Makeshift Art Bar are a Belfast quartet who have just released their debut EP entitled Lackluster Writing Makes Fundamental Reading.
Who are Makeshift Art Bar?
The Belfast four-piece released their debut single ‘Inertia’ in 2023.
They are:
Joseph Sweeney
Alleyah Boulaich
Callum McGuigan
Callum Sweeney
What kind of music do Makeshift Art Bar make?
Drawing from post-punk, garage rock, noise bands, Makeshift Art Bar’s music is encapsulated by songs that lean on metallic sounds, tension-filled rhythms, razor-edged guitars and arch febrile vocals.
There’s much in common with Belfast peers Chalk, who they supported recently and the likes of Yard with the band sounding like they come in the lineage of post punk bands that include Gilla Band and early output from The Murder Capital.
Where should I start?
The band’s debut EP Lackluster Writing Makes Fundamental Reading was released on January 3rd 2025, and features four songs that do the ferocious noise-rock thing as well as any of their peers.
What about the songs?
“The EP speaks to the disenchanted, the dreamers, and anyone searching for meaning in the chaos,” they say.
Of the EP’s four tracks ‘Birthday Party’ leans on a rumbling bass and taut guitar riff with singer Joseph Sweeney revelling in the chaos of celebrations.
‘Notice Me’ a garage rock lilt, and howling reverbed atmospherics that built to a crashing crescendo – the song is the band say “a haunting exploration of alienation”.
‘Sonic Shelf’ leans again more into a retro garage rock riff histrionics with a rhythmic switchup.
The EP’s closer ‘Bedwetter’, the Spotify most streamed-track of the release and probably the best place to start, features a sludge metal bassline influence no less, that uses contrasting quiet-loud noise-punk funhouse dynamics and a fierce kickdrum.
Listen to the EP:
Any live gigs?
We just missed them at Whelan’s Ones To Watch in Dublin last week.
You can watch a live set from Belfast from 2024 on Youtube.
Where can I follow them?
