Noise Control

Have you ever heard a song that's made you stop what you're doing so you can give it your undivided attention? It's one of life's true pleasures that I've have had the good fortune of experiencing on many occasions. You might think that this is a 'Muso' thing, but that's not true, even people with bad taste in music can experience this too!

Over the past number of years, I've come across songs that have literally made me scramble to find out who they're by, and what the song is called. Gems like 'Set Guitars To Kill' by And So I Watch You From Afar, NLF3's 'Shaadonga Falls', and the brilliant 'Audacity Of Huge' by Simian Mobile Disco are some of the tunes that have put a big smile on my face.

At the start of 2010, Dublin band Noise Control unleashed the lead single from what was to be their debut album; it was a track called 'Take It'. They said that they'd adopted a new approach with this song, and collaborated with Shahin Badar (who supplied the vocal on 'Smack My Bitch Up' by The Prodigy). I was familiar with what the band had done before, so was keen to hear how this new song had turned out.

Let's just say when I heard 'Take It' for the first time, I nearly jumped out of my skin! The hypnotic tone of the track is complemented perfectly by Shahin's vocal chant. Was it destined to be a chart-topping anthem or karaoke favourite? Perhaps not, but that's missing the point. On a side, there is nothing cool or even acceptable about karaoke, it's the musical equivalent of wearing a pair of brown socks with your sandals and shorts while on holiday; it screams NO on every level! October saw Noise Control release their debut album Our Life. It's a collection of tunes that took the band four years to record to the standard that they felt happy with for the album.

You could say that this was an excessive amount of time, but when you're making something like an album, you have to make sure that you're happy with it, because once it’s released, it has a permanent attachment to your name. Our Life incorporates that old school sound with new ideas. It tips its hat to The Prodigy, Leftfield and Pop Will Eat Itself, while keeping one eye in the present. Prior to this album, Noise Control's main problem was capturing the impact of their live shows in their studio recordings. Perhaps this explains the duration of the album's creation, but regardless they've succeeded, while adding a layer of maturity that makes it all balance nicely.

Like so many other Irish acts, Noise Control will have to tour extensively outside of Ireland in the new year if they want career longevity, and equally as important, a living. Thankfully people have forgotten about this 'Next Big Thing' fixation that dogged Irish acts in the 80s and 90s, 'Who'll be the next U2?' you'd hear people ask. Noise Control are part of the current crop of acts that are going about things their own way, self-releasing and self-financing. While these cost you, they also afford you creative freedom, which is often invaluable. 2010 was Noise Control's official Christening, so let's hope that 2011 and beyond holds good fortune for them, they certainly deserve it.

by Dan Hegarty - Heineken Music

I’m a firm believer that a good musician’s taste in music should be incredibly eclectic and Noise Control have drawn from a lot of different influences to create “Our life.”
Yeah, ok, it’s easy to say the lads are influenced by The Prodigy, sure they’ve even supported them. But their style is a lot deeper than that.
Yes you can expect to hear lots of samples and triggers… you can also expect to hear a rhythm section tighter than a Gnat’s bum, as well as some great guitar riffs, not to mention guest vocals from the amazingly talented Shahin Badar on the track “Take it.”
This new album from Noise control excites me. It raises the hairs on the back of my neck, it has me nodding my head and smiling and it tells me that original music is alive and kicking in Ireland. - Musicreviewunsigned.com

Dublin band Noise Control are set to become the favourite band of many this Friday as they unleash their debut, 11 track album which is available for free download on variety of sites on 1st October. The band continues to live by their ethos which they formulated on day 1; to make music for everyone to move and be moved by. This debut album looks set to achieve this goal with its unique and powerful fusion of electric guitars and bass, big beat drums, dance inspired synthesizers and hip hop influenced vocals.
Despite being their debut single, the band has garnered quite a reputation on the live circuit as well as being a high energy band. With Liam Howlett claiming to be their biggest fan, Noise Control has also supported world famous dance acts such as; Underworld, Tricky, Asian Dub Foundation, Calvin Harris and of course, the Prodigy.

