Tony Clayton-Lea meets singers and musicians who hope to be big this year
CHIARA BROWNE 'I'VE NEVER HAD ROTTEN FRUIT THROWN AT ME AND BEEN TOLD NOT TO COME BACK'
"I studied music at university in Australia and did a voice major in New South Wales. I've been in Ireland over six years, and I've been a professional musician for nigh on 13 years, so I know nothing else. I know what I do, and I know that I do it well. Working as a musician, you always find other jobs in order to support yourself, but I always go back to music. As a songwriter, one of the reasons why I left Australia was to find out what I was capable of doing.
"I've discovered that in Ireland, and the reason why I chose to stay - and this may sound like a cliche to Irish people - is that there is still a music culture here. The culture that underlines Australia is sport. I wanted to live somewhere where that wasn't the case.
"I knew there was a great songwriter's scene in Dublin; sure, there are a lot of people involved in it, but at least you could tap into it a few times a week, and that's what I did for my first two years here. It was very easy to walk in the door and put your name down on a list and play. What became very clear straight away - which was, ironically, similar to the scene in Sydney, where I was based for a long time - was that there is a clique of people that stick together. I found, without its being too overt, that being Australian kind of kept me out of that circle. I wouldn't say that now, because I've been here a while, and people have seen that I've hung around. So yes, the vibe is good. I've never had rotten fruit thrown at me and been told not to come back. The singer-songwriter gigs are good. They help you decide whether you can do what you want to do.
"My aspirations have always been to be able to do what I do without it becoming a burden. At times it can be exhausting, and you wonder why you're doing it. You feel there's no progression. I've just finished recording a debut album, which will be released early this year. It's a totally independent thing.
"I don't want fame or anything like that. I just want to be able to continue what I'm doing. I want to keep a pattern going, and that doesn't necessarily mean being chased by tabloids. It's about having musical product and being what you are. I'm seeking a manager, because I feel I can't do everything by myself any more. I need the help one needs to have a career."
SJ McARDLE THANK GOD FOR THE CREDIT UNION. I SHOULD GIVE THEM A MENTION ON THE NEXT RECORD'
"Music is what I want to do all the time. It could always be busier for me, however. I didn't get into music as a career choice, so from that perspective not making a full-time living out of it isn't the end of the world. I got into it to write songs and sing them to people, and for people to respond, and that's happening. Obviously, I'd like things to be happening on a much bigger scale. I've been doing it seriously for five years, and over that period of time I've released a couple of albums, the most recent one being Year of the Tiger. I've been very lucky with the people I've worked with, because I know if I had been trying it on my own then the quality control wouldn't have been as good.
"There would be a relatively small number of people who are aware of me; outside that few hundred people, I suppose, the albums are operating in a void, to a degree. How do I counteract that? Letting people know the music has been reviewed or that it's been used on the telly - my song Till the Docklands Drown was used in the television series Love Is the Drug. Those little things definitely help as a way of having people consider something. It's a hook.
"I'm coming to the point of looking for a manager - I could be considerably busier if someone was working on my behalf. But to some extent work is a time issue, an issue that I'm not terribly good with. Some people are really good at pushing things - gigs, media - and I respect that, but that's not a skill I've mastered. It's not that I'm sitting around, saying that I'm an artist and that I shouldn't have to worry, but at the same time I have priorities. The creative challenge is to try to get my music to where it should be. I know where I want it to be, and it's not there yet. I have a lot of work to do.
"It's difficult for me to tour Ireland and pull in people, because, realistically, I'm not anyone. I have to go the support-act route, and that requires a lot of digging around, asking and annoying people, which I have been doing. That does pay off, too, I'm glad to say, but I could definitely be doing more shows. That said, I don't feel as if I'm banging my head off a brick wall: things are happening, and I've met a lot of supportive people, which makes a difference.
"Persistence is the key - that and not getting discouraged. I've had a policy of accepting any show that will have me. I'm certainly not snobby about gigs. I was a member of Ricky Warwick's backing band, and he was supporting Bob Dylan and Sheryl Crow, and to play in front of thousands of people was great fun. So you see another side of what you can do. There will probably be another record next year. Thank God for the credit union. I should give them a mention on the next record."
