An interview with Eleanor McEvoy

It was a distinct pleasure to sit with Eleanor McEvoy recently to discuss her career, her adoption to the internet, the start of her career and her change from classical music to becoming one of the most popular singer-songwriters in the country.

We also discussed the Irish music industry, the labels and media and her involvement in IMRO. We talked about the upcoming Tradfest in Temple Bar (on this coming weekend) and her upcoming Australian tour.

We also discussed her charity work - the background of her "Oh Uganda" video with Oxfam Unwrapped, her massively popular online, but commercially poor single "Sophie" and her anger at society and where she finds her inspiration.

The video is 35 mins long - you can minimise and listen if that's easier. It was, genuinely one of the most interesting and candid interviews I've had the pleasure to do, and it's Eleanor's only media engagement before her trip to Australia.



It was a genuine pleasure and I'd like to thank Eleanor for her time and honesty and Good Seed PR for helping arrange it.

Eleanor is doing one more gig in Ireland before Australia, according to her website - the New Music Club in Brazil’s Cafe Clonmel, Co. Tipperary on Wednesday 17 February and then her Australia dates kick off on Feb 26 with the Nannup Folk Festival.

You can follow Eleanor on twitter here, find her new YouTube channel her and visit her website here.

She'll be appearing at the Temple Bar Tradfest 2010 this coming Saturday giving an IMRO masterclass. Tickets are selling quickly so I'd suggest you be quick!

Nominees for 2010 Meteor Irish Music Awards announced today

I've been invited along to the launch of the 2010 Meteor Music Awards (Facebook link here) and here, as I've just posted on Boards.ie, is the list of the nominees as I have in front of me:

(EDIT: To vote in each category, just click on the category headline below)

Best Radio DJ - National (vote here)

• Ian Dempsey - Today FM
• Damien Farrelly - 2FM
• Tony Fenton - Today FM
• Ray Foley - Today FM
• Larry Gogan - 2FM
• Dan Hegarty - 2FM

Radio DJ - Regional (vote here)

• Leigh Doyle - BEAT
• Jim & Niamh - FM 104
• KC & Lenny - Red FM
• Michelle McMahon - Spin SW
• Jon Richards - Galway Bay FM
• Shona Ryan - Spin 1038

Best Irish Band (vote here)

• Bell X1
• The Coronas
• Delorentos
• Snow Patrol
• U2

Best Irish Male (vote here)

• Colin Devlin
• Jerry Fish
• Jack L
• Christy Moore
• Mundy

Best Irish Female (vote here)

• Wallis Bird
• Julie Feeney
• Valerie Francis
• Laura Izibor
• Dolores O' Riordan

Best Irish Pop Act (vote here)

• Delorentos
• Laura Izibor
• The Blizzards
• The Script
• Westlife

Best Irish Album (vote here)

• Blue Lights on the Runway - Bell X1
• Tony was an Ex-Con - The Coronas
• The Duckworth-Lewis Method - The Duckworth-Lewis Method
• Up to Now - Snow Patrol
• No Line On The Horizon - U2

Best Irish Live Performance (vote here)

• Bell X1
• Christy Moore
• The Script
• Snow Patrol
• U2

NON VOTING CATEGORIES

Best Folk/Traditional

• Kathleen Loughnane
• Kila with Bruno Coulais
• Christy Moore
• Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh
• Sharon Shannon

Best International Band

• Black Eyed Peas
• Florence & The Machine
• Green Day
• Kasabian
• Muse

Best International Male

• Michael Buble
• Jay-Z
• Morrissey
• Paolo Nutini
• Bruce Springsteen

Best International Female

• Lily Allen
• Lady Ga Ga
• Little Boots
• Pixie Lotts
• Taylor Swift

Best International Album

• Lunatic Asylum - Kasabian
• Lungs - Florence & The Machine
• Sigh No More - Mumford & Sons
• Sunny Side Up - Paolo Nutini
• The Fame Monster - Lady Ga Ga

Best International Live

• Leonard Cohen
• Coldplay
• Florence & The Machine
• Bruce Springsteen
• Take That

Awards will be held at the RDS Friday February 19 2010, presented by Amanda Byram. Performing on the night will be Westlife, Snow Patrol, the Script, Florence and the Machine, Paolo Nutini, The Coronas, Pixie Lott and "many more to be announced".

