As part of its ongoing attempt to provide a venue for new musicians, Nevin’s Live hosted two bands from Ireland and Israel who played to an intimate crowd at Nevin’s Live on Wednesday night.
Settler, an Indie pop band from Dublin, was the featured act Wednesday.
“They’re a rock band who happens to be Irish, they’re not an Irish band,” said Thomas Dunning, the band’s manager. Dunning said the band was not looking to make any political statements.
The five-piece band has been together for about a year and has been touring Chicago for the past eight nights. Dunning, who is from Chicago and runs Brownstar Records, arranged for the band to tour in the city.
The band members, who have been staying with Dunning, said they’ve enjoyed Chicago.
“There is so much good will to all the musicians here (in Chicago),” said the keyboardist, Wil McDermott. “We are going to go into a deep depression” when we have to leave, he said.
The band will be traveling back to Dublin in a few days to finish its first CD. Settler has already released an EP. Dunning will remain the the band’s manager even though he said it may be hard to manage the band when he is in America and they are in Ireland.
Dunning said he hopes to schedule another tour in Chicago after the band finishes its CD.
Before Settler took the stage, the performers sat in the audience and watched Shy Nobleman an acoustic guitar player from Israel.
Settler vocalist and guitar player Derek McCormack is married to the band’s bassist, Fiona. Fiona McCormack began playing the bass a year ago because her husband had decided to form a band. McCormack said the band wanted to have a bassist who didn’t have her own musical ideas.
“She’s learning to play the bass with the band’s style,” McCormack said.
Settler played for about an hour to a crowd of about 20 people, most of whom knew the band. But Northwestern student Andrew Green, a Medill sophomore, was at the show even though he had never heard of Settler or Shy Nobleman.
“It’s entertaining,” he said.
Settler will play two more shows in Chicago before leaving for Dublin. Thursday night the band will play at Uncommon Ground Coffeehouse, 1214 W. Grace St., and Friday night it will play at the Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia Ave., as a benefit for WLUW 88.7, Loyola University’s radio station.
