Skully is also on the NEW Myspace! If you are on there, come by & connect with him.  Leave him a comment, and let him know that you heard about him here on Blogspot!! He has many of his songs uploaded for your listening pleasure.  :-) 

Skully on Myspace



 BOOM BOOM BA BY METISSE (SKULLY & AIDA BREDOU)

SKULLY IS NOW ON SOUNDCLOUD!!!

Stop by and listen to some really good music!
https://soundcloud.com/skully-official

https://soundcloud.com/skully-official/the-smile-mindersSMILE MINDERS

It Rained That Morning by Skully

HALLELUJAH BY SKULLY

Did you know.....?

A little Trivia about Skully and his music!

* Skully set up a language school in France called Communication International.
* Aida & Skully both speak French.
* Skully's favorite song from My Fault is PRAY.
* Aida's grandmother was also a dancer & singer.
* Skully used to be a machine operator for Canada Dry.
* Skully's band, Chapter House were voted Band of '86 by the people of Ireland.
* Aida played the congas in a Cuban band and doing backing vocals at the same time.
* Skully's first band was called "Real Mayonnaize".
* Aida sang in Creole, Spanish, and Portuguese (Brazilian songs) before she met Skully.
* Skully was interviewed for Alan Swan's book "From the Cradle to the Stage".
* Skully's hobby is genealogy.
* Metisse's first concert was played at Conolly"s in Leap.
* Metisse's biggest concert was the 'O2 gig in Dublin - 100,000 people attended.
* Metisse means mixture in French.
* Metisse's video for Sousounde was filmed in reverse.
* Aida had to learn Sousounde in reverse for the making of the video.
* The video of Sousounde cost 80,000 stirling to make.
* On New Year's Eve 2000 to welome in the new Mellinium, the biggest Irish party was held in the Point Depot in Dublin. At midnight, the crowd went into overdrive to the music of Metisse.
* Skully's dad was one of the greatest big band stars in Ireland.
* Aida is a highly qualified instructor in Traditional African dancing from all West Africa.
* Aida loves cooking meals from different countries; Africa, France, Asia, Mexican & Ireland...and Skully from Japan, India, Italy & Asia,
* Aida used to teach dance to children between 4 & 12 years old.
* In the shower Aida loves to sing in an opera voice as a Mezzo-Soprano.
* Skully did his first DJ gig at age 14.
* Skully earned the nickname "The Professor" for his master of the electronic music world.
* Metisse signed to Sony Publishing International even before they had any record deal secured.
* Metisse's debut album was called "My Fault".
* Metisse went to number 4 in UK and most European dance charts with their first single "Sousounde".
* Metisse's song "Boom Boom Ba" became the theme song to Madonna's film "The Next Best Thing".
* "Boom Boom Ba" reached #1 USA Billboard soundtrack Album chart on "The Nest Best Thing" soundtrack album.
* "My Fault" reaches #6 in the Asian charts on the "Bondy Chiu" "Inside" album.
* "Sousounde soundtrack was used as soundtrack to the Olympics.
* "Boom Boom Ba" features in "The Bill" and French program "Y'a Pas Photo".
* Metisse appear on many compilation albums including "The Chill out albums 1 & 2, "Essential Soundtracks", "The Love Album", "United Breaks Nation", "FSuk4", "Y3K", "Inside", "Go Move Shift", "Ministry Presents".
* Metisse license "My Fault" to French Company Sempre/BMG (territory France).
* Metisse reach #4 in French airplay charts.
* Metisse license to Swiss company "Disc Office" (territory Switzerland).
* Metisse 33rd most downloaded artist on the net (ref: Audiosurge)
* Metisse's "Boom Boom Ba" is used by Italian giant "Laura Biagiotti" for perfume "Emotion" promotion.
* Metisse sell 30,000 singles of "Boom Boom Ba" in Italy & Germany.
* Metisse license to "Reekus Records" (territory Ireland).
* Metisse's official website metissemusic.com, received over 19,000 visits in two
years.
* Metisse's "Boom Boom Ba' used as theme to "The Man Booker Prize" promotion on BBC.
* 2002 Metisse license to Asian giant "Avex" (territory Asia).

***Taken fron Metisse's website, metissemusic.com.


 Skully's music has featured in :

Tristar's SOUL SURFER • Jessica Verday's HAUNTED • Fox Media CORK WEEK 2010 • Jay Leno's TONIGHT SHOW • NBC's UNDERCOVERS • ABC's THE GATES • FA's - Cup Final • The Olympics • MGM's - Life After Death • MGM's - Dead Like Me (Boom Boom Ba 7 times) • MGM's - Dead Like Me (Nomah's Land 2 times) • Madonna's - Next Best Thing • Samuel Goldwyn Film's - Lila Says (Sousounde) • BBC's - Booker Prize • Laura Biagiotti's - Emotion (perfume campaign) • ITV's - The Bill • NBC's - ER • TF1 - Y'a Pas Photo (France) • RTE's - Borderline • RTE's - Nationwide • Comet - Hi Fidelity test CD. • Sharp - TV promotion • Murphy's - Beer promotion • Aiden Stanley"s - Art O' Leary • Jessica Verday's - The Hollow (My fault) • and many others.