Voting goes live from today apparently with Most Promising New Artist for 2010 going live from January 15. All details over on the Meteor Music Awards website.

I am not at war with anyone - Luka Bloom and the Gardiner Street Gospel Choir

Steph sent me this yesterday. Food for the soul.

Luka is on YouTube here. The Gardiner Street Gospel Choir can be found online here.

Chat with John Spillane plus live performance at Tower Records

I've just published my Culch.ie interview with John Spillane in Tower Records this morning. It was a brilliant chat - over 20 minutes! Spoke about everything from Cork to accents to Óró se do bheatha abhaile to Senegal to RnaG to ballet to more!



He was in Dublin to promote his new album So Far So Good, Like - The best of. It's a fantastic Irish album - I hadn't really known much about his music before I bought it yesterday (HMV, €14.99) but the authentic sound from the songs and the lyrics is quite something.

Some of the videos I shot of his performances today are songs from the album:

The Dunnes Stores Girl:



Passage West:



The Dance of the Cherry Trees:



Johnny don't go to Ballincollig:



There was a Man:



Will we be brilliant or what?





John's album is available in all good record stores now. The track listing is as follows: 1. Passage West, 2. The Dance of the Cherry Trees, 3. Lovers Leap, 4. All the Ways you Wander, 5. Johnny don't go to Ballincollig, 6. Everything’s Turning to Gold Cathy, 7. Will We Be Brilliant or What?, 8. Magic Nights in the Lobby Bar, 9. Hey Dreamer, 10. The Dunnes Stores Girl, 11. Buile mo Chroí (Beat of my Heart), 12. The Wounded Hero (Iníon Deichtine), 13. There was a Man, 14. Rise up Lovely Molly, 15. Beidh Aonach Amárach 16. Óró Sé do Bheatha Abhaile

The full, unedited interview can be seen on Vimeo here.

A huge thank you to Paula from EMI Music and Lorcan, John's manager, for helping arrange the interview, to Tower Records for the space and of course to John himself for being so great to talk with and listen to.

Download Julie Feeney's Love is a tricky thing for free

Julie Feeney is due to release her new album pages on May 29 this year. The lead single is called Love Is A Tricky Thing and you can download the MP3 here.

Choice Music Prize winning singer, composer, multi instrumentalist and windsurfing enthusiast Julie Feeney returns with her second album, pages, on May 29th, 2009.

The album kicks off with the release of the lead single Love Is A Tricky Thing, on May 22. A nationwide tour will be announced shortly.

Darren has it up over on Culch.ie where you can have a listen.

New U2 single - Get On Your Boots. Listen now!

It's the first song from their new album "No Line on the Horizon", it's called Get On Your Boots and you can hear it here.

From the U2 site:

Get On Your Boots, the first single from U2's new album No Line On The Horizon, will be released as a digital download on February 15th with a physical format to follow on February 16 through Mercury/Universal (UK).

Released on March 2nd (March 3rd in the US), the album will come in a standard format with 24 page booklet and in digipak format. The digipak includes an extended booklet and the album's companion film "Linear" by Anton Corbijn. A limited edition 64 page magazine will also be available, featuring the band in conversation with artist Catherine Owens, and new Anton Corbijn photographs. No Line On The Horizon will be released on 180gm vinyl.


Album artwork from U2.com

The album cover artwork is an image of the sea meeting the sky by Japanese artist and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Full tracklisting:

1. No Line On The Horizon
2. Magnificent
3. Moment of Surrender
4. Unknown Caller
5. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
6. Get On Your Boots
7. Stand Up Comedy
8. Fez - Being Born
9. White As Snow
10. Breathe
11. Cedars Of Lebanon

I think the new single is actually quite good. Could grow to like it!

