The first of this week's Play Irish Artists of the week on Ed's National Anthems is Lilla Vargen with her new single 'Why Wait'. It's the first song taken from her upcoming EP 'We Were Thunder', and the video hightlights the ongoing housing crisis in Ireland which is a subject close to Lilla's heart. “My family worked with the council helping put together packs for people who were sleeping rough,” she said. “You see things that are quite hard, but you also learn the most amazing things just from talking to people, and they’re so glad to have these conversations. It’s difficult to imagine how hard it must be sitting there on the streets day by day, with everyone avoiding you.”
You can see Lilla live when she plays in McHugh's Bar in Belfast on 25th November, and Upstairs at Whelans in Dublin on 26th Dublin. Tickets are on sale now.
The second Play Irish Artist of the week comes from The Clockworks - a band mentioned on the show last week when Ed spoke to Alan McGee of Creation Records who has recently signed the Galway band. The song Ed has chosen is 'Bills and Pills'.
The Clockworks are James McGregor, Sean Connelly, Damian Greaney and Tom Freeman, and they were signed by Alan 11 days after making the move from Galway to London when Sean sent him a DM on Instagram saying they were "like The Streets with guitars". They are going from strength to strength, opening for Kings of Leon in Liverpool during the summer, and they've just announced a few Irish headline dates. You can see them in Dublin when they play Upstairs at Whelan's Upstairs on December 5th, and in Galway when they play the Róisín Dubh on December 6th with a DJ set from Alan McGee himself afterwards. Tickets for Whelans are on sale at 10am on Friday via Ticketmaster, and tickets for the Róisín Dubh are available on the Roisin Dubh website.
Tune in to Ed's National Anthems Monday - Thursday from 7-10pm.