Skully has worked with :

Metisse • Esther Canata • Sugarmama productions • Burlywood • Network • Telstar • MGM • ZTT • Peter Rabbit • Pete Briquette Boomtown Rats • Wildstar • Avex • Aida • Sony • Sempre • Juliet Turner • Horslips • Nomah • Julie Feeney • RTE • Denis O Sullivan • Myles O'Reilly • Deborah Buckler • Juno Falls • The Froggies • Kathleen Fleming • Jim Lockhart • Christy Curtain • Mick Flannery • Rising Appalachia • BBC • Noel Hogan Cranberries • Trinity • Annette Buckley • Kate Murphy • Anne Redmond • Aiden Stanley • The Chapter house • Real Mayonnaize • Sinead Cantwell • Karl Nesbett • Lindsay Ferguson • ABC •

Reviews of Skully's Music

Honest reviews by Skully music fans......

** If you would like to add a review of Skully's/Metisse's music, please contact me by leaving a message at www.myspace.com/sammilee. All contributions will be considered.**

The Enchantment of Skully's Subsonics & QXD Technology.

Review by Pam from MA

Skully's music provokes ones senses.
Cunningly placed 'subsonic'1 bass notes are felt before they are heard. The realistic musical effects of the steady rhythm of the Toulouse 3:30 am Goods Train soothed my anxious nerves as the placid strings helped form joyful images of a sunny, lush green French countryside. This lead to my first experience with the gut vibrating sensation of 'subsonics'1 that came from the series of four bass notes that emphasize the downbeat in the clickity-clack of the wheels from the Goods Train rolling across the steel rails in "Gare de Montrabe" from Skully's "Without A Voice" (WOAV) album.

On the desolate drive along Route 140 to New Bedford Massachusetts while listening to "Sadness" from Métisse's "My Fault" album, I felt a pulsation in my chest like a Mack semi-truck passing or multiple ruts in the pavement. Realizing it was neither, thus adjusting the volume, revealed a subtle crescendo of 'subsonic' strings at 1:25 to 1:30 in this beautiful Skully creation.

Like the enigmatic sensation in my chest, the first time I fell in love with Stephen4 at age 7, I could feel the thump of my heart in the two 'subsonic'1 bass notes that follow the series of five audible bass notes repeated in "I Love You", from Métisse's "Nomah's Land" album.

Skully's QXD Technology2 engages you into living and feeling the whole story of the piece.
He has masterfully developed and incorporated the QXD Technology2 where the placement of each sound is key to the genius of his musical compositions. Although a bit of music by itself may arouse a specific emotion, skilfully mixed together, Skully's concerto creates an eventful environment for the listener. His multi-dimensional "soundscapes" 3 are purposely intended to stimulate emotions in the listener. One not only hears but literally feels the music of Skully's compositions creating a complete penetrating experience. Each composition transports the listener through an interactive and affecting event formulated by the listener's own imagination.

As I listened for the first time to "Journey to Oasis" from Métisse's "Nomah's Land" album, the tubular and panting sounds of inhaling and exhaling lulled me into a false sense of control over my breathing. The moaning strings combined with the strained clacks and deep drum beats set the pace for my footsteps along the arduous journey across the hot dry dunes of Sandy Neck, Cape Cod. At the uplifting melody of the sitar and Aïda's joyful chants, when I realized I had stopped breathing because the tubular and panting special effects had paused; I had to GASP and remind myself to BREATH! The bubbly, clicking and sizzling electronic music felt like warm droplets of soft rain refreshing my face as I became encouraged at the realization of my journey's end.

The mournful strings and anxious symbols in "Life" from Métisse's "Nomah's Land" album thrust me into the emphasis of the agonizing event. The short almost indistinguishable hums, chants and moans carefully threaded into the mix of sombre strings and piano brought back the very real sharp pain of heartbreak in my heart and chest. As the strings elevated and the Steinway piano became more emphatic, I found myself smack at the receiving end of these AT&T telephone messages. My heart became hard and cold from the sharp pain of the tenacity depicted in the thumping bass and defiant Steinway. Once again, I had to remind myself to BREATH!.

