Music
Press
………………The Chakras were, for me, the highlight of the night. Frontman Rocky is great to watch. A graduate of the Ian Brown school of performance- no bad thing- he also has some of the showmanship of Bono in his Live Aid heyday. Their bouncy, Brit Pop infused songs got many a head bobbing. Brian ‘Peppo’ Pepper on the keys enhances the melodies without venturing into bland Keane/Coldplay territory.I strongly urge you to see this group in action …… - Rachel Gallery (Hotpress Magazine)
The Chakras have forged a reputation as one of the most exciting and unpredictable live bands in Dublin. Crawdaddy was the chosen venue for this event. It’s is the ideal location for such an event from the outset. The venue has the feel and look of a sweaty rock n roll club. The boys arrived on stage around 10 to an ovation from the two hundred and fifty people present. It was quite an impressive sight. The set blasted off, Rocky immediately getting to grips with the crowd. As the set progressed the people were demanding more and the band gave it to them. A great gig…… - Kevin Coleman (Roadhouse Magazine)
……………The Chakras, I must confess, had me hooked within the first few seconds of their set. As soon as they began to play they had most of the crowd in the palm of their hand with their high-energy performance as lead singer Ross danced around the stage from the first few notes. Their music is hard to pin down, but grabs the listener with its sheer enthusiasm, intelligent lyrics and rocking melodies. By this stage people were standing on the stairs, dancing in the aisles and anywhere they could find room to move to top-notch tunes such as “Viva La Republica” and “Raincloud”, and it was clear that the band were having as much fun on stage as the audience were having listening and dancing along with them. Definitely ones to watch, and if you manage to see them without falling for their charms, you are a stronger person than this reviewer……… - Lisa Rooks (Roadhouse Magazine)
The CD is in the CD drive, winamp has been opened and shuffle has been turned off. Rocky tells me that they’ve recorded this EP in their bedroom! I’ve seen them live and loved them but I don’t know what to expect from that statement. Home recording is quite popular these days but it’s rarely done right. Sounding not at all like it was recorded in their bedroom Build Me a Swan is new, fresh, dark atmospheric music. It’s what emo aspires to be but emo is too busy with its multicoloured hair up it‘s own arse and it doesn‘t explore the dark side of soft rock. It is quite difficult to describe The Chakras sound, as it’s quite impossible to liken them to other bands or to fit them into a particular genre. My first time seeing The Chakras was at a Hedrons gig and I was blown away. To be honest they were the highlight of the evening. Who were this band fronted by a man who moves around the stage like he was possessed by Jim Morrison’s ghost? The Chakras manage all this without sounding in anyway pretentious.
“Build Me a Swan” marries dream-pop with cleverly constructed rock guitar riffs. It’s a realisation of melancholy resulting in a euphoric progression. The floaty/dreamy “Unborn Love” wouldn’t be out of place at the crucial tear jerking scene in a movie dealing specifically with teenage angst. It is a “wall of sound” which Rocky’s distinctive vocals never ever fade into. “Shooting High” starts off like the slow build up of an acid trip but it’s then gate-crashed by Placebo on copious amounts of amphetamines. “African Dirge” is a short slow building crescendo of softly chanting vocals. Life is growing starts of as a fuzzy shoe gazer with a soft then surprised me with a glistening reggae inspired chorus breaking back into the trippy hippy sound that The Chakras are just far too good at expressing. My friend Yugoslavia is the standard pop track which holds the EP together. The vocals in Starlight are very 60’s pop sang over early nineties grunge guitar. I predict The Chakras will continue to enjoy mainstream success for years to come. - Nicola Marie O Riordan (Drop-D.ie)
Discography
Raincloud (3/3/06) #21 in Irish charts
1. Raincloud
2. Bathe in my love
Dark Days (14/7/06) #18 in irish charts
1. Dark Days
2. The Journey
Build me a Swan mini album (21/4/07)
1. Build me a Swan
2. Unborn Love
3. Shooting High
4. African Dirge
5. Life is still growing
6. My Friend Yugoslavia
7. Starlight
Tracks can be heard at www.myspace.com/thechakras
Photos
Bio
Band biographies will be the death of me; I just plain don't like them. I've yet to read one that doesn't make me want to puke bile and vomit all over the street. And yet I sympathise. Trying to fit two and a half years and six personalities onto a single piece of white is as difficult as playing a strategic game of chess on some high-grade hallucinogenic. Either way that goddamn horse is freaking me out.
So where to start? Well, I'm not really gonna tell you how we met cause who cares and it's more mysterious this way. We started making indie pop music cause we loved the idea of the Beatles starting with She Loves You and Primal Scream starting with Sonic Flower Groove. They left themselves loadsa room to progress their music and lead the audience down the garden path. While we still love that idea we thought we'd be signed by now and as we've got tired of waiting our music is starting to go into second phase already...Build me a Swan honey
And thats where we're at. Second phase. We've got a bit more hair on our knackers and a few more tricks up our sleeves. I do confess this new sound we're trying for has me excited. I find myself thinking about it even when I walk the streets. This is a bit of a tangent but music is pretty weird, isn't it? Like imagine being the first person ever to sing loud. I'd say it got pretty awkward in that room. People making their excuses. Or laughing till they cried cause it made such perfect sense. And the even weirder thing is, it doesn't matter who the first person was. It would have happened anyway.
I suppose if i don't put in some real info the lads will kill me so we released our first mini-album, Build Me A Swan last April. It's pretty original but s been likened to Mercury Rev and My Bloody Valentine. Much better than the earlier sound that got us charts positions. We've worked with Leo Pearson (U2, Elvis Costello) and Marc Carolan (The Cure, Muse, BellX1).
Videos for two of our tracks were directed by Scott Altman (PIXAR Animation) and were added to the MTV Playlist in the UK. There's a lot of interest in the group at the mo in the UK. Toured with The Hedrons and Director.
We've been obsessing over creating a sound that is totally fresh, original and euphoric without being cheeseballs and once we put out the mini-album we did a nationwide tour of Ireland including support dates with New Young Pony Club, and then a short tour of Russia where we performed at the Russian Arts Festival.
In May The Chakras were of the first Irish groups to become the fortnightly Myspace featured artist in the UK and Ireland, alongside the likes of The Arctic Monkeys and more recently, The Chakras have attracted A&R interest from around the world to their shows and have been snapped up by London based law firm Statham, Gill and Davies whose client roster includes Oasis, Primal Scream and Kasabian to name a few.Furthermore, The band have been invited over to record with Andy Green(Keane, KT Tunstall) in the UK and performed at Ireland's leading showcase Festival 'Hard Working Class Heroes 2007' on the main stage.
If you're stilll reading down this far, fair played to ya..Maybe se ya down South
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