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Following ASIWYFA and Cashier No.9 headlining big venues in Belfast (and ahead of and doing the same in the coming weeks) will do their own show at the gi-normous Mandela Hall this Saturday night. To celebrate this (and flag up the bands appearance on tonight's ATL), I spoke to singer Niall Kennedy.

It's the first in an occasional series of chats with local bands overÌýan instantÌýmessaging / chatÌýserviceÌý(in this case Facebook chat - Niall didn't have anything else) that will be copied and pasted, totallyÌýunedited onto this very blog.

So, with only three words removed (in the interest of common decency), here's our conversation in full...

8:02pm - Niall is online

8:02pm - rigsy: CAN YOU HEAR ME

8:03pm - Niall: word!

8:04pm - Niall: so this is for atl blog right?

8:04pm - rigsy: yup. i'll put it up tomorrow. word for word. ahead of youz being on the show tomorrow night. i want to get to know the real niall kennedy. ask questions i wouldn't ask face to face.

8:04pm - Niall: aaaah

8:04pm - rigsy: ;-);-)

8:04pm - rigsy: ha ha

8:05pm - Niall: 6 and half inches

8:05pm - rig: okay, so first things first, don't swear

8:05pm - Niall: rightio

8:05pm - rigsy: or make references to your genetalia like you just did. in fact, swear now. get it out of your system.

8:05pm - Niall: ****io!

8:05pm - rigsy: lovely stuff. RIGHT. so what can you see around you, where are you?

8:06pm - Niall: RIGHT. im sitting at rickys house and his flat mates are all watching lord of war

8:06pm - rigsy: what's lord of war? ricky's yr drummer, right?

8:07pm - Niall: a film with nicholas cage, its moderately good

8:07pm - Niall is offline

8:07pm - Niall: yes he is indeed

8:07pmÌý- rigsy: did you go and see cashier no 9? i think i saw you there

8:08pm - Niall: yes and robyn g shiels, absoloutley lefal

8:08pm - rigsy: all these bands doing big gigs. cashier, ASIWYFA

8:08pm - Niall: its great isnt it

8:08pm - rigsy: general fiasco and the answer to come. is there a healthy competition? were you looking about the empire, sold out as it was (near enough) and thinking "i hope this many people come on saturday"

8:09pm - Niall: massive turnout last night too, great to see, its only encouraging for us really as its showing how healthy the music scene is at the minute

8:09pm - rigsy: yeah totally, but surely it puts pressure on all you guys in bands

8:10pm - Niall: yeah i mean i hope its a good turnout on saturday but we're gonna do the same show no matter how many people turn up. play our guts out and have as much fun as possible

8:11pm - rigsy: are you taking as much... i dunno, inspiration and general encouragement from seeing local bands than your favourite touring bands?

8:11pm - Niall: plus im looking forward to seeing the computers more than i am tp playing! yeah, when we're in the van on tour i'd say we probably listen to just as much local music as anything else

8:11pm - rigsy: i was talking to luke last night, yr guitarist or bassist?!

8:11pm - Niall: i really rate a lot of local bands genuinely

8:12pm - rigsy: bassist!

8:12pm - Niall: master basser

8:12pm - rigsy: i think he worries about you, ha ha. its very sweet

8:12pm - Niall: he should be more worried about looking like ken since he came back from holiday

8:12pm - rigsy: youz have a wee bit of a reputation like, for being... loose cannons

8:13pm - Niall: too loose almost

8:14pm - rigsy: who's the loosest cannon in panama kings

8:14pm - Niall: but still firing

8:14pm - rigsy: careful now ;-);-)

8:14pm - Niall: rickys a dark horse, he's secretly ridiculously loose. definitely the loosest in the band

8:15pm - rigsy: luke seems pretty sensible, does he reign you guys in? when he needs to, like

8:16pm - Niall: im sure ive reigned him in a few times, i keep him on a pretty tight leash though so i didnt have to reign him in too far

8:16pm - rigsy: is anyone in your band barred from any local venues? you don't have to name venue or band member ;-);-)

8:18pm - Niall: there've been a few issues with certain venues in belfast but we've always managed to resolve the situation and 9 times out of 10 theres been a misunderstanding, we're pretty harmless

8:18pm - rigsy: yeah of course you are, there's no doubt that anything like that is down to... sillyness. no malice, like.