Having a coffee and interview with Messiah J

They've just been nominated for The Choice Music Prize, Irish Album Of The Year, for the second record in a row. In the video interview we've done, Messiah J describes the group as "a two piece music making machine, influenced by hip hop, psychedelia, reggae and classical sources; hip hop but not as we know it. Left of centre and then left of centre again. Accessible music that people can dance to, can think to - people who are as flawed, confused and ordinary as us." They're successful, they're Irish and they love what they do.


Photos from MJEX

I hadn't heard of MJEX until I got their latest album, From the Word Go. Actually, that's not entirely accurate - I'd heard of them but never listened to their music, wouldn't have considered going to a gig, didn't know what they were about and, to be honest, didn't try to find out. Hip Hop for me was that dancy stuff; gangsta rap, Beyonce, Eminem and Nelly all lumped together in my mental file. I think the term became too broad and multi-discipline encompassing to understand so I just left it. To hear of a Dublin group doing it seemed a bit Commitment-esque - I mean, it's just Irish guys trying to be black, right?



But I stuck the CD on. Pretty quickly my foot tapping turned into dancing. As part of the research before this interview, I went to check out the reviews online - RTÉ called it "an assured and catchy release... the album overall has an uplifting effect as it is mostly fast-paced and melodic." Hotpress called it a 'classic' while Sputnik Music said it was "every bit the record it threatened to be: challenging yet accessible; diverse yet coherent; serious yet playful; pop but not pop."

State consider it their "finest album to date" while Jim Carroll called it the sweetest thing they've ever done going on to name their new single, Turn the Magic On, with lead vocals by Leda Egri as "a tune which every DJ at every music station in the land should be playing off the air."

I read the reviews, read some interviews, saw this video for their first single from the album, Megaphone Man and wondered just who I'd end up meeting. What was evident from the interviews I've read is that they're passionate in their beliefs about what music can do and the responsibility they feel they have. Their CD "questions the state of the world we live in today. The songs are about every day things, good and bad, all set against the backdrop of a pretty confused world and its people."

"The stance we're taking is that we don't know it all or even pretend to know it all, but we're trying to make people aware that this is stuff they should get to know about. We're as confused as everyone else." they said in a brilliant Irish Times interview:

"I think there has to be more talk about political issues from people our own age, not some fiftysomething career politician coming out with loads of jargon. Bands, though, are afraid to speak about political issues because they feel they have to have all the answers or be on a podium, but that's not the case. You can take an interest and be flawed. You can't be a hypocrite, but you can be flawed."

The first thing to note about John Fitzgerald - Messiah J - is that he's remarkably polite. When we meet at the Central Hotel, he greets Darren and me with effusive thanks for the opportunity, thanks for the time, thanks for the nice words. There's no "call me Messiah" or any of that. Darren's here to take photos but more than that - his familiarity with MJEX through the Choice Music Prize is a welcome addition to the conversation.

We bounce through topics at a rate of knots - conversation flows easily because John is a comfortable guy to be around - he knows his stuff without making that part of any persona. As I scribble what becomes a 9 A5 page interview, I start building a real picture of who Messiah J is.

How would Messiah J change Dublin, his home town?

"Well, I wish... Hmmm. I wish people were nicer. More polite. More civil to each other. That's important. I also wish everything wasn't so drink based.

Dublin is for me a strange one - it's sometimes a hiding place and sometimes a thing to hide behind. We have some under the carpet racism that I'd love to see gone. I despise the word foreigners. Foreigners is an exclusionary term, a way of dividing people, so yes, I wish the phrase "the foreigners" wasn't used so much, particularly towards Polish people.

I also with there were less promises that can't be kept - services, metro lines, infrastructure all promised and then not happening. The things that really matter - healthcare, welfare, people - that's what matters. Focus on that."

How he became Messiah J:

"I was about 15. I was always listening to hip hop and thinking "I like this and I don't care about anything else." I think to get your identity you have to say "I'm into this" and mean it. So, I listened to the music, wore the gear and obsessed about the subculture.

Writing it then, well that started quietly. It was all very hush hush - writing was like masturbating in my bedroom, a guilty secret. I kept it to myself so I wouldn't get laughed at.

I never tried the whole mimicking America thing. I never felt that I had to be anyone else or do it in any style but my own. I was expressing myself and that was it.

