Thumper

Thumper

Friday, 24 March 2023, 7.00pm

Dublin’s THUMPER are establishing themselves as one of Ireland’s most promising and exciting bands at the moment. With a line-up of two drummers and four guitarists, THUMPER’s maximalist wall of sound has long since set them apart in the booming Dublin music scene and has them “punching like heavyweights alongside Fontaines DC and The Murder Capital” (Chris Hawkins, BBC Radio 6).

2022 saw the release of their RTé choice music prize nominated debut album, Delusions of Grandeur. The album is an epic introduction to the bands psych-drenched rumble which juxtaposes towering walls of distortion with saccharine melody and unabashed hooks. Championed by notable tastemakers like CLASH Magazine, The Line of Best Fit, GoldenPlec, BBC Radio 1, DJ Gemma Bradley and many more and having gained support from Spotify with playlisting on All New Punk (Cover Artists), The Punk List and Alternative Ireland, as well as Amazon Music’s Fresh Rock and Best New Bands, THUMPER have been ubiquitous this year among music listeners and festival goers. Thundering into the ESNS Radio Charts THUMPER have received UK and international airplay across BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, Radio X, KEXP, Kink, Kerrang and many more as well as having made noteworthy TV performances on RTE’s Tommy Tiernan Show and Other Voices.

While Delusions of Grandeur features plenty of homages to classic alt-rock such as Weezer, Pixies and The Dandy Warhols, it is also steeped in the influence of contemporaries such as Viagra Boys, King Gizzard, Shame and even Idles at their most psychedelic. At other points, the bombastic nature of its production recalls Irish psych alumni My Bloody Valentine on Loveless or no wave veterans Sonic Youth on Daydream Nation. Nowhere is this bombastic recording process more apparent than on the record’s final act – the 20-minute ‘Overbite’ Suite consisting of three songs recorded and performed as one long piece. This epic attempt at pushing past the mould of what a ‘song’ can be in part justified by the album’s title.

The sextet are an outfit not to be missed with their unique live setup and rapturous high energy sound. 2022 has seen BBC Across the Line’s ‘Future Headliners’ THUMPER play Reading and Leeds Festival, 3 captivating Electric Picnic slots, Indiependence Festival, All Together Now, Vestrock, Haldern Pop, Europavox Lithuania, United Islands Prague and more this summer alone. While THUMPER remain ‘Cult heroes’ (Clash Magazine) in Ireland, the six-piece band are no stranger to international touring. Their extensive European touring has covered Ireland, UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and Iceland. Following their performance at The Great Escape 2022, THUMPER are showcasing artists at this years Ireland Music Week, Reeperbahn Festival and Iceland Airwaves.

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Published by The Journal of Music on 20 March 2023

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