Walkin' the indie talk

“We started off with a strategy myself and my manager Patricia Kennedy worked out. We had to source finance to cover the cost of recording the album for our own label, Radical Faeries, setting up a website, touring, doing posters, the usual promo stuff and so on.

“We noticed how artists like Jack L, Juliet Turner and Damien Rice had built careers basically by gigging their asses off. We used gigs to build up a mailing list to send out a monthly newsletter giving details of gigs and stuff. We built the mailing list by collecting e-mail addresses at gigs. That’s more important than having a website, which only works if you promote it.
"The website gets you to a global market. We used mine (shazoye.com) to offer a free download of a different version of ‘Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep’ from my album Truth According To Shaz Oye. The album version was playlisted on RTÉ Radio 1. I’ve also put snippets of tracks from the album on my MySpace site.
"When you’re starting you have to target the right venues, places where the promoters are interested in music like Dolan’s Warehouse, Limerick; The Spirit Store, Dundalk; De Barra’s, Clonakilty; The Sugar Club, Dublin; the Ruby Sessions; the King Kong Club; the Wexford Song Club; the Slatehouse in Galway; and the Candlelight Sessions in Phil Grimes’ in Waterford. Trying to get a spot on the smaller boutique festivals can also work, like The Spirit of Voice in Galway and The Capital of Song in Wexford.
Radio was also most important, and there’s a great network around the country of radio people who really go the extra yard, like Jon Richards in Galway Bay FM, Alan McGuire with South East Radio and Mike Knightson in Limerick Live 95. Theo Dorgan got me my first interview on national radio when he had me on Rattlebag on RTÉ Radio 1, and John Creedon is the unsung hero of RTÉ radio.
When the album came out it got very good reviews and that helps people to take you seriously. Television is harder to crack. I did The View but no luck yet with The Late Late Show and Other Voices.
The print media often take a while to take you seriously. I got a demo review in hotpress early on, but initially the listings sections in other publications were slow to pick up on my gigs, although they did eventually. They can’t include everything, so it’s a matter of time before they see you’re serious.
It’s also important to get your records into retail outlets. At first that can be hard without a major label or distributor, but shops like Road Records in Dublin, Red Light in Galway and HMV in Galway can be hugely helpful.
When I started out I was concerned that I might face some anti-gay attitudes in the media and the music industry, but that hasn’t happened. In fact people have been overwhelmingly nice and positive. When I first arrived at Dolan’s Warehouse I was kindly offered a cup of tea, so that part of it has been terrific.
My next mission is to release a “bootleg” album I recorded live in Siamsa Tire in Tralee when I supported Jack L recently. I’ll give it away free with purchases of my album on my website. Then I want to make ‘Dance With Me’ and ‘Blood On The Bone’ available as ringtones.
I can’t assume that something big will come along and push me up another few rungs on the ladder. I have to keep working away at it and I’ve learned that you have to be methodical and thorough. You need tenacity to cut through an overcrowded scene. You have to be enthusiastic about your music, single-minded and even bloody-minded too!”