The lead single ‘Take It’ features Shahin Badar, the dynamic Asian pop star whose silken vocals famously appeared on The Prodigy’s smash hit Single “Smack My Bitch Up”. Badar recently headlined the Festival of World Cultures, at which she invited Noise Control onstage to perform ‘Take It’, an honour repeated by RTE televisions use of the track during the 2010 World Cup and the Champions League Final. Often used by the media as soundtracks for high energy events, Noise Control have never been shy of also maximizing the potential exposure of their tracks through various forms of multimedia, most potently on Disney Interactive’s use of two of the bands tracks on worldwide released XBOX 360 and PS3 racing video game “Pure”.
With a unique sound combined with their ever growing experience of playing the big stage, Noise Control’s debut album is sure to garner the respect they deserve and if there is any justice, propel their energetic, euphoric live performance into the consciousness of music fans around the world. Their next live outing is a slot at Phantom’s First Friday gig in the Academy on Friday October 1st before they launch into a headline show in Dublin’s newest venue, The Grand Social on Saturday Oct 16th followed by a nationwide tour to promote this unique album - Paddy Lonregan

I didn’t really know what to expect when going to see Irish outfit Noise Control at the Gibson rooms; I had a quick look at Noise Controls' MySpace earlier and had read a little press about how Noise Control had been personally picked by Liam Howlett of the Prodigy as support acts. I hadn’t realised until I arrived that actually that is precisely what happened; Noise Control had innocently sent him some of their music, not imagining much to come of it, and in true fashion of what you would never expect to happen, Liam had actually listened to it and further more, selected Noise Control to support. Pretty impressive stuff, considering it was based on their music alone.

....Drink in hand (free booze, woo hoo!), Noise Control came to the stage. A slightly older band than I was expecting (with exception to front man Mark Kid – hence the name, possibly?), they did however look like your typical Does It Offend You Yeah/Pendulum type band; a dressed down act that were refreshingly not about the image in an almost student fashion. After a brief introduction with a strangely un-Irish sounding front man(!), they opened with the first song of the night, 'Solar Star' before moving into one of the highlights of the evening, 'Cities of Dreams' (Noise Controls' current single which is a joint double-A side along with 'Mudbath'). Impressively, both of these songs on the double-A side are going to be featured on the soundtrack for Disney’s’ interactive award winning action video game 'Pure', sharing a listing with We Are Scientists, Pendulum and the Futureheads. Again, not bad work for a band that have only been going two years and have yet to release their debut album.

The live version of 'Cites of Dreams' kept its' polished sound intact, with it's fast paced drum n' bass energy making it an anthem that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Friday night at Fabric. I so far was really enjoying this set, usually a bit of a purist with my rock n' roll preferences (ignorant I know), I was starting to come round to this non dark side of drum n' bass.

But then it truly fell into place with the next song making a huge impact. 'Our Life' could honestly be described as an epic song; my friend commented, "this was meant for a stadium", destined for big things. Full of energy that took you on a journey, bringing their rock element tenaciously into the mix with the lead guitarist going crazy with the wah pedal. It was brilliant stuff.

The set followed on with catchy 'Steel', instantly recognisable from their MySpace, then finishing up with 'Addiction', 'Catch the Race' and finally, the joint double-A side to 'Cities of Dreams', 'Mudbath'. Which, considering the calibre of the mid section of the set, was slightly disappointing as a closer. However, it did deliver in getting the crowd involved with the opening “Do you want to get dirty?” and you can imagine this going down well when they’ve built a bigger solid fan base.

All in all a really enjoyable set and that I would gladly go through again. Considering I never really understood the point of seeing “dance” bands live, I have new insight and can and will go and see dance bands live now. Instead of staring at the band in an almost idolising fashion, you’re meant to just enjoy yourself, have a few drinks, dance around, have fun and not worry about what you or they look like. Everyone’s having fun. Everyone’s a winner. Death to pretentiousness! I'm all for it. Fans of Pendulum, Does it Offend You Yeah and Prodigy will no doubt love this
- Altsounds.com