Music
Press
Presented first for our listening pleasure are local likely lads The Beat Poets – a very well formed old fashioned rock and roll outfit, featuring large dollops of stage presence and madness from a crowd-invading front-man. Musically they tread a path somewhere along the lines of early U2 and The Bravery with some tinges of glam rock and other ’70s influences. There’s already a bit of buzz about these guys, and it’s plain to see why. They’re a more than competent little combo, they have the potential to be a lot of fun for a lot of people. Songs like ‘G.I.’ and ‘Hail To The Rock Thief’ are exciting and blood-stirring numbers whipping the early arrivals into a small frenzy.....
All-in-all, it’s the sort of night that makes you glad you went out. And take a note of the names of all the bands – all you will hear of again
- BBC Across The Line
The success that unsigned band The Beat Poets have earned is impressive by anyone's standards; despite only forming in May 2005, by August of the same year the release of their radio-only singles 'Staring Stars Down' and 'Bloodline' had been added to the play lists of twelve Irish radio stations. It continued to be a busy month, as they found themselves winning the 'XFM Unsigned' competition. By December the radio-only release of 'Race' and 'GI' continued to generate more media attention and a growing fan base, before they supported Nine Black Alps, and were invited to do several shows at the SXSW festival in Austin Texas in February 2006.
Listening to The Beat Poets its clear that they have learnt a lot from fellow Irish rockers U2; lead singer John Dinsmore's voice is instantly reminiscent of a young Bono (though perhaps with a hint of Starsailor's James Walsh). And why not? The Beat Poets capture the kind of uplifting stadium rock sound that gives bands like U2 such a wide appeal. It's hard to pick a favourite out of the four tracks on this E.P., as each song continues to make the best of up tempo, driving guitars and far-reaching, stellar sounds. The instantly catchy and decidedly likeable 'Bloodline' simply soars, 'Staring Stars Down' is a classic radio hit, and while 'Race' goes for a simpler punkier leaning, 'G.I.' takes of with its wild and frantic chorus.
An extremely promising start from a band you should hope to hear much more from in the future.
- Room Thirteen www.roomthirteen.com
‘Blistering, frenzied, blood-stirring rock that weaves it’s way through U2, the Foos and The Vines, Belfast four-piece ‘The Beat Poets’ have caused quite a stir since being plucked from obscurity to support The Chemical Brothers on their tour last year. Check out their ace double A side ‘Turn It On/ Shadowlands’
- NME
‘An emerging young band who show immense promise and seem to have the talent to go all the way’ - Ivan Martin Sunday World - Sunday World Dec 2009
‘They have the earnest heart on sleeve lyrics, big sound and bigger choruses; The Beat Poets are poised to be the finest purveyors of stirring rock in a long time. If it’s your thing, check them out’ - Cluas.ie
‘Recommended Northern Ireland act not to miss at SXSW 2009’ - Austin Chronicle (March 2009)
“The Beat Poets could soon be the biggest act of Belfast since Snow Patrol” - The Irish Star
“Excellent quality, top of the shop”
- XFM London
- XFM
Now The Beat Poets specialise in proper rock and roll. It's garage rock in the spirit of Primal Scream, The MC5, The Hives, Queens Of The Stone Age, even rock-metal riffs in there. They've been bubbling under for a couple of years now, quietly concocting their riffs before unleashing them on us. 'You Are A Disgrace' is bit of a belter, while 'Hail To The Rock Thief' proves that they've obviously got a time machine hidden away, went back to the 1970s and stole it from someone back then. Another one to add the growing list of cracking little bands from here that should go far. - BBC - March 2008
Are you ready to rock? Warrenpoint war-horses The Beat Poets certainly are. From the opening chords it's pretty clear that showmanship, songwriting and a little bit of sleaze is on the menu tonight and Hot Press is in the mood for a double-helping of everything. Frontman and spiritual son of Iggy and Jagger John Dinsmore seems more than happy to compy with our request and as his band tear through their short set we get the feeling we're watching a band on the cusp of something big. The songs such as the barn-storming 'Bloodline' are unapologetically old-fashioned, but the delivery and dram inherent in the performance is what makes the Poets truly special. By the end of their show we're smitten and we think we've found our new favourite band. Let's hope it doesn't take too long for everyone else to catch on. - Hotpress - April 2008
Discography
Staring Stars Down / Bloodline - Double A-side Radio Only release, has received airplay worldwide including Xfm (London), Virgin Radio Extreme (London), Xfm Scotland, Today Fm (Ireland), Triple J (Australia), playlisted on 12 stations throughout Ireland, and also received airplay in the US and Canada.
