West Live

It was the night England were knocked out by a whisker of Euro 2000 and the night The Mary Stokes Band left its musical fingerprints on the walls of Jon Richard s recording studio/office at Galway Bay FM. A night to remember.

Galwegian Jon Richards, who s 36 years old but looks to be in his early 20s at most, is a workaholic, who loves music with a passion. After a long apprenticeship on radio in the west, Jon assumed the position of controller of music at Galway Bay FM where he has made his live sessions an essential engagement for both rising and established acts. Hence, the buzz in studio as, tonight, The Mary Stokes Band get ready for the red carpet.
As soon as the band kicks in, and Mary unleases that fantastic voice of hers, Jon starts to smile. It s going to be a one-take-a-track evening. Mary and co go through five songs and give this old Chicago boy (that s me) a bolt of the blues that sets his teeth tingling and his body rocking back and forth.
When five tracks have been recorded with no second takes, Jon smiles, Mary smiles, and everybody in the band smiles. So do I. Because we all know this has been one of those sessions where everything just goes perfectly.
So far Jon Richards has produced three CDs on the Origin label To Boldly Go, See The Light, and now New Horizons, a double CD featuring, among others, The Devlins, Picturehouse, Mark McConville, Ruth Dillon, Debra Wallace, Kristen Hersh, Junior Thompson, Dean Friedman and Siniad Lohan.
The Origin concept came from the in-studio sessions which Richards has being doing for the past number of years in order to promote local talent. He says that these alone have been invaluable in letting bands know what to expect when it comes to recording. And best of all, the airtime and advice are free.
There have been instances where I d have a brilliant band in, and on their first take they d have a three minute guitar solo, he says. That just doesn t work. You have to take them aside and tell them that while people should find the music great, no-one driving along in their car wants to listen to a solo for anything longer than suits the song. It may bruise the guitarist s ego, but at the end of the day that s what has to be done.
In his sleeve notes to New Horizons, his finest release to date, Jon Richards observes: This album of live sessions represents a chapter in my life and the songs are paragraphs from that chapter. Every one of the songs on New Horizons has a story to tell. They re unique and unlike anything you might have heard before, even if you re familiar with some of the artists already .
A pretty large claim to make. But the Galway Bay FM DJ knows whereof he speaks.
New Horizons captures the sound of music being created right there in front of your ears. A studio, in the primary sense, is a place where art is made. Add Jon Richards wizardry and you ve really got something.
Music is the great communicator, says Richards. It always has been, and always will be, and I feel privileged to have been associated with this particular group of artists.
Jon Richards is a man on a crusade. He wants the rest of the country to know that Dublin doesn t have the monoploy on music nor on its production.
There is so much talent in the West of Ireland and I get angry when I think that bands and vocalists down here will probably just be ignored if they try to make it in Dublin. I believe the West is just full of brilliant musicians and vocalists and if I can do something towards breaking the hegemony then I ll be a happy man.