A playlist of old radio interviews recorded for Songs To Learn And Sing on 103.2 Dublin City FM.

From the Archives

Songs To Learn And Sing
103.2 Dublin City FM

Richmond Fontaine - 2010 Radio Session

Willy Vlautin and Dan Eccles performed 5 songs in studio.
Willy in conversation with Paul McDermott introduces all songs.

1. The Boyfriends (taken from We Used To Think The Freeway...)
2. Maybe We Were Both Born Blue (taken from We Used To Think The Freeway...) 
3. Alison Johnson (from Post to Wire)
4. St Ides, Parked Cars, and Other People's Homes (from Thirteen Cities)
5. Two Alone (taken from We Used To Think The Freeway...)

Photograph: Dan Eccles and Willy Vlautin by Paul McDermott
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From the Archives - Richmond Fontaine Radio Session (2010)

Songs To Learn And Sing
103.2 Dublin City FM

Willy Vlautin (Richmond Fontaine) in conversation with Paul McDermott - July 2011.

Willy Vlautin was in Dublin on his way to the Galway Arts Festival to do a reading with Roddy Doyle and play a gig. We had a quick chat about The High Country, the then-upcoming Richmond Fontaine album. The High Country is described as "a song-novel, in which a gripping tale is spun with fully fleshed-out characters, changing scenes, snippets of radio and spoken word passages." The album is a gothic love story, "between a mechanic and an auto parts store counter girl, whose secret love inspires an effort to escape the darkness of the world that surrounds them - drugs, violence, madness, loneliness, and desperation set against a backdrop of endless logging roads and the remains of a forest brutalised by logging."

Willy explained the concept of the record for me: "It is kinda like a concept record, its a linear story about a woman who lives in a small town, is married to a really rough guy and falls in love with another guy. It's very gothic, there's light versus dark, the romantic songs I think are really over-the-top romantic, and then there's a really twisted dark side to the record."
More information here: https://www.paulmcdermott.ie/blog/richmond-fontaine-interview

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Songs to Learn and Sing

From the Archives - Willy Vlautin Interview (2011)

Willy Vlautin (Richmond Fontaine) in conversation with Paul McDermott on Songs To Learn And Sing Episode 90, 24/05/06

Willy chats about recording The Fitzgerald, touring outside the US for the first time after the acclaim for Post to Wire, his first novel The Motel Life and more. The chat is interspersed with a few Richmond Fontaine songs introduced by Willy. 

Richmond Fontaine - Black Road
Willy Vlautin interview Part 1
Richmond Fontaine - The Warehouse Life
Willy Vlautin interview Part 2
Richmond Fontaine – Polaroid
Willy Vlautin interview Part 3
Richmond Fontaine - Laramie, Wyoming
More information here: https://www.paulmcdermott.ie/blog/richmond-fontaine-interview

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From the Archives - Willy Vlautin Interview (2006)

I interviewed Sufjan on 27 October, 2004 prior to his gig at the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Trinity College, Dublin. Seven Swans was just out and in this old interview for Songs To Learn And Sing on 103.2 Dublin City FM. Sufjan chats about recording the album with Daniel Smith of The Danielson Famile. 
More information here: https://www.paulmcdermott.ie/blog/sufjan-stevens-interview
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From the Archives - Sufjan Stevens Interview (2004)

Songs To Learn And Sing
103.2 Dublin City FM

An archive interview with Damien Jurado from 2005. Damien was in Dublin promoting his album On My Way To Absence. He introduces songs from the album and chats about their inspiration.

Damien Jurado – Interview Pt1
Damien Jurado – ‘Fuel’
Damien Jurado – Interview Pt2
Damien Jurado – ‘A Jealous Heart is a Healthy Heart’
Damien Jurado – Interview Pt3
Damien Jurado – ‘Sucker’
Damien Jurado – Interview Pt4
Damien Jurado – ‘I Am the Mountain’
More information here: https://www.paulmcdermott.ie/blog/damien-jurado-interview

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From the Archives - Damien Jurado Interview (2005)

An archive interview with Rollerskate Skinny's Ken Griffin from late 1996.