I started wondering then, Is anyone else doing this? This is the mid to late 90's and Hip Hop was kind of coming into a phase of its own. If you followed it people asked you which style, which person you were - Ice T, Ice Cube or Snoop. I didn't identify with that.

I met The Expert (Cian Galvin) who was a pirate DJ doing a show on DLR called Hip Hop Saturday. Then a friend called Dylan Collins introduced a lot of us and we'd get together at the City Arts Centre and just jam. That then became the Stonecutters and then we had Creative Controle for three years. It was good fun."

Getting on with The Expert:

"Well we know each other for what - ten years now? So at this stage we almost have a telepathy between us. We just keep on trying to get better at what we do. When we're in the studio together working on stuff, we can almost spontaneously sing the same melody line as we both create it.

We don't fight. We argue for the greater good and we reject each other's work far more than we accept it, but it makes us better.

I remember Friday nights before we'd meet to record stuff. I'd be in my dressing gown - it's my writing robe - pacing, feeling it was like the night before an exam, wondering if he'd like it. From the very start I could tell that this guy knows his shit. I respect him. The Expert is a genius. We maintain a healthy competition between us. It's a good song writing partnership.

We record in our own studio called Labbey Road. It's pretty basic but it works for us. Since we decided to release on our own label, Inaudible records, it's given us a freedom to have our own style, to do it the way we want. As I say, we don't have to be anyone but ourselves I don't pretend to be American when I rap, I rap in my own accent. We support each other on that - it's the way we've always been."

Playing live:

"Playing live is warts and all. You fuck up and everyone sees. There's no hiding place. When something's written we'll get it while it's raw. It's very exciting and tiring, it's like you're fighting for perfectionism.

I mean, videos are fun, yeah? There's a theatrical element to them, you're on a set, there's a different environment, it's a different discipline. You shoot, you have ideas, you try them out and when you're happy with it, it's done.

Live though, well, in some ways when we go on stage it's a kind of a release. We can take over the place. To put it one way, it's the exact opposite of someone at a party having a think. Everything releases. For me, it's a amplified version of everything I am. I'm completely different off stage then."

Critics and feedback:

"Yes, I listen to critics, be they bloggers, journalists or fans. Ultimately critics will help you sell records. There's a perception sometimes that music critics are all dickheads - they're certainly not. A bad review can point you in a good direction, a good review does no harm at all.

We're making independent music, so people writing about us and talking about us is massively important and really complimentary.

We don't get as much mainstream radio play as we like. Rick O Shea and Colm and Jim Jim are two presenters who have been great to us. I suppose it's to do with the music too. I mean, when I first heard Megaphone Man fully, I thought it might be too edgy, a bit too bizarre. But it's out there and it works.

Messiah J and the Expert are hip hop. It's not a definable sound, it's not that we feel the need to justify the type of hip hop we are, but we are more than loops and stupid rhyming lyrics. Genres can case you in - we like to think the new album is more than a Hip Hop album, it's something for people who like everything."

On their song topics:

"Am I trying to make a difference as a songwriter? Yes. It's an enviable position to be in. I don't do it as a "it's for the kids, man" but people should be talking about the issues around them. It's not just politicians - it's people that are listened to, whether they're teachers, entertainers or writers, bloggers - people should take responsibility. I'm not saying I have any answers or my way is the right way, but I'll ask the questions and I'll look around me and I'll talk about things.

Songwriters have changed my life with some of the things I've heard and listened to. We've seen it with people like Dylan and Lennon where you can have a massive influence, once it's not contrived, it's not fake or for the sake of it. Too much music is bland and without substance. It doesn't have to be. It's quite a powerful thing to be able to talk about the world around you and not be seen to be on a lofty pedestal. it's as I said earlier, it's for people as flawed, confused and ordinary as us.

Discussion is what it's about - it's part of what music is. Opera was political music. What we do is political, but only in the people sense. There's a time and place for escapist music, but there's also a place where people can ask questions and think about things too."

