Session Man

While talking on air to Jon Richards on Galway Bay FM about the Top 250 albums as voted on by musicians for the Hot Press Annual, I mentioned that an impressive number of the more contemporary entries in that poll had received early encouragement from the Galway man. This was no casual bout of flattery. Indeed, many Irish artists I’ve spoken to have themselves praised Jon Richards and the station for the support and exposure he gave them at crucial times in their formative days.

It’s a key reason why Richards has been nominated for a Meteor Award. “It is great to be nominated by your peers,” Richards says. “Getting that kind of recognition reinforces an awareness of how important the sessions are, and how important it is that Irish radio supports Irish music effectively – while also fulfilling its own commercial remit.”
The roll-call of artists who passed through the hands of the Meteor Awards nominee en route to the top reads like a veritable Irish music Hall of Fame, including Mundy, David Kitt, Gemma Hayes, The Frames, Hothouse Flowers, Juliet Turner, Adrian Crowley and Jack L. “As it happens,” John says, “the session with Jack L was particularly memorable and it forged a relationship with Jack that led me to recently invite him to co-present my programme. It was a chance to see another side of the man. Jack himself reckoned that his session was one of the best he ever did and he has gone so far as to suggest that those sessions in general captured an exciting era of Irish music that we may never see again.”
At number 10 in our top 250 chart is Damien Rice’s debut album O. As Richards recalls, “I had him in for a session before the whole thing exploded. He came with Lisa Hannigan and Vyvienne Long. It before O was released and the songs we recorded included ‘The Blower’s Daughter’, ‘Volcano’ and ‘Woman Like A Man’ which have since been offered for sale on e-Bay and other sites. Somebody in Holland bought the version of ‘Volcano’ for €1,200!”
As had been agreed with the artists, Jon released limited editions of 1,200 CDs comprising tracks from his In-Studio Sessions for charity. But they now form an essential part of Irish rock history. Completely outside Richards’ control, they have become expensive collector’s items. “From the various sessions I recorded I released four double-albums and two single albums on the limited edition basis. There were four cover mounts given away free with Hot Press and there was a Stunning/Walls CD too. Apart from that, tracks have appeared on over 30 singles and albums released by the bands themselves, so a lot of them are out there,” he says.
The sessions were extra-curricular work for Richards. Why go to the trouble? “At the risk of sounding clichéd”, he told me, “I just love music. I was dealing with a lot of musicians whose records I played, but I didn’t really know them as people, and I felt I’d like to get closer to them. Setting up the sessions was a way to introduce an intimate element into my broadcasting that nobody else in regional radio was doing. It gave me and the station an edge. The interaction also gave artists a better understanding as to how radio in Ireland worked.”
Many in the music industry, lamented the passing of those sessions when Richards’ work schedule at Galway Bay FM changed, so I wonder might the genial Galway man consider reintroducing them at a time when Irish artists are struggling through the recession? “I have over 3,000 session tracks that nobody has heard yet because I never got around to broadcasting them,” he says.
“My daily work load means that I don’t have too much time to dedicate to the sessions, but I’m determined not to let them die. There’s a guy putting a website together that I hope will feature recordings from the sessions as part of an archive, and that interest is inspiring me to consider relaunching them.”
Fingers crossed, then...