Ken, with various versions of Autamata, you have worked more with women than with men – is that because the tone of female voices works better for you?
“It is, yes. A friend of mine recently pointed out that the women I’ve worked with through the years – Cathy Davey, Carol Keogh and now with Dana Donnelly – have a specific tone or timbre. And it wasn’t until he pointed that out that I actually thought of it like that. It’s just something I like, I suppose. Dana and I met through mutual friends, I listened to some of her songs, and really liked her voice, her tone, and her songwriting, so we started to work together. I produce the music of a lot more guys – people like Roesy, Mundy, David Kitt, and more - so maybe it’s trying to get away from them!”
Dana – what do you bring to the I’m Your Vinyl mixing desk?
“I was surrounded by music when I was growing up, lots of radio, too, with my mam singing along to Doris Day and my father singing along to Frank Sinatra. My eldest brother was in a band, and I’d see him come back from touring, so you could say he mentored me from when I was quite a young age. He gave me my first guitar, and then my interest in music evolved from there. When I was a lot younger I was in a choir that toured with Daniel O’Donnell, and that experience brought me onto the stages of Wembley Arena and The Point, the Late Late Show, and other things. It taught me a certain level of professional discipline, and in retrospect it genuinely made me think of going into music full-time.”
Dana, has your songwriting altered since hooking up with I’m Your Vinyl?
“Working with Ken has given me different colours to play with, songwriting-wise, and it’s really helped me come out of my shell. I also feel I can experiment in songwriting a lot more than I was able to.”
A successful collaborative process is key in something like I’m Your Vinyl – what is that like for two competitive people, and how is it divided?
Ken: “It depends. When we started as a unit a couple of years ago, I had a bunch of instrumentals written, and then I had a batch of tunes, thinking they might be good for songs. I was reckoning something along the lines of Autamata, but that had been two singers. I thought it might be a better idea to work with just the one, and then along came Dana. The collaborative process is quite different with Dana – we’ve currently finished about 30 songs, and this time out it’s really a collaboration, and not just me writing them and Dana singing them, which was pretty much the way it used to be.”
Is that true, Dana, or does Ken speak with forked tongue?
“Oh, yes, it’s true. It has evolved over time, as well, as some of the more recent songs are more pop-oriented. If I’m being completely honest, we both fight for control most of the time. I found it very difficult at the start writing songs with Ken, but there is an allowance there that enables me as a songwriter. He’s the controller when he wants to be, and that’s great when you need him to be just that. But he’ll also step back and allow you to do your thing.”
Ken: “I’m Your Vinyl is definitely more of a collaborative band, rather than the likes of Autamata, which was my thing, and the buck stopped with me and various decisions I made. But here, we decided not to do it like that. Dana is right - things have developed: our songs, our stagecraft, the visual elements. With I’m Your Vinyl, I definitely wanted to make a song-based band, where the song is king. It’s a lot more focused, rather than diffuse. I also wanted to do something that was a little bit more crossover.”
It really is that time of the year, isn’t it – go on, tell us about your Xmas song?
Dana: “We’re collaborating with the Simon Community – our song, Footprints in the Snow, the lyrical content of which is relevant to what the Simon Community does, will be up online for people to log in and donate if they so wish. It’s not an official song or anything like that - it’s just something we’re doing on our own but which Simon Community is fully supporting. And then on top of that, we’re putting on a pop up gig sometime in December in Dublin city centre. Watch this space!”
Footprints in the Snow will be available to purchase from December 1st on band camp and iTunes.
