The Acid Test
The Acid Test is Richie Kelly, Aidan O’Brien, Daire McCoy & Marmite Benito. Hailing from the musical and cultural metropolis Mullingar, their music has been described as a combination of guitar music and electro beats with hues of abstract electronica and krautrock welded to mighty 4/4 dance grooves. Influenced by everyone from Faust to Fourtet and Radiohead to Rachmaninoff, The Acid Test are a thrilling combination of melody and style that leave audiences begging for more
All the lads had played music for years, both together and with other ventures however it wasn’t until Richie and Aidan started to work on a new project in October 2006, which involved a more electronic sound and approach, that The Acid Test began to take shape. The two lads played a couple of gigs as a two piece and Daire, always a good man to jump on the bandwagon, decided that lead guitar was sorely missing! It was a great addition to the band and over the coming months the band developed and refined their increasingly unique sound.
2007 brought a measure of success to them in the form of a number of high profile gigs, which included support slots over the year to bands like Delorentos, Channel One & The Flaws. They also played with Nina Hynes as part of the IMRO showcase gig in the midlands and with Dave Geraghty, Concerto for Constantine & Ham Sandwich on the Mullingar leg of the 2fm2moro2our.
Recently they have been joined by their newest member, Mgoogoo Bloverfield, who plays theremin, glockenspiel, synth and does some backing vocals when the humor takes him. A certain Nick Carswell has been threatening to join them on bass also
The band’s sound is created by combining elements of both new and old musical equipment and techniques. So while some of the sounds are generated using cutting edge modular wavetable synthesizers, other sounds are created on 1970’s analogue synthesizers and drum machines. Others instruments such as the ebow, the theremin, the melodica and interesting guitar effects, all lend to the uniqueness of the band’s sound.
Things have been quiet on the gig front over the past couple of months as the lads have been working on new material for an EP they are recording in early May. After a successful run-out on BalconyTV and the upcoming gig in Bakers Place, Limerick on Fri 28th March, it’s off to Data Recording Studios in Tralee, a residential studio where the lads will record over four days with the help of Ross O’Donovan in the producer/engineer chair. Following the EP recording, a series of nationwide dates have been planned to promote it.
History In The Backroom
4th Jul 2008 - Support to Your Only Massive