Affirmative Faction

It’s said that every action produces a reaction. Nowhere else is this truer than in music. Looking back to the 1950s and beyond, every movement, every great idea and nearly every great record has been fuelled by artists kicking out and responding to that which was happening around them. Think Lennon, think rock ‘n roll, think Pet Sounds and think punk.

Faction Records is no exception. Billed as an Irish version of the UK’s successful Fierce Panda label, Faction has been set up to provide a platform for new Irish bands through the release of compilation albums, single releases and showcase tours around the country. Founded by Ken Allen, a former Irish A&R man for Independiente and Polydor, it's something of a riposte to the notion that all Ireland is good for is lovesick singer-songwriters.
“The timing is right for something like Faction Records,” says Allen as he takes a sup of his coffee. “There’s a load of really good bands sprouting out all over the country and the Irish music scene is the best it’s been in years. I wanted to reflect that and the fact that there’s more to it than singer-songwriters and acoustic guitars. I’m not dissing them. Great singer-songwriters have come out of this country in the last few years but I don’t think it’s a fair reflection on what’s going on in the Irish music scene right now. With Faction I want to give a platform to new Irish bands so they can be heard and hopefully they’ll be able to use Faction as a launching pad to bigger things.”
Allen and I are not alone in The Library Bar of Dublin’s Central Hotel. Members of three of the ten acts who will appear on the first Faction release (Faction One), and a forthcoming nationwide tour, are with us. Michael Moloney and Eoin Aherne are representing Director. The three Marshal Stars, Michael John, Barry Dillon and James O’Brien are here also, while Lynchie (or Aidan Lynch to his mam) is the sole member of The Blizzards to make the early morning trip from Mullingar.
All three bands are making music to die for, and are amongst the most exciting acts to emerge from Ireland in recent memory. Of late they have all been enjoying individual success. Currently studying for their finals, Director recently signed to Atlantic Records UK and hope to release a debut single later this year. The Marshal Stars inked a multi album deal with Vertigo/Mercury records just before Christmas 2004 and have also signed with Blue Mountain Publishing, while The Blizzards have been enjoying significant chart success with their debut single, ‘First Girl To Leave Town’, which, in reaching number 11, was the only independently released single to chart last month. As yet, they remain unsigned.
For Director and The Marshal Stars, Faction will mark their first releases and hopefully bring them, along with The Blizzards, to an audience which might not otherwise hear them.
“I read the other day that there’s somewhere close to 3000 bands in the greater Dublin area,” notes Marshal Star Michael John. “I mean that’s quite phenomenal. It’s so many bands competing for the same venues or even fighting to be heard, fighting for an audience.”
Director’s Eoin Aherne agrees, “That’s why Faction is really important, and certainly why we got involved, because it’s providing an outlet to attract an audience. It can be difficult for bands to promote themselves and bring in punters to gigs if they can’t get their music out there. A lot of bands con themselves by stuffing a venue with their mates, which is useless. You’ve got to try and get in the discerning music fan and obviously if they’ve no way of getting access to your music or no outlet to hear about you, then it’s very difficult to get them in. What the Faction compilation is doing is providing that outlet. Someone might buy it because the new Republic Of Loose track is on it, and then also be turned on by The Blizzards, The Marshall Stars, ourselves or whoever.”
“With Faction, people will have a package they can refer to,” adds Director vocalist Michael Moloney. “They might go and check out a band they're otherwise oblivious to. It comes back to what Ken said about the timing being right. There’s a really nice selection of bands around at the moment, all doing something different and all of real quality. There’s no one scene as such. It also ties in nicely, timing wise, with the re-launch of Phantom FM, which unsigned Irish bands miss because it gave them a foot in the door. It often played demos and EPs by unsigned bands and hopefully will continue to do so. You know if you fund something yourself, you need to be getting it played. You need people to hear it and need to bring people to gigs.”
For new acts starting out, the financial aspect of promoting yourself can be crippling. Rent for venues and recording costs can mount up. It’s especially frustrating if it all seems to be having little impact. “For a start it can be hard for venues to take you on, to give you a gig,” says Michael John. “You’ve got to work on bringing in the crowd and rent and that can be crippling. It’s so hard to pull people in to watch you and promote yourself. We tried putting on free gigs, losing money in the hope of getting people in to hear us play but it just ends up being extremely costly.”
“It can be a kick in the teeth also when you’re just playing to the sound guy and the bar staff,” says James O’Brien, The Marshals' bassist. “Playing down the country to nobody can be soul destroying, but bands have to ask themselves those tough questions. How much do they want it? I believe if you work hard you’ll get noticed. The Faction releases and the tour will hopefully be a great encouragement for new bands starting off. They’ll have something to aim for and they’ll see that something is being done to promote unsigned bands in this country and to hopefully get them some airplay.”
“That’s a problem,” states Ken. "Irish radio programmers could do a lot more to help Irish bands and the scene. At times they use up the quota of Irish acts that they are meant to play the likes of U2, The Corrs and The Thrills, all the established acts. They could do more for the acts that really need the airplay and need a help to get a foothold within the industry and out to the general public.”
While bands across the country face an uphill battle in raising their profile, it's particularly difficult for those outside of the major cities to make an impact. Even getting gigs, which might bring them to the attention of record company A&R, can be a struggle.
“It is hard alright,” says Lynchie of midlands boys The Blizzards. “It’s alright playing gigs around your area because people will know you and come to the shows, but in coming up to Dublin, it can be hard to get your foot in the door. You have to have almost proven yourself. A lot of venues are slow to take on bands outside of Dublin because they don’t think that they are going to pull in the crowd and they don’t want to take the chance. It’s starting to change though. In the Spirit Store in Dundalk and The Forum in Waterford there’s some good showcase nights being promoted that new bands can get in on. But I can understand why it’s hard for bands that aren’t from the main cities. You’re constantly coming up to unknown territories and playing to try and get an audience.
“With the Faction tour in June, and the compilation, all the bands are after the same thing. We’re all fighting for a bigger audience and, although we could go out on our own, it’s good that we're all going out and doing it together. As I say it’s great to go round together as a force and show people the quality of guitar bands in this country right now.”
The 22-date Faction trek will feature Director, The Marshal Stars, The Blizzards and Republic Of Loose nationwide, as well as Angels Of Mons, The Immediate, Red Organ Serpent Sound and more during a weekly Thursday night residency in Dublin’s Voodoo lounge. Ken Allen can’t wait. Aside from the compilation release in early June, he’s hoping to sign a couple more acts for single or EP releases later in the year.
“I think the tour's going to be great. It’s going to be really well promoted and I think audiences are going to be taken aback by the huge quality of music being made by these bands and the bands will build a following. For the future, I just hope that Faction can break new Irish acts in the way that Fierce Panda has launched people like Coldplay, Ash, The Bluetones, Keane and many others.”
“The two key things about Faction,” says Eoin Aherne of Director, “are profile and quality. All the people on this Faction release are great. So music buyers and gig goers can be assured they’ll get quality from Faction. The acts on it, in turn, will benefit from a raise in their profile and hopefully have a few doors knocked open. I think the launch of Faction Records will be looked back on one day as a really important step forward within the Irish music industry. Here’s hoping anyhow.”

Faction One is due for release in early June. The tour begins on June 9 and runs until July 3. See www.factionrecords.ie for full details.