Skully's creations leave you with a sense of rewarded stimulation. I could taste the smoothness of the yummy Semi-sweet Chocolate Fudge and feel the delight in my tummy as my spirit joined the small child skipping and dancing around his living room to the happy chorus of the Hammond organ in "The Seaport Fudge Factory" [in San Diego CA] from Skully's WOAV album. I laughed as the image of the giggling musician at his keyboards, mixers & gadgets enforced the tempo with the drums & symbols; and rolled out a Ragtime piano medley to extend the ecstasy of the delicious experience.

Skully's winning makeover of the old Irish folk tale of "Molly Malone" from his "Irish Makeover" album is better than reading an Irish Fairy Tale; and has to be the best version ever done. Identifying each sound effect relative to the story has been a part of the wonderfully entertaining experience. Myles O'Reilly's gently masculine vocals and the delightful harmony engaged me through to the sad ending. Molly's cloth handbag tugged on my wrist from the weight of the coins dropping in. I was jostled and tossed by the bumping of the Woodies wheelbarrow across the cobblestone roads. My forehead felt sympathetically warm for Molly's suffering of the Fever. And for me the reward was the excitement of feeling the chilled swoosh on my face of Molly's ghost rushing past.

I am so blessed to have had the privilege of literally feeling these wonderful events in listening to Skully's brilliant multi-dimensional musical creations. Each one has been more exciting than the last because I invariably hear thrilling new sound effects at repeated listens. For me Skully's music is like waking up to the joyous song of the Robin announcing a new Spring day; and like the reward from waiting on the Lord for answered prayer (it will be far greater than you could have ever imagined.) Anyone who listens to a Skully5 'soundscape' will surely reap the benefit of his brilliant talent and expertise in the use of his QXD Technology.

Footnotes:
1 s%u016Db-s%u014Fn%u0301%u012Dk (adj.): Of less than audible frequency. Having a speed less than that of sound in a designated medium.

1 'subsonics': Go to Métisse on MySpace Music at http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=81863203 and click on 'view more' for the "Journey to Oasis" blog; read the comment posted by Métisse on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - 10:30 AM.

2 Details of QXD Technology, devised by Skully can be found on the Métisse Official Website Homepage at http://metisse.music.free.fr/index.html ;click on "QXD Technology" in the 2nd row of tabs.

3 Go to Métisse on MySpace Music at http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=81863203 and click on 'view more' for the "Journey to Oasis" blog.

4 If you are a glutton for punishment {LOL-JK} and you like to read, an explanation of Stephen relative to Skully's piano can be found in my Wed. Feb.27,2009 blog "First Loves & Skully's Piano" at http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=399370878&blogId=472961685

5 For more information on the career of Skully, please visit http://www.squidoo.com/SkullyWithoutAVoice.

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Skully's "Without A Voice"

Review by Berry from Oregon

Sitting here with the window open, listening to the rain drops hitting the leaves of my Lilac Tree.

I love all of Skully's music, but I keep coming back to his 'Without A Voice' digital album. Although all the songs are purely instrumental, so much of Skully himself is in each and every song! Sometimes I wonder how many sleepless nights he spent up working and thinking, to get everything just right. One can tell that he poured his heart and soul into creating 'Without A Voice'!

Living in Oregon and waking up to the rain hitting the window panes once again, Skully's 'It Rained That Morning' has become my favorite song. Oregonians have a saying: "Don't just stand in the rain, FEEL it!" I "feel" the rain while listening to this beautiful song! Early morning dawning, simulated by strings. A little "rumbling" in the back, just like before a storm. The piano setting in when the first raindrops start falling. The guitar accompanying the piano, the rain increasing. The song ending with the piano by itself, tiny raindrops continuing to fall, echoing while the song slowly fades away.

Here comes 'Arduity Sails By'. Literally! I am not sure if Skully got his inspiration to this song by one of the big Ferries in the Irish Sea, or by a Sailboat gliding by. To me it sounds like the engines of the Ferry are slowly starting, turning into the rhythmic, steady sound one can hear when the Ferry leaves port and gains speed. A little creaking and moaning, after all the engines have to run day after day, but there she goes!

Love Trains? Listen to 'Gare De Montrabe' and go on a journey through the country side. You can hear the rhythmic, metallic sound made by the wheels of a moving train. The clickety clack everyone is familiar with living close to a train station.

'My Waltz With Matilda' is another favorite of mine!
I sat listening to it one night and imagined an entire story to this song:
Someone walking up to a big, beautiful old house. It is empty and overgrown by ivy. The person opens the front door and walks into a great hall. Silence greets the person, and only the stairs creak when the person walks upstairs. A double door leads into a ballroom. There are no furniture left, but in the far left corner a grand piano with a piano bench awaits. The person sits down on the bench, opens the lid, wipes the dust off the keys and starts playing 'Matilda'. For a moment it seems like the old house is waking up and is listening to the music. A young couple appears out of nowhere and starts dancing. Laughter, bits and pieces of conversations and the clicking of champagne glasses can be heard. As soon as the music ends, the couple disappears and the house is quiet once again. The person closes the lid softly, gets up and looks around one more time. Down the stairs and into to the great hall the person goes, closes the front door and walks away.

