Change of scene gives Stephen fresh energy

Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell

With a lived-in, soulful voice, singer/songwriter Stephen James and his band play Róisín Dubh on Saturday, April 4.  The Sligo-born singer spent 12 years on the Galway music scene, and was a regular sight busking in the city, before moving to Dublin a couple of years ago. The change has been good for his career, he says.

“Moving to Dublin, for me, was a really good thing to do. There’s just way more happening up here. The singer/songwriter circuit is very strong, there’s a really healthy competition.

“There are acoustic nights like The Ruby Sessions, Whelan’s Song Cycle, The Apollo Sessions in The Bleeding Horse – that’s just to name a few, he adds.  “When I moved up here, my primary focus was to play at all those things regularly, and to record a CD with a producer I wanted to work with.”

He’s done both of those things and his choice of producer was impressive. Gavin Glass, the man behind Stephen’s latest EP, and working with him on a full album is a member of Lisa Hannigan’s band and is fast gaining renown for his studio skills.

“Working with Gavin was an amazing experience,” says the singer and self-taught guitarist and bodhrán player. “Really challenging. Gavin doesn’t mess about in the studio because he’s a brilliant musician himself, a brilliant songwriter. He’s constantly challenging you to be better.

“Gavin has amazing ideas. I felt from the very get-go that I could trust him, that he wasn’t going to deviate too far from the idea I had in my mind.”

Stephen describes Glass’s studio as ‘an Aladdin’s cave of instruments’ where he was really comfortable. Adding to the EP’s calibre is drummer Binzer Brennan, who was an original member of The Frames. Binzer and Gavin have great reputations in the Irish music industry – was Stephen nervous at all in such company?

“Absolutely!” he laughs. “I won’t lie. When I went in there it was quite daunting. I’d been into a studio before, but this felt different. You had to be on the money. I played the songs to the lads, and I wouldn’t say they rearranged them, but they definitely enhanced them.”

One of the standout tracks is Toothless Clown, which starts off with some ear-catching handclaps and vocals.

“Toothless Clown started off as a way more finger-picking, folky song,” Stephen says. “But then the groove changed when I started playing with Binzer. Originally, the way it started off sounded too similar to something else that we’d been listening to, so I decided to scrap that.

“I listen to a lot of Leadbelly, old blues and folk stuff,” he adds. “I love that clapping and singing thing together, a capella. So we decided to give that a go – but it took me a while to get it right, I have to say! I was happy with it in the end.”

Stephen’s good feeling about the EP has been matched by an enthusiastic response from the public.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.