Sony Ericsson and RTE have announced that Dublin Hip Hop & Rap artists The Infomatics have been voted Sony Ericsson Raw Sessions Artist of the Year.

In June had the pleasure of filming the Raw sessions between here and our Dublin based, Sun studios. http://www.therawsessions.ie/index.php?group=user&class=browse&task=bands_page&band=5

The Infomatics won (amongst other things) a week’s recording here in Grouse Lodge.

We would like to congratualate them and we look forward to having them back.

So far this year we've had, as usual a vast and varied array of artists, from Loyd Grossman's punk act The New Forbidden, who were also with us in 2008 to Katherine Lynch who is also a repeat customer. Katherine shot an episode of her hilarious series 'Wonderwoman' here.  In March this year she came with the Dromahair football team to record their team song  'The boys from Dromahair' for RTE series 'Celebrity Bainisteoir'.

At the end of last year and the beginning of 2008 we had Turkish act Duman here. They recorded 2 albums, Duman 1 and 2 and those albums went to number 1 and number 2 in the Turkish album charts.  Turkey is a massive market for C.D. sales. Another success story from  Grouse Lodge.

Speaking of which, we are delighted to report Paolo Nutini's latest album 'Sunny Side up'  shot straight to number one in the UK charts.

Another returning client  was Lars Winnerback who was here recording his 8^th studio album. Lars has achieved huge success in his native Sweden, in 2007 he recorded his 7^th album 'Daugava' with us which went double platinum.

We very recently had Japanese artist Chiaki Ishikawa. She was working on her solo album. Chiaki is also the lead vocalist of Japanese musical duo See-Saw.  She also shot some videos on the picturesque grounds of Grouse Lodge and Coolatore house following in the footsteps of MTV and Sinéad O' Connor.

We recently shot the last leg of the Raw Sessions which was an exciting process.

As we launch into another year at Grouse Lodge we'd like to take a moment to look back over 2007 and the bands that we had the pleasure of welcoming to the studios.

We started 07 with Northampton based band The Departure who were working on their debut album with producer Ed Buller (Suede, Pulp. The Raincoats - ex Psychedelic Furs keyboard player).

Snow Patrol came back to us with Garret (Jacknife) Lee to record their hit Signal Fire which featured on the soundtrack of Spiderman 3.

Jacknife Lee then returned to us with Brummie band the Editors  to record their second album An End Has A Start. Garret Lee is a regular at Grouse Lodge having been here with Snow Patrol, Bloc Party aswell as the Editors.

Mullingar boys the Blizzards popped in with Gareth Mannix (Republic of Loose/ Director/The Flaws/Delorentos) to do some work. The band have also been working with Michael Beinhorn (Soundgarden, Red Hot Chilli peppers, Korn, Marilyn Manson etc.).

Declan O Rourke came back to us again and despite a sporting injury he managed to get some great work done ! It's been a good year for Declan , Paul Weller was quoted as saying the song he wished he had written from the last decade was Declan's very own tune; Galileo, high praise indeed for the talented Dublin singer/songwriter.

Cathy Davey is another Dublin talent that used our studios in 2007. She was working on her second album Tales of Silversleeve which was produced by Liam Howe of Sneaker Pimps  

We had Lars Winnerback all the way from Stockholm, Sweden who was working on his album  Daugava.

Finnish artist, Tarja Turunen (formerly of NightWish) was here with lots of musicians such as  bassist Doug Wimbish (Living Color), Doug has played (and still plays!) for a myriad of artists such as; Rolling Stones, Madonna, Tackhead, Seal, Mos Def etc. Her percussionist for the project is Earl Harvin (James Clay, Ten Hands, Billy Goat, Psychedelic Furs, The Frames, Pet Shop Boys etc. ) Earl currently tours with Air. Also on board are guitarist extraodinare, Alex Scholpp (German metal band Farmer Boys) and programmer Torsten Stenzel (Moby, Faithless, Chris Rea, Nelly Furtado etc.).

REM stayed with us for a month to work on their 14th studio album Accelerate following a series of sell out gigs in the Olympia theatre. They described their stay with us as "magical". They were with Grouse Lodge patron Jacknife Lee.

LA based band Flogging Molly finished their fourth studio album in Grouse  Lodge. The band who all reside in the states apart from singer Dave King and fidde player Bridget Regan who live in Wexford  were accompanied by producer Ryan Hewitt ( Red Hot Chilli Peppers, John Frusciante, Alkaline Trio) .

We finished up the year with studio regular Jerry Fish who is working on his lates album with the Mud Bug Club which is due for release in 2008.. watch this space!

Don't forget that the beautiful Coolatore House is available as accomodation and many of our clients have found it an ideal loction to get away in the luxurious and tranquil surroundings and get the creative juices flowing.

Coolatore house is a Victorian country home, historically a place of great interest.  Not only is it associated with the hero of Irish history Napper Tandy, but also a pioneer of Irish motoring, Arthur Upton.

Situated on the historically sacred hill Cnoc Aiste Coolatore house is secluded and yet only an hour from Dublin city centre. Surrounded by 15 acres of mature gardens and part of the famous Grouse Lodge estate this house is definitely a special place to relax.

Coolatore house has six spacious bedroooms and five WC/Bathrooms, spacious corridors and landings with vaulted ceilings, a comfortable library, a grand dining room, cavernous living room and a homely country kitchen complete with an aga range.  In the 1980s it was one of the most sought after and fashionable places to stay in Ireland, when it was run as a country inn by Ian Sherrif & Don Hickie. It is now beautifully refurbished by its new owners and available on self catering or catered basis.

The entire house is furnished with a fantastic collection of antiques and the whole house breaths of history and times past albeit with the warmth and comfort of modern living.

For further information visit www.coolatorehouse.ie