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Aaron McMullan

About Me



THE DEBUT ALBUM - "YONDER! CALLIOPE?" - AVAILABLE NOW ON EX LIBRIS RECORDS

SAMPLE OR PURCHASE HERE

"If Johnny Cash had grown up in Northern Ireland, or if Janis Joplin and Leonard Cohen had created a lovechild in the Chelsea Hotel, the result might very well have been Aaron McMullan."
AgentBedhead.com

"There is something about this disc that leaves me awestruck. I've not heard an album that has excited me in this manner since I heard my first Clash album years and years ago."
Richard Marcus, Blogcritics.org

"McMullan’s debut album proper, should, if there’s any justice, see him catapulted into the limelight. Packed with wistful ballads, foot-tappingly infectious upbeat pop and at least one near-classic country-gospel fever-dream (the stunning album closer, Don’t Think I’ll Sleep Tonight), Yonder! Calliope? easily marks McMullan out as a different beast altogether from his earnest countrymen being both lyrically sharper and deeper."
Greg Smyth, Swing Batter Batter / NARC Magazine

VISIT AARON MCMULLAN ON LAST FM FOR FULL ALBUM PREVIEW AND WHAT NOT

"Blackmill Rd." Live In Newcastle, June 2008, with the Lodge Road Players.
"Song Just For Tonight" Live In Newcastle, June 2008, with the Lodge Road Players and the wonderful Rebecca Jones
"Sundogs" Live In Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, June 2008, with the Lodge Road Players
THE BIO AND SUCH FROM EX LIBRIS RECORDS

Aaron McMullan has spent much of the past three years building a modest but committed band of blessed supporters and well-wishers via both irregular appearances at local venues and the release of five internet-only free-to-download “net-records”. The success of these lo-fi, hissy, reverb-soused recordings led, in part, to the development of a close relationship between McMullan and Ex Libris Records, a relationship which culminated in the craggy-toothed bugger’s signing to the label in late 2006.

The debut album, Yonder! Calliope? is currently available to purchase as CD or Download from Ex Libris Records and will be distributed from September, 2007 by NDN Distribution

McMullan is joined on the record by a cast of incredibly talented musicians and performers, including Ex Libris alumni Ryan H Fleming, Andy Warmington, Brian Magee, Rebecca Jones, Sarah Gill, Simon Phillips and Andrew Gardiner, who also took care of mixing, producing and arranging duties.

Says music critic Mark Saleski -

"Artists both famous and obscure have spoken at length about The Muse. Just where does that inspiration come from? Let's face it, we'll never know. To try and narrow in on a supposed "idea diamond" is to waste time that none of us can afford."
"Still, there's one resonant line of thought and that's the concept of a universal song, broadcast continuously to a select few. Those lucky ones who can tune in have no say in the matter. The ideas just flow, relentlessly, and are often the cause of great difficulty. Those raw thoughts have power - they know what they want to become. The artist may have other ideas, and that collision of the mind against the infinite can be a brutal one. When there's success, you can hear it."

"That's exactly what I hear when listening to Aaron McMullan: that he has no choice about making this music and, lucky for us and our ears, those raw thoughts have been harnessed."

Speaking about himself (his second favourite topic after The Cinema Of Kirsten Dunst), McMullan says;

"I write songs about what interests me. Me, mostly, but also religion and lassies and laddies and sleeping pills and daydreams and curious combinations of the aforementioned. I’ve been accused of being excessively emo, and maybe I am, but also, there’s a fair dose of country and folk and punk and what not in there, all genres in which a man can get away with not being fit to sing a note nor strum a damn chord, if’n the songs are maybe worth hearing. And I hope maybe they are. Mean, I did get 17 – that’s seventeen - votes on the NME unsigned page a while back. This might not seem like much, but I’ll remind you that it’s 17 more than Led Zeppelin got, and also, it means I’m more than eligible to appear on next year’s Celebrity Big Brother."

AND ALSO, WHILE WE'RE HERE

A couple demo-quality, reverb-soaked, hiss-laden pre-Yonder! Calliope? net-released albums are available for free download from aaronmcmullan.com and are as follows -

196 0r So... being some songs about songs and some other songs about Dublin, Ballymoney, Jesus and so on.

