Cruiscin Lan, Cork

[Taranis]

I used to go to the Cruiscín quite a bit back in the late 90s with the biker crowd, and Mick and I had looked into doing bigger gigs there after a few months of doing the Acheron gigs in Fred's before finally persuading Nancy's to start taking bookings for metal gigs after being able to demonstrate our numbers at smaller gigs. We moved all our gigs down to the Cruiscín when Ger from Nancy's took it over after Tom.

It used to be some pain in the hole chasing down alternative venues for running gigs (nearly managed Loits in a Blues Bar on the docks once), especially after I stopped drinking. I am sure it is the very same now for promoters of small gigs.

The Cruiscín was a decent venue once it had been expanded and having a proper backstage meant no longer having to hire day rooms in hotels and ferry bands around in cars. Plus, parking the bus was slightly less stressful (but fucking hell, still the worst part of the whole day!).

It used to be tricky getting people to walk over for the likes of Vital Remains, but for the bigger gigs, it was some blast. For a city of its size, Cork had a run of really class gigs for quite a while: a far cry from thirty people showing up for Desecration in May 2000!

I played played in the Spailpín, but thankfully I never ran a gig there. I can't think of a pub in Cork with a higher concentration of contrary fuckers back in the day (despite that, I used to go there at least once a week), bar maybe the HiBee.

Cypress Avenue is a class venue and fair play to those involved for being able to get the metal crowd in the door (I found that once a venue does one metal gig, they realise how much money they can make at the bar, but until then, they are very snobby about the whole thing). That said, they were quite receptive to metal gigs back in August 2006 or so, but by then I had decided to walk away from the whole thing and the Cruiscín was in full swing.

[Eoin McLove]

You going to get some new music going yourself,  Russell?

[Taranis]

I'd love to. Have a ton of stuff written, but between working a lot and arthritis in both hands/wrists makes it tricky to play much.

[Bogmetaller]

Satan's Arse comeback on the cards??

[Taranis]

Christ on a bike, imagine it. Having accidentally headlined Fuck Witness in 2001, we bowed out at the top. The video of that gig is pure insanity...

[Paul keohane]