Halves (band)
Encyclopedia
Halves are an ambient/alternative/electronic band based in Dublin, Ireland
.
They are composed of Brian Cash and brothers Tim and Elis Czerniak, with additional live members Frankie Pollard and Margie Lewis. Halves were designed when Dave (Scanlon - original member), Brian and Tim sat down together and listed bands & composers they admired. They decided on the band's image, including their website & artwork and the visuals of their live shows and had “a very clear manifesto about the kind of sound we wanted and the kind of thing we wanted to do, which not many bands in this country Ireland were doing”. Elis joined soon after and work began on their debut release.
The band make use of a wide range of instruments including Electric Guitar
s, Bass
, Drum Kit
, Piano
, Glockenspiel
, Synth
, Loop Samplers, Accordion
, Clarinet
, Flugelhorn
, Trombone
and various effects.
Stunning pre-programmed and live visuals can be seen at live shows performed by the group Slipdraft, whose members are Sam Boles and Daniel Staines.
The bands live sound engineer is Ciaran Mangan.
The band have released two EPs; the self-titled Halves and 2008's seven-track Haunt Me When I'm Drowsy. These were followed by a single - Blood Branches in March 2009 on a split 7" with fellow Dublin band Subplots. In 2010 their debut album It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) was released to critical acclaim. The album was released in the UK and mainland Europe on the 4th of July 2011.
Recorded in the legendary Hotel2Tango studios in Montreal (housed in a former alarm factory beside a freight railroad) and tracked over two sunny weeks in August 2009, It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) was created with the use of the studio’s vast collection of antique instruments, amps, organs, effects (most of which date from the 1930s). Eleven songs were recorded live, in one large room on 2″ reel-to-reel tape by Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor), Howard Bilerman, and Radwan Moumneh.
On returning to Ireland additional recording resumed with Richard McCullough in the band’s own studio ‘The Windfarm’ and in various locations nationwide. Guest performers on the record include: Amy Millan (Stars/Broken Social Scene), Katie Kim, Phil Boughton (Subplots), Canadian harpist Elaine Kelly-Canning (Carnival Moon), Irish Chamber brass and string players and twenty-seven members of the Kilkenny choir.
The album’s title It Goes, It Goes refers to a signal the band were given by their engineer one day that the tape machine was rolling, making them laugh and ruin the take.
Halves have played Oxegen 2008
and Electric Picnic 2008
as well as Hard Working Class Heroes
, IMRO
Showcase Tour and the London Calling
showcase in London, England. They have supported British Sea Power
, 65daysofstatic
, Dungen
, Bear In Heaven
, This Will Destroy You
, The Middle East & Mercury Rev
. Their 2008 appearance at Eurosonic Festival
in Holland was their first outside Ireland and they have since travelled twice to Toronto to play at Canadian Music Week and Texas for SXSW. Other festival outings include Kilkenny Arts Festival Kilkenny in 2010 and The Great Escape Brighton, England in 2011 Their album It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) was shortlisted for the Choice Music Prize
for Irish Album of the Year 2010.
At the beginning of 2011, brothers Donal and Colum Mangan combined their collective talents to produce a stunning video for the song, 'Darling, You'll Meet Your Maker' from the album. The video combines the fields of model making, stop motion animation and computer animation. It depicts a small mouse's efforts to survive following the loss of his partner and his eventual survival and revenge against the perpetrator. The video can be seen at the following link ::
Halves - Darling, You'll Meet Your Maker
|-
| 2011 || It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) || Irish Album of the Year 2010 ||
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
.
They are composed of Brian Cash and brothers Tim and Elis Czerniak, with additional live members Frankie Pollard and Margie Lewis. Halves were designed when Dave (Scanlon - original member), Brian and Tim sat down together and listed bands & composers they admired. They decided on the band's image, including their website & artwork and the visuals of their live shows and had “a very clear manifesto about the kind of sound we wanted and the kind of thing we wanted to do, which not many bands in this country Ireland were doing”. Elis joined soon after and work began on their debut release.
The band make use of a wide range of instruments including Electric Guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s, Bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, Drum Kit
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, Piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, Glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
, Synth
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, Loop Samplers, Accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, Clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, Flugelhorn
Flugelhorn
The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
, Trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
and various effects.
Stunning pre-programmed and live visuals can be seen at live shows performed by the group Slipdraft, whose members are Sam Boles and Daniel Staines.
The bands live sound engineer is Ciaran Mangan.
The band have released two EPs; the self-titled Halves and 2008's seven-track Haunt Me When I'm Drowsy. These were followed by a single - Blood Branches in March 2009 on a split 7" with fellow Dublin band Subplots. In 2010 their debut album It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) was released to critical acclaim. The album was released in the UK and mainland Europe on the 4th of July 2011.
Recorded in the legendary Hotel2Tango studios in Montreal (housed in a former alarm factory beside a freight railroad) and tracked over two sunny weeks in August 2009, It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) was created with the use of the studio’s vast collection of antique instruments, amps, organs, effects (most of which date from the 1930s). Eleven songs were recorded live, in one large room on 2″ reel-to-reel tape by Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor), Howard Bilerman, and Radwan Moumneh.
