Interview | Introducing 045 Recordings

Is there something in the water in Newbridge? The area has recently become somewhat of a hub for electronic artists, with the likes of Cinema, Conor C, and Adultrock among the bustling electronic community. 045 One is the first compilation release from label 045 Recordings, and launches this Saturday.

There’s a sense, with a release like this, that community and support is essential when getting a leg up on the Irish scene. There’s music left unreleased everywhere you turn, and ‘the frustration of having unreleased music that had no home combined with knowledge that the crop of artists in a similar position’ was enough to inspire Peadar Kearney, aka Phare, to take things into his own hands, along with Gavin Elsted (Adultrock), Peter Fleming, aka Cinema, Mix & Fairbanks and Conor C. Through meeting up in pubs and talking endlessly about music together, the lads decided this energy was put to better use. HeadStuff had a small chat with some of the founders and label artists ahead of their first EP launch.

Headstuff: What was the inspiration to take the release of this music into your own hands and move forward with 045 Recordings?

Gavin Elsted: The same way most labels start really – just wanting to showcase the talent that our group of friends had. I was aware of the capabilities of everyone we initially approached, and they all had the same stories of sending out their music to international labels to no response. Instead of ploughing on separately we decided to pool our resources and give the music the push it deserved. Plus we’re all good friends so the appeal of releasing and touring together was an exciting prospect.

Conor C:  For a while now, we’ve all been working on music individually and doing our own thing, obviously we’ve always supported each other, but I think we all just felt the need to come together and work on things collectively going forward. If we saw each other in the street or went for a pint we would always chat about music and what’s going on with us, but that was the extent of it. Working together is great we can help each other, give each other feedback, share ideas and most importantly rob each others equipment. For me personally, I think there’s so much talent within the acts on the label and for me to just be involved and associated with such good producers/musicians/DJ’s it’s amazing and really inspiring.

HS:  The small town music scene is not unique to Newbridge in Kildare but there seems to be plethora of talent coming from the town. Do you feel it’s a case of “something in the water” or is there something else that makes Newbridge a hub for music, especially electronic artists?

PK: SEBP (Super Extra Bonus Party) and Mmoths’ success was a huge kick in the arse / inspiration

GE: Boredom. That’s the main reasoning for it. Newbridge has a long history of producing excellent music and by and large it was made by people who didn’t fit the small town, GAA-focussed demographic. If you don’t play sports, with a few notable exceptions in the fields of drama and other performing arts, there is NOTHING for you to do, so people are forced to put on their own nights and create their own communities. I think it’s a testament to the talent and bloody-mindedness of the musicians in Newbridge that it’s seen as producing such quality music with little to no help from any authority figures.

CC:  This is a strange one, I seem to get asked this a lot. I think we all started playing instruments and played in bands growing up, and then gradually started to get into bits of electronic/club music. Just thinking back, when we were playing in bands and stuff ten or twelve years ago we were all attending gigs together and we all became friends through music. Super Extra Bonus Party put on gigs in Newbridge and we would all go to see them. Jack Colleran (Mmoths), Niall D’arcy (DJ Deece), Peadar (Phare), Rob & Gary (Mix & Fairbanks), Kieran Craddock (Effy/Ron Blanco) and myself would all be in attendance together. Watching the lads play, and watching the energy and passion that those guys put into their music, is really something that I think stuck with a lot of us and made us want to pursue music. There’s a strong community vibe in Newbridge, everyone knows everyone and everyone is friendly with each other.

HS: What are the big plans for 045 Recordings and you personally as an artist over the coming months?

PK: A string of top notch EPs and fun parties.

GE: The big plans only extend to releasing the compilation and ensuring it spreads as wide as humanly possible. That’s our main concern. As an opening shot I think it’s particularly strong, so I’m excited to see how people will react once it’s out in the world. Every single artist on the label is working on a release for the label so we’ve no shortage of quality music forthcoming so I am looking forward to the scheduling headaches!

As for me, I’m slowly piecing together a new Adultrock release for the label, but we are hoping to add a very familiar Newbridge name to the roster in the next few months and their release is taking up a lot of my time. I think people are going to love it.

CC: The plans for 045 Recordings going forward are just to keep working together collectively and continuing to grow. You can expect EPs from all of us for the label in the near future, as well as some more gigs. For myself, I’ll be playing at both of the 045 launches and I’ll also be playing at BARE in the Woods in June. Apart from that, I have three new tracks coming out on a label called Gents & Dandy’s Recordings over the next few weeks. Then there’s some other cool stuff going on that I can’t speak about just yet…I hate when people say that.

Catch the launch of 045 this Saturday April 22nd at Lumo Club