Alabama 3 next act for Swan Lane

Following its successful opening night at the weekend, the next gig lined up for new Navan music venue Swan Lane is the Alabama 3, acoustic and unplugged, on Saturday 9th July. Alabama 3 are a British band mixing rock, dance, blues, country, and gospel styles, founded in Brixton, London, in 1995. The group achieved international fame when the producers of hit TV series The Sopranos chose their track 'Woke Up This Morning' for the show's opening credits. The band are particularly notable for their fusion of styles, lyrics full of ironic intent, their deliberately humorous personas, and their outrageous live performances. Alabama 3 is a pop band, a punk rock, blues and country techno situationist crypto-Marxist-Leninist electro band. They say: "We never went on 'X Factor' or 'Pop Idol' or 'Stooge Quest'. We did it the old fashioned way; Back in 1996, we threw a big old party, invited all our friends. We took a fistfull of blotters and half a dozen disco biscuits and then made it up as we went along. Geffen records bought it..! for a million dollars! We never needed a self-appointed quango of jaded vampires to tell us how to sing the blues...we got Mojo*. We have the power to raise the dead. "We spent half of our advance from Geffen on various contraband items and with the rest we made an over-produced, brilliant situationist masterpiece called 'Exile on Coldharbour Lane'. Ever since then we've been preaching our Gospel all over the world. We've got into a whole bunch of trouble and met a whole bunch of nice people. We make friends where ever we go. They've tried to stop us. Many, many times. They say we were degenerates, corrupters of morals, they say we we were too political, too contrived, too ugly. We've been in and we've been out. In and out of the charts, in and out of fashion, in and out of rehab. We've been skint and we've been minted...  and you know what? It makes no difference to us. Because we're never gonna stop. We're gonna just keep on putting out records and putting on shows. As ministers in the First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine, we know the party ain't never over. "And we want to make you feel good. We know you've had trouble in your life, real bad trouble. We know you've got debts. We know you've had your heart broken so many times you're still finding pieces of it in your pillow. Maybe you've done some good things in your life, maybe you've done some bad things. We forgive you. Forgive yourself. Then dress up real sexy and come and party with us sometime. We'll look after you. That's a promise!" Doors, 8pm. Tickets, €18. Available www.swanlane.ie, e2music, Navan or on door. Age, over 18s.