Last Friday night Walshs Hotel in Maghera saw the premier for the new video by local artist Ciaran Gribben aka Joe Echo. As a native of mid Ulster I took Joe up on his kind invitation to join him and guests for a night of live acoustic entertainment which included the premier of the video for his new single “Sink your teeth in”. My friends and I were not disappointed.
Having never met Joe before I was more than pleasantly surprised at the warm welcome I received by this very talented, down to earth softly spoken and mild mannered guy.
The evening’s entertainment kicked off with a treat of a performance by local girl Allie Bradley. Allie, who has collaborated with Aaron Shanley, is Currently recording her own songs under music management company White Mountain Music Publishing & is currently working on her debut album. Her voice is nothing short of stunning.
Next on the bill was Building Pictures, fronted by Ciaran’s brother John Gribben. A top performance, thoughtful lyrics with a soulful voice – talent is evidently in abundance in the Gribbin family.
The new Building Pictures EP “Closing Doors” is now available at bandcamp – 
http://buildingpictures.bandcamp.com/album/the-closing-doors-ep
10 things you don’t know about Building Pictures
1.) John Gribbin, a 23 year old from County Derry, Northern Ireland is ‘Building Pictures.’ He is the younger brother of Ciaran (Joe Echo), who recently co-wrote Madonna’s new single “Celebration.”
2.) The Northern Ireland Music Industry Commission (NIMIC) in 2008 selected John to write music under the guidance of established songwriters like Iain Archer (Snow Patrol co-writer) and Eleanor McEvoy (a co-writer of the best selling album in Irelands history).
3.) One of John’s songs, ‘this corner of the room’, was chosen by a London television production company for the soundtrack of ‘Aislings Diary’ RTE1 television in Ireland, and the same song was commissioned for the sound track of ‘Flat Mates,’ for RTP, Portugal’s leading public broadcast channel.
4.) Two songs of Johns, “I’m Serious” and “The Good Will Out” were used on the soundtrack of an online series by Newsweek.com entitled ‘The District,’ which parodies Obama’s first 100 days as U.S president. Check out episode 8 on youtube!
5.) As a member of his brother’s musical alter ego ‘Joe Echo’, where he plays lead guitar and provides backing vocals, 2009 saw John support The Script and James Morrison on their Irish tours, and more recently Paolo Nutini. Summer dates included Oxegen Festival.
6.) John provided backing vocals on the soundtrack of film ‘Heartless’ which is due for release early 2010 and stars Jim Sturgess (Lead role in hit film ‘21’).
7.) June 2009 saw the release of a special edition of ‘Hot Press’ magazine with a free CD of 18 tracks from Glasgowbury festival acts. “Hidden Agenda Types” from Building Pictures was track 14.
8.) 2009 saw the release of two self recorded EP’s, both of which have received widespread airplay on Northern Irelands BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio 1.
9.) John spent the summer of 2009 in New York City gigging with his new found Brooklyn band mates, and also made time to co-write some new songs with established pop writers who have penned songs for the likes of Kelly Clarkson and Robbie Williams in the past.
10.) In recent months John was chosen by the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) to be a guest artist on their tour of schools throughout Ireland to give young people guidance with song writing.
Then is was time for Joe to take to the stage to play a set before the video premier. For those of you like me, who are not overly familiar with the Joe Echo here’s an exerpt from his wesite www.joeecho.com to bring you up to speed ….
2009/10 has been a year of building on Northern Ireland artist JOE ECHO’s foundations through continual touring, writing and recording. His Live work includes shows with The Script, Paolo Nutini, James Morrison, Joshua Radin, Powderfinger and Eskimo Joe amongst others. Following successful 2009 summer festivals he toured Australia for the first time playing a major festival in Perth, shows with Paolo Nutini in Sydney and Melbourne and several headline club dates. Touring in 2010 is a priority and he’s recently secured the services of one of the worlds leading live agents, X-Ray Touring’s Steve Strange. Joe says “I’m really happy to be included on Steve’s great clients list that includes Snow Patrol, Coldplay and Eminem and he’s now become an integral part of the Joe Echo team which has gone from strength to strength in the past year.” Summer shows and festivals this year include Ireland’s Oxegen Festival and a most successful recent appearance at Hard Rock Calling in London’s Hyde Park with Paul McCartney.
His writing over the past year has been as busy as it’s been diverse as he builds on his now extensive catalogue. Following writing stints with various artists from Paul Oakenfold to Groove Armada the year ended with a Grammy nomination for the Madonna worldwide hit “Celebration” which he co-wrote with Madonna and Oakenfold. His songs have appeared in various TV programmes from a US Newsweek series to Australia’s ‘Home and Away’…. Joe has written, recorded and co-produced all of the original songs for ‘KILLING BONO’, a new movie based on Neil McCormick’s memoirs of his years at school with Bono and U2 and his rather less successful rival band as they went through the 1970’s. Described as an “Irish music-based comedy”, it’s written by Ian Le Frenais and Dick Clement the screenwriters of “The Commitments” and “Almost Famous”, is directed by Nick Hamm and stars Ben Barnes and Robert Sheehan. Filming began in January in Belfast in and the movie, through Paramount, will initially open in 300 cinemas across UK and Ireland in early 2011 along with a SONY MUSIC Entertainment soundtrack album. His other movie work includes recording, co-producing and performing the songs for Philip Ridley’s award winning dark fantasy movie ‘HEARTLESS’ starring Jim Sturgess and released this month to five star reviews along with a UNIVERSAL Records soundtrack album and in the US in October. Another song ‘Waves’ appears in the just released ‘Wild Target’ starring Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt with the soundtrack on SONY/EPIC Records. Two other Joe Echo songs feature in ‘Love and Suicide’, the first American movie shot entirely on location in Cuba. He recently re-mixed tracks for Thailand’s multi-million selling female artist Tata Young. He’s just completed the recording of his first JOE ECHO album prior to Summer shows after which there are plans to spend time in LA, Nashville and New York co-writing and showcasing followed by more touring.
Watch his new video for “Sink Your Teeth in” shot locally at the Elk nightclub, just outside Toome.
In other news Joe Echo will be appearing on the discussion panel at this years Hot Press Music show on the weekend of 2nd and 3rd of October with Killing Bono director Nick Hamm and if you’re in Dublin this Friday night (24th September) Joe Echo will be playing the Dublin City fm Autumn schedule launch with the Flaws and Miracle Bell at The Village. Tickets are 5euro. Bargain!