The Hibernia File
Paul McDermott & John O'Leary
Produced by Kieran Hurley
Cork Campus Radio
More Information here: https://paulmcdermott.ie/blog/rollerskate-skinny

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From the Archives - Rollerskate Skinny (1996)

Originally broadcast on Songs To Learn And Sing on 103.2 Dublin City FM. This interview is from January 2009. Colin Blunstone chats about his career with The Zombies and his solo records. We talked about his Neil MacArthur recordings and his trio of early 70s solo records: One Year, Ennismore and Journey. Colin was a great interviewee and I must admit that I was absolutely thrilled to be talking to him about his records because I'm such a huge fan. He was really gracious with his time and was happy to chat about the recording of Odessey and Oracle, working with arranger Chris Dunning, his working relationship with Rod Argent and his (then) latest record The Ghost of You And Me.
More Information here: paulmcdermott.ie/blog/colin-blunstone-and-the-zombies

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From the Archives - Colin Blunstone of The Zombies (2009)

I interviewed Robert Forster on 8 September 2017 for my documentary Iron Fist in Velvet Glove - the story of Microdisney. In his book Grant & I, Robert described Microdisney’s Cathal Coughlan as “one of London’s secret heroes”. Short extracts of this interview were utilised in that documentary and the section of the interview about Grant & I was broadcast on my radio show, Songs to Learn and Sing. But this is the full interview. We chatted about how The Go-Betweens and Microdisney met while practising nextdoor to each other in Camden; Microdisney supporting The Go-Betweens at the Town & Country Club in London; the tough economic realities for both bands in London; Rough Trade Records in the 80s; The Go-Betweens touring around Europe; The Go-Betweens first time in Dublin playing the Trinity Ball in 1986; the process of writing his biography, and loads more. More Information here: paulmcdermott.ie/blog/colin-bluns…-and-the-zombies

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From the Archives - Robert Forster of The Go-Betweens (2017)

Originally broadcast on Songs To Learn And Sing on 103.2 Dublin City FM. In 2005 Toasted Heretic released Now In New Nostalgia Flavour which compiled their first two cassette albums (Songs For Swinging Celibates and Charm and Arrogance). The band played a gig in Dublin to promote the release and I spoke to Julian before he took to the stage in Whelan's. Julian chats about how Toasted Heretic recorded and released those first two albums from the band's hometown of Galway. The move to a record label for the third album, touring France, and eventually calling it a day. Julian also introduces 'Galway Bay' and 'LSD (Isn't What It Used To Be)'.
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From the Archives - Julian Gough of Toasted Heretic (2005)

I Interviewed Dave Simpson for Songs To Learn And Sing on 103.2 Dublin City FM upon publication of his book The Fallen: Searching for the Missing Members of The Fall. We'd a great chat about his quest to track down all the ex-members of The Fall. I regaled Dave with my own MES encounter, which involved operating a slide projector for a Fall gig in 1997.

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From the Archives - The Fallen by Dave Simpson (2008)

A short 2004 piece from Segments a radio show I co-produced for Dublin City FM. Segments was a weekly series of documentary shorts reflecting different aspects of Dublin life. This particular feature was recorded at a record fair at the Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire.
It's a simple audio collage of interviews with record dealers and collecters, chatting about what records they're after and what sells well. It gives a unique glimpse into the mind's of vinyl collectors. Brian O'Kelly the organiser, also chats about what records people always ask for. 1973's Early One Morning by Mushroom (Aonghus McAnally's prog/Celtic rock outfit), that a few of the dealers mention in the feature was reissued on CD by Radioactive Records in 2006. Original LPs still go for over €500 on Discogs.

From the Archives - Record Fairs (2004)

Paul McDermott
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