The Zen Arcade announce live Irish tour
Fresh off the back of virtually playing seven venues in one night across the UK in June, Cavan's The Zen Arcade have announced a live Irish tour scheduled to take place towards the end of the year.
Playing Derry's Sandinos (December 3), Cork's Waintrop Avenue (10), Dolan's in Limerick (11), Galway's Roisin Dubh (15), Dundalk's Spirit Store (17) and Dublin's Grand Social (18), it will be the first time the band has played live as a full five-piece since the projects pre-infancy and before Covid lockdown began.
The ‘The Many Faces Of We’ virtual tour online streaming had followed the release of the rising garage rock outfit's brand new EP 'High Fidelity', released on the band's own label Dental Records.
The single reached #1 on the iTunes chart, and has and continues to receive widespread radio-play on Irish and UK airwaves.
Shock Factor
The single, which also received a release on shock pink vinyl, is named after the band's own podcast of the same name where they regularly ask questions such as: ‘When Should They Have Stopped’, (your favourite bands and the point at which they should have called it a day); ‘Guilty Hatreds’ (bands you feel bad about disliking ). The podcast also includes a ‘Never Mind The Fuzzbox’ (the guess the intros round stylised by the BBC’s ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’ but with a fuzz pedal to avoid any litigation).
Dental Records' flagship release ‘Don’t Say A Word’ also reached No 1 in the iTunes Singles Chart on the day of release, and entered the National Singles Chart at No 12 the following week.
The Zen Arcade, comprises of three ex-members of The Strypes- Ross Farrelly, Pete O'Hanlon, and Evan Walsh- along with Becky Walsh and Sam Geraghty.
Inspired by the likes of Hoodoo Gurus, Jesus And Mary Chain, XTC and Graham Coxon, and in keeping with their punk ethos, The Zen Arcade also produce an regularly published independent zine, ‘Cro Mag Non’.
Publishing the PDFs online, the zine has made tabletops as far afield as the UK, Germany, America, Canada, and Japan where, as the Strypes, they played Fuji Rocks.