25th December 2003
The lovely people at TADHGCOOKE.COM would like to pass on Tadhg’s seasonal message
to everyone who visits our humble wired home and to those of you who don’t…
Apologies to all for being _________________ [ out of touch for so long / drunk and disorderly
in your house / breaking your guitar strings / kissing your girlfriend / trying to kiss your girlfriend / too embarrassed to call because it’s been so bloody long since the last time I called and didn’t want you thinking that I needed money for a foot massage ]. I’m keeping ___________ [ very well thanks / crap / myself warm with this ginormous uber-scarf that my granny bought me as a pre-christmas present while composing this on my computer in my room which has been annexed in temperature only by the Peoples Republic of Vladivostok ].
I hope every single one of you is keeping well. I will write to all of you soon [yes, I know you have heard this all before] but as it’s christmas eve even my vague concept of time would make it nigh on impossible for me to write to each of you individually before tomorrow. My heart is in the right place though. Which is a relief. To me, and my physician.
For some unknown reason, Christmas in the Cooke household this year looks pretty sweet. I took a gander under the tree and it seems like we accidentally bought each other presents. This is very unlike us. We’re normally the worst people at buying each other gifts, much preferring the fumbling, sweaty battles with complete strangers for the last pair of tigger slippers in “de sales”. So I’m hoping that it’s all working out for all of you too.
I want to hear from all of you. News, haircuts, limb breakages, everything. Well, not everything, and I will grant permission to change names and facts in order to protect characters living, dead or entirely of your own creation.
So to recap and to finish disputes… I’m off to Germany in a few weeks again to get this album started finally, so wish me luck. If anyone knows any German please throw me a useful phrase or two in an email or text message. I will need all the help I can get. Does anyone know how to say “take me to the bridge”? Without sounding like a tourist?
Big thanks to everyone who ____________ [ hustled gigs for me / heckled my loud shirts /
turned up at gigs / listened / sold EPs / clapped / let me sleep on their couch / gave me mugs o’ tay / terrorised the population of ‘the black country’ in England with some crap song about pyromania / put up with my unkempt appearance / let me into their homes despite my unkempt appearance / even went so far as to let me on the radio (the mad eejits! and I mean that affectionately) / smiled at me / tried to escape listening to my new stuff by fleeing the country and switching hemisphere (well the laugh’s on you, coz the southern hemisphere is soooo 2003) ]. The rest of you however… are on my black-list (I’m thinking of putting this black list up somewhere on the site, so if you have suggestions for this list please email them to me and I’ll keep them in consideration).
Take care of yourselves in 2004
& write, call or visit soon
All the best
Le Tigre
11 November 2003
Apologies for the lack of site updates for the past few weeks. While I have a spare moment or two… some news for you… I’ve been working away for the last few months, getting
money, equipment, beards… and I popped over to a little town called Freiburg (in Baden and not Bavaria as I incorrectly stated earlier – apologies to those of Baden) recently to see a man about a record. I can’t say much now. Everything’s still up in the air. However, what I can say is that the wheels are in motion… and I like that feeling.
Sorry for the crypticism. Please leave your own cryptic messages on the board or mail them to us here at tigercorp.
No major gigs are planned at the moment. However, keep your eyes peeled because you never know just where I may turn up unannounced.
Photos of Freiburg and from a gig in Connolly’s of Leap (courtesy of Belle) that I played months and months ago will be posted up shortly.
and in other news…
BellX1 are doing an Irish tour at the start of december. Tickets are like gold-dust. Incredibly hard to inhale. The lads are also appearing on the Dunphy show on the Irish TV3 on the back of their big tours of Gweat Bwitain and Euwope and (so I hear…) a beautiful banjo-laiden performance of a Justin Timberlake song on Irish breakfast radio.
Phantom FM is back. It’s only for weekends. It’s on a different frequency 97.3FM. However it’s back and it’s legal : www.phantomfm.com.
Those of you familiar with the very rare music video for Sparks will know Steve Emerson. Steve was spotted having a pint and discussing the terrible afflictions that are manufactured pop bands with Mickey Dolenz in a bar in Wolverhampton recently. I’m well impressed and so are you. Admit it.
That’s all for now.
12th Aug 2003
Some interesting gigs are approaching. Check the gigs page for more details. This month’s Songs from the Parlour will be on wednesday 27th august, upstairs in the Stag’s Head. Other acts have yet to be confirmed for that night.