G.I. (Generation Innocence) / Race released for promotional release only – Worldwide Airplay.
Debut double A side Single 'Turn It On/ Shadowlands' on release under Pronoia Records – Available on www.hmv.co.uk and worldwide via www.tunetribe.com and www.itunes.com
Staring Stars Down Single - Out Via Absolute Marketing/Universal Records/VM Records - www.itunes.com
The Making E.P - Out via Absolute/Universal/VM Records - www.itunes.com
One by One Single - Out via Absolute/Universal/VM Records - www.itunes.com
Gravity - Out via Absolute/Universal/VM Records - www.itunes.com
Photos
Bio
Described by NME as ‘Blistering, Frenzied, blood-stirring, rock that weaves its way through U2, the Foos and The Vines’ The Beat Poets are one of the most exciting new acts to emerge from Northern Ireland in recent years. BBC ATL described them as “Northern Ireland’s hardest working unsigned band” with the Irish Star claiming they could be the biggest band to come from the North of Ireland since Snow Patrol.
Touring relentlessly the Beat Poets have supporting World renowned acts such as Sonic Youth, The Chemical Brothers, The Duke Spirit, Nine Black Alps, The Parlotones and much more from venue’s such as Marlay Park (Dublin) to Canadian Music Week and 6 storming shows at the 2009 South by Southwest Music (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas.
With recent TV performances on The BBC and UTV the band’s latest tracks are now licensed with the BBC, Channel 4 as well as MTV and are currently on the latest series of MTV One shows The Hard Times of RJ Berger (2010) and previous series including ‘The Hills’ & ‘Girls of Hedsor Hall’ (2009) in the US adding to the band growing reputation.
Receiving airplay worldwide including the UK (Xfm, BBC, Virgin), Ireland (Today Fm, 2fm), USA (K-Rock) and Australia (Triple J) the band has been crowned Xfm unsigned winners, Virgin Radio Xtreme unsigned winners, Today Fm’s Rising Artist and were spotlighted by the New York CMJ Festival in October 2008.
The Band’s debut single ‘Turn It On/Shadowlands’ released by ‘ the singles club’ via small indie label Pronoia Records UK (2007) was a stepping stone for the band to self-release ‘Staring Stars Down’ in 2008 via Absolute Marketing (Dave Matthews, Imogen Heap) and Universal Records Distribution. Working with world producers ‘Greg Haver’ (Manic Street Preachers, Lost Prophets) and Neal Calderwood (Fighting With Wire, The Answer).
‘The Making’ E.P released in November 2009 introduced a new sound from The Beat Poets and saw the band play-listed on major national stations and receiving national press coverage due to the high critical acclaim of the bands new tracks.
The follow up single ‘One By One’ (Out May 2010) became the No.1 most requested track on N.Ireland’s biggest radio station ‘Cool Fm’ remaining on their Top 20 most requested list for 16 weeks and 12 weeks on the second largest station City Beat. The radio onslaught continued with coverage on 2fm, RTE Radio 1, Today FM, BBC Radio 1 N.I and many more. With Live sessions on RTE Radio 1, Cool Fm, BBC and City Beat the band continues to appear regularly in major national publications including Hotpress, The Sunday World, AU and The People while the new set and shows receive rave reviews!
The band’s recent single Gravity saw months of rotation on all major stations in N.Ireland , with their single video receiving video of the week on Irish Music site Golden Plec. Recently the band has also received several top US endorsement deals including music recording giants ‘TASCAM’ and Iphone app developers ‘Mobile Roadie’ through which the band has released their own iphone application. The bands next single is due out in September 2011 as they build to their long anticipated debut album due out 2012.
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