I really don't know where to start with this one. Could start with Christmas, being the New Year an all I 'm taking a step back but let us tell ye about the Christmas single. What a slap in the face, or how could I put it, Surprise! Our little Christmas tune we recorded 3 years ago. It was our manager Ger's suggestion to release it as a single for the yuletide hungry DJ's to savoury up their much otherwise poorly groundhog day Christmas play lists. And unsure as we were, they did. We got played on radio stations all over the place. Well it must have been a love it or hate it thing for radio play list personnel because a couple of stations I think must have burnt it as soon as they were handed a copy. I shall not dare to mention who. But our PR agent didn't come across many stations that didn't warm to it immediately.
Big thanks to Dublin's morning show 'The Strawberry alarm Clock' for not only putting our acoustic version on a No.1 charity compilation, but playing it every morning and then much to our delight their FM104 upper ranks allowing it to receive A-list airtime for 24 hours for 3 weeks leading up to Christmas day. So.. there we were.. Gobsmacked.
Anyway, Along with the air-time success of the single there was a stream of television appearances to lift us into the visual public profile domain (pretty much for the first time). "That's yer man who sings the White Christmas song" I once heard some-one say, waiting in Dunnes to pay for my arms full of shopping. TV AM, TG4, RTE 2, RTE ONE. All the stations had us on the telly, scaring the old folks and children at home with our mental Irving Berlin impression. It was mad. Most memorable was meeting John Kelly playing on The View (my fave DJ/ come TV host in the world). We also met and went on a dizzy night out (in all sense of the word) with The Cheeky Girls after an appearance on RTE 2's The Cafe.
The most moving but quite shamefully embarrassing of all our TV rendezvous was sitting in a ward in Temple Street Children's hospital surrounded by unfortunately ill children with their families by their bedsides playing an acoustic version of White Christmas, which after 4 takes of getting it wrong half way through our fifth attempt Dara suddenly roars "Fuck!", which quite in-appropriate as it could possibly be, must be the funniest TG4 out-take ever. Everyone laughed but the kids who didn't quite know why it was that their innocent ears seemingly made the ironic comedy of Dara's little hick-up so roaringly funny, were all poker faced. The crew and all in twisted tears of laughter. And the darkest most evil comedy sketch award goes to.. Dara Diffily! (I didn't laugh by the way, out of pure Shock) neither did the timid Luke Kelly re-incarnation, George Murphy, waiting for his turn on the Gaelic box (perhaps he was too busy thinking if his new highlights were a little O.T.T. (Which I personally think they were, no offence George, but as well as you pay glorious vocal homage to the likes of the Legendary Luke, I preferred his hair-do to the SONY Ireland crop).
Right so a new year. Finally our favourite song has been chosen for the last single to come from starlight Drive. With the title track and Take Me Home as its B-sides, for national radio and retail release. That makes 5 singles since April last year.
Two of which did well for us, and now as a result I'm sifting through a mental scrapheap of artworks ideas for the Cover.
We have a new brilliant Guitarist with us for our live shows, who is Jimmy Hendrix re-incarnate but forced to chill out for the Juno gigs, but just give him a wink on stage and we allow him let it rip. He's great! Only 21 and if I was a woman. let's go no further.
Much to our surprise our Dublin show sold out, along with our Cork and Galway gigs that following weekend. (feel my head growing larger). But seriously, I was so stunned at the turn out at all our winter shows that my nerves ate at me like one of those poor be-wildered hyper-ventilating kids auditioning for Pop Idol. It even came to parts of songs where I'd open my eyes, look at all those faces in front of us and then flush all the songs lyrics from my brain down the toilet from sheer bewilderment (either that or faint), god I got so many lyrics wrong!!
So, along with the new year, asides from the excellent opportunity to co-write some music with singer-songwriter Juliet Turner, we fly away to Spain for 3 days with friends Ger Fish and the Mud-Bug Club to play an outdoor gig for Spanish television! Yoo hoo. Then straight back home to join forces with (once more) George Murphy and his hair do, along with Sligo's tabloid treasure 'Tabby' (now there's a hair do, one up on George I think) for an FM104 outdoor concert on the quays somewhere.
The Band have over 30 new tracks to sift through, as well as the constant stream of tracks that by the time this diary entry even goes on-line may be in the 40's. So that's a lot. Only now are we actually negotiating with Sony UK about finances regarding the second album. Once that ridiculous game of money tennis if finished between lawyers, then it looks like we'll have a budget to look for a good producer to knit us a cosy second album. We've been in touch with producers here at home and in the states. I honestly hope we find some-one who's going to bring out the best in us. Would hate to think our music as it stands will change too much. We just need arrangements sorted, tracks chosen and some extra ambiance to give the songs a generic soul that they'll all share in common. At one stage I must have written and recorded 15 tracks on my own just in my spare time, which had me wondering would it be healthy to release a solo effort. But Juno Falls is where it's at. I'm confident that when we reach summer it's better to funnel all our efforts into the band and what we've achieved to date.