SHAZ OYE 'THE CARDS HAVE BEEN STACKED AGAINST ME. I'M A BLACK WOMAN, A LESBIAN, I'M OUT, SO I HAVE TO DRAW OUTSIDE THE LINES'
"I've been doing music since 2003, which is the year I put out my first EP. For the past two years I've been gigging around the country, building a profile, and am now putting the finishing touches to an album that will be released early this year. I feel that I've been given a gift of music. When I sing I can see people respond to my voice. I feel I have an ethical responsibility to exploit that and to realise my potential. That sounds a bit corny, but that's the drive behind my trying to build a career in the music industry. The material I write, a lot of which is issues based, draws on my experience of the world. Some of the themes might deal with the darker side of humanity, but I am trying to reflect the world as I see it. "I hope that when the album comes out it resonates with people. Success for me in the future is more a question of when than if. I absolutely believe that. I'm very positive about creative and commercial success. I would hope that I would get to the stage where it is easier to achieve airplay through radio, for example, and where it's easier to get bums on seats for live gigs. They're the obstacles I'm coming up against at the moment. As I build the profile, and as people become more aware of my work, and hopefully like and respond to it, those things will become easier.
"I've always believed that determination is one of the cornerstones of success. You've got to have a dogged self-belief for anything you want to be successful at. Increasingly, it is becoming the case to have to think creatively of ways that circumvent the system. In the commercial media, there are more journalists covering more entertainment for more media outlets, yet, conversely, the public has less choice in respect of the artists they are exposed to. I can circumvent that primarily by drawing outside the lines. I have always done that."
"To a degree, because of the system, the cards have been stacked against me. I'm a black woman, a lesbian, I'm out, so I've always felt that I have to draw outside the lines. Having said that, there are individuals within the media, particularly within radio, who are very supportive of new artists, independent artists and new Irish music. So far they have been very helpful, and it's incumbent on independent artists to work with those people to create a better system that we can all work within."
NIALL COLFER 'WE'D JAM AND JAM FOR HOURS ON END. IT WAS THE ONLY THING WE COULD DO PROPERLY'
"There are three Colfer brothers in Salthouse, our band, and I'm their first cousin. Instead of playing soccer as kids we played music. After college we decided to take it more seriously, so we got a studio together, and in 2002 we brought out our first album, Hanging by a Thread. As a proper working band we've been around for four years. People such as Neil Young inspired us, but there was also something about living on the end of a peninsula - Hook peninsula, in Co Wexford. We'd just jam and jam for hours on end. It was the only thing we could do properly. We were good at it, we enjoyed it and it gave us a sense of freedom, of ourselves.
"We were very naive around the making of the first album, and that was a good thing at the time. But after the album was released we realised it wasn't just about making the music and enjoying the music. You have to get distribution for the record, and it has to receive radio play. We love playing music, but there should be a distinction made between the music and the music industry. It's very hard for musicians to be businessmen. None of us has ever got tired of playing music, writing songs or being in each other's company, but ringing people up and asking them for this or that - I can't stand doing it any more. So that side of the industry puts things into perspective. For example, say we're playing Whelan's, in Dublin. That'd be a big gig for us, yet all night we'd be looking at the door, to see how many people are coming in, because you know that's what the promoter is doing as well. Unless a certain amount of people walk in you won't be asked back. That kind of thing can dampen the spirits.
"Why do we keep going? Tick the boxes marked obsessiveness, self-belief and persistence. We also do it because we enjoy it so much. In general, musicians and artists create - that's part of what they are. If I didn't create and play music I wouldn't be happy. You've got to remember why you're doing this in the first place. At the same time, when you get involved in the business side of things it can really grind you down after a while. And yet there has to be some kind of goal, because you can't be playing to your aunties and uncles all your life.
"We've gone away from what we were doing and are in the process of trying something new. It's a different method of communication with our music, so we'll see how it goes. Our hope for that - and I'll put it quite bluntly - is to get our music on the radio."
