (“this is how we used to sound”, quips Farrell) and the orchestral arrangements are replaced by distorted guitars. You wouldn’t want a whole night of it yet ‘Words’ and a superb ‘Never Talk’ – complete with the brass section appearing up high in the Olympia boxes – are proof that the songwriting chops were always there. And it’s those songs that carry them through, no matter what the circumstances. The beautifully formed double of ‘In Perfect Rhymes’ and ‘Long Distance’ take the evening up a notch before ‘The Naturist’ sends things into overdrive. It’s followed by the show’s crowning moment, musically at any rate, as support and recent State Faces guests Third Smoke, join them to add extra vocal weight to the gorgeous ‘To Replicate’. Then, exactly four years after that memorable Forbidden Fruit moment, ‘Ants’ does what ‘Ants’ always does, connects with the audience on a major scale and the night becomes the party it always promised to be.

Having finally got the Olympia on its feet, the encore takes an odd turn with a cover of Talking Heads’ ‘This Must Be The Place’ which looks great fun on stage, if it does go above the heads of many out front. ‘Illuminate’ rescues us however, culminating in a mass of giant balloons and showering confetti. There have been times in the last few years, from the release of White Fox, when Ham Sandwich have left us choked up with emotion and a feeling that for once the underdogs were fighting back. There’s none of that tonight, as they are exactly where they should be. At long last, Ham Sandwich have brought this chapter to a close. Now for the next one… - State.ie


"Irish Independent Newspaper review of new no 1 Album"

The new album was produced by Karl Odlum, who also produced their last album White Fox and the band’s 2008 debut, Carry The Meek.

“The biggest change about this new album,” admits band Podge of HamsandwicH, “is that we’re majorly fussy about it. Most artists will say that the best ideas come easy, without much effort in the creative process, but that’s debatable.

"Throughout the gathering of the new material, we worked very hard and had many ideas for each song. Ultimately, we didn’t want to write anything contrived.”

The full track-listing for Stories From The Surface is: Hold Me Up, Apollo, Square 3, Illuminate, Fandango, In Perfect Rhymes, To Replicate, Broken (Start Over), Satellite, All Worthwhile - Irish Independent


Discography

Sad Songs - Ep 2006
Carry the Meek -Album 2008
singles 2006-2009
sad songs
st christopher
words
keepsake
nevertalk
broken glass

White Fox - album 2010
singles 2010
the naturist
oh- oh

Photos

Bio

The difference a few years can  make in the life of a band can be many things, not least surprising and  educational. They say a week is a long time in politics, but a few years  in music is multiple lifetimes. And so Hamsandwich, the band you thought  you knew very well, has turned into Hamsandwich, the band you second guess  at your peril. You can tick the boxes here: a support slot at Slane  Castle, a direct special request to support Mumford & Sons at Phoenix  Park, an invitation to the President of Ireland’s Garden Party on the lawn  of his rather stately gaff. Not bad going for a band once battling with  the dreaded ‘quirky’ tag, is it?

You can hear the difference  in Hamsandwich’s new single, Illuminate, which is as light as a  feather. You can see the difference when they perform onstage – where  there was once a band that seemed to revel in the occasional ramshackle  live show now there is self-confidence, assurance and a sense of humour  that is less slapstick and more on the subtle side.

It has  been over three years since the release of Hamsandwich‘s garlanded second  album, White Fox, and while it remains for many something of a  masterclass in quality indie pop (it featured in Irish Times’ writer Tony  Clayton-Lea’s acclaimed book, 101 Irish Records You Must Hear Before  You Die) it is now viewed by the band as just their very astute second  album.

“It’s good that the songs on White Fox are  still loved,” says Podge McNamee. “For such a short album it’s had a  remarkably lengthy life, and to be honest, reworking White Fox  through many gigs slowed down the writing for the new album; in fact, we  almost rewrote White Fox, and that was something we weren’t used  to. Most bands will tell you that the real way to learn your material is  to get out of your comfort zone, and strip the songs down to the bare  bones.”

Hamsandwich realised that being uncomfortable isn’t  necessarily a bad thing – you learn from your mistakes, you experience  things you wouldn’t otherwise encounter.

“That’s what has  made writing songs for the new album so good and exciting,” continues  Podge. “We’ve fallen in love with song arrangements, and discovered that  we all have a strong knack for it."

“That came  off the back of playing so many gigs with so many musicians on stage,”  adds Niamh Farrell. “It was very natural for us to progress to the level  of wanting more of that on the new album. Unlike with White Fox,  when we play the new songs live we’re not reworking them because they’re  already there for us.”

The as-yet  untitled forthcoming album is produced by Karl Odlum (who also produced  White Fox and the band’s 2008 debut, Carry The Meek). Along  with such a continuous thread stitched throughout the band’s ten-year  existence is – as Podge has referenced – a quest to be different yet  distinctive.

“You want to aim for, achieve and retain  these,” says Niamh, “so that people can listen to the new material and  know it isn’t going to sound like previous albums, yet it’s still going to  sound like Hamsandwich. You want, ideally, people to hear the song on the  radio without the DJ or presenter introducing the band name, but the  listener will know it’s us.”

“The biggest change  about this new album,” admits Podge, “is that we’re majorly fussy about  it. Most artists will say that the best ideas come easy, without much  effort in the creative process, but that’s debateable. Throughout the  gathering of the new material, we worked very hard and had many ideas for  each song. Ultimately, we didn’t want to write anything  contrived.”

“The longevity of White Fox helped us to  become more assured,” remarks Niamh, “especially in our live shows. That  has a knock-on effect on going in to record new material – it’s an  absolute boost.”

“Musically, we’re braver,” adds Podge. “By  saying that, we’re not trying to show off our improvement as a band, we’re  just celebrating it.”

And what of the new single,  Illuminate? The brand new song from a reconditioned, revitalised  band is the teaser/taster for what’s to come.

“I’m excited  for people to hear it,” says Niamh, “and I’m glad that this is the first  single from the forthcoming album, because there were a few options. As  the process for selecting the first single went on, however, we knew that  the song came from a different place.”

Illuminate is Hamsandwich’s new single, taken from their as-yet  untitled
third album.

Band Members