Cont'd next page

Reviews Cont'd

'Trouble' must have given Skully the most Trouble, pun intended!
What a challenge it must have been to combine the flute from the 1970's Horslips hit 'Trouble With a Capital T', and the guitar from their acoustic album 'Rollback' recorded in 2004. The end result with the 2 melodies combined, and the flute and guitar playing for the very first time together, is amazing!

These are just a few songs I love listening to from this beautiful digital album! Skully's pride and joy, rightly so. Go and give it a listen and make up your own stories to each song!

Skully is a remarkable artist who will welcome you warmly as his "friend" on www.myspace.com/skullymusic!
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Irish Makeover Review/Skully

By: An Adoring Fan in California in the US of A: Darlene Napier Upton

I hardly know where to start, how about the beginning;

I first meet Skully around last December 2008; I had posted on myspace that my son and I had gone to see the Fairly new Irish/Scottish group in Los Angeles, at the Nokia Live on Thanksgiving weekend, I was so excited; then, not knowing what was going to happen I get a message from a guy in Ireland, Cork to be exact, who tells me about himself and a new CD called "Irish Makeover' I had no idea how lucky I had become.
This man is a genius; I listened, I fell in love with his all so special musical talent, and Skully and I have messaged each other via myspace ever since. You can tell how much of his heart and soul he pours into this music. His music masterpieces are direct from his heart to the hearts of his listeners. This man is gorgeous, caring, fun and totally too awesome for words. Skully deserves to have his talent recognized and heard as much as possible and I know he will be around for a long-long time. It's very amazing to me that he takes the time to answer all the posts personally from not just one but a few sites with care. Now about Irish Makeover;

I have my favorites;

Molly Malone; couldn't be any better, I absolutely love the vocals, it's powerful and its one you hum along to all day, out loud or to yourself. It's exactly what he states; Chill Out, Traditional Folk song. Skully's musical talent shines as well as the vocals. As described by another, his instrumentals give 'wings' to the mind%u2026.flight to the imagination%u2026
%u2026. %u2026

Black Bird; VERY excellent, I LOVE this song, makes me feel like I'm in Ireland in a mystical place in total serenity; a total unique and entrancing sound. Kate Murphy's harmonizing vocals and Skully's electronica talent make this song extremely passionate..

All Around My Hat; this makes me happy, upbeat and like nothing can change the way I feel; Skully's amazing talent shines, the vocals are in true Irish spirit and make this song unforgettable.

King of the Fairies; I play this one on my way to work, yes, over and over, it puts me in a great place and wanting to be the Queen of the Fairies and nothing can stop me now! It's a pure Skully masterpiece, the sounds are powerful and mystic and I like being there!

Shirin; this is one of Skully's very own, straight from his heart to yours. The sounds are beautiful and passionate, you can tell a lot of love went into this song, it tells a story of the man who created it.

Mardyke; another one of Skully's very own; catchy, fun and upbeat, instrumental perfection at its finest; takes you to another world where there are no problems or sorrow, to a totally different place, to Skully's world.

Skully's talent doesn't stop here, these are just a few of my favorites off of Irish Makeover; he's very much involved with other musical masterpieces other then just this one; check his myspace page, facebook, reverbnation, and you'll see, you will not be sorry!

I couldn't of said it any better then this;
Listen to 'Irish Makeover' and a makeover is exactly what you get.
Timeless Irish Classics have been given a fresh appeal reaching out to new listeners across borders, time zones, and electronic pathways. Digital Irish sounds refresh the baton which has been passed down for generations. Celtic music is suddenly modern and COOL. Everybody loves it. The man behind the music is a modern marvel - some say a genius.
(I took this from another friend's post, its too good not to mention)

I just can't say enough about Skully, his music is as refreshing as he is; he's a true talent and I wish him the best now and in the future, he has a lot to give and I'm sure he will be the BEST amongst the truly musical genius' of the entire world!
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My Waltz With Matilda" from Skully's "Without A Voice" album

commentary by Pam

This beautiful piece of piano music from Skully is a journey of enchantment filling one's heart with joy, security and romance.

It begins with restrained intermittent high pitched notes from the ivories that imply the reluctance of the lady to accept the gentleman's hand in dance. The tender melody from the Steinway encourages the reticent pair of dancers to embark on their waltz. Skully's masterful blend of reassuring harmony carries the couple into a compatible movement of merriment.

His soft deep tones supporting the refrain reveal the roguish smile on the gentleman's face as they glide across the floor while the interspersed twitter notes denote the lady's nervous giggles.

