Hiya Blue Fish Diamond, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
What was life like for you before you got into music?
I’m Jim Murphy and I founded Blue Fish Diamond in 2016. Prior to 2014, I worked in the insurance industry as an actuary but the draw of music was too great and so I gave up my job and went to study a Commercial Modern Music degree at BIMM, starting in 2014. That’s where I met all of the other folks in the band – Laura (keys), Axel (lead guitar), Matilda (backing vocals), Ronan (bass) and Shay (drums).
What’s the live music scene like in Dublin right now? Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
The music scene in Dublin is very vibrant. For bands with a following of our size, there are a number of great venues including The Workmans Club, The Grand Social and Whelans. There is live music on most nights of the week. Laura Ryder is a fantastic alternative pop artist worth checking out. Her Spotify link is https://open.spotify.com/artist/5np9UP3JK9KbjsL5VNs5vM?si=TQO5jcNVSyW4QEYl3ypntQ.
It seems like being a social media curator has become added to the many jobs of a musician, how do you feel about this?
I think that most musicians just want to create and perform music but managing social media promotion is certainly a very important facet of an independent artist’s career. I once had an elderly neighbour who leaned over the fence while I was weeding the garden and asked me if I liked gardening. I lied and said I didn’t mind it too much, to which she replied “I f***ing hate it”, which cracked me up. Being honest, this is how I feel about curating social media!
What’s your view on the Music industry today?
It’s a very challenging industry for independent artists in which to make a living. The onset of the digital age at the beginning of the millennium deregulated the industry to the benefit of independent musicians and we can now manage the whole pipeline from recording music to releasing it and promoting it on our own. However, income from streaming services is a fraction of what sales of CDs and vinyl generate.
In addition, I have read various articles recently that highlight a growing polarisation between top tier artists and independent artists post-pandemic. The key observation is that music consumers spend proportionately more of their disposable income on big stadium gigs to the detriment of smaller to mid-size venues and this is a trend to which we can relate.
Whats the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
Plan well in advance and have a strong PR campaign planned out before releasing new music. It is incredibly exciting to create new music and with that comes a desire to share it with the world as soon as it is ready. However, new music has a limited window of time in which to exploit it and so mapping out pre-release and post-release PR activities is key to maximising awareness, be it through targeting radio play, music magazines or social media.
What was your best experience on stage?
We played on the RTE Radio 2 stage at Electric Picnic in 2018. This is one of the largest music festivals in Ireland and we were fortunate that it was a beautiful sunny day.
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
We will be releasing our third album on Thursday 30th May. It is called Radio Silence and it comprises a family of songs that address issues of today such as the rise in right wing extremism, global warming and isolation as well as the age-old issues of poverty, love and the meaning of life. While our sound has evolved compared with our previous two albums, we’d like to think that lush arrangements, melodic ear-worms and lyrics offering layers of meaning remain defining characteristics of our songs. But our listeners will be the judge of that!
What was the recording process like?
We recorded the album over a couple of sessions at Orphan Recording Studios in Wexford with our producer, engineer and host Gavin Glass. Shout out also to Amy Walsh who, along with Gavin, looked after us so well. Gavin and Amy moved to Wexford in 2019 and built a beautiful studio beside their house from scratch. While our main focus was on creating a great sound, we also had some wonderful downtime including swimming in the sea at Curracloe beach in the mornings and enjoying a few beers around a firepit at night while reflecting on our day’s work.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
Most of the songs were written during the COVID pandemic, which turned out to be a big positive. For our previous two albums, we would meet up at a rehearsal studio and jam through the songs to come up with arrangements before going into the studio. Because we couldn’t meet in person for periods of the pandemic, we created demos remotely. I would record rhythm, guitar and vocals for a song to a click and share it with the band. They then each recorded their own parts in turn – drums, bass, keys, lead guitar and backing vocals – and we assembled a set of demos to send to Gavin in advance of going into the studio.
This process created breathing space for everyone to develop their own parts, which ultimately led to a better sound compared with the pressure to be creative on the spot that’s an inevitable product of having to come up with something immediately in a rehearsal studio. It also meant that we were more prepared going into Orphan Recording Studios, although the arrangements for a few of the songs were reconceptualised with Gavin when we were in the studio.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
Not one bit 😊!
FOLLOW THEM HERE // PRE SAVE THE ALBUM HERE
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