GuilFest 2006. The 3 Day Guildford Music Festival on 14th, 15th and 16th July 2006

About the bands
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Artist: Hot House Flowers
Genre: Pop
Performing: 15th July 2005 / The UNCUT Magazine Stage
Website Address: [ ]
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Hothouse Flowers are:

Liam O Maonlai : vocals, keyboards, guitar, bodhran, didgeridoo, tin whistle, anything else that comes his way
Fiachna O Braonain : guitar, backing vocals, tin whistle
Dave Clark Drums, percussion.

The story is what legends are made of:

*Busking on the streets of Dublin in 1985;

*Courting the attention and assistance of U2’s Mother Records;

*Making a name for themselves with their own passionate brand of Irish-rooted rock’n’soul;

*Being named “Best Unsigned Band In Europe” by Rolling Stone Magazine;

*Signing a deal with London Records.

*Three albums, world tours, adulation, the whole nine yards.

Then, beginning in 1994, silence.

To the members of Hothouse Flowers, the intervening years have been rich with collaborations and solo journeys.

“We needed to feel the fresh air of the possibility that we wouldn’t keep going,” Liam said. “We had to stop to look and say ‘do we want to carry on with it’?

The three core members - Liam, Fiachna, and Peter developed an impressive list of guest appearances between them including:

The Waterboys

The Indigo Girls

Michelle Shocked

Ron Wood

Carly Simon

The Rankin Family

Tim Finn

Yothu Yindi

and the late Joe Higgs - known as ’The Godfather of Reggae’.

And then they discovered they still had something to say as Hothouse Flowers.

”We’ve talked about it over the last couple of years and it is something that goes beyond words, that was left unfinished, that we still had to do together,” Fiachna observes.

A fourth studio album called ‘Born’ emerged in 1997, which revealed a harder, more electronic edge to the band. Available only as an import in the US , ‘Born’ attracted excellent critical reviews. The last album for London Records, its appeal brought about a tour as well as a support slot with the Rolling Stones during their ‘Bridges To Babylon’ tour. The live activity sparked a live album, which is currently available at Flowers shows and via mail-order.

With US tours in 1999, 2001 and 2002, they continued to reaffirm their presence on the live circuit. The band performed at festivals in Japan , Africa and across Europe , including a tour of Irish colleges.

And in the middle of all this activity, they’ve recorded their fifth studio album 'Into Your Heart' due for release 6 th February, 2004 . Featuring 14 brand new tracks , the album also includes their new single , 'Your Love Goes On'released 16 th January.

“This record is the most raw, soulful record we’ve ever done,” says Fiachna.

For the Hothouse Flowers, it’s about the joy of playing, of making music with - as well as for - the people who come out to see them. It’s about music that is always in search of itself, measuring itself only against the level of honesty and passion with which it is played. It’s about heart to heart music, plain and simple.