In A Week is our look back at Hozier highlights and happenings from the previous week.
News
The Walking Dead
Arsonist’s Lullabye was featured in the March 6 episode of The Walking Dead.
FYI this is @Hozier's Arsonist's Lullaby #TheWalkingDead pic.twitter.com/2x0TywOhlL
— The Walking Dead (@TheWalkingDead) March 7, 2016
The exposure led to a considerable bump in the number of people talking about Arsonist’s Lullabye, wondering what it was called and downloading it. The song was released on the Bonus Track edition of the album, and on the From Eden EP.
As HITS Daily Double reported on March 10:
HOZIER’S ZOMBIE ATTACK
In no time, the track—found on the Columbia artist’s 2014 From Eden EP—quickly became one of the most Shazamed ever, with north of 175k total Shazams worldwide.
UPDATE: Billboard reported that Arsonist’s Lullabye received 195,000 queries, breaking Shazam’s record and putting the song on three Billboard charts.
There was a sneak peak last July when Arsonist’s Lullabye opened the The Walking Dead Season 6 trailer released at Comicon.
Live Inspiration
This 3 minute audio clip tells the story of how Jenny Benjamin discovered Hozier’s music which inspired her to start going to concerts at the age of 59.
How listening to @Hozier and @thevaccines gave one 59 year-old a new lease of life: https://t.co/EcKMxY0rI4 pic.twitter.com/APYSaVQedJ
— BBC Music (@bbcmusic) March 8, 2016
Awesome Pursuits
Author Diana Bunici interviewed Hozier at the Xmas Ball last December and her book, The Pursuit of Awesome, was launched last week as a “positive, motivational read for anyone with a dream.”
Appearances
For his first week post-tour, Hozier kept pretty busy with three appearances on Friday and one on Saturday.
Cherry Wine at Áras an Uachtaráin
Hozier was invited by President Michael D. Higgins to sing Cherry Wine as part of the #HeForShe and #ManUp campaigns for gender equality and his own #FaceUpToDomesticViolence campaign.
Take me to the áras: Hozier sings for the President and guests https://t.co/7ySnRgAeHb via @Independent_ie
— Caroline Downey (@CarolineAtMCD) March 12, 2016
Read the full coverage of the event in the Journal.ie.
The Irish Times Women’s Podcast has a very interesting interview with President Higgins from 41:09 and the full Hozier performance with great audio from 59:35.
The Great Escape Twitter Q&A
Hozier did a Twitter Q&A Session with The Great Escape Festival on Friday just before his appearance on The Late Late Show. Our full coverage:
The Late Late Show
Hozier performed Cherry Wine and was interviewed on The Late Late Show. With fortunate timing, Little Green Cars also performed their single Easier Day (see their section below.)
Rehearsing with @Hozier for tonight's #LateLate…
He's sounding great as ever! pic.twitter.com/W7GvM1SLgP— Jim Sheridan (@Jim_Sheridan) March 11, 2016
Tables are turned as @Hozier has taken the hot seat pre tonight's #LateLate #IrishTalent pic.twitter.com/mrMRM2zsOO
— Jim Sheridan (@Jim_Sheridan) March 11, 2016
The full interview is available on the RTÉ Player until April 10.
It had been over a year since Hozier’s last appearance on The Late Late Show. View the performance of Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene, an interview and an intimate acoustic excerpt of Take Me To Church, until April 8 on RTÉ Player.
Activist Festival
On Saturday, Trinity College Student Union and The Phil welcomed Hozier to the Activist Festival for a Q&A session and to present him with the Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage.
Full coverage in the University Times.
.@Hozier receives Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage from @tcdphil today in @tcddublin pic.twitter.com/k5w1qACgHu
— TCD Alumni (@tcdalumni) March 12, 2016
"Do something positive whatever your sphere of influence is". @tcddublin alum Hozier #activistfest interview pic.twitter.com/cMNpajzpz2
— Patrick Prendergast (@pjprendergast) March 12, 2016
While we’re on the topic of causes, we were pleased to see Hozier supporting the ONE campaign Poverty is Sexist. This petition launched on International Women’s Day and calls upon world leaders to support gender equality measures as girls and women living in extreme poverty are often hit hardest by the injustice of gender inequality. Add your name in support.
