Guidewires take II at Glór

THE challenge of the notoriously difficult second album is one that many bands have faced. Some have soared to success, while others have buckled under the pressure of expectation.
So what do you do when your group consists of an eclectic mix of musicians whose busy schedules mean they spend little, if any, time in the studio together?
Well when that band is the all-star line-up of Guidewires, then they do what they do best; create an imaginative recording, combining Irish, Breton and world music in new and exciting ways.
With their high-energy performances, breathtaking arrangements and infectious melodies, it’s no wonder the band are being described as “the freshest sound in Irish music”.
This month sees the launch of their new album, II, taking the band’s music to another level. The album will be launched with a special free gig in Glór on April 20.
In a band with four members coming from Ireland and one from Brittany, it is inevitable their mix of music is not just Irish but also Breton, Middle Eastern, Galician and newly composed.
Guidewires have an enviable line up with Irish music’s most famous concertina player Pádraig Rynne, Breton music’s hottest name Sylvain Barou on flute, one of Ireland’s most recognisable names Tóla Custy on fiddle, top producer and performer Paul McSherry on guitar and one of the fastest growing stars in Irish music, Karol Lynch on bouzouki.
All members have had renowned fame individually within music, with their love and passion for music bringing them together.
The band’s debut album Live was released in 2009 and was described by The Irish Times as “A spectacular, multi-coloured debut”. Recorded at a gig in Glór, the album was one of the best-selling albums in 2009.
Speaking to The Clare Champion about the new album, Tóla Custy said, “Our fingers were just itching to get album number two done. Sometimes the second album can be dodgy, we had a lot of success with the first one and there is always a lot of expectancy with the second. The problem is that most people want to hear kind of what they heard on the first but that isn’t necessarily what you want to do.
“Our first album was a live performance, straight up on stage. There is a lovely luxury to that because you can’t be critical of every single moment. But with this one, we wanted a little more attention to detail, I suppose. The kind of thing you get by approaching a set of tunes or a melody and walking away from it for a while. It can be a really tough process and you can end up culling a lot, then maybe revisiting it and having another approach at it. What we would hope is that the album would sound fuller,” he said.
The new album was recorded in Karol’s studio. “We just felt like it was time to do something different and get in the studio. We’ve all recorded with different people so it wasn’t new for us individually but it was new for the band. It was great in the studio. Intense but very rewarding,” Karol said.
With band members based in France and Northern Ireland, getting together in the studio proved to be a challenge for the group. “The mad thing was there wasn’t even a moment we were all together in the studio. One of us lives in Belfast, one in Brittany. But what you get with that is that the one individual who is in the studio, it gets their juices flowing and they really can approach what they want to do,” said Tóla.
Karol added, “It takes the pressure off because you don’t have four other people listening to you, while you’re trying to be creative.”
Guests on the album include The Bothy Band’s Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill on vocals and keyboards, bass player from Brittany, Alain Genty (Gwerz), American drummer, Mike Shimmin (Millish) and Erwan Hamon (Skeduz) on Bombarde.
“We played a set of Breton tunes and we thought it would be nice to have the Bombarde, it’s is a little bit like a loud oboe and would be very typical of the Breton style. We have a lot of our own material on the album but I have to say the driving force behind finding those other kind of melodies were Pádraig Rynne and Sylvain Barou. I suppose that’s what you can expect from a Guidewires album, a kind of quirky approach to non-Irish and Irish melodies,” said Tóla.
The band are looking forward to the album launch in Glór, part of an Irish tour, with Karol saying, “It will be anything but formal”.
Tóla added, “I just love the idea that you can give a free gig these days and I must admit there is nothing better than a night out here. I would like to think that Glór will be pretty relaxed on the night, that it won’t be an auditorium situation and will be more like a cabaret.”
With the album complete, the summer festival circuit beckons with Guidewires set to perform all over Europe. With their diverse style, it’s easy to see why they have been embraced by music fans.
According to Tóla, “The European concert goer is used to an almost world music circuit, they’ve been doing it for the last 100 years. There are plenty of free festivals around Europe and the people are just used to turning up with a vague idea that a band is on. Sometimes they are the easiest people to play for because they are not coming with any preconceptions. Often the hardest people to win over, if you’re an Irish band, are the people who come looking for the Dubliners, or Riverdance. They have this vague understanding that that is Irish music and it is but there is a lot more to it than that.”
Guidewires’ new album, II, will be launched in Glór on April 20.