A group of like-minded bands and musicians in Dublin have come together to form a collective, and plan to celebrate the release of their first compilation with a free all-day gig later this month.
Popical Island was established late last year by musicians Mike Stevens and Ruan van Vliet, who play together in the bands Groom and Lie Ins, as well as maintaining several side projects of their own.
The pair soon realised that it would make sense to gather their group of like-minded musician friends together to form a collective, and although it’s mostly indie-pop based, they stress that it’s not a “cliquey, exclusive thing”.
“The basic criterion for being a part is good music, regardless of trends or fashions,” Stevens told The Ticket.
Popical Island #1 will be released on June 18th in a limited run of 200 copies. Among the bands who have contributed new exclusive songs (and who will be playing at the Whelan's gig from 3pm on June 19th) are Land Lovers, Groom, Yeh Deadlies, Feed the Bears, Squarehead and more. It's also available to stream today at popical island.bandcamp.com.
“When I think back to similar events like The Sabbath or The Big Bang, they’re some of my favourite local gigs ever put on, and I think we’d just like to put on something that’ll be remembered as fondly,” said van Vliet.
