Bell X1 (band)

Bell X1 are a music group from Dublin, Ireland, known for their wide range of styles, powerful live performances, intelligent and witty lyrics and a dedication to touring. NPR says they deliver "a brilliant co-mingling of electronic music and anthemic pop rock".

Bell X1 are festival and arena headliners in their native Ireland and play to ever growing numbers on their regular North American and European tours. Aside from U2, they are the Irish band with the most airplay in their native country and, according to Billboard, also the second biggest live performers.

History

Juniper

Most of the band were originally members of Juniper. Paul Noonan was Juniper's drummer and Damien Rice was the lead vocalist; guitarists Dominic Philips and Brian Crosby and multi-instrumentalist David Geraghty completed the original line-up. Juniper built up a strong live following in Ireland and enjoyed chart success with EP Manna and singles Weatherman and World is Dead (the latter two through Universal Records) but never released a full album. The band became a quartet with the departure of Rice over creative differences. Rice admitted in a 2002 interview with the Sunday Tribune that he had become upset after writing a song which the record company had disliked.

Bell X-1

The Bell X-1, designated originally as XS-1, was a joint National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics-U.S. Army Air Forces-U.S. Air Force supersonic research project built by the Bell Aircraft Company. Conceived during 1944 and designed and built during 1945, it achieved a speed of nearly 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 km/h; 870 kn) during 1948. A derivative of this same design, the Bell X-1A, having greater fuel capacity and hence longer rocket burning time, exceeded 1,600 miles per hour (2,600 km/h; 1,400 kn) during 1954. The X-1 was the first manned airplane to exceed the speed of sound in level flight and was the first of the so-called X-planes, a series of American experimental rocket planes designated for testing of new technologies and often kept secret.

Design and development

Parallel development

In 1942, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Aviation began a top secret project with Miles Aircraft to develop the world's first aircraft capable of breaking the sound barrier. The project resulted in the development of the prototype turbojet-powered Miles M.52, designed to reach 1,000 miles per hour (870 kn; 1,600 km/h) (over twice the existing airspeed record) in level flight, and to climb to an altitude of 36,000 ft (11 km) in 1 min 30 sec.

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Latest News for: bell x1 (band)

Behind the music - Brian Crosby

RTE 28 Nov 2024
Brian Crosby has reunited with Bell X1 frontman Paul Noonan for new song, My Bones a Scaffold ... The track, Brian's first collaboration with Paul since Brian left Bell X1 16 years ago, is accompanied by ...

Irish Albums Turning 5 to 45 in 2024

RTE 17 Mar 2024
At this stage of Bell X1’s career, the band had hit that sweet spot where song writing is concerned ... or album track A Better Band, it is clear that Bell X1 had indeed become an even better band.

CMAT breaks the UK: ‘It’s definitely happening over here. She’s getting bigger and bigger all the time’

The Irish Times 16 Dec 2023
CMAT has more in common with B*witched than with Bell X1 – and that can only be a good thing ... She has more in common with B*witched than with Bell X1 – and that can only be a good thing.

Bell X1 at Iveagh Gardens: Stage times, set list, ticket information, how to get there and more

The Irish Times 19 Jul 2023
Paul Noonan of Bell X1 performing at Live At The Marquee in Cork, Ireland ... Bell X1 have been knocking around for a quarter of a century now and, 23 years after releasing their debut album, they are set ...

The Guide: The events to see, the shows to book, and the ones to catch before they end

The Irish Times 15 Jul 2023
Tim Minchin, Bell X1, Forest Fest, Galway International Arts Festival and Imma summer parties should be in your plans this week ... ADT’s latest single, From the Eastern Shore, will be played along with material from his band, LOWmountain.Bell X1.

Bell X1 are back and they’re putting family and fun first

The Times/The Sunday Times 28 May 2023
I’ve just told the Bell X1 frontman that his band’s eighth album sounds like they’re not particularly concerned with writing hits any more and are instead exploring musical avenues for the sheer enjoyment of it.

Nathan Connolly on his new solo album: ‘There’s only so far being Nathan from Snow Patrol gets you’

Irish Independent 22 Apr 2023
I did Little Matador [the veritable Irish supergroup featuring members of the Frames, Bell X1, Turn and others] and guested with other people, but starting a band always seemed easier than putting out ...

Daithí: I’m Here Now review — Optimistic, celebratory return

The Irish Times 09 Sep 2022
a new relationship, the opening of an artists’ retreat called The Beekeepers in his native Clare and even a new band, HousePlants, the Choice Music Prize-nominated supergroup that he formed with Bell X1′s Paul Noonan.
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