Meath’s Cult Called Man launch the vinyl edition of their debut album, Cult Fiction, in the Button Factory tonight. It’s the first we’ve heard of opening band, Papa Rua, but their opening tune 'Not In My Name' suggests a deep reservoir of talent and ingenuity. It’s a light funk tune with an irresistible melody. The fellow Meath band play a brand of pop that was common in the ‘70s and ‘80s but is rare nowadays. It’s easy to see why CCM selected them for the bill. The two fit hand in glove.

Their cover of Bob Marley’s ‘Exodus’ is a re-interpretation with a funk overtone that is, by turns, mellow and swinging. A bit like Finlay Quaye without the behavioural issues. ‘You Got Me’ is an intimately performed love song. The last song, ‘Lorna’, starts out with finger picked guitar and tight vocal harmonies before the rest of the band join in and the kick drum beats out a steady pulse. I expect to hear more from this crowd.

Anticipation is building for their latest headline show. CCM are fresh from opening for All Tvvins at the Olympia and having their debut album nominated for the Choice Music Prize, We’ve seen them before in Musos' Guide. They’re not yet at the level of selling out the Button Factory but there’s a respectable crowd here, and the ambitious move is proving popular with the fans. It's a better class of venue than they are used to with bands of this magnitude. The lights go down and the tannoy music mutes as CCM take the stage. The countdown on the big screen lets us know that something is about to go down. CCMtv starts to broadcast and the music begins.

After an instrumental introduction, they break into ‘Shut Up And Glow’ and ‘Bad Seeds’ from the album. There’s little in the way of audience interaction, they let the music do the talking, often segueing one song into the next. CCM think nothing of playing four songs in a medley with seamless interludes joining them together. It’s like something they picked up from The Family Stone and it makes them a formidable live force.

They’ve set up the stage for the big occasion but the lights are pointing right in the faces of the crowd. It’s distracting having white spots in your vision while watching the band. Frontman Razmo leaves the stage and re-emerges in sparkly knee high moonboots for ‘The Martian’. He is a flamboyant and engaging performer as well as a versatile singer. The songs are unconventional and unique to the band. They could only be performed by this unit.

When I first saw this band they were covering David Bowie b-sides to pad out a half hour set now, with an album and a couple of EPs behind them, they can pick and choose their setlist. The pleading harmonies of the penultimate tune, ‘Sad Bunch’, lead into ‘For The Cadillac Kids’. It’s a stormer of a finishing tune and, as ever, Cult Called Man defy the demands for an encore. They always leave you wanting more.

Photos: Kaye Kim

It's culture night in Dublin. Free events spanning high and low culture are happening all over the city but in the Button Factory there is a different type of cultural celebration unfolding. Five diverse alt-rock bands in one beer-soaked room. By the time New Secret Weapon take the stage support acts Travis Oaks and Vernon Jane have set the bar pretty high. Their warm up is loud and dissonant and, after a few last minute tweaks, they kick off right on time.

New Secret Weapon are a three piece rock band in the mould of Biffy Clyro but with the approach of Queens Of The Stone Age. An instrumental opener builds to a crescendo and the banging of the heads begins. Unusual rhythms and time signature changes make the music unpredictable and exciting. It's the sound of a band that have read the rock rulebook, then decided that it wasn't enough and have started writing their own.

It took seven years and a crowd funding campaign for New Secret Weapon's debut album to appear but after attending a Steve Albini masterclass in February they are talking about album number two only a year later. You can tell that they are sound engineers from the constant commands to the sound desk. Precise commands too, regarding particular tones.

They obviously know exactly what they should sound like and they really do achieve an individual sound. It has the kind of bass you feel in your teeth as it sets them rattling in your jaw, lightning fast downstrokes on the guitar, and a propulsive rhythm section that alternately grooves and confounds. New Secret Weapon are not afraid to rock out either amid the creative playing and original sounds.

At one point Griff's mic comes loose mid- song and starts pointing towards the floor. He follows it without missing a beat, contorting his body around his guitar. A fan clambers on to the barrier and fixes it back in place. It's a diverse crowd of hairy rockers, hip indie kids, and a tall man who has modelled his look on Nicolas Cages 'H.I. McDunnough' from Raising Arizona. He is very much enjoying the show. Two different people ask me for drugs but I think this is probably less to do with the band and more to do with a Friday night in Templebar.

New Secret Weapon are not out for world domination but for their own musical satisfaction. Nevertheless they have won no shortage of admirers who voice their enthusiasm loudly and dance boisterously. One is ejected for moshing. We see him as we exit, cheerfully leaning against the barrier chatting with one of the other bands.

The call for an encore is answered and New Secret Weapon humbly thank the carousing assembly who have packed the venue. Post-show, pushing through the rickshaws and horse drawn carriages in the city that gave the world Kodaline and The Script, it does a soul good knowing that bands like New Secret Weapon still exist. We're left waiting with bated breath for that second album.