On the future:

"We're just going to keep doing what we love, pushing ourselves to get better, making it great. We want to be a great band, not just in Irish Hip Hop but by any standards. I mean, if we wanted to leave a legacy it would be that we made a difference, that we tried to musically and lyrically chart new territory. We made people dance."

Messiah J and the Expert are playing support to The Streets on Jan 25 in Dublin's Olympia Theatre. They'll then be in Vicar Street for the Choice Music Prize on March 4. You'll find their blog here, their website here and MySpace here.

Big thanks to John for taking the time out to talk to me, Darren for the photos and Emma for helping to arrange the interview.

Messiah J and the Expert for beginners

I interviewed Messiah J from 2008 Choice Music Prize nominated group Messiah J and the Expert. If you haven't heard of them, here's an introduction for you:



A fuller detailed interview for fans will be available later.

One Day International: interview with Matt and Ross

Matt Lunson is reading Neil Gaiman's Stardust. It's a good way for us to start our conversation, me a Gaiman fan, him being recently introduced by a friend. "I'm really liking it" he says, something that doesn't surprise me, having read Matt's own writing for the past few weeks.

It's been a busy morning - the guys are in the middle of shooting interviews about blogging down one end of Le Cirk, I'm up at the other arranging tea for Matt and Ross who have come to tell me more about One Day International. Ross barely has time to sit down before I invite/send him to be part of the filming, leaving Matt and me to talk.



I've been constantly listening to their debut album, Blackbird, since I got it. There are eleven beautiful, carefully crafted songs here that have accompanied me for the past while. Heavy on piano, accompanied by cello, the lyrics drew me in conjuring images of torrid love affairs, sweet kisses and a girl I knew a long time ago. Powerful stuff. Indeed, as their website says

"A deep and passionate respect for language resonates through each and every track. Words are not wasted, each turn of phrase demands attention. The collected musicianship of the group affords the listener a hoard of minds-eye treasures to call upon."

I ask Matt as I about the band's emerging profile "We have been very fortunate so far. We've been careful about what we've done, with whom and when and even though it's not a route all bands take, it's worked out for us". Indeed, the five piece band, together since 2007, Matt on vocals, Ross (Turner) on drums, Cormac Curran on piano, Danny Snow on bass and Eimear O’Grady on cello have been building up a steady following and respect from fans and within the industry, something reviews of their album on RTE.ie and State bear testimony to.

"We've spent 18 months creating this album" says Matt. "Our first batch of songs were quite delicate. Fragile. We didn't want to expose them to a situation where they wouldn't be comfortable. We want to take care of the music we play. The only real thing of value a band has is the songs that it writes."

I found that strange to hear, but listening to lyrics from Closed Doors: "For the first time in your life you stopped tearing yourself apart and it was beautiful", Miss Your Mouth "I know you like that I am a mess that I'll do my best so you'll believe that my aim is good", Not Over You "Do you remember the way that we made the best of a bad situation always seem worse" and Black is the Bird "Black is the bird that can't sing and black is the bird that loses it's wing" that I began to understand how personal this album is not only to Matt, but to the band.

"It's the same reason why we're not out on the road seven days a week. We've been guarded about doing any gigs until there was an album we were happy with. We could have gone and played to 15 people in gigs, but that doesn't benefit anyone. It needs to benefit the music that I write rather than the band." says Matt. "This record has been quite carefully arranged and constructed over time. We've worked on it for a year and a half and it's the best that we could have done it. We're very proud of it."

Their gig in The Button Factory on Thursday promises to be a good one. "We're looking forward to it" Ross grins, having rejoined us. "We concentrated on making the record first - the live shows take care of themselves. However we work hard on creating an atmosphere for an hour or so where our songs can be played. It's almost making a grandeur out of vulnerability. We worked hard to strike the balance between too literal, too obvious and too obscure. If we can bring out the soulful and emotional aspects of our songs in our performance, we'll be happy" says Matt.


Photo by Dara Munnis

"The live show has superseded the record", he says, "it's more dramatic. The songs are written to be performed and the show allows us to flesh out the crescendos built into the music". "The structure and arrangements don't change that much", Ross adds, "but there's more power and energy in the live show".

