The challenges of making music during lockdown, One Morning in August

What is your background?

One Morning in August are a two-piece based in Waterford and Carlow (John Phelan on guitar and vocals and Stephen Byrne on drums) and we started the band in Winter 2018. We are both originally from a village called Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow.

We have recorded our debut album with producer David Ayers, and it will be released on Friday 28th August on the Bandcamp platform, where we will also have a very limited run of CDs available. The album has ten tracks including two instrumentals. We have guest vocals from Claire Cummins on two tracks, and Ian Doyle (The Man Whom) collaborated with us on a track as well.

We are very much influenced and inspired by bands like Nada Surf, Low, REM, Arcade Fire, Nirvana and Mogwai.

How did the lockdown affect you this year?

We began the recording process in studio with David in June 2019 and had planned to finish it there in a series of sessions, but due to the Covid 19 crisis, we had to work in a different way. As the country was shut down, we decided to home record a lot of the guitar and vocal parts of our album using a standalone 8 track recorder. We had recorded Stephen’s drum parts a couple of weeks before lockdown in studio, so John had those to record to, which was very lucky as we had decided to release our debut album in August 2020 (One Morning in August in fact!) and really wanted to keep to that deadline.

We also were fortunate enough to get the brilliant vocals of Claire Cummins, who appears on two tracks, recorded just before lockdown. One of the tracks Claire is on is called ‘All the Same’ and features the brilliant guitarist and songwriter Ian Doyle (The Man Whom). Ian was able to record his parts in his house in Wexford which were then mixed by David Ayers in his studio. There were many emails and phone calls between all of us, but we are delighted with the results!

We were hoping to play a number of gigs, including the Bobstock Cape Clear musical event (which went online instead https://irishtechnews.ie/bobstock-2020-virtual-gig-oesophageal-cancer-fund/), but all gigs were cancelled. Instead, we decided to release singles from the album regularly, and we released an alternative version of our song Time with an electronic producer called Corvax who is based in Cork city. These all received numerous radio plays across Ireland, including plays on national broadcasters RTE and Newstalk. This has helped to create a following on social media which builds awareness of our band.

Have you any tips for other bands?

As a new band, we’re not really in a position to give too much advice, but two things that we have found very important during this process is having some equipment to home record and engaging with other bands/DJs and fans on social media. Without home recording equipment, the album probably would not have been ready for at least another year.

A bit of online research is important to see what is really needed. You don’t have to be an expert in digital recording, but some knowledge is very helpful. Once tracks are recorded, use professional producers/mixing engineers etc. to get the sound you want.

When it comes to social media, we have found that it can be a great source of information and networking for new bands (once you can ignore the bad parts of social media!)

Where can we buy your album?

Our album will be exclusively on Bandcamp at https://onemorninginaugust.bandcamp.com/

initially and then will be on most of the streaming platforms from mid-September.

You can hear some of the songs on YouTube and can follow us on all the major social media sites at these links

https://twitter.com/onemorninaugust

https://www.facebook.com/onemorninginaugust/

https://www.instagram.com/onemorninginaugust

https://onemorninginaugust.bandcamp.com/

Time: Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhpAigzk524

Believe: Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cupy-Iygdts

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