The Making of - Start Together

Regular readers will know that with 'The Making Of', we go under the bonnet of a band we've played on the show, revealing their (usually quite curious) selection of influential tracks and musicians. But how does one consider 'The Making Of' a recording studio? Well, it's pretty easy, when the man in charge is one Rocky O'Reilly, a real prince of the music scene here, over the years. He introduced himself to the world as one half of Oppenheimer before setting up 'Start Together', a studio that would go on to record great tracks for And So I Watch You From Afar, General Fiasco, Mojo Fury... too many to list, basically.

A great legacy for sure, yet here we are celebrating a new phase for Start Together - they've just announced details of a 'singles club' that will see novel releases from bands they've worked with every month. Starting with Not Squares, who'll release an egg shaker (seriously) containing the awesome 'Simpler Vibe', which was debuted on Across the Line this week.

So over the mastermind behind this whole exciting project (and many more), Sir Rocky O'Reilly!

**********

The first record I bought was Piece Of Mind by Iron Maiden, in Caroline Music in Newry. I was five or six years old and had saved my pennies in a jar. I couldn't decide between Piece Of Mind & Somewhere In Time, but the cover swung it for me. My parents were very cool to let me pick that up.

The last albums I bought were Bronx IV by The Bronx & Comfort/Distraction by Broadway Calls.

I was already in a band before I'd ever been to a concert, but I remember hearing the drums sound-checking at a gig in Botanic Gardens, vibrating through my body and thinking "I want to know how to make that sound"

I grew up learning Nirvana songs on my brothers guitar, but I think it was Tim Wheeler, when Ash first released Garage Girl, then Jack Names The Planets and all that made me think it was possible to be involved with music. They'll always be a very special band to me.

I don't think Ben (my colleague at Start Together) & I have been to a gig together since General Fiasco in December. That was an album we both worked on. I remember seeing Ben, slightly "refreshed" giving it loads during a few songs. The only downside of working in a recording studio, is that you don't get to as many gigs as you'd like to.

We listen to such a broad range of music between us that I'm not sure we have a guilty pleasure. "The Holiday Rap" by MC Miker & DJ Sven is a song that I'll blast out at least once a month. It reminds me of my days with Belfast rappers Olympic Lifts. But I don't feel guilty, I think it's truly great. I don't embarrass easily over music. If I like it, I don't feel guilty.

Although recently we were driving and listening to "That's What You Get" by Paramore, which we both think is a great song, with perfect production. It wasn't long before I called attention to the fact that we're around 30 years old, blasting teen pop-punk from the stereo. Not so much guilty as it was embarrassing. We quickly adjusted the stereo to Across The Line...

We have a lot of bands & albums that we're both big fans of and we'll generally play new music to each other on a daily basis, I think Cursive are a band that brought us together, especially their song Big Bang, I reckon we'd record a devastating cover of that. Of course I mean devastatingly bad.

If we could have anyone join Start Together Singles Club, I reckon we'd probably choose someone from Saddle Creek Records, as we've been greatly motivated by their attitude, approach & music taste for over ten years . They could also maybe help us organise ourselves a little better!