AM O'GRADY 'THIS IS WHAT I DO, AND THIS IS THE AGE I AM, AND THAT'S JUST THE WAY IT IS'
"I've been doing this for about four years, particularly in terms of gigging and getting the new album, Precious Lines, together. I'm 35, and there was a time when I didn't tell anyone my age, because I feared they'd judge the music as a part of that, but I don't mind any more. I've come to a point where this is what I do, and this is the age I am, and that's just the way it is. There was also a period when I thought time was running out on me, but at this stage I'm just doing it. I've survived until now, and I'll keep going. You think that with the album finished the work is done, but actually you're nervous about putting something out, because you want it to do well. It challenges you in ways you don't expect.
"Financially it's a challenge, because recording is expensive. I run a part-time design-concepts company - we've done work with Diageo, Siemens, AIB, Bank of Ireland and others - and what I was doing was pulling from those budgets to put money into the album. To trust that more work will arrive in order to finish the recording is a problem. Also, as you get older it's more difficult to get record-company interest, because they're looking for the next young thing. Sometimes you ask yourself: Am I mad? And yet amazing things happen, as well: you open a show for Christy Moore and you're playing in front of 2,000 people.
"I wouldn't say that I'm struggling, because I've been very lucky in terms of the design work, which means I've always got money coming in. But because of the way in which I want to move forwards in the music area - I didn't want to put everything together for a small amount of money in a sure-it'll-be-fine approach; I wanted professional musicians, and for them to be paid for their work - the money went out. In that sense it's very much a financial challenge. I have wondered what I'm doing it for, of course. I think everyone feels that, but for whatever reason inside of me I have a passion for music.
"When I started playing in front of an audience I realised I loved it. So you have to be determined and driven - and it's not madness, because I'm very grounded. But there are days where I have doubts, and I wonder what it is that's driving me. It's more doubt than madness, though, and it's the passion for wanting to share with people what is inside you in whatever creative form. It's not an ordinary career choice, that's for sure."
RUTH DILLON 'I THINK MY SONGS SHOULD GET OUT THERE MORE, YET I DON'T WANT A BIG RECORD DEAL, BECAUSE I'D HAVE TO COMPROMISE'
"I've been professional about 11 years. In the past I've made ends meet by doing bar work and part-time jobs in clothes shops, but now I do music all the time. I'm making an okay living. I was involved in a Celtic-type show, Celtic Legends, in France, so I travelled over to that. It wasn't really my thing, but I learned a lot from it.
"A couple of months ago I released Woken, an album of original material, and if I could do my own thing full time that would be perfect. Having said that, I did a solo gig in Roundstone recently and ended up having to sing pop songs that people could dance to. So I had to pull out the Prince and Blondie songs. You have to take a pragmatic approach. I also play music with a bluegrass band, so it's important to learn different styles.
"I'm happy enough doing what I'm doing, but something compels me to work very hard on my own material all the time. If I'm in a pub, singing country songs, I tend not to like singing my own material, because it might be busy, and I'd rather sing to people who want to genuinely listen. I think my songs should get out there more, yet I don't want a big record deal, because I'd have to compromise. What I'd love, and what I'm doing gradually, is to build up my name, even on a fringe level. If my songs were mainstream, then of course that would be fine. I'm in between in that regard: I'm at a stage and an age where I think it's not the end of the world if things don't happen. With the new CD, I'm doing everything myself, ringing people in the media and radio stations. I'd rather have control over things, so I'm not into sending my CV into record companies.
"In some ways I have struck a balance between idealism and practicality, but I'm a little bit frustrated. The whole Pop Idol thing of having to be 17-20 or else you're past it is silly. The music has to stand up for itself, and I don't think there should be an age level on it. I think I've still got a career in this; when I sing my songs, just me and a guitar - and I don't want to sound pompous - I see the effect I can sometimes have on people. So I have something. All I need is the next step up.
"You could moan for ages about not breaking through, but I've discovered that it takes a lot of hard work. I can probably get to another level by just keeping doing what I'm doing: working hard, believing in myself a little bit more. A lot of it is luck, and that's important. As are contacts. I'm a very sociable person, but I'm not a go-getter. If I see someone well known I can't run up and hand them my CD. Yet you have to keep hounding people. A mixture of persistence and obsession are the keys. And self-belief. And bloody hard graft."