Everybody Must Get Greystoned

With over €1,500-worth of prizes at stake, and both first and second prizes, Greystonians will get a chance to dig the new breed this coming Sunday as local budding rock gods compete in the district’s inaugural Stepping Stones live final.

Sponsored by those lovely folk at the Greystones Municipal District and the shady cult organisation known only as Greystones 2020, this freshly-minted Battle Of The Bands is designed to give young musicians a major helping hand in their world domination plans.

And this Sunday, that live final will be taking place in, fittingly enough, The Hot Spot – the very same venue that gave the young, shy Hozier Byrne an early boost on his path to world domination. And a dirty big house in Newcastle.

Nice.

You can check out the five contenders on our voting page right here, and you can also catch them live, in living colour and full 3D, at The Hot Spot this coming Sunday, April 23rd, from 5pm to 7pm.

A chance to bore friends and people you hardly know for decades to come when you can tell them, hey, I was there when these guys were just starting out, the good news is, the gig is free.

Which should suit just about any purse. Even the ones that never open.

Big love to Greystones Municipal District and to Greystones 2020 for putting up the lovely moolah for this groovy competition. The winners will get a chance to be recorded by Eoin Whitfield from the mighty Hive Studios, and work with rising music director Robin J. Kavanagh.

Be. The. Jiggers.

The two winning entries will also be presented with framed commemorative momentos of their Stepping Stones victory custom-designed by Pablo Posters.

And, most importantly, the love and adoration of a whole new legion of fans. Which is the core reason anyone gets involved in music, of course.

We should give a special shout-out to four 11th-hour entries Emily Beattie, a local 14-year-old singer/guitarist who has been tripping the light fantastic with her loop pedal as she takes on KT Tunstall’s Big Black Horse & A Cherry Tree, Temple Carrig posse Taken and their message of hope with, hey, Colour Me Hope, fellow TC pupil Adam Leddy and his cover of Damien Rice’s 9 Crimes, and the rather amazing James Fennell, the one-man band whose take on Billy Joel’s Piano Man is something to behold. Given that contender Niall Woods can’t make the live final – jetsetting in New Orleans, don’t you know – it’s great to have Emily & co on board for Sunday’s gig. You can check out their songs – and vote, of course – right about here.

All the info is on the inevitably-cluttered poster above – hey, there was a lot of info to squeeze on there – and you can find out more about the bands and the competition here, and about The Hot Spot right here. Do it.