Swimsuit Issue Presents All Ages

Softdrink Millionaire
​​​​​​​Hotgirl
Makeshift Art Bar

MusicTown presents an all-ages daytime event curated by DIY Dublin promoters Swimsuit Issue featuring emerging Irish bands Makeshift Art Bar, Hotgirl & Soft Drink Millionaire.

Softdrink Millionaire - Emerging from the seaside town of Bray, County Wicklow, Softdrink Millionaire are used to being on the outskirts of something bigger. Beginning as an informal collective of friends and collaborators around the writings of poet and songwriter Josh Fortune, the line-up would eventually solidify with guitarist Joe Dillon, fellow TERD co-founder Tombo Earls taking up bass guitar, and the Mountain Runner singer-songwriter Jack Lawlor on drums. The outfit would soon find their place in a burgeoning DIY scene amongst the likes of Binmen, Burglar, Hotgirl, and Madra Salach centred around shows in venues like Dublin's Anseo, Bray's Harbour Bar, and the monthly outsider poetry and arts night Top End Romantics Division also known as TERD.

A seemingly endless collection of influences makes it hard to pin Softdrink Millionaire down as any one thing. There's a certain twee-ness to the intimate and colloquially written softer moments, evoking a sloppier Belle & Sebastian, or a less grounded Richard Dawson. However there's also a heavier edge, their songs threatening to burst at any moment into emotive, instrumental post-rock that draws closer comparisons to Slint or even Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

Hotgirl - Bursting beyond DIY origins in the bedroom of lead vocalist Ashley Abbedeen - hotgirl have quickly established themselves as one of the most buzzed about acts on Dublin's music scene. Bolstered by the angular lead guitar lines of Sophie Boxwell, the booming breakbeats of Nick Stanley and the low-end thump of Jake Hurley (Local Boy) - the quartet's idiosyncratic take on alternative rock has seen them play at sold out events in venues such as Dublin's Olympia Theatre and Brixton's Windmill, earning them co-signs from veterans (The Libertines) and contemporaries (Sprints, Pillow Queens, Lambrini Girls) alike. Their raucous live energy and on record charm has captured the imagination of publications such as DIY, Clash, Paste and secured playlist nods from Rough Trade and Fresh Finds. 

Having spent the last year crafting new material with producer Neil Kennedy (Milk Teeth, Creeper) and playing festivals at home and internationally; hotgirl are stepping into 2025 with the release of their sophomore EP 'Blast Off' - bringing the handicam charm of their earlier productions to a HD scale whilst preserving the eccentricities that set the band aside from their peers.

Makeshift Art Bar - Makeshift Art Bar, the rising sonic powerhouse hailing from Belfast, released their highly anticipated debut EP, Lackluster Writing Makes Fundamental Reading, on the 3rd of January 2025. This EP solidifies their place as one of the most innovative voices in the underground music scene. The four-track record captures the raw intensity and unapologetic experimentalism that have made Makeshift Art Bar a must-see act on stages across Europe. Each track on Lackluster Writing Makes Fundamental Reading takes listeners on a journey through jagged guitar riffs, pulsating rhythms, and lyrics that oscillate between the poetic and the provocative.

Presented by MUSICTOWN
Sponsored by Dublin City Council