The Inflatable Sideshow | en

I was born out of the ashes of two great Galway bands; II Toke Pass – Reggae/Ska/Buckfast covers band and Big Bag of Sticks – Reggae/Ska/Trad/Punk band. My first rehearsal was in the Oslo Hotel in Salthill Galway. Peat, Dave, Dara and Keith we're already there for two days and had set-up Rory's drum kit that Dave sat in on. You should've seen the look on his face when he saw his beloved kit just fired together; not at all in the exacting way he did it. It was a look of terror, anger and containment!!! From there I moved up to Bransky's and rehearsed for a solid year before doing any gigs at all. The intro to "Think Who You Confess To" came about in Bransky's. At a rehearsal one day a carpenter friend of mine was varnishing a pair of scoop sub bass bins he'd built for another friend of mine who ran drum'n'bass (known as Jungle back then!!) "parties" 'round Galway. The intense fumes of the industrial grade varnish in a non ventilated Bransky's and the bifter I'd just had and of course my immense collective talent produced the intro to one of my favorite tracks.... in fact; Dave came up with the idea! I toured Eire for 5 ages (1997-2002) in the back of various vehicles; but the most memorabe of these was Tze’s (also known as the great Pat Toman from up there in Down) Mercedes time machine; it seemed to slow time to about 1/3 of it’s normal speed so I experienced every minute of every diesel inhaling trip in crystal clear detail. I pumped out my “eclectic blend” of mellow crazy jazzy, reggae/ska-influenced, soul-style, plagaristic, jungle, space rock, psychedelia with great joy, reverence and new-ageness. In 1999 I recorded “Delux!” my most musical composition, which a whole lot of different people had a whole lot of different conclusions about. Much like the people in the band, my music was widely varied with no real focus. Sure I was focused on playing music and enjoyed gigging but it’s not like any one of the band was a producer! If I'd had a producer……… I’d never have made the kind of music I made, played the gigs I played or put the kind of fillers on the album that I put on the album! It was recorded at "The Eagles Nest" out in Letterfrack over three weeks - a most beautiful part of the world in the summer with a view of the sea through a gap where the Limestone hillsides collide. I recorded on to half inch 8 track reel-to-reel using an old Tascam recorder - no idea which model. We used Rory's AKG mic's for the kit, an "Egg" shaped mic on the kick and clip on's on the toms, an SM 57 on the snare and a pair of Richards c1000's on overheads. The bass amp was mic'd in it's own room as well as a direct input from the Gtr. Keith and Dave's Gtr's we're mic'd seperately but together in another room. Peat was singing guide in the hallway where Richard and the gear were situated for tracking. My recording engineer was Richard Hannigan of the fantasmic duo "Some Like It Hot" with his wife Ethna; I sincerely hope they and their beautiful kids are well and happy in the world. Ethna played the fiddle on " Jazz on Fire" and I think that that was why it got called "Jazz on Fire"..... It was 10am one morning and I asked her to play on this track, she listened once and we rolled the second time. What came out on the tape stunned us all; I had a hard enough time being out there playing my own music, that I knew inside out at 10am everyday - she had just woken up and laid down inspiration! All but Peat and Dave travelled out everyday - a 100 mile 'round trip! Rory needed to be back into Galway everyday for work in The Roisin Dubh where he was house engineer (Galways best live music venue at the time; and still is as far as I know). Because of this, the track "If You're Alone" was a one take deal.... a take was done and the guys were half way through taking the drumkit apart on the last day of recording when Peat came over the cans asking.... Rory.... Rory.... is anyone out there?" which is now at the very end of the album as a hidden track. My insane brass section provided hours of funstrating recording! We all suffered from a bit of goldfish memory due to lots of gigging, working, partying and foreign substances but these two were the tops!! Mad Dog is not the tallest man in the world - he was only a foot taller than the Baritone sax he played! I was always amazed at his ability to actually get a sound out of the Baritone don't mind play a full gig. Sometimes we had a hard time communicating with Mad Dog but once you got onto his wavelength he was great. Tony Toering was a fiesty one who was learning the Alto Sax as he went along. Mad Dog taught him a lot about the sax, how to play it and the notation etc. He was great on the front line too as he never stood still and himself and Peat we're always up to something. He popped in some extra perc. too. At a gig in a tiny but great pub in Westport he threw the sax against the wall.... and soon he followed Mad Dog. Lucy came out one day and laid down the flute for "Niahbinghi Jazz" and it was relatively trouble free, a few takes and she was done. After we'd recorded it all I convinced Richard it was a better idea for him to come in to Galway everyday rather than all of us going out to him for the mixing process. We set up in the kitchen of Peat's house in Knocknacarra and set about arguing our way through the mix! I started as all bands do attending the mixing session everyday; by day three we were down to two and Richard! When it was pretty much there everyone came to see if their part was loud enough! Once we were all happy..ish it was transferred to DAT and was ready to go to Enniskillen to MAD mastering. Richard, Rory, Dara and Keith went to MAD for the mastering process. The band three had no clue what was going on in front of their ears and so went to get lunch and let Richard and Robyn Robins get on with it. As I remember and have the time I will add to this fantasmic eclectic journey… If you have a story to tell about me or my musicians; good or bad - or additions to something already here please feel free to write .