8:19pm - Niall: of course, i mean if there were no venues where would we play! these places are our homes, its just sometimes there are people who are inÌýour homes that are d***s

8:20pm - rigsy: what ya mean?

8:20pm - Niall: haha! all in jest of course!

8:20pm - rigsy: do you ever think like if (WHEN!!!) youz proper get big what kind of a frontman you'll be and the...i dunno, responsibility that comes with fronting the band representing the band like, with fans and in interviews and stuff? cause youz are defo a tight unit, but the frontman always has to represent

8:21pm - Niall: yeah i suppose the bigger you get the more people who are aware of you and may take notice of things you do or say. its hard to say. i guess ill cross that bridge if i have to!

8:23pm - rigsy: ha ha. not trying to freak you out ;-);-) i don't know anyone who doesn't think you're a GBOL, but does that even matter? IT SHOULD BE JUST ABOUT THE MUSIC, MAN

8:24pm - Niall: whats that stand for now?

8:24pm - rigsy: great bunch of lads

8:24pm - Niall: i only know gsoh

8:24pm - rigsy: whats gsoh?

8:24pm - Niall: good sense of humour. dont tell me youve never placed an ad in lonely hearts!

8:24pm - rigsy: you go on many dating sites?

8:24pm - Niall: haha!

8:24pm - rigsy: ha ha. so how would your ad go?

8:25pm - Niall: whats gbol then?

8:25pm - rigsy: great bunch of lads!

8:25pm - Niall: ah i see!

8:25pm - rigsy: so what would you put in your lonely hearts ad

8:26pm - Niall: id say

8:27pm - rigsy: you're really thinking about this...

8:27pm - Niall: something so witty i cant write it here

8:27pm - rigsy: or yr connection has gone down. ha ha. BOO

8:27pm - Niall: im talking to chris wee too by the way. he says hello. i asked im he had a message for you

8:27pm - rigsy: hi chris! tell him i'll have a three way with him and tony before ASIWYFA play the ulster hall

8:28pm - Niall: Chris. i'd say what up bro u spinnin them decks tonight hae/

8:28pm - rigsy: THREE WAY CHAT

8:28pm - Niall: haha!

8:28pm - rigsy: right, lets do some proper interview questions. be professional. if you had two friends asking about what your band were like...

8:29pm - Niall: ok lets do this thing

8:29pm - rigsy: first one isn't really into music, so you have to make the references really broad. what would you tell her?

8:30pm - Niall: id say its pop music

8:31pm - rigsy: she's interested and says, 'what like chart stuff?'

8:31pm - Niall: thats pretty broad but we probably fall into pop more than rock or dance or indie

8:31pm - rigsy: okay cool. your second friend is really into her music (notice how your friends are both girls). she knows her stuff but has never heard panama kings. what do you tell her? what do you think the best reference points are? for a fellow muso, like...

8:33pm - Niall: indie dance rock pop. haha!

8:33pm - rigsy: eye but she's asking who youz sound like, and who you specifically sound like

8:33pm - Niall: id be all, nah were not that pop! haha. ah right bands? ok

8:34pm - rigsy: well yeah. she wants to know what to expect from your tracks. not who influences you. who you think you've ended up sounding like. the band in general, not you personally

8:35pm - Niall: well maybe along the lines of modest mouse, friendly fires, flamin lips, pixies,

8:36pm - rigsy: and what about your voice? it's pretty distinctive, like. any singers you'd like to sound like or that you think you sound like? or is it hard to be objective

8:36pm - Niall: yeah, panama kings was prtty much the first band i sung in, and id never really tried very much before that. so i just went with what came out. i dont want to disguise it yknow

8:37pm - rigsy: why would you?!

