BBC News NI have reported that one of Northern Ireland's most famed instrument manufacturuers, Avalon Guitars, have gone into administration. The small Newtownards based business have made custom guitars for the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Bob Geldof, James Morrison, Andy McKee and many more.

For more information, visit BBC News NI.

More support acts have been announced for the Belsonic festival which takes place at Custom House Square, Belfast this August. Duke Special, Newton Faulkner, The Answer, Sweet Savage, Jody Has A Hitlist and many more have been announced for various dates throughout the event.

See below for the line-ups:

Wednesday 15th August - Skrillex
Support from Dillon Francis

Thursday 16th August - Emeli Sande
Support from Duke Special and Foy Vance

Friday 17th August - Madness
Support TBC

Saturday 18th August - Thin Lizzy
Support from The Answer, Sweet Savage, FM

Sunday 19th August - Paramore
Support from Jody Has A Hitlist

Monday 20th August - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Support from The Enemy

Thursday 23rd August - Two Door Cinema Club
Support from Noah & The Whale, Oberhofer

Friday 24th August - Tom Jones
Support from Brian Kennedy

Saturday 25th August - James Morrison
Support from Newton Faulkner and Gareth Dunlop.

Sunday 26th August - David Guetta
Support from Alesso, Congorock, DJ Hix

Last night The Great Northern Songbook live concert was held in the historic surroundings of the Ulster Hall. The Ulster Orchestra were joined by the likes of And So I Watch You From Afar, General Fiasco, Katharine Philippa, Rams Pocket Radio and Ciaran Gribbin to perform the 'top ten Northern Irish penned songs' as voted by the public. 

Now you can listen back to the whole gig here!

Acts and Covers:
The Ulster Orchestra - Medley
Brian Kenndy - Madame George (Van Morrison)
Rams Pocket Radio - Alternative Ulster (Stiff Little Fingers)
Cara Dillon - Teenage Kicks (The Undertones)
Katharine Philippa - Days Of Pearly Spencer (David McWilliams)
Ciaran Gribbon - The Island (Paul Brady)
General Fiasco - Tonight We Fly (The Divine Comedy)
Barry Lynn - Hill of Thieves (Cara Dillon)
And So I Watch You From Afar - Big Time (Rudi)
Bronagh Gallagher - Freewheel (Duke Special)
The Answer - Shining Light (Ash)

Scissor Sisters have announced they will play the Waterfront Hall, Belfast on Tuesday the 2nd of October as part of their UK & Ireland tour. They will also play Monday 1st October at the Olympia, Dublin. The band are about to release their fourth album Magic Hour on Polydor records later this month.

Alice Kona Band will launch their new single, 'Bad Dreams' at Aunt Annies, Belfast on the 30th of June.

Wyldling, The World On Fire (England), and Kasper Rosa will play Masons, Derry on the16th August.

Concrete Circus, F.O.G, Popside Lock will play Mister Toms in Laverys, Belfast on the 5th of June.

Pat Dam Smyth and Master And Dog will play Voodoo, Belfast on Tuesday 5th June.

Twitch presents: Cosmin TRG at Queens Students Union, Belfast on Saturday the 9th of June.

Girls Names kick off their European tour in Manchester tonight. The Belfast based band will release their new single, ‘A Troubled See' on the 25th of June through Tough Love Records.  It will be a split single with label mates Weird Dreams song “House of Secrets” also on the release.

Girls Names Tour Dates:
22nd May - Night and Day, Manchester (UK) w/ Former Bullies/Waiters
23rd May - The Waiting Room, London (UK) w/ French Kissing/Drop Out Venus
24th May - The Green Door Store, Brighton (UK) w/ Splashh/Heliopause
26th May - Le Guess Who Festival, Utrecht (Netherlands)
27th May - Effenaar, Eindhoven (Netherlands)
28th May - Cafe Video, Gent (Belgium)
29th May - Point Ephemere, Paris (France) w/ Beach Fossils
2nd/3rd June - PRIMAVERA SOUND FESTIVAL, Barcelona (Spain)

 

Sunflowerfest returns to Tubby's Farm outside Hillsborough village on Friday the 17th to Sunday the 19th of August.