The rich bass ivory keystrokes embody the strength of her dancing partner as he sweeps her into a spin-and-dip with his firm but gentle grip on her arm and she succumbs to his masculinity.

As the music fades, the couple waltzes away into the night disappearing as they are enveloped by the fragrant evening mist.

You can purchase this piece at itunes.

PROFESSOR SKULLY From "theryan-o-riain22"

SUPERGROUP 1.4 UK.

A slight switch of genre now as we head towards Irelands masters of dance, trance , lounge and electronica of which Ireland holds some of the most 'elite' of the musical world.
Our first (and Irelands most famous) master of sound first started out as a DJ at the age of fourteen before moving into the freshly developing 'electronic' sound that was now starting to find it's foothold in the international music industry. His experiments with sound engineering on the cutting edge of electronica soon earned him the title of 'The Professor' among Ireland and the UK's musical community.
Despite alot of success with the band 'Chapterhouse' - especialy in Ireland - our pioneer grew tired of the bands international limitations and decided to go on a seven year solo spree as a real 'Professor' teaching English language to the students of Toulouse University in France. It was while teaching on the campus that he ended up going to a concert of a dance teacher who just also happened to be one of the most talented choreographers to have ever come out from Africas Ivory Coast. Her voice was astoundingly beautiful and the songs and sounds of her own African culture at that particular concert became a seed of inspiration in a fresh wave of musical creativity that led our musician into writing a few albums worth of material specificaly geared to surround, capture and and highlight that female choreographers voice.The singer, it seems, was just as impressed by his musical creations as he was by her voice and in 1997 Aida and 'Professor' Skully formed their unique two piece musical masterpiece called Metisse.
'Metisse' - the French for 'mixture' is exactly what it is... a blending of the Celtic Irish electronic music of Skully with the intensely expressive and powerfull African traditional and soulfulness of Aida as expressed in the French language. As the demos of their new musical mixture found their way into the offices of the worlds record companies, the return of post brought offer, after offer, for recording contracts and signings.Sony Publishing offered them a worldwide publishing deal even though they hadn't yet signed a recording contact with anyone...and the sound engineers of every record company to hear them out were all so impressed that they all refused to tamper with Skully's home studio recordings as they were all made to a quality that was higher than their own best technicians could accomplish.Skully's recording, engineering and production skills were it seemed, second to no one elses in the entire music industry worldwide.
A contract with Telstar looked very promising, but when it became apparent that the label were more interested in marketing and commercialisation than anything artistic Skully bought their album 'It's My Fault' back from Telstar. This brave move, that could quite well have ended up bankrupting them, instead led to much greater freedom and success as they returned their 'French speaking' household to Skully's native Cork. It soon transpired that one of their greatest fans was Madonna (whose own trance and dance creations of recent years were very much inspired by the duo) and when Madonna embarked on the film project 'The Next Best Thing' she chose the 'very best' for the soundtrack by using the music from her favourite band 'Metisse' . The singles and album quickly made their way to the top of the Billboard and every top compilation album producer concievable requested tracks from Metisse for their upcoming releases from 'The Ministry of Sound' and 'Chillout' to 'Essential Soundtracks'.
A 'Metisse V Horslips' track -using the now world famous Dearg Doom riff from the founders of Celtic Rock- became the Irish football teams theme tune as well as the RTE World Cup theme for the 2002 World Cup...The same year also saw the pair play to crowds of between twelve to a hundred thousand throughout europe. RTE also use Metisse creations for their 'Nationwide ' news programme and their music has been featured in countless TV programs throughout Ireland, the UK, Canada and the United States in programs such as 'ER, The Bill, Dead Like Me etc. When the UK electrical giant 'Curry's' were looking for an artist to help them test and advertise the most powerfull new sound audio systems for home use on the market today it seemed only natural to approach the sound engineer that the worlds most reknowned sound authorities described as the very best...Professor Skully is very much in demand.
Metisse's second album was entitled 'Nomahs Land' and again it drew heavily on Aidas haunting African cultural vocalisations and Skully's rich electronic and classical soundscapes to draw its listeners on to a deeply moving and emotionaly empowered musical journey that keeps up the emotional momentum from the very first note until the very last...When the couple (very amicably) seperated (they are still very close and live five minutes apart )Skully's musical escapades continued (as do Aida's ) with a number of musical collaberations and a solo release with a very unique and 'tasty' approach...
Skully's solo album aptly entitled 'without a voice' features wave after wave of laid back, funked up, upbeat and chilled out musical genius - including the purely musical renditions of former Metisse masterpieces such as 'Nomah's Land' but an extra stroke of genius came in his first solo American release that paired him up with the world famous American 'gourmet' and 'hand made' fudge company, the 'Seaport Fudge Factory' in San Diego. The company ships its gourmet confectionary worldwide but in 2008 they made a very special selection of chocolate entitled the 'Sweet Chocolate Seranade' which includes a special selection of Skully's songs on disc including 'It Rained that Morning' and 'Nomah's Land for Three Piano's'...a move that is very likely to start a wave of 'Skullymania' among the worlds female chocolate lovers!
Further projects over the last eighteen months include 'STILL' featuring the vocals of LA female soul singer 'Esther' and 'Irish Makeover', a chillout makeover of famous Irish folk songs and tunes featuring many established gifted vocalists and another traditional tune first made famous beyond Irelands borders by the Celtic rockers Horslips entitled 'The King Of The Fairies' (a classic reworking of the original 1976 and 2004 versions of the Horslips track 'Trouble' is also found on Skullys other original solo profile in the links below) . There are also upcoming plans for a tour of the Irish Makeover set along with further collaberations with vocalist Kate Murphy and further dance albums in the process of being mixed right now.The musical empire of Professor Skully is expanding rapidly so there are plenty of links to explore for this Master of Irish trance, dance and electronica - including the link to find and order that exclusively tasty chocolate fudge mix to drive the women folk wild...so get stuck in by exploring the following at...

