Caulbearers recently returned from a 4 day mini tour in Northern Ireland, playing at four venues in Derry and Donegal for the Jazz and Big Band festival over the April bank holiday. What a beautiful weekend. Everywhere we played, we were received with affection and enthusiasm. Read more…

Playing at the Bound for Boston pub, whose young hipster crowd made us feel like a band of beardies; The Collon bar (no we don’t think it’s pronounced colon) with their outside painted mural hosting “The” (sic) Caulbearers: world premiere bit of Caulbearers graf? And at the famous Sandino’s: bar, club and revolutionary hang out for the Derry lefties (Sandino was a Nicaraguan revolutionary who led the rebellion against American occupation between 1927 and 1933. The entire bar is decked out with socialist propaganda artwork). Sandino’s was our busiest gig, with a packed out crowd and even the landlord asking us back on stage for more. We’ll be back!

It was also the premiere outing of our EP, More Lie Deep, hot from the studio back in Manchester. Derry-ites were the first to be able to get their hands on some preview copies and we virtually sold out over the 4 gigs. 

Derry is the hometown of our percussionist Gavin Mullan (whose amazing family put some of us up for the tour, put up a stage for us at a family party in Donegal and also constituted the front row vanguard of some of our gigs: hats off to you, Mullan clan! ) but was a first time visit for the rest of us. We got a chance to see the city via the old 17th century city walls; the Protestant and Catholic quarters; the famous Bogside murals commemorating Bloody Sunday and republican resistance and the Free Derry monument. There was also time in between our busy gigging schedule to head to the sea for a spot of skinny dipping. Henceforth known as “Cold bare-arse” to locals. Apologies, good people of Ireland.