Speaking of the Desperate Bicycles...

... I think it's time I posted something about my influences. Although I only heard about the Desperate Bicycles long after I had begun my own adventures in DIY music-making, their raw enthusiasm and true punk spirit helped renew my own commitment to, and joy in, making my own music regardless of circumstance. You can read a bit about them here. The point here is don't wait for x, y, or z to fall into place; create with whatever you have, right now. It's the same spirit that moved Toasted Heretic to record brilliant albums on a portastudio and self-release them on cassette. Toasted Heretic, in case you didn't know, were extant in Galway in the late 80s and early 90s. When I heard about them as a secondary school student, I was floored by their priceless name and inspired by their DIY approach. "Wait," I thought, "You can just go and make an album yourself for almost no money? I want to do that." And I did: Toasted Heretic's guitarist, Declan Collins, engineered and co-produced my first album, "Blank Melodies." (Recorded on portastudio, of course!) I'll post more about that some other time.