Documentaries produced by Paul McDermott for Learn & Sing Productions. Further Information: www.paulmcdermott.ie

Audio Documentaries

The story of a chance meeting in 2008 between Andrew Weatherall, the world-renowned DJ, producer and remixer, and Gerard Sheehy, a Co. Cork fisherman. How this meeting inspired Weatherall to use the phrase “Fail We May, Sail We Must” as a personal mantra and how the phrase, in turn, has become an inspiration for thousands of others. It details how in 2021, on the first anniversary of Weatherall’s death, Sheehy was identified as the source of the phrase and tells how the two disparate worlds of the music and fishing industries collided. 

Produced by Paul McDermott.
Sound supervision by Kieran Hurley.
A Learn & Sing production for UCC98.3FM, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland from the Television Licence Fee.
Further info: https://www.paulmcdermott.ie/fail-we-may

Fail We May, Sail We Must - A Tribute to Andrew Weatherall

Dancing in the Disco – the story of The Sultans of Ping tells the band’s story from humble beginnings in Cork to topping the Indie Chart in the UK, touring the world, releasing three albums and sharing stages with their heroes, the Ramones. The band’s debut single, ‘Where’s Me Jumper?’ is one of the most instantly recognisable songs of the last 30 years. It defies genres, ages, borders and scenes, and has seeped into the pop culture firmament. The song has been used to soundtrack film and TV and ultimately has become bigger than the band itself – it is a song of the people. The documentary includes contributions from band members, industry insiders, friends and critics. 

A Learn & Sing production for RTÉ 2xm, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland from the Television Licence Fee.

Dancing in the Disco - the story of The Sultans of Ping

Sean O’Hagan – Microdisney/The High Llamas 
“Paul McDermott is the cultural historian who had the foresight to document a period in Cork’s musical journey which seemed to be the present, but of course crept on us as history. Us being the Fives, the Stumps and the Disneys, we, a collection of men now in our 60s who would never have captured a sense of what it was to be making new music in 80s Cork. Paul was young enough to oversee from a distance, and old enough to realise that this work had to be done. We have lost a few, but Paul was there to capture some living moments. I doubt if the Microdisney reunion would have happened if it was not for Paul's preparatory documentaries. We are a happy proud bunch now, partly because Paul has enlightened us to what we had.”

The documentary details how Cathal Coughlan and Sean O’Hagan met in Cork in 1980 and formed Mircodisney. The duo moved to London in 1983 and released four critically acclaimed albums for Rough Trade and Virgin records before disbanding in 1988. Microdisney’s 1985 album The Clock Comes Down the Stairs topped the UK Indie Charts upon its release and regularly features at the top of “the best Irish album of all time” lists.

A Learn & Sing production for UCC98.3FM, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland from the Television Licence Fee. Further info: https://www.paulmcdermott.ie/iron-fist-in-velvet-glove

Iron Fist in Velvet Glove - the story of Microdisney

Lights! Camel! Action! – The Story of Stump is a documentary about Stump, the Anglo-Irish experimental, rock band from the 1980s. The documentary has been in production for the past year and sadly in November 2015 Mick Lynch, the enigmatic front man and lyricist with the band fell ill and passed away on 17 December, 2015. 

Stump were one of the bright lights of the mid-80s UK indie music scene. Their music was a dense, complicated, experimental repertoire of angular riffs, rhythms and beats which used shifting time signatures twisting around Mick’s surreal lyrical output. They made abrasive music but with a keen pop sensibility. They always felt out of place and out of time.

This documentary is more than the story of Stump, it’s a story that also encompasses the history of the UK independent music scene of the 1980s. It’s the story of indie record labels, satellite major labels and the mavericks who ran them. It records a time when the UK weekly music newspapers, the BBC’s John Peel, and Channel 4’s The Tube TV show reigned supreme. It’s the story of fanzines and underground gig circuits; big budgets being spent on recording studios and expensive videos. Stump’s story is also a microcosm of the wider social, cultural and political history of Ireland’s mid-80s emigrant community in London.

A Learn & Sing production for UCC98.3FM, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland from the Television Licence Fee.

Lights! Camel! Action! - the story of Stump

In an effort to immerse himself in the music of Sliabh Luachra producer Paul McDermott goes on a quest to track down six Irish trad vinyl records released in 1977. He is assisted by Eoin Stan O’Sullivan, Sliabh Luachra musician in residence. Together they travel to Cork and Kerry visiting villages and townlands surrounding the River Blackwater trying to describe the magic of this music and its origins in the “rushy mountain”. Along the way we hear stories of the Sliabh Luachra masters and meet musicians young and old. As the quest climaxes, the realisation dawns that the producer’s embrace of this tradition’s past is only matched by O’Sullivan’s compulsion to safeguard its future.   
  
Presenter/Producer: Paul McDermott
Producer for RTÉ Lyric fm: Eoin O Kelly

The interview with Paddy Jones was recorded by Ailbhe Keogan and Michael Kelly, used with permission. 
Paddy Jones sadly passed away on 30th May 2020.

A Learn & Sing production for RTÉ Lyric fm, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland from the Television Licence Fee.

An Draíocht - the music of Sliabh Luachra

The story of Irish musician Michael O’Shea, who played an instrument made from a door that he called “Mo Chara” (my friend). His 1982 album, is regarded as a landmark cult classic. The instrument was inspired by the Hammered Dulcimer, but Michael added amplification and effects lending it a strong sense of otherworldliness. Its sound is steeped in Celtic undertones but also resonant with the cultures Michael had absorbed on his travels in the East. This is a portrait of a musician who went AWOL from the British Army, spent time as a relief worker in Bangladesh, supported Ravi Shankar at the Royal Festival Hall and played with some of the biggest names in jazz including Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry and Archie Shepp. First broadcast on RTÉ Lyric FM, 25 August 2019. Further Information: https://www.paulmcdermott.ie/no-journeys-end

No Journeys End - the story of Michael O'Shea

Get That Monster Off the Stage - the story of FINBARR DONNELLY and his bands Nun Attax, Five Go Down To The Sea? and Beethoven produced by Paul McDermott. Photograph by Ciarán Ó Tuama.

Oral History: https://medium.com/@learnandsing/get-that-monster-off-the-stage-part-1-cef4030eba65

Get That Monster Off The Stage

Paul McDermott
educator
broadcaster
documentary producer
writer