Ham Sandwich (band)
| Ham Sandwich | |
|---|---|
 Ham Sandwich at Mitchelstown Indie Pendence Festival 2007 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Kells, Ireland |
| Genres | Indie rock |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | Route 109A records |
| Website | Official |
| Members |
Podge McNamee Niamh Farrell Brian Darcy David McEnroe Ollie Murphy |
| Past members | John Moore |
Ham Sandwich (sometimes stylized as 'HamsandwicH') are an Irish indie rock band from, County Meath, Ireland.
Originally, the band consisted of Niamh Farrell on vocals, Podge McNamee on vocals and guitar, Darcy on guitar and piano, John Moore on bass guitar and Ollie Murphy on drums,[1] but, on 12 April 2010, Moore announced he was leaving the group. The band subsequently hired David McEnroe as his replacement.[2][3]
History
- The band has released five singles, an EP, before releasing their debut album, Carry the Meek, on 15 February 2008. That same day they won the Meteors Hope for 2008 Award.[4] The band is currently based in Dublin, Ireland.
- In December 2007, the Sunday Times pegged Ham Sandwich as "Ones to Watch" for 2008.
- The band returned with their fifth single in November 2009 with "Out of the Darkness".
- Their sixth single, "The Naturist", was released on 15 May 2010 with positive reviews.[5]
- The band released their second album, White Fox, in Ireland on 1 October 2010.
Background
Johnny Moore and Podge McNamee were childhood friends, and first announced the formation of the band on Good Friday, 2003. 'Martin' the original lead guitarist in the band departed after just 6 months citing musical differences in the band, he was replaced by 'Darcy'. Moore and Darcy met at St. Patrick's Classical School, Navan; other notable pupils include Tommy Tiernan, Dylan Moran, Hector Ó hEochagáin. Niamh Farrell joined the band in Dublin after a solo stint in Glasgow, Scotland.[1] Bassist and songwriter Moore suggested the name at an early rehearsals session when the group could not decide on a name, and it has both helped and hindered the band. U2 frontman Bono encouraged the group to change the peculiar name upon meeting drummer Ollie Murphy in 2006, but conceded that U2 faced similar criticism about their name before their success.[6] Niamh has commented, "it’s a bit of a blessing I guess, no-one ever forgets the name and it makes us work harder."[1]
On 17 March 2007, the band participated in the annual Kells Festival of Colour.[7] In Summer 2007, the band was featured on FM104's Open Mic with Ruairi Carroll.[8] On 4 August 2007, Ham Sandwich played at the Guinness Indie-pendence festival of independent Irish bands in Mitchelstown, County Cork.[9] The band appeared on RTE's The Late Late Show in February, the Dustin Once A Week Show in September as well as The Podge and Rodge Show's halloween special on 30 October 2007 during the Rock 'n Roulette feature.
Carry the Meek
The initial songs on Carry the Meek were written by Moore while he was working nights at St. Patrick's Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin which was founded from the legacy of Jonathan Swift. As a matter of coincidence some of Carry the Meek was recorded at a house where Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels.
Following the release of their third single, the band, with the assistance of producer Karl Odlum of The Frames, began recording in the neo classical estate of Headfort House, near the band's home town of Kells.[1]
The band was awarded the Meteors Hope for 2008 Award in February 2008. The award was voted on by listeners of RTÉ 2fm, who chose Ham Sandwich over five other acts.[4]
The band performed at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival and Electric Picnic festival.
In April 2010, bassist Moore left the group citing 'a typographical error'.[10][11]
On 15 July 2010, the band's manager Derek Nally suffered a heart attack and died.[12]
White Fox
On the Day of Derek Nally's funeral the band began recording their second album from scratch. The band completed the now critically acclaimed album in just under 2 months from start to finish heralding a new creative era for the band. Karl Odlum taking up producing and recording duties once more.
On the 4 February 2011 the band released their most successful single to date - Ants. Although not charting in the single charts the song became a YouTube viral hit. The video was directed by artist Marc Corrigan and tells the story of an ant preparing dinner for a date. Ants finally pushed the band onto mainstream day time radio stations across Ireland - such as 2 FM and Today FM. Ray Darcy declared Ants to be his favourite single during February 2011.
The band performed at the first Forbidden Fruit festival sponsored by Bulmers on 4 June 2011 in the Kilmainham Hospital grounds in Dublin, with bands such as The Flaming Lips, Battles and Aphex Twin headlining.
The band performed at the twin festivals of Leeds and Reading during the weekend of the 26 to 28 August 2011. They took part in the BBC's "Introducing" stage that is known for breaking acts such as Florence and the Machine in recent years.
In November 2011 singer Niamh Farrell became a temporary radio co-host on Dublin's Phanton 105.2 alongside Pure Morning's Richie McCormack.
RTÉ programme Other Voices celebrating its 10-year anniversary in December 2011 invited the band to Dingle, County Kerry to perform on the prestigious television programme.
The band completed 2011 with a New Year's performance at The Village, Dublin on 31 December.
Following on from the success of 2011 Ham Sandwich announced their first headline show at Dublin's Academy presented by MCD in February 2012. The event sold out in advance by 2 weeks.
2012
On the 21 February 2012 the band were announced in the line up for the Spanish music festival Benicàssim, joining fellow Irish acts Lisa Hannigan and Delorentos. Acts such as Florence and the Machine, Noel Gallagher, New Order and The Stone Roses were announced as headliners.
In October 2012 the band travelled to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to perform at McGettigan's live venue.