The initial line up was announced in March and now additional acts have been added including Grainne Duffy, Clown Parlour, Runaway GO, Pocket Billiards, Indigo Fury, Colum Sands, Suzanne Savage, NI Soul Troop, The Delfinos, The Red Velvetines, Yellow Car No Return, The Couth, Malaika, Bernadette Morris, Axis Of, Concrete Circus, My Fellow Sponges and The Urges.

Now the day by day break down of acts has also been released.

Friday 17th August

Main Stage: Duke Special, Lanterns on a Lake, Wonder Villains, Runaway Go, The Dead Presidents, The Unprotected
Barn Stage: Fighting With Wire, Nasa Assassin, Swanee River, Million Dollar Reload, Payola, Yellow Car No Return, The Couth, The Red Velvetines
Campfire Stage: Ben Glover, Katherine Phillipa,Chris Campbell and more TBC

Saturday 18th August

Main Stage: Republic Of Loose, Scroobius Pip, Jape, A Plastic Rose, Pocket Billiards, The Hot Sprockets, Clown Parlour, Tucan
Barn Stage: Roysta, Janice Graham Band, The World On Fire, The Barley Mob, The Bonnevilles, Intermission, Axis Of, Concrete Circus, Radioactive, Grandma
Campfire Stage: Andre and the J-Tones, The Lost Brothers Magwere, Rachel Austin, My Fellow Sponges, Colum Sands, The Delfinos and more TBA

Sunday 19th August

Main Stage: Dreadzone, Brass Roots Relish, Simon McBride Band, Silhouette, Katie And The Carnival, The NI Soul Troop
Barn Stage: Boss Sound Manifesto, Parachutes Over Paris, Seven Summits, Elspeth, Indigo Fury
Campfire Stage:  Ursula Burns, Suzanne Savage, Six Miles North, Bernadette Morris, Dolbro Dan, Brass Roots Acoustic, Nursery Crymes

Glasgowbury organisers have announced a further 18 acts that will perform this year at the festival at Eagles Rock, Co Londonderry.

The full new list of acts will include; Kowalski, The Man Whom, Enemies, Katie & The Carnival, Droids, Tied To Machines, The Dead Presidents, The 1930s, Tucan, The Jepettos, Scorpion Jack, Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters, John Deery & The Heads, Master & Dog, Humanshield, Mojo Gogo, Intermission and a festival exclusive performance from Derry’s 4 Conors (a collaborative effort from Conor Mason, Conor McAteer, Conor O’Kane and Connor Kelly).

As we previously reported Therapy? will headline this summer's Festival, with perfomances also from The Japanese Popstars, Fighting with Wire and Silhouette, with more acts to be announced.

For the current festival line-up visit glasgowbury.com for more information. 

Chic are among the first acts confirmed for the new Liss Ard Festival at Skibereen, Co Cork on August 4th and 5th.This is the second  Irish date for Chic who are also playing the Galways Arts festival on July 19th.

Joining them on the Liss Ard billing is the likes of Ireland's own Lisa Hannigan, Toots & The Maytals, Tieranniesaur, the Bob Mould Band and many more.

The event is taking place on the grounds of the Liss Ard house, the site of the acclaimed  late Liss Ards festival of the 1990's which played host to artists such as Lou Reed, Nick Cave, Pulp and John Cale.  

Visit lissardfestival.com for the full line-up

Belfast's Titanic Lockdown festival has been cancelled because of poor ticket sales.

The two day festival set to be headlined by The Happy Mondays and New Order, was to take place on 1st and 2nd of June. But in spite of a major promotional campaign across Northern Ireland the festival has been cancelled one month ahead of the event.

The festival, to be held in a former shipyard hangar opposite the old headquarters of Harland and Wolff in the Titanic Quarter  was to boast a stage dedicated to local artists including performances from Pocket Billiards, The Bonnevilles, Katie and the Carnival and Verse Chorus Verse.

Promoters Hydroponic have released a  statement saying:

"Due to poor ticket sales in a challenging economic climate, it is with great regret and disappointment that we must announce the cancellation of the 2012 Titanic Lockdown summer festival.

Despite a huge wave of goodwill, ticket sales have been significantly slower than forecast for an event featuring such high profile acts. As a result, it will not be possible to deliver the event.

We would like to offer our sincere thanks to all who have supported, endorsed and believed in the project. In addition, we offer good wishes to all local festival organisers, promoters and artists currently beating the drum for the Arts in Northern Ireland. They make a wonderful contribution to the cultural life of our city in these bleak economic times.

