What the butler says

Paul Butler isn’t the easiest man to get hold of to arrange an interview. Normally this would provoke nothing but frustration yet in this case we’re prepared to cut him a good deal of slack – he has, after all, just spent three weeks in hospital after experiencing a collapsed lung while performing with his band Widescreen. When we do finally reach him, he is in remarkably chipper form and happy to talk at length about the various goings on in the camp, including a recent change of name.

“The reason we changed from Three Piece Suite”, he explains, “was that everybody hated the name. We also caught wind of a band in England with the same name who had released a dance record, so rather than change everything later on we developed into Widescreen from there. It’s the same band really, the name change came out of necessity. The music didn’t change at all”.
That music is also something he is very clear about. “There’s a certain retro feel to it. We always knew the direction we wanted to go in, a touch of Waterboys meets Van Morrison meets street jazz. We’re looking for that kind of Memphis type sound in our production. It’s just got really interesting textures. People listen to it and say that it’s a little odd, a little different. There’s a rock ‘n’ roll element to it, you could almost say there was a Doors feel to it. There’s a nice little stew going on”.
For Paul, this is far from the first time round. He was part of the Waterford four piece Neuro, who were tipped for great things nearly 20 years ago.
His experiences then have helped him gain a fair degree of perspective.
“It was very difficult then,” he recalls. “We were that close. Phil Lynott was starting to produce our tracks and we really thought he was the guy for us. We went on tour with Thin Lizzy for ten days and slept in tents next to their hotel. We were getting to that level but it never materialised”.
I venture that’s what so healthy now is that, while bands don’t think that domestic success is the be all and end all, they’ve also realised that it’s a great place to start.
“Absolutely, that’s a very true statement. Everybody has to get off their own arse and push themselves that little bit. If the product is any good at all it’s a time when people will give it a spin. That initial spin is so important. Local radio is becoming more important, there’s just more radio stations. For example, if you were getting airplay on Beat FM here in Waterford, Radio Kilkenny and South East Radio, you’ve got an exposure to an audience in the region of 150,000 people. If you’re playing it that vicinity, your gigs are getting supported and you have to come to the attention of the national scene after that”.
That local angle is very important to Butler, who has worked with drummer Alex Jones on setting up a creative infrastructure in his home town.
“We’ve set up a whole recording studio down here, plus a rehearsal studio. There has been no facility like that in Waterford, music is just abundant here but there was never a rehearsal studio. Now we’ve got four rooms plus a twenty four track studio. Everybody’s liasing, building up a little community. There’s a couple of young bands, garagey type things that are deadly and they’re giving them the opportunity to make noise. The logical step for us was to help them get started and then start our own record company with pressing facilities. It’s a lot of good will that’s been pushing this thing.”

Widescreen’s debut album is due for release in May