On returning to Ireland additional recording resumed with Richard McCullough in the band’s own studio ‘The Windfarm’ and in various locations nationwide. Guest performers on the record include: Amy Millan (Stars/Broken Social Scene), Katie Kim, Phil Boughton (Subplots), Canadian harpist Elaine Kelly-Canning (Carnival Moon), Irish Chamber brass and string players and twenty-seven members of the Kilkenny choir.
The album’s title It Goes, It Goes refers to a signal the band were given by their engineer one day that the tape machine was rolling, making them laugh and ruin the take.
Halves have played Oxegen 2008
Oxegen 2008
Oxegen '08 was the fifth Oxegen festival to take place, following the dissolution of its predecessor Witnness in 2004. It took place on the weekend of Friday 11 July, Saturday 12 July and Sunday 13 July at Punchestown Racecourse near Naas in County Kildare, Ireland. For the first time the festival...
and Electric Picnic 2008
Electric Picnic 2008
Electric Picnic 2008 was the fifth Electric Picnic festival to take place. The three-day event took place on the weekend of Friday–Sunday, 29–31 August at Stradbally in County Laois, Ireland...
as well as Hard Working Class Heroes
Hard Working Class Heroes
Hard Working Class Heroes is an Irish music festival for emerging bands. It has taken place in Dublin on an annual basis in and around September of each year since 2003...
, IMRO
Irish Music Rights Organisation
Irish Music Rights Organisation is the collecting society for songwriters, composers and music publishers of Ireland. Its role is to act as an agent for its members in order to collect license fees whenever their musical works are performed in public, broadcast or transmitted, and to pay out...
Showcase Tour and the London Calling
London Calling
London Calling is the third studio album by the English punk rock band The Clash. It was released in the United Kingdom on 14 December 1979 through CBS Records, and in the United States in January 1980 through Epic Records...
showcase in London, England. They have supported British Sea Power
British Sea Power
British Sea Power are an indie rock band based in Brighton, England, although three of the band members originally come from Kendal in Cumbria. Critics have likened their sound to a variety of groups, from The Cure and Joy Division to the Pixies and Arcade Fire. The band are famed for their live...
, 65daysofstatic
65daysofstatic
65daysofstatic are an instrumental post-rock and math rock band from Sheffield, England comprising Paul Wolinski, Joe Shrewsbury, Rob Jones and Simon Wright...
, Dungen
Dungen
Dungen is a Swedish rock band based in Stockholm. Often classified as progg or psychedelic rock, Dungen is also influenced by Swedish folk music, classic rock, progressive rock, garage rock and alternative rock....
, Bear In Heaven
Bear in Heaven
Bear in Heaven is a Brooklyn-based rock band formed by Jon Philpot. The sound of the band incorporates influences from psychedelic music, electronic music, and krautrock....
, This Will Destroy You
This Will Destroy You
This Will Destroy You, often abbreviated to TWDY, is an American post-rock band from San Marcos, Texas, formed in 2005. The band consists of guitarists Jeremy Galindo and Chris King, bass player and keyboardist Donovan Jones and drummer Alex Bhore...
, The Middle East & Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev is an American alternative rock group, that formed in the late 1980s in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were David Baker , Jonathan Donahue , Sean Mackowiak, a.k.a...
. Their 2008 appearance at Eurosonic Festival
Eurosonic Festival
Eurosonic is Europe’s largest showcase festival and takes place on a yearly basis on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday previous to Noorderslag festival in the dutch city Groningen. Eurosonic is part of The European Music Conference and Showcase Festival Eurosonic Noorderslag. During the festival 250...
in Holland was their first outside Ireland and they have since travelled twice to Toronto to play at Canadian Music Week and Texas for SXSW. Other festival outings include Kilkenny Arts Festival Kilkenny in 2010 and The Great Escape Brighton, England in 2011 Their album It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) was shortlisted for the Choice Music Prize
Choice Music Prize
-Establishment:It was established by journalist Jim Carroll and manager Dave Reid in 2005. as an alternative to the industry-dominated Meteor Music Awards. The Choice Music Prize is modelled after the Mercury Prize which is awarded each year to the best album from the United Kingdom or Ireland...
for Irish Album of the Year 2010.
At the beginning of 2011, brothers Donal and Colum Mangan combined their collective talents to produce a stunning video for the song, 'Darling, You'll Meet Your Maker' from the album. The video combines the fields of model making, stop motion animation and computer animation. It depicts a small mouse's efforts to survive following the loss of his partner and his eventual survival and revenge against the perpetrator. The video can be seen at the following link ::
Halves - Darling, You'll Meet Your Maker
Studio Albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IRL Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
|||
| 2010 | It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever)
|
42 | — | |
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart. | ||||
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IRL Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
||||
| 2009 | "Blood Branches" | — | — | Blood Branches EP | |
| 2011 | "I Raise Bears" | — | — | It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) | |
| 2011 | "Growing & Glow" | — | — | It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) | |
| 2011 | "Darling You'll Meet Your Maker" | — | — | It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) | |
| — | "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||
Extended Plays
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Halves EP |
| 2008 | Haunt Me When I'm Drowsy EP |
| 2009 | Blood Branches Split 7" |
| 2010 | It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) Album - Deluxe Gatefold Double 12" Vinyl |
Choice Music Prize
It Goes, It Goes was nominated for the Choice Music Prize in 2011 and the band performed two songs live at the awards in Dublin's Vicar Street.|-
| 2011 || It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) || Irish Album of the Year 2010 ||