Eight years since they started gigging together, Sligo native hip-hop trio This Side Up will launch their debut album Full Fat in The Grand Social tomorrow evening, November 26th.
The 12-month creative process has been very much inclusive of all three members of the group, This Side Up’s Eddie Hamilton tells The University Times. Local encouragement has also played an important role in the process: “Support has been great. We’re from Sligo and the music scene down there is buzzing. You wouldn’t say there’s a big hip-hop scene but coming up through the years we’ve had a great crowd at our gigs, everybody supporting us that way. There are a lot of people from Sligo in Dublin who have been supporting us since we moved up here also, it’s great.”
The sounds people will hear from Full Fat on Saturday have been produced in the band’s own studio, set up by them, specifically for their creative purpose. “That’s my own studio, set up in my house. I have a bit of a grá for [recording], I’ve been doing since I was about 17. We can spend as much time as we want there and I can say whatever stupid things into the microphone. It definitely helped the album a lot, gave us so much freedom”, Hamilton notes. Although creating something pretty unconventional in the Irish music scene, This Side Up remain positive about making new music: “We knew there was a market for it. We’ve been gigging since 2008, we played at [Electric Picnic] several times, did Longitude and Knockanstockan too and we always had a good crowd at the gigs. We had the love for it and saw that there was love was for us, and thought ‘We have to give this a go, before we get comfortable and settle down.’”
Those who will be lucky enough to make it to the launch are set to get a true sense of what the group is about. Full Fat is an album that is reflective of all members of the group, with stories from their highs and their lows, underpinned by real fun and “just good craic”. Hamilton tells me that: “in comparison to our EP [3075], this album is a lot more personal. You get a really good sense of what we are about. I think we had a lot more fun, there’s more a variety and we talk about some personal issues. It shows our character a lot more, we want people to understand who we are.” Following gigs with the album in Sligo, Galway, and Cork with audiences of up to 700 people, heading to Saturday night in The Grand Social is a sure no-brainer.
This Side Up will be supported by 5th Element, all kicking off at 7.30pm. At only €7 entry at the door, the evening will be a refreshing way to spend Saturday evening in the city, away from uncomfortable heaving crowds elsewhere.
