Clearly lost, wandering around the alleys around the back of St. Stephen's Green shopping centre, searching for Asylum Studios. We find ourselves in front of a black door with no number or title at the end of a Cul de Sac. We are about to sack our Spidey senses and call for directions, when suddenly the door opens and out steps John Barker (98FM/Press Record) to greet us.
Since becoming the presenter of 98 FM’s Totally Irish, John Barker has become one of the country’s leading evangelists for contemporary Irish music, searching it out, cultivating it, and giving it a platform wherever possible. A modus operandi, not too dissimilar to GoldenPlec’s, albeit set in different formats.
John Barker, Robin Ball and Steve Caffrey founded press Record in February 2014. “The initial premise for it was to provide a platform for the musical ideas that we had.” Says Barker “One of the main features of Press Record so far has been the weekly videos we release of acts performing live in Asylum Studios.”
“We’ve been lucky enough to work with some amazing acts – from the more established such as Fight Like Apes, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Ham Sandwich, Le Galaxie and The Minutes, to new acts that we love such as All Tvvins, Bitch Falcon, Wyvern Lingo, Meltybrains? and The River Fane.”
A quality list, you’ll agree, and today’s recording session is no different with live performances from Waterford five-piece O Emperor and two-time Choice Music Prize winner, Jape.
O Emperor
When we arrive O Emperor are sound checking while the videographers, led by director Bob Gallagher are busy readying their camera set up; strategically placing them on various tripods and rigs around the live room.
We are ushered into the control room where we are introduces to Robin Ball, Press Record's sound engineer/producer and video editor. A lot of his time is spent in front of the two big computer screens, tweaking volume, reverb and all sorts of dials, getting the sound mix just right.
The atmosphere is very calm and relaxed while everything is being set up, the opposite to the layout of the studio with its gazillion leads, instruments and cameras laying around looking like many headaches should be had making sure everything is where it should be.
Helping the bands out for these sessions is Stephen Caffrey, a vital part of the Press Record team. Stephen makes sure the artists are comfortable during their time in the studio and assists as guitar tech, making sure all guitars are in tune throughout the recording.
After a few run-throughs, O Emperor perform two new tracks, Trash Club and their forthcoming single Switchblade.
When they've given the performances, they are happy with the band set down their instruments and come in to the mixing room, huddle around the monitors and listen to a playback.
Jape
Jape’s Richie Egan arrives to get ready as O Emperor pack up their van for their trip back to Waterford. Egan is somewhat sleep deprived having done a DJ set in Dublin's premier gay club Mother the night before "It's such a cool place to DJ," he enthuses as he's setting up.
Egan has chosen to strip things back for the Press Record sessions relying solely on his voice and a classical guitar a big contrast to the booming, intricate layered sound of his latest album 'This Chemical Sea'.
"I wanted to do a couple of quiet tracks for the press record," says Egan. "I've worked out quite a few on classical guitar to see how they would sound. So I decided to do Metamorphosis and This Chemical Sea, the two that in my opinion work best stripped back. I like the fact it puts more emphasis on the lyrics."
Jape's simple setup of vocals and acoustic guitar allows the cameras to get much closer to the artist, creating a more intimate atmosphere than normal for Press Record shoots. The consummate professional Richie Egan wows the Press Record team delivering both This Chemical Sea and Metamorphosis in single takes.
True to his word, the stripped back performance enhances the lyrical element of Egan's songs. So much so, that if you didn't know these were stripped back versions you’d think these were songs fully realised and performed as originally intended.
The unexpected bonus of having a one-take wonder in the studio means that the Press Record crew get to call it a day much earlier than they are used to.
Having witnessed a day in the life of Press Record first-hand the planning and attention to detail is first rate. John Barker, Robin Ball, Steve Caffrey and Bob Gallagher's passion and perfectionism comes through in the quality of the videos they shoot and the performances they inspire artists to produce.
But it would seem Press Record is only just getting started. "We are currently working on new features including an online TV show and a written features by music industry people," says Barker "Our first documentary following the rise of a young act making it in the music world will hopefully get a release this year too."
You can watch more of Press Record's videos and check out their podcast and other features here.