Interviews
This interview from Istanbul, the last city on Hozier’s tour, was published in both Turkish and English last week.
Also released this past week, Xavier Darcy catches up with Hozier at the Paladium in Cologne / Köln before the show on February 21.
Life
Happy International Women’s Day!
Readjusting to normal life:
I'm listening to @Hozier on CD with me eyes closed pretending we're still on tour ❤️
— RHODES (@rhodesmusic) March 10, 2016
It was amazing having you with us, hope you're enjoying a bit of a break man! Thanks for everything https://t.co/R7N98FuyWJ
— Hozier (@Hozier) March 11, 2016
Friends
Wyvern Lingo
Karen, Saoirse and Caoimhe shot a live version of Beast at the Door for Press Record TV.
Saint Sister
Morgan & Gemma are off to their first US shows in Austin, Texas for the big industry discovery conference, SXSW Music. They also received a fantastic review (in French) last week of their recent show in Paris.
Another show added to our @sxsw dates, we play Hotel Second Play Stage at the Hilton Hotel on Tuesday 15th March ✨ pic.twitter.com/onrjwdS8N3
— Saint Sister (@Saint_Sister_) March 10, 2016
Little Green Cars
It was a big week for Little Green Cars as their long-awaited second album, Ephemera, was released on Friday.
Adam O’Regan wrote a poignant piece on the inspiration for some of the songs and growing older as a band.
They recorded superb stripped down versions of The Song they Play Every Night and Easier Day for RedBull.com.
Little Green Cars made a quick trip north to Belfast to record a session with BBC’s Across the Line. They performed You Versus Me, The Garden of Death and Easier Day. Listen from 12:30 on BBC iPlayer until April 4.
Appearing on the same episode as Hozier, Little Green Cars performed Easier Day on The Late Late Show last Friday night.
Look for Little Green Cars performing March 18 and 19 at Whelan’s in Dublin.
BARQ
Jess Kavanagh sang with Hozier before he released his first EP, and then sang backing vocals for him on his first US dates. She’s got a list of singing credits as long as your arm, but now she’s got her own band called BARQ and she’s stepped up front and centre on vocals. Hear the full interview from 33:25, and the exclusive preview of their first single, Gentle Kind of Lies at 49:00.
Stoneface Films
Stoneface Films saw the release of the video they produced for Hermitage Green released this week.
Friends, we're delighted to be able to bring you the video for @HermitageGreen's new single "Make It Better"!https://t.co/1ggnd3QnmZ
— Stoneface Films (@StonefaceFilms) March 8, 2016
Jon Hozier-Byrne was featured in a recent Lovin Dublin video showcasing Irish talent.
Conor Walsh
Shocked to hear of the sudden passing of Conor Walsh. He was far too young and had far too bright a future to go like this. @conorwalshpiano
— Hozier (@Hozier) March 12, 2016
Conor was a brilliant minimalist piano and electro acoustic composer. He opened for Hozier on three occasions: At the Pav, Cork/December 21, 2013; Source Arts Centre, Thurles/December 29, 2013; Royal Theatre, Waterford/January 11, 2014.
Conor performed at Other Voices and just this past autumn released his first EP on Ensemble Music, co-founded by Hozier friends and Trinity Orchestra alumni, Rob Kearns and Rob Farhat.
This is a heartfelt tribute from the Irish Times.
Conor made beautiful, subtle music that we are sad to have only discovered on the occasion of his passing. Rest in peace Conor.
Hozier’s Guitars wants to hear from you.
With Hozier’s tour over, we want to know what kind of posts will sustain you over the hiatus. Please answer 3 super-quick questions to let us know what you’d like to see. (It will take you less than a minute, we promise.)
Thanks to all of our contributors with special thanks to @literarypengke and @Megn0481.
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Featured photo: University Times