This month’s Open Zone in leixlip is being held on wednesday 20th, and everyone should go to see Gordon Giltrap. Gordon is held in very high esteem by Led Zepp guitarist Jimmy Page and more folkie artists like Bert Jansch. He’s a guitarist’s guitarist. Check him out while he’s on our shores. He’s also playing Whelan’s on tuesday 12th august.
BellX1 have been shocking everyone with their amazing live shows and their stunning new album… everyone, that is, except for their fans who have been trying to tell you that they’re amazing for the past few years. Good luck to them. Three weeks in the Irish album charts top thirty… and still going strong. You can catch them (if you can get the gold-dust-like tickets that is) at the following venues: Aug 12th – DeBarra’s Clonakilty; Aug 13th – Spirit Store, Dundalk; Aug 14th – Auntie Annies, Belfast.
9th July 2003
A messageboard is now available from the ‘contact’ page. It’s not the amazing 25th century message board that was promised, and it does have some annoying ads. However it does most of the things a good messageboard should do. So have fun with it while I hack away at creating the masterpiece.
I’m currently experimenting with ripping past interviews and live sessions. So check back soon for new downloads on the music page.
1st July 2003
The Midnight Music show turned out quite well indeed. One of the songs from the session, “I Knew Better” will be on the site shortly. I’m also looking into putting some past interviews online. The recordings are in the process of being chopped and compressed (and censored…). Thanks to Helen and Kryz for a lovely morning!
Thanks to some unforeseen compression difficulties the Sparks video is still not available online. The boffins are working away at it as I type.
A selection of the least damaging photos are now available from the pics page. Huge thanks and congratulations to the official crew [Dave, Joanne, Matt & Steve] and to the unofficial crew [Lorco, Ollie, Anna, John, The people of Birmingham, Wolverhampton…]. Video will follow asap.
16th June 2003
Listen to 103.2FM in the Dublin area tomorrow (Tuesday 17th) at midnight. I’m playing a few songs (brand new and old) and talking with Helen Cullen, the presenter of a new show on the station. Dedicated to Alternative-ish/Rock, the new Midnight Music show is on every tuesday night from midnight until 2. Technically I suppose I should be saying it’s on every wednesday morning at 00:00 until 02:00…. that’s why they call me a pedant, isn’t it?
25th May 2003
Phantom FM, the Dublin area’s only Indie/Alternative station, has just been shut down effectively by our short-sighted ComReg and BCI. For the moment Phantom’s wise heads are telling everyone to fill out their listener survey so that they can get something solid to show the powers that be. You can fill it out at this address:
http://www.phantomfm.com/now/survey.htm
Go visit… and check out the rest of Phantom FM‘s site too. These are the guys who gave airtime to all us alternative/indie kids in the Dublin area.
Also they have plenty of online listeners all over the world (Europe and the US especially)… you can listen to the station online too:
http://www.phantomfm.com/now/live.htm
24th May 2003
“The Sparks” music video / videoclip has been finished. Filming was done at the start of April at locations in Wolverhampton and Birmingham. It was a crazy week. It’s amazing how many hours of filming are compressed into a 4 minute video. All credit to SETV Productions for getting so much done with zero budget.
As soon as we have the film compressed down to a nice reasonable size we’ll put a link up on the music page. Photos from the shoot are also on the way. Thank yous must go to the following: All @ SETV Productions, Steve Emerson, David Carry, Matt Sullivan, Joanne Daly, Lorco, Ollie, Aoife, Louise, Gr?inne, all the lucky leprechauns (pronounced le-pree-shins) & food fairies at 170 Stafford Road… and all the lovely people of Birmingham and Wolverhampton for not chasing us away from their shop windows.
A new improved links page is on the way… for the moment you can use the unorganised version…
April 2003
“The Sparks EP”, each one meticulously burnt, bagged and posted from Cooke’s bedroom, has made the A-List at Phantom FM a Dublin-based independent radio station. The EP was cut in the heart of Dublin’s docklands over a period of a few days back in may and february 2002. Although initially intended as a supplement to income earned from hard graft during a summer stint in america, somehow things snowballed. It was generally well received. So they continued to be made, handed out, sold … and so here you are reading this.
The next goal is to record an album. At time of writing the as-yet-untitled album is largely written and a few basic demos have been recorded. We’ll be updating you on the progress with the album as soon as we know ourselves.
Tadhg hails from the outer reaches of the Dublin metropolitan area. He’s a singer/songwriter. He would like you to enjoy the music. That’s really all that we’re permitted to let you know right now. We do have a few recent interviews with the man himself below, detailing his exploits in New York, Paris, Wolverhampton and even Clonakilty.