County: Dublin

Decades Active: 2000s

About Connect Four Orchestra

The Connect 4 Orchestra was a Dublin-based instrumental five-piece, which has been an integral part of the Dublin music family for many years. Neil and Joe were members of experimental rock band Loretta before its demise in 1998. Shortly before this band broke up, Glenn and Andrew formed the acclaimed funky, saccharine-rock band Palomine. Next, Loretta split and Neil eventually joined Palomine as a Moogist, lending a squelchy feel to a number of classic gigs including the AC/DC tribute in the Funnel.

But a conflict of interests led to Palomine's split, leaving a musical void in their lives. Neil and Joe hooked up with Ian and continued along the trail blazed by Loretta, but never played a gig. Andrew and Glenn continued to practice together.

In 1999, Glenn and Neil went on a dirty holiday together. Among the many exotic topics of conversation in which they indulged was the possibility of joining forces, to combine their powers like the Planeteers in Captain Planet. And they certainly do have all the elements (shoot me, please) of a great band. The five brought together their range of talents, instruments, personalities and influences to create one of the most curious, diverse outfits to emerge from the Dublin scene. Their first exposure to the outside world was in 1999, when they recorded rehearsals and posted them on the Internet. They were an instant hit and thousands of teenage girls logged on and subsequently discovered a world of depravity.

Over the next couple of years, Andrew Clarke became heavily involved in The Delicious Nine, an artist group responsible for a plethora of multimedia events and music videos. This group would eventually produce videos for a number of Irish bands, including Goodtime John, Coldspoon Conspiracy and the C4O themselves.

Jan 2000 saw the C4O's first gig, supporting Large Mound. It was a blistering set and a huge success. The band began gigging regularly, building up a fan base and laying down their first tracks. The first major release was Analogarhythms, which was included on the Road Relish compilation No. 9 in Autumn 2000. Over a year later, after asserting their position as one of the heavyweights in the bubbling Dublin underground alongside their friends The Redneck Manifesto and The Jimmy Cake, C4O released their first solo piece. The double A-side 7", Chinese Action Hero and Beta V9.7 released on Greyslate Records in Nov 2001, received bags of critical acclaim, radio airplay by music guru Donal Dineen and the fabulous video, by the Delicious Nine, was aired on No Disco on numerous occasions. The band tied their hankies around a stick, slung them over-shoulder and travelled around the country, at one stage playing above a Limerick strip-club and below a cigar-bar, to support the release and spread their rapidly expanding horizons. Neil, Andrew and Glenn were each involved in side-projects (Goodtime John, Glenjammin Bones, Rockcoach, Somadrone) throughout this period. Instead of sapping the inspiration from their music, these reaffirmed the importance of the C4O in each of their lives. "All the other side projects made the band more serious," says Andrew. "We get to try out other types of music that we're interested in, but the C4O is what we really want to do."

In between spreading their funk around, the band built up a repertoire of eclectic songs. In March 2002, they recorded their first album, Chisel to the Hip, over three days in Matty B's (of the Redneck Manifesto), using purely new material. It was recorded by Alan O'Boyle of Decal, one of Dublin's best electronic outfits. Ian claims that the thinking behind the album is to produce an excellent piece of work "so we can rub everyone's face in it and show them that we're the best band."

A slightly less ebullient, and much more sober, Glenn explains that "we wanted to get the album to sound as close to live as possible. We experimented with textures in the studio that can be repeated at a gig." The album will be distributed to all respectable record shops around Ireland and selected parts of Europe. (Bio adapted from redfrecords.com)

Video

Connect Four Orchestra - Chinese Action Hero