On 15 December 2012, the band played their second sold-out headline show at The Academy in Dublin after selling out the venue earlier in the year.
On 31 December 2012 the band performed on Dublin's College Green along with Imelda May and Bell X1 as part of the New Year's Eve city celebration coinciding with the start of The Gathering 2013 in Ireland.
2013
As part of The Gathering 2013 the track MODELS was selected to soundtrack the advertising campaign for Discover Ireland.
On 5 April 2013, the band were announced as 1 of 3 top Irish support bands to appear at Slane Castle 2013 in Co Meath alongside Bon Jovi. The band played their native county's historical venue to crowds that can gather up to 80,000 people at its peak. Ham sandwich became the first act from County Meath to play the historic rock concert venue throughout its 32-year history.
On 30 June 2013 the band were invited to perform in front of the President of Ireland Michael D Higgins as party of the Garden Party sessions on the front lawns of Áras an Uachtaran in the Phoenix Park, Dublin.
2014
The band released their new single "Illuminate" in Ireland on 4 April 2014.[13] The single peaked at number 44 in the Irish Singles Chart on release.[14] The track features on their album Stories from the Surface, which was released on 17 April 2015. The band played their biggest live show at Dublin's Olympia on Saturday, April 19, 2014.[15]
The band toured the rest of Ireland in summer and autumn 2014. They hold aspirations to tour the UK and east coast of America in the near future.[16]
2015
The band are currently touring Ireland.
Notable festival appearances
- Glastonbury, UK, 28 July 2008
- Electric Picnic, Ireland, 31 August 2008
- SXSW festival, Texas, US, 17 March 2011
- Forbidden Fruit festival, Ireland, 4 June 2011
- Leeds festival, UK, 26 August 2011
- Reading festival, UK, 28 August 2011
- Electric Picnic, Ireland, 3 September 2011
- Popkomm festival, Berlin, Germany, 8 September 2011
- Croke Park, Ireland, 11 March 2012
- Benicassim, Spain, 15 July 2012
- Electric Picnic, Ireland 1 September 2012
- McGettigan's, Dubai, UAE, 5 October 2012
- Slane Castle, Ireland, 15 June 2013
- Groove Festival, Ireland, 7 July 2013
- Marley Park, Ireland, 29 June 2014
- Electric Picnic, Ireland, 30 August 2014
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IRL [17] | |||||||||||
| 2008 | Carry the Meek | 23 | |||||||||
| 2010 | White Fox
|
25 | |||||||||
| 2015 | Stories from the Surface
|
1 | |||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||||||||
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IRL [18] |
UK | ||||
| 2005 | "Sad Songs" | — | — | Carry the Meek | |
| 2006 | "St. Christopher" | — | — | ||
| "Words" | — | — | |||
| 2007 | "Click...click...BOOM" | — | — | ||
| 2008 | "Keepsake" | — | — | ||
| "Nevertalk" | — | — | |||
| "Broken Glass" | — | — | |||
| 2010 | "The Naturist" | — | — | White Fox | |
| "Oh-Oh" | — | — | |||
| 2011 | "Ants" | — | — | ||
| "Models" | — | — | |||
| 2012 | "Long Distance" | — | — | ||
| 2014 | "Illuminate" | 44 | — | Stories from the Surface | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||
Reviews
- Carry the Meek received reviews from the Irish Independent (four stars),[19] Irish Times (three Stars),[20] Hot Press (8/10),[21] Cluas.com,[22] and RTÉ.[23]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Ham Sandwich". Berube Communications. 20 August 2007. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
- ↑ http://www.goldenplec.com/2010/04/12/john-moore-leaves-ham-sandwich/
- ↑
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Meteor eight-in-a-row for Westlife". The Irish Times. 16 February 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2008.
- ↑ http://www.state.ie/2010/05/mp3/ham-sandwich-the-naturist/
- ↑ "O2 Making Waves - Ham Sandwich". 02. 2007. Archived from the original on 18 November 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
- ↑ "Kells St. Patrick's Weekend Festival 2007". Kells Festivals. 2007. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
- ↑ "Bands we've had on". FM104. 12 November 2007. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
- ↑ "Ham Sandwich take to the road". Muse. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
- ↑ http://www.goldenplec.com/2010/04/12/john-moore-leaves-ham-sandwich/
- ↑ http://www.state.ie/2010/10/album-reviews/ham-sandwich-white-fox/
- ↑ http://www.goldenplec.com/2010/07/16/legendary-music-manager-derek-nally-passes-away/
- ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/ie/artist/ham-sandwich/id256581824
- ↑ http://irma.ie/aucharts.asp
- ↑ http://www.ticketmaster.ie/hamsandwich-dublin-04-19-2014/event/18004B72CA6C58A3?artistid=1424213&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=1&camefrom=PAR_IE_PM_HAM_SER_M&brand=ie_pierce
- ↑ http://entertainment.ie/music/news/HamsandwicH-talk-new-album-Saturdays-Olympia-gig-and-more/253172.htm
- ↑ http://www.irish-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Ham+Sandwich
- ↑ http://www.irish-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Codes
- ↑ "Ham Sandwich - Music, Day and Night - Independent.ie". Irish Independent. 15 February 2008.
- ↑ "ireland.com - The Ticket". The Irish Times. 2 February 2008.
- ↑ "Carry The Meek".
- ↑ "CLUAS Album reviews - Ham Sandwich 'Carry The Meek'".
- ↑ "RTÉ.ie Entertainment: Ham Sandwich - Carry the Meek". RTÉ News. 11 March 2008.