Stripped Down: Drew Makes Noise | Fatmunk

Stripped Down at The Crescent is a series of gigs that brings together some of the most talented original acts currently working in Northern Ireland, performing stripped down versions of their songs.

Usually, a song starts life in a bedroom, a living room, or a rehearsal room, and it grows over time. Eventually by the time it gets performed by a full band or recorded in the studio it has matured and developed. Stripped Down hopes to bring some of these songs back to that early, genuine stage of life.

Stripped Down has been programmed by The Crescent’s Music Associate 23/24, Donal Scullion, who has been collaborating with our Technical Manager, Gareth Doran, to curate this series. Over a number of shows you will discover a mix of established acts, rising stars and emerging talent, representing Northern Irish Hip Hop, R&B, Soul, Funk, Pop, Rock, Indie and more.

For February's edition of Stripped Down, we welcome to The Crescent Drew Makes Noise and Fatmunk.

These events are BYO; bring along a bottle, sit back and let the music take over, and enjoy these two incredible acts perform in an intimate setting.

Drew Makes Noise aka Andrew Wilson first reared his head as guitarist for Indie Dance crossover act Ed Zealous who made their own noise around Belfast and further afield in the noughties. Playing big shows with the likes of Snow Patrol and Razorlight, and travelling for festival appearances at Glastonbury and Boston Nemo festival. One of the forefront bands of Belfast’s blossoming Indie scene, Ed Zealous’s debut album “Wired” was shortlisted for the NI Music Prize in 2014, with lead single “Thanks a million” described by Drowned in Sound as “a raging foot-tapper - ballsy, catchy and funny in equal measure.” 

Ez called it a day in 2015, which saw Andrew disappear into his little home studio for a few years to experiment and find a sound of his own. Keeping some synth influences from EZ and throwing in a splash of orchestral tomfoolery, loud guitars, and the kitchen sink, the now “Drew” popped his head over the parapet again in 2020 with a sound he christened Psychpopprogrock. Having also developed a few music video making skills in the interim, 1st Single “Satellite” made a splash, with the video, which sees the contents of his childhood toy box take a trip to space,  being premiered in Clash Mag. Clash described DMN as “Real DIY artist,” set to be “churning out indie banger after indie banger.”

Lockdown, despite robbing Drew of his first live show,  saw some more single and video shenanigans with Drew taking a questionable tour of his garden in the video for “Your Garden Grows.”  The time out also give Drew the itch to pen his 1st debut Album “Let The Whole Tape Run,” a genre hopping opus with flourishes of indie, electronic, rock, gospel, folk and more.

First offering “Secret To Life” was lauded by The Thin Air as “a masterfully unraveling effort”, drawing comparisons to Sparklehorse, and true to form the “A Clockwork Orange” inspired music vid was shortlisted for NI Music Prize. Elsewhere on the album Drew summons Grandaddy (Flame) and Dinosaur Jr (Lemonade) to Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Something to Kill). Hotpress deemed the album “Eclectic, exhilarating and allergic to pigeonholes, an album that’s playful and potent.”

As if to avoid any whiff of pigeonholing thus established, for “Stripped Down” Drew intends to give his songs a new twist by ditching the usual synthesisers and arpeggiators in favour of an all acoustic instruments approach, with a wind section to boot. 

Click here to check out his sound.

Fatmunk is a four piece rock/funk outfit founded in Belfast. Formerly, known as Valium, the band have amassed a loyal following throughout Belfast via their infectious grooves combined with clever and sophisticated songwriting. Such songs include the indie-esque 'Live in the Lightning' as well as their most recent singles, the irresistibly peachy 'Neighbourhood', and the ethereal 'Alaska'.

Fronted by Caolán Tomlinson, Fatmunk has a distinctive lead vocal, which is complimented by the eternally in pocket rhythm section provided by Matt Holland and David Dalzell. Ben Murray supplies lead guitar, which ranges from the ferocious to the eerily dreamy, working perfectly in tandem with Caolán's songwriting.

Click here to check out his sound.