AORTAL’s album plans....

last year we released some tracks as 'jamesotoole+band' but really this upcoming album will be AORTAL's debut album and will feature 5 or 6 brand new tracks alongside completely re-worked and re-arranged versions of some of the songs we're been playin live and that may have featured on james' album...
really excited about the prospect of this album and the work of collaboration on arrangements and mixes etc...
will keep eveyone posted over the next few wks as to how we're progressing...
and to keep everyone going until then we're putting out the song 'burn' as a music video...with a gig in crawdaddy on july 2nd!

2:17 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Check out this event: BATTLE of the BANDS @ THE ACADEMY

Hosted By: THE ACADEMY
When: 19 Mar 2008, 21:30
Where: THE ACADEMY (formerly spirit)
middle abbey st
dublin, Dublin|124
Ireland
Description:
THE ACADEMY

Click Here To View Event

1:56 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

’BURN’ on the way!

the second track off our next album and probably our next single 'BURN' is on its way...we recorded the basic drums tracks last week and yesterday conor and i added the guitars and bass....just have to do the vocals later in the week when i get a break from buskin and then conor's gonna mix it....

even better news is that sean kavanagh (myspace.com/skavanagh616) the director of the last vid may be in line to do a music vid for this song too....

will keep yez posted!

james

AORTAL

1:48 AM - 2 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

AORTAL.....why?

"The aorta (pronounced "ay-OR-tuh") is the largest artery in the human body, originating from the left ventricle of the heart and bringing oxygenated blood to all parts of the body in the systemic circulation"

the band needed a name....at first we used my name cos i was playing solo for a while...then conor came along...then enda....and then it was a band with a name that sounded like a solo act...we were due a change....

AORTAL.... makes sense...it implies of the heart but in a visceral way...

james

3:00 PM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

strippers...nuns...and the machete man!...by conor

by conor

It all began on 25^th January 2008. We were all at my house early so we could fix the trailer up to load the gear into it. We loaded all the gear in and began tying the flight cases down, we put them so tight that they couldn't move at all. Anyways… Ronan, my brother was doing the driving to the gig. So he arrived and we finally hit the road.

Couple of miles later we stopped for petrol and snacks…(how exciting) back to driving.

Now the fun happens!! We are driving up some random road close to kilkenny and the lovely Garda pulled us over at a checkpoint. Turns out the car we are driving didn't have the new insurance disc in it. So some big cross-eyed garda came over and took Ronan out of the car, he told him "I can take this car off you if I want"…"but ill let ya go".. ahh what a waste of f**king time. Back on the road again.

We arrive in Kilkenny to see posters of us all over the place.. in nearly every shop window… looked pretty cool…. After looking around the town for the venue..we eventually found it. We drove around the back to park up the trailer because were 4 hours early, not my fault at all. ;-)

We got some pizza (the best pizza ever I might add) in a local pizzeria. Then we headed back to the venue to begin loading the gear in. Once we had everything in and sound checked we got to relax a small bit. But of course Enda did tune his drums for around an hour.. ya gota love it tho.. Enda and myself were out the front smoking and noticed the strip club that opened the same night, and there was a protest outside by nuns. Tre funny…Enda, me and Ronan went down to have a look at the protest and that's when some guy offered me a machete to buy.. not random at all..ha ha. They all went back up and chilled out in the venue with James and Madde… then guess who walks in?! Machete man.. and decided he wanted to sit with us all night. Scary! Well he did offer to buy us drinks.

Couple of hours past, 10 more cigarettes, couple of pints and then the support act came on. He wasn't too bad, had a couple of good tunes. Then a whole 9 people turned up due to a gig on the other side of kilkenny. Damn them they stole our fans!! ;-)… so it came time for us to shine.. we got up on stage and broke into our set. Sound was great but the crowd not that big. But for the people who did come we were good...

We came to the end of our set and finished up. We began packing up the gear fast because all we wanted to do was to get back to Dublin no too late… so we set off on our travels after loading the trailer. We had a nice relaxing drive home, no police this time. We reached Dublin around 2am or so.

Overall it was an experience. Some good some bad and some evil..ha ha ha ha ha….

Much respect,

2:44 PM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

IN LIGHT VIDEO NOW UP!!!

you can watch it on the myspace profile page...

or go to youtube and watch it full screen!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qCP-Kly-Rw

james-conor-enda

7:22 AM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

IN LIGHT single OUT NOW!!!!!

go to www.downloadmusic.ie and search for 'in light' to buy our new single!!!

irish mobile users can buy by texting - music 363 to 57501

costs one euro!!

the video should be up later today too!!!!

very excited about the launch gig...

:-)
james-conor-enda

10:25 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Check out this event: james o’toole+band single launch!!

Hosted By: james o'toole+band
When: 17 Jan 2008, 20:00
Where: CRAWDADDY
harcourt st
dublin,
Ireland
Description:
james o'toole+band

Click Here To View Event

5:00 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

green satellite awards!

from the blog of Eddie Joyce director of IMRO-

"Music Review of 2007

Phew…the past 12 months have flown by!

This time last year, I posted the following: "Persistence is the single most important attribute behind the greatest success stories. Even weak ideas with a lot of persistence behind them seem to find success whereas even the most brilliant idea will fail if you give up. Find a way to push tangibly forward every single day next year and success will come and hurdles will be overcome".

When I reflect on the music and artists that have given me the most pleasure throughout 2007, I also reflect on how persistent these acts have been in pushing themselves forward. There will be more hurdles to overcome in the quest for further success, but I am confident that they can maintain the pace into 2008.

So, without further ado, here is the roll call for the first GreenSatellite Awards

James O'Toole and band – for his album "twentyfirst century man" - http://www.myspace.com/jamesotoole


Michele Ann Kelly – great singer/songwriter, on the cusp of great success - http://www.myspace.com/micheleannkelly

Caruso – great debut album, The Watcher & The Comet
http://www.myspace.com/carusoie

Kiernan McMullan – for his single Borderline and his non-stop energy throughout the year - http://www.myspace.com/kiernanm

Grainne Ryan – Canadian/Irish singer songwriter – for her album All The Money (and not forgetting her slogan "Peace, Love & Cleaner Air")

Overall good guy - helping Irish acts for as long as I can remember – Roddie Cleere
http://www.myspace.com/roddycleere"

1:17 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

80,000 plays!...the video shoot...

we just passed 80,000 plays...which with people having bought the album and downloaded songs from itunes etc is amazing!
that's a lot of time spent on the page...

we shoot the video for new single IN LIGHT tomorrow morning 11am... cant wait to get goin on this...although apparently we have to play the song a million times for different shots etc...
but will be worth the work when it's done...
sean kavanagh, the director, i'm sure is goin to produce something very special!

will write more after the shoot!

talk soon

much respect from

james, conor and enda

2:38 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment