The Immediate
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The Immediate were an
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
Irish
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
quartet, based in
Malahide Malahide ( ; ) is an affluent coastal settlement in Fingal, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, situated north of Dublin city. It has a village centre surrounded by suburban housing estates, with a population of 18,608 as per the 2022 ...
,
County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...
. They made a considerable impact on the Irish music scene despite releasing only one album during the span of their association together. The album was '' In Towers and Clouds'' (2006). It received primarily positive critical feedback and was nominated for the
Choice Music Prize The Choice Music Prize (), known for sponsorship reasons as the RTÉ Choice Music Prize is an annual music prize awarded to music from a band or solo musician who is born in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland or holds an Irish passport. ...
for Irish Album of the Year 2006. Alongside their sole album, several
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
s and singles were also released by the band. They split suddenly in May 2007, citing "existential differences". The final line-up of the band consisted of David Hedderman (vocals, guitar, bass), Conor O'Brien (vocals, guitar, drums), Peter Toomey (vocals, drums, bass) and Barra Heavey (keys, guitar, bass, drums, backing vocals). The band was known for swapping instruments regularly throughout sets.


History


Early days

The band members were raised in middle-class Dublin during the
Celtic Tiger The "Celtic Tiger" () is a term referring to the economy of the Republic of Ireland, economy of Ireland from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s, a period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment. The boom was dampened by ...
boom years. O'Brien called it "a spiritually bereft place". They lived in
Malahide Malahide ( ; ) is an affluent coastal settlement in Fingal, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, situated north of Dublin city. It has a village centre surrounded by suburban housing estates, with a population of 18,608 as per the 2022 ...
. Hedderman, O'Brien and Toomey came together at St Conleth's College in
Ballsbridge Ballsbridge () (from historic Ball's Bridge) is an affluent neighbourhood of the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The area is largely situated north and west of a three-arch stone bridge across the River Dodder, on the south side of the ...
, Dublin. Heavey joined the band at a later stage and they first performed as The Subterraneans. Hedderman studied painting at the
National College of Art and Design The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is Ireland's oldest art institution, offering the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the country. Originating as a drawing school in 1746, many of t ...
, while O'Brien studied for an arts degree in English and Philosophy at
University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
. The band took their name from their favourite adjective—"immediate". Among the venues for early gigs were hotel function rooms and a church. The band then spent their college years taking a more direct approach to making themselves known to a wider audience, playing parties and college balls, and occasionally organizing their own shows in Eamonn Dorans, a small pub venue in the centre of Dublin. A CD was thrown onstage at a
Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Wales, Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, in 1986. The band consists of Nicky Wire (bass guitar, lyrics) and cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, le ...
gig to a bemused
Nicky Wire Nicholas Allen Jones (born 20 January 1969), known as Nicky Wire, is a Welsh musician, best known as lyricist, bassist and secondary vocalist of the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. Prior to the group, Wire studied politics ...
and another was even slipped into
Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...
's bag with a purchase at a Dublin bookstore. The band spent these formative years honing their craft, with David and Conor focusing on developing their songwriting skills, and Peter on his live performance, which was to become a particularly electrifying aspect of the group's live shows. At this time, guitarist Eoin O'Reilly completed the line-up of the group, and a self-released EP called "Don't Get Lost" (2003) was made available from a select amount of independent Dublin record stores. They played the Antics indie night in Dublin's Crawdaddy music venue a couple of times.


Breakthrough

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
-based indie label
Fierce Panda Records Fierce Panda Records is a London-based independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-s ...
called the band and asked them to release a single. Early in 2005 that label released The Immediate's debut single, "Never Seen/Say This", as a limited edition double A-side 7".
XFM Radio X is a British national commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. The station launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station named Q102, before being renamed Xfm in 1992. The station b ...
and
BBC Radio One BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, hi ...
played the track, and the DJ duo Queens Of Noize included the band on a compilation, leading to numerous shows in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. The band were visited by major labels but spurned these advances, preferring instead to maintain creative control of their work. Soon afterward, the band signed to another independent label, Fantastic Plastic Records, where they were to record their debut album. For reasons unknown, guitarist Eoin O'Reilly fell out with the group and was soon replaced by friend Barra Heavey, a regular collaborator who, with the introduction of keyboards, brought an electronic edge to the band which honed the overall sound of The Immediate. Finally, in the second half of 2005, the band entered Jacobs Studios in
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
where they recorded their debut longplayer with US producer Chris Shaw. The first recordings from this session were released in April 2006 as the acclaimed "make our devils FLOW", a four-track EP on CD and 7" double-pack. On 18 August 2006, ''In Towers and Clouds'' was released in Ireland on Fantastic Plastic to mixed approval. On 25 August, the record debuted in the
Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). The charts were previously compiled on behalf of IRMA by Chart-Track, and have been compiled by t ...
at number 33 and three weeks later, it was in position number 67. On 18 September, ''In Towers and Clouds'' was released in the United Kingdom. That month, ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
''s rock critic Jim Carroll called the record "one of the best Irish debut albums of the last 20 years" and hoped The Immediate would "be around for a long time to come". The ''
Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...
''s John Meagher named it his fifteenth best Irish album of the 2000s. Following the album's nomination for the Choice Prize in 2007 (which led to a performance at the awards ceremony on 28 February), the band also performed at the 2007 Meteor Awards. Prior to this (in 2006), The Immediate had headlined the
RTÉ 2fm RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is an Irish radio station operated by RTÉ. The station specialises in current popular music and chart hits and is the second national radio station in Ireland. History The station commenc ...
2moro 2our. Thoughts turned to a second album soon after the release of the first and Hedderman reported having "a lot of sleepless nights" in their attempt "to get these ideas down right now". On 28 February 2007, a national tour was announced.


