Barry McCormack on making his eighth studio album, moving to Helsinki, and being a reluctant traveller
The Dublin singer-songwriter, formerly of Jubilee Allstars, releases Painting Devils on September 13
Helsinki-based Dublin songwriter Barry McCormack, a former member of the band Jubilee Allstars, releases his eighth studio album Painting Devils today, September 13. (There’s a great read about Jubilee Allstars and their debut album Lights of the City here; choice quote: “All the stuff that Fontaines DC have taken over the world with, we were doing that donkey’s years ago, and we were actually Dubs. Dublin was our muse.”) I really like the sound of Painting Devils. It’s full of great storytelling and hooks - ‘Tourist’ is one of my favourite songs of the year, an alt-classic hook and killer chorus. There’s a defiance in tunes like ‘We Can Change the World’ and as Tony Clayton-Lea notes in his four-star review in the Irish Times, “every track groans with intelligence and humour”. I talked with Barry McCormack about the album via email earlier this week. We also talked about living in Helsinki, tourism, and the music industry now vs then. Buy Painting Devils here.
This is your eighth studio album. Do you still enjoy the process of making records? Does it come easy to you or do you try to change things up every time?
This record was challenging, but also interesting because we started in Dublin but then I moved to Helsinki, so we just recorded the guitar and vocals in Dublin and everything after that was done by Steve the producer and the musicians in Dublin and he would send me what they’d done or were doing, so I might be in a supermarket and I’d get a WhatsApp message with a rough version of what they’d just done, which was always exciting. Making records is fascinating whatever way you end up making them. I’ve made records in top recording studios, people’s living room and at home recording myself and it’s always something that you become obsessed with even though it’s daunting and frustrating. I think I’ve got better at trying to change things each time and the albums are really varied, which is something I wouldn’t have ever thought I’d say.
When and why did you decide to move to Finland?
I moved there in the spring of 2021. It was during that very severe lockdown then and myself and my Finnish partner had spent the Christmas in Helsinki where the lockdown was much lighter, so we decided to move partly because of that, but also because housing there is very cheap compared to Dublin and we didn’t see any future in renting poor quality flats for extortionate rents.
Do you think living in Finland has affected the type of music you make or your sound?
Yes, it’s definitely affected my songwriting if not necessarily my sound. When I first moved there, I was really paranoid that I wouldn’t be able to write because I had lived for so long in Dublin and also written a lot of songs about it. I found myself thankfully able to continue writing and slowly found myself writing about living there. I had always been of the mindset that you write about what is familiar, but I found myself writing about what is new and unfamiliar. In this case living in a city and suburbs where you feel nature is all around you. The Finns build their suburbs into the forests so there is a lot of tree cover wherever you live and it’s a daily occurrence to see red squirrels, rabbits and hares from your balcony even during the snow in winter. I’ve played with Finnish musicians and hopefully I can get them to play on an album. Finnish tango is a big thing there and it’s accordion and fiddle led, so maybe I can get some of that on my next album.
It's your fifth time working with the brilliant producer Stephen Shannon. What is your relationship like? I imagine trust is the main thing - that you are totally honest with each other about what you want?
When we first started working together, I had done a few albums where I had had total control and it took me a couple of albums to let Steve experiment a bit more production wise. I had more traditional ideas of recording and Steve is someone who has embraced modern recording technology, so it took me a while to feel comfortable with that. By the time we made the album Mean Time I was listening to a lot of electronic music so I was up for him using a lot of synths and drum machines. With this record he knew I wanted a more traditional sound and he suggested using a bass player and drummer. Steve is very good to work with in the studio and I’ve always found him very sensitive in a way that not all sound engineers and producers are. Possibly that’s because he’s an artist himself and has been on the other side of the process.
The press release explains the title of the album, Painting Devils: "The title comes from the Finnish expression ‘to paint devils on the wall’ meaning to summon up darkness where none really exists". Was this just something you came across that interested you or do you have a particular affinty with Finland?
