The stage, illuminated by glaring white lights, shows three young men creating enough noise for an entire symphony of sheet-metal workers. The guitar chords crash and scorch, the bass rumbles menacingly and the drums pound out the rhythm with the authority of a sergeant major. All the while, that voice carries over the top like the cry of a fallen angel. It’s at this point, three songs in, that my friend Trev, a card-carrying Plus One who has been dragged to more gigs than Delia Smith has made hot dinners, turns to me and says, "This is the best fucking band you’ve ever brought me to". That band is Turn and my mate Trev was dead right: they are the best fucking band I ever brought him to.

Three years ago, Rock Sound described them as "the exuberance of the Pixies with the edgy angst of Nirvana producing in-yer-face slabs of sheer sonic beauty", while Melody Maker portrayed them as having "more energy than a Duracell bunny with attention deficit disorder".

Formed in 1998 by long-time friends, Kells-based Ollie Cole (vocals/guitar) and Ian Melady (drums), the first solid Turn line-up was completed when Ollie met bassist Gavin Fox in The Factory Studios in Dublin.

"The first time we rehearsed we wrote this song called ‘I Still Believe’ which we still play now, and we were just standing in the room looking at each other going ‘Fucking hell, that’s great!’," Ollie recalls. "It was easily the best thing any of us had ever done."

The songs flowed, one after another, from the searing, ear-bleedingly raw ‘Beeswax’ to the gentle, acoustic ‘Gav And Anne’. All the while, the trio built up a live show that was second to none, and the ferocity of their live performance had Melody Maker hailing them as "the band destined to fill stadiums but stay flawless". Tours with Wilt, Seafood and Idlewild, saw the trio reaching an ever-increasing audience, and broadening their fanbase across Ireland and the UK.

Three limited edition seven inch singles, ‘Facedown’, ‘Beeswax’ and ‘Beretta’, received a great response at radio in both the UK and Ireland. Popular demand meant that all three eventually surfaced on CD in the form of the excellent Check My Ears mini-album.

Their debut album proper, Antisocial, followed in late 2000 and surprised many an embittered pundit with its sheer diversity and maturity. Critically acclaimed and displaying a vulnerability that until then had been hidden behind the raw power and volume of their stage performance, Antisocial was a watershed for the band and the resulting tour saw them sell-out venues throughout Ireland and the UK, culminating in a show-stopping performance at the summer’s Wittness festival.

Turn chose this moment to part company with their record label and go it alone.The first fruits of this labour came in the shape of the magnificent "In Position EP", released on the band’s own Nurture label in March 2002. The six tracks offered a perfect snapshot of a band on the rise and gave the band the opportunity to get out and about with some solid touring honing their performance and expanding their audience.

July saw them release another batch of new tracks, the double A-sided "Another Year Over / Summer Song". By this stage Turn had consolidated their fanbase to such an extent that the single entered the Irish Top 30 at number 22 in its first week of release.

The band finished up the year with a full and sold out Irish tour in the company of The Frames followed by a resoundingly successful New Year’s Eve show in Dublin.

At the close of 2002 Turn went through a line-up change when bass-player Gavin left the band to join Idlewild. He was seamlessly replaced by Alan Lee (ex-Skindive) and the band continued work on their new album.

The beginning of 2003 saw them star on the annual Heineken Rollercoaster tour in Ireland, a national schedule of live shows that provided the perfect set-up for the release of their second album.

The album, Forward, was released in Ireland on the band’s own Nurture label on 30th May 2003 and entered the Irish chart at number 16. Turn have since concentrated on playing live and expanding their live audience and profile in Ireland and the UK via their own headline dates as well as support slots with their pals The Thrills on the latter’s full UK tour. Their performance at the year’s Witnness Festival to a stuffed 2nd Stage was one of the highlights of the musical year, and things are only getting better!

John Walshe

Turn are:

Ollie Cole (vocals and guitar)

Ian Melady (drums)

Alan Lee (Bass)

"The Kells trio may not be quite as famous as the book but it’s not for want of either talent, commitment or killer songs" Irish Times

"With "Forward" Turn have given their fans the album they always knew the band had inside them. Now it’s time for the world to catch up." Hot Press

""Forward" will propel them far into the future." The Event Guide