Straight up, The Infomatics are five talented Dublin MCs and musicians, who mash up hip-hop, electronica, soul, jazz and reggae, use it as a sound-bed for an Irish story and play it out live. They are...

Straight up, The Infomatics are five talented Dublin MCs and musicians, who mash up hip-hop, electronica, soul, jazz and reggae, use it as a sound-bed for an Irish story and play it out live. They are the loudest voice in the revolution of Irish hip-hop. BOC, aka Barry O’Conaill, The Infomatics producer and electronic sage, began on piano, decided the bass was cooler and began jamming with his 14 year-old mate Graham ‘Bugs’ Birney, in his back yard shed. Their first foray into live performance was at house parties in their late teens, when everyone had a go off whatever instruments were lying around. Graham’s kid brother Ado, aka Mr. Dero, lover of all things rap, started hanging out and introduced BOC to the brighter side of hip-hop – Mos Def, The Roots and the like. Stephen ‘Steo’ Gunn, aka Konchus Lingo, Infomatic producer and MC, couldn’t escape music growing up. His big brother was lead singer with eighties band Tokyo Olympics. His sister moved to NYC with her American fella and at the tender age of 12, on a two-week family visit to the Big Apple, Lingo developed a massive crush on the city and its hip-hop soundtrack. It was at Dublin College Colaiste Dhulaigh, that Lingo met BOC. BOC made the necessary introductions between Lingo, Bugs and Mr Dero, a jam was organised in BOC’s shed and lo, The Infomatics were born. BOC ..s and electronics, Konchus Lingo and Mr. Dero MCing and Bugs on Bass. The latest addition mercurial Venezuelan drum merchant Jorge Ugo Laguna completes the live set up. The Infomatics live experience is a raw, lyric spitting affair, crammed full of relentless energy. Their performance credentials include numerous support slots with the best of hip-hop talent including NAS, Soul II Soul, ICE-T, The Jungle Brothers, The Cool Kids, Naughty By Nature, De La Soul, EDAN, ?uestlove, Rodney P, Saul Williams (twice), Lupe Fiasco (twice) and most recently while playing at Brighton’s Rising Styles Festival they shared the stage with some of the UK’s finest including Blak Twang, Jehst and Skinnyman. Outside of The Infomatics, each band member is well recognised in their own right. Konchus Lingo has had nine of his tunes signed to top UK drum n’ bass labels, with his tracks featuring on constant rotation on the Fabio and Grooverider show on BBC Radio One. He’s also featured on the Zero Tolerance album released earlier this year and has been working on the new A.I. album. As his alias Jeeves Blackfield, he’s also a well-known name in beat production with both established and emerging acts. Bugs was part of well-known Irish band Kingsativa and released two critically acclaimed albums and had the honour of opening for Bob Marley’s backing band The Wailers. Bugs also works as a sound engineer and has worked on albums with numerous Irish and international artists including Paddy Casey, Republic of Loose, The Beat, Bad Manners and The Special’s Neville Staples. All band members are currently working on individual albums. Despite 2008 being the busiest year to date for The Infomatics on home soil with the release of two singles and their acclaimed debut album titled ‘Kill or Create’. They have simultaneously been plotting the export of their unique brand of Hip Hop. They have teamed up with street wear clothing label Counter Propaganda to release a clothing range designed around lyrics from their album ‘Kill or Create’. Each of these imaginatively created designs are accompanied by a free Infomatics EP and are available in dozens of high street outlets in Ireland, The UK, Spain, Romania, Japan and in New York’s YRB stores. There’ll be no time to rest in 2009 for this hardest of hard working bands with planned tours and releases in the UK and Europe immanent for The Infomatics.