NING FESTIVAL Day#1: PANAMA KINGS, KOWALSKI and more

Event information

The fourth year of our showcase weekend which as well as 10 fine bands playing over two days, also involves some top class partying, rarely witnessed in london venues!
In the past NING has offered early gigs to rock monsters The Answer, In Case of Fire and Oppenheimer and this year with the Northern Irish (anti-)scene stronger than ever before with bands supporting each other, DIY labels and spaces cropping up we've come up real trumps with two of the biggest buzz bands for some time in Panama Kings and And So I Watch You From Afar.

PANAMA KINGS (Belfast)

Headlining the first night of the NING weekender, Panama Kings formed barely a year ago and have taken Ireland by the ears with their razor-edged indie-rock-dance-party storm of sound. all topped by Niall Kennedy, a frontman who can not only sing but also scream in perfect tune!
While references have already been made in the press to such American postpunk luminaries such as Sonic Youth, Superchunk, (early) Modest Mouse and even Flaming Lips, we like to think of them as an amalgam of the two best British bands of the millenium so far, a mindblowing hybrid of mclusky and Clor. And, with Radio 1 and other movers already in support, Panama Kings could just been the band to bring perverted, messed around underground sounds onto the biggest of stages.
www.myspace.com/panamakings

KOWALSKI (Belfast)

...are a quartet that is collectively 80 years old, approximately 66 metres of cable,1 bass,2 keyboards,2 guitars, and a drum kit.
despite their youth, the band have been playing for three years and haven;t done an official London show until now because they had to wait til the time was just right. They've almost finished their first album which comes on the back of last year's rather brilliant 'Are You Noisy Sunshine State?' EP which together with a headline tour of the UK (excluding London!) has already won them a fanbase here. Musically they appeal to fans of Deathcab, National, Broken Social Scene and the like, and live, they're most fast-fingered foursome you're likely to see...these guys can play!
www.myspace.com/wearekowalski

POCKET PROMISE (Tyrone)

..are another band who've taken their time over things and it's only recently that they've upped the ante with the consummate listening pleasure of their 'Waving At Strangers' EP which they recorded former Frames man turned production guru David Odlum at Black Box Studios in France. They've been described as brooding indie guitar swing with piano trimmings that sound not unlike something The National might come up with but with a Northern Irish accent on top, and you know that's got to be a good thing!
'a spacey, magical atmosphere'
- David Roy, The Irish News
www.myspace.com/pocketpromise

CUTAWAYS (Belfast)

Ultra-catchy songs on the pop side of indie but with an cutting edge informed by Pixies, Archers of Loaf and other adult-rated bands. You'll be dancing, strutting and drinking to this foursome.
Cutaways have grade A indie-pop sensibility.......... Here we have a band capable of packing more creativity and sizzling excitement into a few minutes than most acts fit into six-minute epics
- Hot Press magazine (Pick Of The Fortnight)
www.myspace.com/cutaways

ESCAPE ACT (Belfast)

Power trio pumping out the tunes!
their sound recalls the likes of 90’s alt.rock titans Superchunk and Sugar with it’s driving, spindly indie-pop aesthetic, lyrical bite and melodies you’ll be humming by the second chorus
- Alternative Ulster magazine
www.myspace.com/escapeact

PLUS ....FREE BBQ at 6pm!!!!