Paddy Casey's debut in 1999 made him the singer-songwriter to namecheck. He tells Brian Boyd why it took so long to record the follow-up
A lot of people were complaining that it had taken four years for Dublin-born singer-songwriter Paddy Casey to record the follow-up album to 1999's début Amen (So Be It). That record had been a raw acoustic affair, not that far removed from his busking roots. It had sold very well in Ireland (going double platinum) and had made inroads into international markets but more product was not emerging from the Casey camp and people were getting jittery. Rumours about Casey's well being were being floated . . .
"I know four years is a long time, particularly in the music industry," says a chirpy Casey, "but it was the fact the first album had done so well that caused the delay. I toured Amen not just here and the UK, but also Europe, Australia - where it sold loads - and then the US. The touring went on for over two years and alongside my own headlining slots there were supporting slots with R.E.M. and The Pretenders, and I was in the US three or four times which takes a lot of time. Put it this way, I remember moving into a new place not long after the first album came out and when I eventually finished all the touring, I estimated I had spent about 10 days in the new place in total. And yeah, ok, there was a bit of partying as well . . ."
Having left home in Dublin at the beginning of his teens, Casey lived a youthful (very youthful) bohemian lifestyle in Galway - playing gigs in pubs where he wasn't even old enough to be served. On his return to Dublin at the mature age of 20, he took to busking around the city's thoroughfares, just him and an acoustic guitar, and in true showbiz style, he was spotted by someone who worked in the music industry and soon signed with the Sony label.
"It was mad, when I flew to London to sign the papers, it was my first time out of the country."
It was one thing getting signed to a major label - not that many buskers do - but quite another when Paul McGuinness came knocking, asking if he could manage him. McGuinness's Principle Management also has U2 and PJ Harvey on its books.
"At first I wasn't really that interested. "Up until then I had done everything myself - absolutely everything, so I didn't think that there would be anything for Principle to do, but the more I saw of the music business, the more I realised how much I needed someone to look after things that I had no idea of."
The record company deal was that Casey was to go away and record a few demo tapes of songs he wanted on his first album. This he did in a matter of days and when he took the tapes into the company, it was decided to release these demos (more or less) as the album proper.
"It really was a case of using sophisticated demo tapes on Amen, it all had a real hand-made feel to it. I liked the way that no big names were brought in to re-work the material, everything just seemed to be the way it should be."
A lo-fi collection of acoustically driven songs, the album came out just before the current glut of similar singer-songwriter troubadour types came to dominate the Dublin music scene.
True to his freewheeling, idiosyncratic nature though, Casey has just released an album that flirts with electronica, funk-soul and tunes that people can dance to.
"It was to get away from the raw sound of the first one. This time I have string sections, horn sections, keyboards and a full-band line-up. The other reason why this album seemed to take so much time was that all the time I was writing, recording and demo-ing songs in my home studio. There's actually about 100 songs there and I'm just very careful about what goes out under my name. I was working on this album right up until the deadline."
A very different kettle of chords and rhythms to Amen, the new one, Living is positively full sounding and nowhere near as introspective as the début.
"It's a lot more upbeat. From the start I went more for the rhythm end of things by using more percussion and beats. It's different having songs now that people can dance to - I think there's a lot more a 'vibe' on this one."
Recorded in Grouse Lodge in Westmeath, Casey got in touch with his inner stubbornness - something he never knew he had when recording the work.
"First, I was recording with people I wasn't that happy with and it was frustrating because people were coming and going all the time. In the end I just thought it best to co-produce it myself, along with a French producer called Fred de Faye. In the end, we got it finished in a month, which was even a bit too long by my standards. The producing thing came about because I just wanted to get my voice across in how the work sounded, and it also means I can take the blame or the opposite, and not somebody else, if it does well or doesn't do well. Once I had got people around to my way of thinking - that I could co-produce - then things really took off."
It's not just the sound that has changed but Casey himself.
"I'm not the person I was. There was a few mad things going on in my life over the last few years but I like to think I'm a bit more collected now. I don't party like I used to anymore and yes, I was annoyed and frustrated by what people see as the delay in getting this out. It's just that I can't really write when I'm on tour. Sure, I could have come out with a rubbish album two years ago, but now I'm glad that it has taken this long."
- Living is on the Sony label.
www.paddycasey.com