75mg being a collection of tunes of similar stock, with additional musical assistance from Darren Worth.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 31/07/2005
Band Website: www.aaronmcmullan.com
Band Members: On The Album - Aaron McMullan plus a cast of incredibly talented musicians along the lines of Rebecca Jones, Andrew Gardiner, Andrew Warmington, Luke Page, Brian Magee, Ryan H Fleming, Simon Phillips and Sarah Gill.

Live - Either Aaron McMullan solo or joined by various friends and prodigies.
Influences: Lisa. Ballymoney. London. Dublin. The pule o' the power-lines at half five in the mornin. The sense of something extraordinary goin' on someplace else and the realisation that no, it's goin' on here, just pay more attention. The goon-shack. The Duelling Christs. The colours of Kirsten Dunst. The music of Billy Bragg, Woody Guthrie, The Dead Kennedys, Bright Eyes, Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, The Pogues, Shane MacGowan And The Popes, Bjork, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, The Libertines, Cursive, Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Ryan Adams, Randy Newman, Gillian Welch... The work of Flann O'Brien and James Joyce and The Marquis de Sade and Hunter S Thompson and Lester Bangs and Woody Allen and Ingmar Bergman and William Burroughs and Peter Watkins and William Blake and Bertolt Brecht and Will Self. The King James Bible. The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G Ballard. Insomnia. Nicotine. Caffeine. Benylin. Pulmo Bailly.
Sounds Like:

Record Label: Ex Libris Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

New Version Of Sundogs For To Hear

Hi folksWhat this is, is a sort-of-halfways-finished new version of Sundogs, the older version of which is still on yonder profile player doohickey. What this does is gets rid of the last verse and pi...
Posted by on Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Live Review In NARC - "McMullan’s voice soon loses its damaged appeal..." Ah well.

Hi folksWhat this is, is a review of the recent gig at the Head Of Steam in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, written for NARC magazine by Mr. Adam Groark. I figured this was a good one, all round - the gig, I mea...
Posted by on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:53:00 GMT

New Demo With Lyrics An’ Stuff- "Quare Times, Boys..."

Hi folksWhat this is, is a demo of a new tune about havin' a dream-tide banter with the me from a year or nine ago, and catchin' sight of the me of the Here and Now stood behind or beside, and the sha...
Posted by on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:34:00 GMT

Live Videos From Newcastle

Hi folksWhat these are, are videos of the set performed by myself and The Lodge Road Players on 22nd June 2008 at the Head Of Steam, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. The Lodge Road Players were - Andrew Warmingto...
Posted by on Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:31:00 GMT

Newcastle An’ That

Hi folksI've just flung a new blog doohickey up on London In Broken C. It conerns a jaunt to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne over the weekend past, and also a man with a collapsed arse. Newcastle An ThatThanks fo...
Posted by on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:48:00 GMT

Four Live Tracks For To Hear - WORKING NOW

Hi folksWhat I have here are four tracks recorded at Tuesday night's gig at the Lucky 13 Lounge (the Lounge is a gorgeous set-up if ever was one - the MySpace is HERE). A thousand thank you's to Franc...
Posted by on Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:31:00 GMT

New Demo - Blackmill Road

Hi folksWhat this is, is a song I finished this mornin' and recorded a clicky, hissy demo of this afternoon. What it's called is Blackmill Road, and how you can hear it is by left-clickin on the below...
Posted by on Fri, 30 May 2008 22:23:00 GMT

Shambolic Feille FM Interview And Performance For To Hear

Hi folksA few weeks ago I took a dander down to Feille FM in Belfast for to banter with the delightful Andy Mulholland, host of Livewire, and to play some tunes. That was the idea, anyroad. What happe...
Posted by on Thu, 15 May 2008 09:32:00 GMT

New Demo - Three Muses

Hi folksI posted a version of this earlier today, then took it down. I'm replacing it with this not-all-that-very-different-at-all version. Also noted earlier - this is a re-jigged version of a tune I...
Posted by on Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:08:00 GMT

New Demo - Angel Of The Northern Line

Hi folksAnother wee demo doohickey for to have a listen to if you fancy. As per usual - horribly recorded and what not, but hopefully it’ll be manageable. Just left click to listen online, or ri...
Posted by on Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:43:00 GMT