FUDGE FACTORY:

http://www.seaportfudgefactory.com/skullyshirin.html

How IRISH Makeover was produced!

Mark McAvoy's (DOWNTOWN) article.

Having firmly established himself, both nationally and internationally, with acts such as Chapterhouse, Métisse and more recently as a solo artist, Cork producer and musician Skully embarked on an ambitious and bold new project. Working on his new album Irish Makeover (2008) saw Skully recruit and collaborate with emerging talent in an effort to bravely reinterpret and revamp classic Irish folk songs. The fruits of this labour are a triumph: a record which should achieve both longevity and critical acclaim.

Skully, who is based in Ireland, reflects on how the album was conceived. He reveals: "It was on a winter's night in Cork about two years ago. Métisse had kind off wound down. We had stopped recording together. I was working on my solo album and I met Charlie Pinder from V2 and Sony Publishing in Cork. I remember the brutal rain pouring out of the sky. We were running back to his hotel and he turned around to me and said: 'I have a great idea! Why don't you do Skullyized folk songs?' None of us took it very seriously. I had never thought of it before. Even the thought of Irish folk songs would have put my barriers up. After a couple of weeks of living with the idea, I kind of thought: "Let's give it a crack!" I started at the Rushbrooke Hotel in a little garage looking out over the river and it was just a stunning backdrop. It represented the turning over of a page for me musically and the beginning of a new era. I was now going to work with lots of different people on a very exciting project."

Skully enlisted an impressive array of talented musicians to aid him on this new musical departure. He enthuses: "I didn't want to go for the old favourites. I wanted to use what I thought were the up and coming vocalists. So everybody is very young on the album. It is a Cork project and this album was made on the shores of Cork harbour, although it is very colloquial and very local with very local ideas, it is still a worldwide project."

One musician enlisted by Skully was Cork troubadour Mick Flannery, who recently entered the Irish top ten album charts with his second long-player White Lies (2008). Skully is delighted with Flannery's performance on the track The Lakes of Pontchartrain. He explains: "What I was trying to do here was take these songs into the 21st century. What is The Lakes of Pontchartrain? It is one of the most beautiful folk songs that we have. Everyone is used to listening to this, sitting at a fireplace in a pub down in West Cork or in Kerry or somewhere like that. Mick Flannery has this incredible raw voice. Although he is very young, he sounds weathered. My brief to Mick was to sing this like he was in a pub, which he did sitting on a chair with his head in his hands. Then I just twisted this piece of music so far away from what you would be expecting. It has suddenly become a very electronic sound, very far away from its origins, which were the pub. Mick's voice was the only voice that could have done that."

Another well-established Cork vocalist who appears on Irish Makeover is songstress Annette Buckley. "Annette did Scarborough Fair. Although it isn't really an Irish song, it is on every single Irish compilation album. It's a beautiful folk song. Again, I wanted to break down all the preconceived ideas of what Scarborough Fair is about. We all know the song and the Simon and Garfunkel version. Nothing of that is in this song. In fact, there is a quality to Annette's voice which is like a 1920s voice. There is a gorgeous quality to it. Here you have an Irish version of an English folk song sung by an Irish Girl that sounds like it comes from the 1920s, yet it is electronic. It's very odd! But it works."

During the process of recruiting vocalists for this project, Skully discovered a new
Cork vocal talent - Kate Murphy. Skully recalls: "Kate Murphy is from Douglas. She is a friend of my sisters. That is how I recruited her. I was at a party one night and I heard Kate singing and she blew me away. She is a folk singer and a very talented songwriter. She sang Blackbird and All Around My Hat, which I still think is an Irish song, but some people say it's English. Kate was a stunning vocalist to work with!"

