First Class and Coach
Sun 13 Apr 2025 (note: this event has already taken place)
7:30pm
€15
FIRST CLASS AND COACH
Album release show - part of a tour with dates in Dublin, Dundalk, Limerick
’Neon Hip’ releasing on April 7th on vinyl, CD and digital on FIFA Records, Cork.
"I love them - one of my favourite Irish acts - back with another banger 'My Oh My' already for me, song of the year...” - Ed Smith, TodayFM
“Everything they’ve released so far has been so, so impressive... anticipation will be sky-high” - Dan Hegarty, 2FM
“Utterly outstanding” - Stephen McCauley, BBC Sounds
Formed in 2017 by Reuben Maher (guitars, keys, vox) , Jonathan Parson (bass), Geraldine Thomas (vox) and Andrew McNeilage (drums) - their early gigs fused hard-edged guitar sounds with ambient keys, digital samples, and dance rhythms. These formative shows led the band towards honing their sound - immediate, distorted guitar hooks, driving bass lines, muscular drums and uncompromising vocals, delivered in both English and German.
The band enlisted Tony Maimone (Pere Ubu) of StudioG in Brooklyn to produce their debut album. They recorded in Monique Studios in Middleton, Cork. ‘The Truth About Honey’ was released on on February 14th 2020 on vinyl, CD & Digital and received favourable reviews in both the Irish and German press. Among them, Dan Hegarty (RTE2fm) named ‘The Truth About Honey’ in his Top 5 Irish Albums of 2020.
In October 2021 the band travelled to Black Box Studios in France to record their second album, again with Tony Maimone at the controls. That record is releasing on FIFA Records this April 2023 on vinyl, CD and digital.
What the press said about debut album
‘THE TRUTH ABOUT HONEY’
"Geraldine Thomas fronts this west Cork rock outfit with a wail to rival the Kills' Alison Mosshart. Squalling, distorted guitars mark a blistering opening salvo, before aggression and attitude give way to atmosphere" - Steve Cummins, The Sunday Times
"One of the best albums I’ve heard this year” - Dan Hegarty, 2FM
“Holy Shit!.. I really really love..." "a great album" -Paul McLoone, TodayFM
"First Class & Coach deliver a 'sack-strong' debut... gripping and engaging... it does not contain a single weak song. 9/10" -Wolfgang Kausch, musikalisch.de
“Suavely walking the line between The Velvet Underground and The Fall” Nick Kelly, Broadsheet.ie
“This record has skate, has filth, has dope, has sex" -Ralv Milberg, Die Nerven
“The globally diverse punk-psyche-post-rock quartet FC&C put down an equally impressive album as Velvet Underground in their unusual, sympathetically unfinished ‘Banana’ debut album” -MusikReviews.de