"I find it better" interrupts Matt "to see what I can do with the music rather than just show what I can do. It can be dangerous territory - if you force a change in the music just for a show, it comes out contrived. For us it's about the balance".

They spent some time this year supporting Lisa Hannigan. "It was wonderful" says Matt, "We became really good friends with her and the band. She is just so beautiful and relaxed in her performances that playing with her was a pleasure." They've also toured with Cathy Davey and were widely regarded as one of the best acts of this year's Hard Working Class Heroes.



Matt, a respected singer/songwriter far from his native Tasmania, released his first album Miss Vaughan, named after his first music teacher in 2005 and has toured with many artists - Mundy, Mary Coughlan, The Walls, Ollie Cole, Tim Freedman (The Whitlams) and Liam O Maonlaí to name a few. The others are no less accomplished - Ross plays with Cathy Davey, Jape and David Kitt while Eimear plays sessions and orchestra with equal fervour.

"We had three songs when we started", says Matt, "songs that required a band to share them". In a recent State interview, Eimear had commented how they were "definitely learning the trick of the five of us being in a room and somebody bringing something in and being able to spark it off the next person."

"Our personal relationship is important" says Matt "Everyone likes each other, respects each other and contributes. We were good friends when we started this and that has continued. Everyone had their place. Ross, who duals as the band's main blogger, knows such an incredible amount of music that he's often our finder of new things."



The band have a huge respect for music bloggers and are one of the rare few that update their own blog when they have news, giving equal coverage to artists they like as well as their own news. "People consume so much Irish music now that isn't just from 2FM or Hot Press. They're seeking out the tunes, talking about the bands and reviewing the gigs. It's a good thing" says Matt "Intelligent criticism of their music will make the bands work harder, be better informed."



The album cover too is a thing of beauty. Designed by Sarah Brownlee, a designer and illustrator, its apparent simplicity, like the music, doesn't show the amount of work that's gone into it. "We love it" says Ross, "Sarah understood us, understood what we wanted and gave us something wonderful." The album itself is produced by Brian Crosby (BellX1 and The Cake Sale) with whom Matt has been friends for a long time.

The band is looking international next year. "It's about ambition", says Matt, "We're not just limiting ourselves to Ireland. Don't get me wrong, there's been a seismic shift in Irish music in the last two years - a huge shift in scope and eclepticism. Where before, to fit in, you were either a singer songwriter or a skinny angular guitar band, you now have events like HWCH and bands like The Vinny Club that show that musicians are prepared to take genuine risks. And out of that will come stuff that is genuinely great."

"We will however bring our songs and music on the road. We're going to South by South West (a legendary festival showcasing more than 1,800 musical acts of all genres from around the globe on over eighty stages in Austin, Texas) in March and have been invited to the Canadian Music week too. The album is due for release in the UK in April."



When I ask for their advice for anyone starting out in music, their advice was simple. "Really work at it and don't try to be anything you're not. There's no need to sound like someone else or try fit into a certain scene. Your music will drive your success. Play often and together as much as you can" advises Ross. "Unless you're die hard there's not much point" says Matt. "If the band is weak, if the performance is weak or the music is weak, the band will fall apart. You need to hone it constantly and really work at it."

When asked for favourite songs from the album, they both hesitate. "All of them" says Ross. Matt believes that Darken Your Door is perfectly sung and written, while Ross favours Black is the Bird as a song that has benefited from live performance and the vocal expression of it. Matt says he remembers a 1940s quote that reads "If you burn the midnight oil on revision, you'll often leave the smell of the lamp" - not something they want to do. "Buy our album, come to our gigs, find out for yourself" they invite you. You can see all that information and more on their Facebook page, their MySpace page here and their website and blog here.

I'm looking forward to Thursday's gig. "There'll be no Christmas songs" grins Matt, when I ask "though we were thinking of "The River" by Joni Mitchell." Whatever they play, it's bound to be a musical treat and a great experience. Here's their current single, Closed Doors.


A big thanks to Matt and Ross for the interview, to Emma for her help, to Le Cirk for the venue and the wonderful Mr Byrne for the photos. You can read his review of One Day International's Blackbird here and buy the album here.