If there's a running theme through the work and life of Emmet Condon, it's a sense of community. It's present in the name he gave his independent music promotions company Homebeat and it's been a constant catalyst for his creative endeavours since he was a boy putting on music shows in his “mighty town” of Newcastle West in Limerick.
Homebeat got its start in 2010 when he put on a gig in his house with his friend Fergus and developed the concept to take it to other homes, hence the name.
Since those “humble and ramshackle beginnings,” Homebeat has developed into a bright light with unwavering enthusiasm for putting on shows featuring independent Irish musicians leaning on the genres of folk, indie and electronic music but placing them in a non-traditional gig space - a warehouse, an amphitheatre, a manor, a converted fire station or a rooftop club bar.
Some of the bands who have been regular features at Homebeat events include Bantum, Carriages, Lyttet, Biggles Flys Again and I Have a Tribe, artists who are born of the independent cloth, who are early in their journey but who are growing their audience with every show or release. Condon clearly espouses a 'just do it' philosophy.
“I just started doing and have gone from there,” explains Condon “I decided to go full time pretty much by accident, literally, after a high speed run in with a tree while snowboarding left me in hospital in France for five weeks and I more or less decided to come home and give my dreams a shot. No sooner did I land back in Dublin but I ended up in Mabos and things kind of took a leap forward from there.”
Perhaps no other space in Dublin represented an alternative for arts and culture in the city in the last few years than Mabos, a multi-disciplinary creative space in a disused warehouse that was run by Dave Smith which encouraged community, creativity and collaboration. It hosted gigs (including Homebeat shows), yoga, exhibitions, installations and parties until it was forced out to make room for more business-oriented office space.
“Mabos certainly had a profound effect on me in that for the first time, I felt truly part of a community in Dublin, and also I saw, for the first time, the ability of our city to be the match and better of any city in the world.”
“The value of creative people working in close proximity cannot be overstated, it literally creates opportunity,” expands Condon. “The loss of Mabos, The Joinery and so many other vital spaces in the face of rising rents and increased commercial interests are real and serious body blows to the creative community here.”
Independent spaces in Dublin that placed an emphasis on art and expression over alcohol and commerce have reduced drastically in the last couple of years. As the economy has started to pick up, those abandoned spaces are being earmarked for development and the organisations that encouraged the likes of Homebeat to grow, have themselves been thrown out. Most recently, MART, a converted fire station in Rathmines which has hosted Homebeat events, has been earmarked for demolition in order to make a laneway to a Dublin Corporation yard. That sends a clear message about the priorities of those in charge of the city.
“The city is quick to flaunt this creative output as a selling point, but very slow to actually protect the people and spaces that produce it in a meaningful way,” says Condon. “MART's recent situation is almost too incredible to be believed and says a lot about the absolute disrespect there is for people who work in creative practices and how little value is attached to their work at a political level.”
With Mabos no longer a viable hub, Homebeat has been moving further afield with shows in Kilkenny, a small festival in Caherdaniel, County Kerry called Fading Light going into its fourth year along with the second edition of the upcoming Another Love Story festival (www.anotherlovestory.ie), a collaboration with Happenings that takes place in Killyon Manor in Meath from August 21 to 23.
“Another Love Story was specifically born in response to us and our friends feeling increasingly uninspired by some of the very large festivals which can feel impersonal and often over-populated with both people and bands,” explains Condon.
“The aim is to create space within the event so that people aren’t continuously running from A to B to see stuff, it’s about creating a weekend where people have time to party and to celebrate Irish music and culture, yes, but also time to take stock and just relax. It’s so important to allow people to just go and chill and socialise as a vital part of any event.”
Condon says the crowd who come to Another Love Story and Homebeat help make their events memorable.
“Homebeat has grown from a very small, very warm and intimate vibe. I really feel the crowd and the bands that Homebeat is associated with are part of a small family, and I hope they feel part of that in return.
“Chequerboard played a Sunday lunch time show in the Ballroom at Another Love Story last year and most of the people attending literally burst into tears of joy and sadness all at once, it was such a profound, collective moment that I don’t possibly think could have happened at a bigger event.”
From knocking together shows in houses to producing two small festivals, regular live music and DJ nights, along with collaborating with existing spaces like The RHA and the Science Gallery, Homebeat is now an established fixture on the independent Irish music scene with plans afoot for more still, with a Homebeat HQ, a small coffee and record shop in Portobello in Dublin.
“I hope the whole thing manages to continue to be a sustainable vehicle for my dreams and to let me grow in a career sense, but most of all I just hope that Homebeat manages to keep the family of people I’ve been so lucky to get to know through it together in some fashion going forward, it’s been a great adventure with them all so far.”
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