Split

On 19 April 2007, The Immediate were confirmed as performers at that year's Trinity Ball. This proved to be their last performance as the band announced they were to split at the event on Friday 11 May 2007. They later confirmed this in a post on their
MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
page which cited "existential differences" as the reason for the split but which also stated "We all still love each other. Regularly". The news was greeted with shock, particularly as critics had expected them to eventually become an international success. Meanwhile, the band had on that very Friday been officially announced on
Oxegen Oxegen was a List of music festivals#Ireland, music festival in Ireland, first held from 2004–2011 as a rock and pop festival and again in 2013 with dance and chart acts only. The event was regularly cited as Ireland's biggest music festiva ...
's website as one of the acts scheduled to perform at the Oxegen 2007 festival in July. "As a thank you for all the amazing messages we've been getting since the band split" one final song was made available for free download via MySpace; "The Mist Above the Mind" was recorded by The Immediate in early 2007. Soon after the band's split numerous critics regarded them as the new Irish act with the most international potential and agreed they would be sorely missed. On 9 November 2007, the ''
Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...
''s entertainment supplement ''Day & Night'' published an article by band member Barra Heavey, explaining his take on why the band had come to an end. O'Brien later joined Cathy Davey's band, before forming Villagers.


Style

O'Brien has said the band's earliest songs were reminiscent of
Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...
, with a sound similar to
The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...
eventually evolving. He has claimed The Kinks were "the first band I ever liked", and that he knew the words to " Lola" from a very young age despite the fact "I had no idea what it was about". He sang the song "as a party piece", leaving his sisters "in stitches".
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...
and
Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...
were other influences. According to O'Brien, the band were obsessed with art. The ''
Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...
'' said "Their moody, jerky rhythms sounded like Franz Ferdinand getting beaten up by
Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...
". ''Analogue''s Brendan McGuirk described them as "
Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia ** Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...
's answer to an early form of Radiohead". After witnessing one performance at The Black Box in Belfast, ''
Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a monthly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who cont ...
'' commented: "There's a playful grope with U2 here, a quick fumble with
Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.Talking Heads
there and a covert, climactic
Krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...
fondle at the end", while the vocals and guitars on "Stop and Remember" were compared to
Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes due to th ...
by the magazine. ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'' observed that they did not fit into any of Dublin's "many micro-musical scenes".


Members

* David Hedderman —
Vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
,
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
,
bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
* Conor O'Brien — Vocals, guitar,
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
* Peter Toomey — Vocals, drums, bass * Barra Heavey —
Keys Key, Keys, The Key or The Keys may refer to: Common uses * Key (cryptography), a piece of information needed to encode or decode a message * Key (instrument), a component of a musical instrument * Key (lock), a device used to operate a lock * ...
, guitar, bass guitar, drums, backing vocals


Discography

The Immediate released one album. * "Don't Get Lost" EP (2003) * "make our devils FLOW" EP (2006) * '' In Towers and Clouds'' (2006)


Awards

The ''
Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to ta ...
''s Una Mullally named The Immediate as the "Best Irish Band" of 2006, saying "they have the ability to be one of the most important Irish bands of the decade, if they can hold it down".


Choice Music Prize

The Immediate's debut album ''In Towers and Clouds'' was nominated for the
Choice Music Prize The Choice Music Prize (), known for sponsorship reasons as the RTÉ Choice Music Prize is an annual music prize awarded to music from a band or solo musician who is born in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland or holds an Irish passport. ...
, an award won by
The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest wor ...
for the album '' Victory for the Comic Muse''. Toomey had not expected the nomination. The band performed at the award ceremony in Vicar Street on 28 February 2007. , - , 2007 , , '' In Towers and Clouds'' , , Irish Album of the Year 2006 , , , -


Meteor Music Awards

The Immediate were nominated for Best New Irish Act at the 2006 Meteor Awards. , - ,
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
, , The Immediate , , Best New Irish Act , , , -


References


External links


The Immediate
on '' Other Voices''
"Top o' the modern"
— Barra Heavey, 11 March 2007, ''
Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to ta ...
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Immediate, The Irish rock music groups Musical groups from County Dublin Musical groups disestablished in 2007 Irish shoegaze musical groups 2000s in Irish music