8:37pm - Niall: it is not to evryones taste. maybe not even mine but its all i have!

8:37pm - rigsy: ha ha, ya serious?! i dunno. i think you're being over sensitive ;-);-)

8:38pm - Niall: well maybe, maybe not!

8:38pm - rigsy: better to have a distinctive voice that not everyone lieks than have a normal, run of the mill voice that no one ever mentions ;-);-) when you're in the studio

8:39pm - Niall: yeah definiely

8:39pm - rigsy: and you are listening back to a vocal take, but theres no music. do you find that hard? the way people hate hearing their own voice

8:40pm - rigsy: gonnna let you go very shortly btw

8:41pm - Niall: no its not too bad, it was a little embarassing at the start i guess but i just sort of said to myself, right your the singer in this band and this is what your voice sounds like so accept it and get on with it!

8:41pm - rigsy: nice one. thats a good attitude

8:41pm - Niall: yeah its good to be honest with yourself

8:41pm - rigsy: right saturday night. headlinging the mandela. thats massive. are youz an ambitious band? or do you have ambitious management or what?

8:41pm - Niall: yeah were not taking it lightly. well dee and rod apporached us and said we want you to headline the mandela

8:42pm - rigsy: dee and rod from the queens student union

8:42pm - Niall: i dont think we'd have considered it for at least another 6 months. yeah. unless they'd said

8:42pm - rigsy: are you checking ticket sales and stuff? or are you trying to concentrate on just being the singer in your band?

8:43pm - Niall: exactly. i cant really think about whether or not people will turn up

8:43pm - rigsy: is anyone in the band checking ticket sales and fretting about that side of things?

8:43pm - Niall: weve postered like mad. flyered. facebooked. myspaced. emailes

8:43pm - rigsy: personally?

8:43pm - Niall: so people will come if they want! yeah dont tell my mum about the postering tho

8:44pm - rigsy: heh

8:44pm - Niall: she keeps painting over them in green paint

8:44pm - rigsy: right, before i let you get back to your dodgy film, name the support acts and i'll link in their myspaces. and give me one short sentence about each

8:46pm - Niall: are really full on, a million miles an hour hardcore for fans of the bronx and cancer bats and such like. saw them at the great escape and was blown away

8:46pm - rigsy: ONE SENTENCE ;-);-)

8:47pm - Niall: haha. i gotta break dem rules riggers

8:47pm - rigsy: ha. what a maverick! this is what i was talking about, youz are loose cannons

8:48pm - Niall: born to be wild man. i cant help it, its my destiny

8:49pm - rigsy: the other bands then... i've got movies to watch too. when i say movies i mean episodes of friends

8:50pm - Niall: ok and we found online, reccomendations from people we respected and just really loved everything about them, so excited to see them both live, i thinks gonna be really special.

8:50pm - rigsy: sounds good. saturday night then. we'll be plugging it loads on the show, we're really excited for you guys, honestly

8:51pm - Niall: have you ever watched 30 rock?

8:51pm - rigsy: buzzing!

8:51pm - Niall: if not you really should

8:51pm - rigsy: i don't know what that is. i'm on a DVD-a-thon tonight. american office. mad men season 2. the inbetweeners. which i don't think is that good

8:52pm - Niall: what u got?

8:52pm - rigsy: what i just said ya maniac. gonna make a thai green curry too :-):-) but here, i'll let ya get on. we'll see you on the show tomorrow

8:53pm - Niall: love the american office. okey doke. good chattin to you

8:53pm - rigsy: and saturday - i hope it absolutely slays, i can't wait. BYE BYE

8:53pm - rigsy: xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

8:53pm - Niall: cheeers man! see ye shem!