No one is more disappointed than us that the event will not now be taking place, but unfortunately the circumstances are simply beyond our control.

All tickets will be fully refunded - please contact your ticket provider for details" 

For more information visit the Titanic Lockdown website.

Missouri troubadour Nathaniel Rateliff blows back into to Belfast to play the Limelight, Belfast on Thursday 7th June. Tickets going on sale this Friday at 9am. Nathaniel has recently been travelling from Austin to Boston on tour with Ben Howard, The Staves and Bear Den.

Belfast's own CROMBY a.k.a. Chris McCormick will play the Stiff Kitten, Belfast on Saturday 19th May, with Jordan Magee & Neil Kerr joining him on the bill.

Kaidi Tatham & David Lyttle play at the Menagerie, Belfast on Saturday 19th May.

The Sass, Dirty Kansas, The Echo Raptors, The Earls of Enkalon will play on Sunday 3rd June, Bank Holiday Weekend at Auntie Annies, Belfast. Kasper Rosa, Flights, Overhead, The Albatross and Seven Summits will also play Auntie Annie's on Wednesday 13th June.

Pat Dam Smyth, Malojian & Ciaran Lavery will take to the Railway Bar stage, Lurgan on Friday 8th June. 

Axis Of, Empty Lungs, The Unprotected will play at the Warzone Centre, Belfast on Friday 15th June.

Jackalfeud, Making Monsters and Still point perform at the Slemish bar, Ballymena on Saturday 23rd June.

For more information visit the ATL Gig Guide.

Master and Dog are the latest band to have signed up with Canadian artists services Matchless Minds music.

Master and Dog (formerly John, Shelly & The Creatures) released their first album Dinosaurs in 2010 and will release their sophomore album with Matchless Minds music in September.

They follow closely on the heels of  Verse Chorus Verse, who we previously reported had joined the Matchless Minds roster in March. Also on its roster are Wexford-based The Man Whom , Canadian based Arms of The Girl and Parks & Rec, and London's The Vertigos.

 

Dungannon 's Cedric Has A Name is to launch it's  'Farewell to reason'  EP on June 14th  at Catalysts Arts. Support on the night will be by Derry's Best Boy grip and Captain Kennedy's Ciaran Lavery.

A  digital versions of the EP will be availble for free download  and there will also be a special edition coloured EP available on the night.

The EP was recorded at Little Giant Studios and produced by  Jonathan Wallace.

The Answer are lined up to give an exclusive one-off performance of their 'Rise' album at the Empire music Hall's 'Gifted Live' club night on July 5th .

The County Down group's debut album Rise - recorded at Olympic studio 1 in 2005 - has sold more than 30,000 copies in UK & Europe and in excess of 100,000 copies worldwide.

Also performing that night will be David Kitt, Kopek, The Riptide Movement, Cosmo Jarvis and BeeMickSee with special recorded performances by General Fiasco, Shake! and Droids .

The Gifted club night was relaunched in March as Giftedlive with  all live performances on the night being streamed on their website for free.

Visit Giftedlive.com for more information.

 

Several New acts have been confirmed for the Indiependence festival on 3rd to 5th of August including, British Sea Power, Horse Meat Disco, Irish merchants Fish Go Deep and  dance-punk five-piece Foals.

As previously reported we can expect great live sets from the likes of The Japanese Popstars, Fighting With Wire and Jape.

For more information, check out the Indiependence website or Facebook page.

 

Fighting With Wire have signed to London's Xtra Mile Recordings. The label is already home to the likes of Reuben, Against Me, Future of the Left, Frank Turner and many more.

The Derry trio will release their long awaited album ‘Colonel Blood’ through the label on the 24th of September (25th in USA). The band's last album 'Man vs Monster' was released back in 2008 through Small Town America records and afterwards a major US label got involved with the band.

Speaking about the move of labels Cahir O'Doherty from the band stated, "We finished recording our 2nd album in summer 2010 in Nashville with producer Nick Raskulinecz, we were so excited for people to hear it, but unfortunately the label went silent on us. A year and a half later we parted ways but got our record back, we were really back at square one again. But we had this record which we were proud of so we thought we'd put it out ourselves and give it one last tour before calling it a day. Then we got a call from Xtra Mile and a chance to put this record out properly and give it the release it deserves. We are excited again for the first time in two years, this is a label we have always admired and it gives us a chance for a fresh start for Fighting With Wire”.