Juno Falls main-man, Myles O'Reilly, was given the unenviable task of singing on the interpretation of the classic The Ballad of Molly Malone, which for this release has been simply renamed Molly Malone, presumably to distinguish the new dark version from the original. Skully confesses: "Miles and I go back a long time and he is an awesome, awesome vocalist. Miles did two tracks; She Moved Through The Fair and probably the most recognisable, yet weirdest track on the album, Molly Malone. This is a really sinister, twisted version of the song that we all know and Miles's voice cuts through it."

Thanks to the Internet, Skully sought input from his fans across the world while working on this album. This was also a factor in terms of creating the album's quirky artwork. Skully admits: "Sean O'Leary who designed the cover wanted a dog with a pair of headphones. So we decided to ask everybody online from our My Space page if they could send us in photographs of their dogs wearing headphones. We got llamas, rabbits, pigs and dozens of dogs. We even had people complaining that their dogs ate the headphones. Eventually we got our dog and headphones for the album cover."

Irish Makeover is released nationwide on October 20. For more information visit the website www.myspace.com/irishskully.

Irish Song Lyrics From Irish Makeover

IF I WAS A BLACKBIRD

I am a young maiden, my story is sad
For once I was courted by a brave sailin' lad
He courted me strongly, by night and by day
Oh, but now he has left me, and sailed far away

Chorus:
And if I was a blackbird I'd whistle and sing
And I'd follow the vessel my true love sails in
And on the top riggin' I would there build my nest
And I'd flutter my wings o'er his lily white breast

Chorus

Well, he promised to take me to Donnybrook Fair
And to buy me red ribbons for to tie up my hair
And when he'd come home from the ocean so wide
He would take me, and make me, his own bonny bride

Chorus

Now his parents they slight me, and will not agree
That me and my sailor boy married will be
But when he comes home, I will greet him with joy
And I'll take to my heart my dear sailor boy

Chorus

MOLLY MALONE

In Dublin's fair city where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheels her wheel barrow through the streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive alive-o

Chorus:
Alive alive-o, alive alive-o
Crying cockles and mussels alive alive-o

She was a fishmonger but sure 'twas no wonder
For so were her father and mother before
And they both wheeled their barrow
through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive alive-o

She died of a fever and no one could save her
And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone
But her ghost wheels her barrow
through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive alive-o

ALL AROUND MY HAT

I had a true love, if ever a girl had one
I had a true love, a brave lad was he
One fine Easter morning, with his gallant comrades
He started away for to set Ireland free.

cho: All round my hat, I'll wear the tri-colored ribbon
All 'round my hat I'll wear the green white and gold;
And if anyone should ask me the reason that I'm wearing it
It's for my true love (I never more shall see) or (in the I.R.A.)

He whispered, "Goodbye, love, Old Ireland is calling
High over Dublin the tricolour flies;
In the streets of the city, the foeman is falling
And wee birds are singing, "Old Ireland, arise!"

His bandolier 'round him, his bright eyes a-shining
His short service rifle, a beauty to see,
There was joy in his eyes, though he left me behind him
And started away for to set Ireland free.

[My true love is a soldier, he's fighting for old Ireland
His short service rifle is a wonder to see;
And as the moon was declining, he left me repining
His bright bayonet shining, to keep old Ireland free.]

or:
All around my hat I wear the tricolor ribbon
All around my hat, until death comes to me
And if anybody's asking why do I wear it
It's all for my true love, I never more shall see.

In prayer and in waiting, the dark days passed over
The roar of the guns brought no messge to me
I prayed for Old Ireland, I prayed for my true love
That he might be safe and Old Ireland be free.

The struggle is ended, they brought me the story
The last whispered message he sent unto me,
I was true to the land, love, I fought for her glory
And gave up my life for to keep Old Ireland free.

RED IS THE ROSE

Come over the hills, my bonnie Irish lass
Come over the hills to your darling
You choose the rose, love, and I'll make the vow
And I'll be your true love forever

Chorus:
Red is the rose that in yonder garden grows
Fair is the lily of the valley
Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne
But my love is fairer than any

'Twas down by Killarney's green woods that we strayed
When the moon and the stars they were shining
The moon shone its rays on her locks of golden hair
And she swore she'd be my love forever

Chorus

It's not for the parting that my sister pains
It's not for the grief of my mother
'Tis all for the loss of my bonny Irish lass
That my heart is breaking forever

Chorus

IRISH MAKEOVER

Skully puts a twist on some old Irish favorites!