Yeah, that might have seemed a bit random, but as I said earlier I moved to Helsinki a few years ago and was an expression I heard there that caught my ear.
I love the latest single, 'Tourist'. It seems particularly apt this summer, considering protests at major spots around Europe in particular. Does the idea for the song come first and you work on lyrics that way? How did the song develop?
That’s cool that you thought of that because that’s what I was thinking about when I started writing it in 2020 and then Covid happened and I was thinking no-one will ever go on a foreign holiday again and the song will be irrelevant, but actually it’s now more relevant than ever! I started with the idea of a curmudgeon who doesn’t like travelling and also notices the issues surrounding mass tourism. That character was based on myself because I’ve always been a reluctant traveller that gets dragged to places, but I usually end up glad I’ve done it because it can be exciting and inspiring. Yeah, I usually get an idea and take it from there. I like songs with strong ideas or themes that can then be played with to make it more humorous or give it a plot. Warren Zevon and Jacques Brel were masters at doing that.
Speaking of tourism, where are some of your favourite destinations? Did you go anywhere fun in summer 2024?
This summer we stayed in Finland. Finnish summers are really lovely. They’re not too hot, but there’s plenty of sunshine and there are loads of beaches and islands around Helsinki to explore. They are very short though, so there’s always a sense that summer is slipping away from you and that the long winter will return with a vengeance. New York and Paris are two places I find really exciting and interesting.
'We Can Change the World' is about signing a petition. You sing "you've gotta do what you gotta do." I guess it's easy to feel disillusioned with some of the situations around the world, but it's important to make your voice heard?
Yeah, it’s kind of strange because on the last couple of records I’ve been writing about big world events and issues, but I’m an underground artist, so I won’t be changing the world with my music, but I probably have an urge to chronicle things or to contribute in some way. I know a lot of people who refuse to watch or listen to the news because it’s very dark. I’m now beginning to think they are right, but I’m a news junkie and it inspires me to write songs. I’ve done a couple of albums with these themes and it’s probably time to write about other things.
Did you have a particular set of influences for this album process or is it a case of, this being your eighth album, you know what a Barry McCormack album is at this stage?
I think most musicians want to change things a bit from whatever they did on the previous record, so with this one I wanted something simpler and less electronic. I never have any kind of master plan production wise. I focus on songwriting first then I let things go from there. That was probably why I got on well with Steve in the studio. He respected the songwriting and storytelling craft and I was willing to let him take the songs somewhere interesting or to just keep it simple like on this album.
You've been making/releasing music since the early 90s with the Jubilee Allstars. Overall, do you think the music industry is better or worse now than back then? A big, deep open-ended question for you, I know...
Yeah, that’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently and discussing with other people and musicians specifically. It’s really a mixed bag because in some ways it’s worse and in others it’s better. The negatives are that there aren’t as many small labels able to survive and put out music by underground acts. Streaming and touring appears to be becoming only worthwhile for the huge acts and the industry and there seems to be fewer opportunities to make a living as a full-time musician. On the other hand there is less obsession with financial success and judging music by how popular an act is or what the potential of the act is to become successful. In the past if a band was only big in Ireland and they didn’t break the UK or the States they were written off as also-rans but now people don’t care about that stuff and the music press doesn’t obsess over it, which is great.
Also the ability to make records for a fraction of what it cost when I started out is fantastic and leads to a democratisation of music to some degree, but that has its downsides too because there’s so much music out there and it’s easy to get lost in the throng. Musicians also take on the burden of releasing their own albums because there are so few indie labels. I know from self-releasing eight albums that it’s an onerous task and something that takes me ages to recover from doing because I’m not great at self-promotion or business stuff, which is probably the case for most musicians.
What plans have you got for the rest of the year?
I’m doing some gigs in Ireland and then it’s back to Helsinki for autumn and winter. I’m looking forward to getting time to work on new songs and doing some recording. The weather lends itself to such indoor pursuits!
Barry McCormack tour dates:
Saturday, September 14: Whelan’s, Dublin
Wednesday, September 18: Coughlan’s, Cork