FERMANAGH

DATES

OVERVIEW In ancient celtic folklore the Corrigan is a mischievous fairy spirit fond of stealing the souls of human children. Those who see it are unable to forget it, and those who do not fear it but embrace it, come to fall in love with it. With the release of 'How To Hang Off A Rope', the world is introduced to a new Celtic Corrigan, a band of mischievous spirits equally hellbent on stealing human souls. Those who see it are unable to forget it and those open-minded enough to embrace it, come to fall in love with it. And this, as AC/DCs estimable former vocalist Bon Scott used to sing on the band's signature tune 'Whole Lotta Rosie', ain't no fairy story. Martin Corrigan, the young Irish man who gives his name, vocals, bruised heart and battered soul to Corrigan wanted to be a rock star since he was seven years old, since the very first time he heard 'Whole Lotta Rosie'. "I've been fucked since then", he notes cheerily. Th erural backwaters of Boho, Co. Fermanagh may have had no history of producing rock stars, but young Corrigan was undaunted. Born on the side of a mountain, his world view was always a little skewed anyway. And his musical heroes were not the cosmopolitan, fashionable, fabulous people but rather the margin walkers, the mavericks - AC/DC, Talking Heads, Steve Albini's Shellac, Johnny Cash - the outlaw spirits. If that bunch of misfits could blows minds for a living, he reckoned, then so could he. Corrigan, the band, started out with Corrigan, the man, playing solo shows in his native land, "me and an acoustic guitar, just roaring my head off" as he recalls. This was no simpering 'stool rock', this was raw edgy raucous music, three chords and the truth, a truth which drew a bunch of like-minded musicians to his side. It's no coincidence that Martin Corrigan refers to his bandmates as 'cousins' , for Danny Todd (Guitar), Ewan Williamson (Guitar), Stuart MaGowan (Bass Guitar), Aine McMenamin (Keyboards) and Gavin McKay (Drums) are bonded with the singer on the most primal, basic level. All understood frustration borne of endless circuits of Northern Ireland's fecund yet overlooked music scene, all harboured desire to render genre pigeonholes - metal, post-punk, alt-country, garage rock - redundant and impotent. And, perhaps more importantly, all shared their singer's brutally sardonic, none-more-black sense of humour. Biography taken from the official Corrigan website 2002 - Release of 'We're The Wire' single 2003 - Release of 'Sometimes I Think About' single - Release of 'How To Hang Off A Rope' Album 2005 - Release of 'Can Out Front / Medicine Stick' single [21 March]