Author Archives: Kevin McHugh

Time To Rock!

Kevin McHugh Art Posted on by

Well, these past few weeks have been mostly about making music in both of the bands I sing in, Cadaver Club and Setting Off Sirens. The Cadavers had the big Rebellion gig to work up to and Sirens had some legal hoops to jump through and the Monsters Of Rot festival to prepare for.

To warm up for Blackpool’s Rebellion Punk Festival, we thought we’d better book a Cadaver Club gig to shake the rigor mortis from our bodies and the mud from our fingernails. We played the Limelight in Belfast and had a great show. I had decided to video our set to see how gig-fit we were but as I had forgotten to tighten the tripod we ended up with a 45 minute video of the ceiling – pitch black! Anyway, we were in pretty good shape for a bunch of walking corpses and were ready to bring our horror-punk to the seaside!

This festival is a really big deal and one hell of an opportunity for everyone that gets to play it so this group of gravediggers were going to go in “all shovels swinging”. We thought we’d put our war-paint on in our hotel for the laugh and walk down the street like a death march to see what reaction we’d get. We got none! Nobody batted an eyelid. This WAS Blackpool after all, there’s nothing they haven’t seen.

Cadaver Club making their way through Blackpool

Continue Reading →

Share This!

The Eyes Have It

Kevin McHugh Art Posted on by

Have you ever tried to out-stare John Lydon? I have.

The first time was when I was very young. I was playing, probably drawing actually and this huge drumbeat began beating from the telly in the corner. It was slightly faster than my own heartbeat so I think I must have sped up to go along with it. I didn’t know that at the time of course but I felt it. I looked up to see this unusual man in a strange suit, arms wide, surrounded by sheets blowing from clothes lines! Not what I expected. He kept repeating, “I could be wrong, I could be right.”

For some reason this moment had a huge impact on me.

John Lydon portrait by Kevin McHugh Art

John Lydon portrait by Kevin McHugh Art

The main thing that caught my attention though were this man’s eyes. I felt like he was looking straight through the screen and could see me sitting there with my mouth open trying to understand what was happening. What was happening in fact was, for the first time in my life, I was experiencing the power of music.

Continue Reading →

Share This!

Cast A Long Shadow

Kevin McHugh Art Posted on by

This time last year I was fairly panicking. ‘Judgement day’ on a project I had been working on for months was just a week away and coming straight for me. Was I ready? Well, no. Was I prepared? Eh, getting there. Was I calm and in control of the situation? Mmmmm… Excited? HELL YEAH!

The funny thing is, it’s times like these, when I’ve taken way too much on and am trying to keep all the plates spinning, that I really feel alive. I do moan about not getting enough sleep and being exhausted but secretly I love it. I feel I’m doing something that simply won’t happen if I don’t give it all I have and the stranger the job, the better. If I find myself asking, “How on earth did I get roped into this?” I know I’m doing something right.

This particular job had taken over my life for a good chunk of the year so far and had a lot of different aspects to it. The project was conceived at a Sliabh Beagh Arts meeting where, jacked up on tea and buns, we decided it would be great idea to put on a shadow puppet play. With an original story. And music. For an audience. IN A WOODS.

Lily's Song in full swing

Continue Reading →

Share This!