Music
Press
“The fact is that songs such as Cold War, Sunny Side Street, Sight of Your Chest, Killer, Frost and Long May You Reign do what really good songs should: sneak up on you, twist preconceptions, change your mind and then take it over. The range of instruments in use, including flugelhorn, mandolin, cello, viola, violin, glockenspiel and xylophone, indicates not so much an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach (which would usually be the case) but an exceptional grasp of texture, tone and theme. A shoe-in for next year’s Choice Music Prize nominations list?”
The Irish Times(Tony Clayton-Lea) - The Irish Times
“Excellent first album – with a dazzling array of instruments and songwriting that has been fine-tuned to a striking degree, the foursome’s laidback sound, coupled with gritty lyrics, recalls The Lemonheads. Long May You Reign has attracted some attention – it’s the song from the Discover N Ireland TV ad campaign – but there’s plenty of tunes just as catchy. Sunny Side Street and Cold War will have you humming their melodies by third listen.”
Irish Independent (Day & Night) - The Irish Independant
“It opens with ‘Blinded and Cross’ with an intro that manages to be both distorted and melodic. Combining the simplicity of a solo mandolin and both hoarse and harmonious vocals, it’s a good indicator of what to expect from the rest of the album. Dinosaur is a collection of contradictions that on paper might suggest a jarring mess, but in reality flows along effortlessly, irrespective of its varied genres and broad range of instruments.
This debut serves to further validate JSC’s place in State’s Faces of 2010, expect to see and hear a lot more from these guys. John, Shelly and the Creatures deserve the rising hype.”
State Magazine (Amanda Kavanagh) - State Magazine
Its rare that I go on about a band so much but this Album is truly spectacular. It is almost like listening to a classical arrangement in ROCK/POP knowing where the cadences/lifts/progressions fall in to place- and always at the right moment. It is just a monumental feat for any band, let alone an ...Irish one. I am going back to give it another listen, and another...and another. 5/5 - Louder Voice
Angeline’s catchy charms should be right up your alley" "makes me wonder why I haven’t heard more about this lot before." David Roy, Irish News. - Irish News
John, Shelly & The Creatures are ‘one of the most exciting new names - bursting with talent - State Magazine
‘effortlessly monumental’ - AU Magazine
Discography
"Big Day Out" (EP) (July 2007),
"Angeline" (Single) (July 2008)
"Long May You Reign" (Single) (February 2010)
"Dinosaur" (Album) (March 2010)
"Killer" (Single) (May 2010)
"FOOLS" (Single) (August) 2010
Photos
Bio
Master & Dog ( Formerly John, Shelly & the Creatures) formed in 2007. The bands original name, John, Shelly and the Creatures came from a chance meeting with two Irish twins named John and Shelly. It's a long story. The band recently changed their name to Master & Dog for various reasons, the name originating from one of the bands favourite songs "Master & Dog" by Quasi.
Master & Dog are made up of band members: Kevin Carlisle (Drums, percussion & vox), Philip Watts d'Alton (guitar, vox, keys, bass, mandolin), Ger Gormley (bass, guitar, mandolin, vox) and Walter (guitar, vox, keys, programming and drums). They are influenced by a wide variety of genres and are unafraid to mix things up when it comes to recording and playing live. 'With a dazzling array of instruments and songwriting that has been fine-tuned to a striking degree, the foursome's laidback sound, coupled with gritty lyrics, recalls The Lemonheads' (Irish Times) and fellow Northern band Snow Patrol. 'Rather than Knock you off your seat with rambunctious riffs or profound ideas, this band are just effortlessly monumental' and maintain a sense of intrigue whilst being immediately powerful and engaging. The stunning graceful and tender effort - LONG MAY YOU REIGN- reads like a summers day smile, whilst their debut album DINOSAUR, is a whole actors handbook of facial expressions (AU Magazine). The band play in select venues and at various festivals throughout the Summer of 2010. 'KILLER' is their follow up to single 'LONG MAY YOU REIGN', which received (and still receives) critical acclaim. It also featured in The Northern Irish Tourist Board TV, Radio and Cinema Advert. They also performed the song live, to over 20,000 spectators in the RDS arena. Which was a high moment for the band in their short career to date.
This is a band unafraid to match their musical peers and they know how to write great music. They signed a publishing deal with Big Life Music Ltd (Snow Patrol, The Verve, Badly Drawn Boy…) being one of the only independent Irish bands to do so. On the lead up to their Debut album launch Master and Dog performed on Ireland’s biggest and most well known TV shows THE LATE LATE SHOW, achieving quite an accomplishment for an unsigned band doing it on their own, then again they are not your average unsigned band. Their album has received rave reviews from national Publications, declaring the band as BRILLIANT.
TV Shows the band have recently featured on:
RTE’S THE LATE LATE SHOW (JAN 2010)
RTE’S TWO TUBE – BAND OF THE WEEK (FEB 2010)
TG4’S POP CEOL (FEB 2010)
TG4’S IMEALL (FEB 2010)
BBC IMEALL CEOL (broadcast date June 2010)
RTE DAVE FANNINGS THE ELEVENTH HOUR (broadcast date MAY 5TH 2010)
Radio stations the band have recently frequented include:
FM104'S THE STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK, RTE RADIO 1- RYAN TUBRIDY RADIO SHOW & TODAY WITH PAT KENNY, NEWSTALKS WEEKEND BLEND, BBC radio 1, BBC Radio Ulster, U105, Downtown Radio, iRADIO'S BREAKFAST SHOW, Midlands breakfast show with Anne-Marie Kelly + lots more!
“Album of the week” on RTE TWO TUBE
“Not only a great band, but a great bunch of lads” Ryan Tubridy- RTE
“Great Music” Pat Kenny- RTE
EPK & Links to the Band:
Website: www.masteranddog.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/masteranddog
Twitter: http://twitter.com/masteranddog
MUZU: www.muzu.tv/jsc
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/jscband
Links