Musician and producer Skully, has released a new album with a twist! It is a compilation of old favorite Irish songs, performed by various artists such as Kate Murphy, Myles O'Reilly and Juno Falls. Skully adds his electro/keyboard skills to make this one of the best yet! Click the link below to listen to a sample of the album. Blackbird is phenominal!!!!

SKULLY SAYS:
I cannot take credit for the concept here, that accolade must go to Charlie Pinder Sony/V2/Burlywood. One rainy winters night in Cork, he came up with the idea of doing Old Irish folk songs, a la Skully! And so two years ago I set to work creating Skully versions of these beautiful old Irish songs. Although very electronic (after all that is what I do!) I strove to maintain the powerful emotion that these timeless master pieces possess. The album was recorded at the beautiful Rushbrook Hotel in Cobh, where I was spoilt rotten! and at my little cottage (Seen in the photos) I would like to sincerely thank all the artists who gave me their time and talent, each adding his or her own color and style to the songs. We had great fun making it! I hope everyone supporting it here, has the same fun listening! Skully.

IRISH MAKEOVER songs.

1/ Molly Malone
2/ The Lark in the clear air
3/ The Lakes of Pontchartrain
4/ Mardyke
5/ She moved through the fair
6/ Blackbird
7/ King of the Fairies
8/ Scarborough fair
9/ Red is the Rose
10/ All around my hat
11/ Shirin

Available on iTunes!!

BLACKBIRD.

Kate Murphy and I recorded this into the small hours of the night at this little cottage. At one end of the room, Skully's racks of hi tech recording equipment, samplers and computers, the other Kate's beautiful black dog Jake, asleep in front of the open fire, with an oil lamp burning and just one microphone.

And that sums up what this version of the Song is about, BLACKBIRD is an old folk song with old world feelings and beauty, and here it meets the 21st century. Beautifully sung by Kate, Its a wonderful example of how timeless these old IRISH songs can be.

Skully.

MARDYKE.

I wrote Mardyke for another prominent place in my life!

It is a beautiful leafy area in Cork, lines of colored doors, beautiful old bridges, close to the river Lee.

Blindfaith had their second recording studio there, ELM TREE, it is where my career started, and is the place where I became addicted to Coffee, and where music became my mistress....

We would finish at 5 am and I would walk home alone, thankful of the cold crisp air after the heat of the studio, and the silence, just the birds singing.

Karl and I recorded this at my own recording studio at the beautiful Rushbrook hotel, just a little way down the same river from the MARDYKE.

Skully.

OVER 11,000 HITS ON THE IRISH MAKEOVER PLAYER IN JUST 2 MONTHS!!! WOW!!! CLICK BELOW AND SEE WHY!!!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SKULLY!!!! APRIL 2009

Skully gives us the inside scoop on his career and projects in the works!!

Thank you to Skully for graciously agreeing to do this interview. We all appreciate your taking the time to answer these questions. I hope this interview answers some of the "many" questions we have about this wonderful man who enriches our lives so much every day. Sandy

1. At what age did you take a serious interest in music?

**I would guess around 12, I was a DJ when I was 13.

2. Did you have any formal training on piano/keyboards?

**I did do piano, but found it soul destroying learning to play TEN LITTLE INDIANS by sight, while playing Scott Joplin by ear at school concerts! I was asked to leave music in high school. I was told it wasn't for me!

3. Your father was a very well known musician in Ireland. What influence did he have on your choice of careers? Was he supportive of your choice?

**My Father is the reason I chose this career. He has always been incredibly supportive, and I always run things past him if I am having production problems.

4. There was some very good electronic music around in the 80's, although some of the groups had a hard time getting recognized or having their music played on "mainstream" radio stations. Why did you decide to take on electronic music yourself?

**KRAFTWERK! They were such a relief from 3 guitars and a drum kit. After hearing Autobahn, I started saving for my first Moog synthesizer!

5. What kind of music do you like to listen to?

**I like a lot of different music; Bach, Purcell, Handle, Kraftwerk, Leftfield, Trentemoller, Fat Boy Slim, The Bonzo Do Da Band

6. It seems that you have always been writer/producer/musician behind the scenes, and letting the singers get the bulk of the publicity. Do you mind being "invisible" and staying in the background?

**I am a realist. When you work with girls as beautiful as Aida, Esther or Ann, well bar the odd Labrador enthusiast, I know who I would rather look at!

7. When you released your own music CD, "Without A Voice", were you surprised at how well it was received, especially since it was all instrumental?

**In fact, I am more surprised that it just seems to be getting bigger and bigger. I just released it online as an experiment, but it has generated such an interest, that we are thinking of giving it a full CD release! I am thrilled about it, because it really is my baby!

8. I have heard that your favorite Metisse song is "Pray", but what is your favorite song from Without A Voice, if you could choose just one? Why?
**Easy: IMPORTANT STAFF ANNOUNCEMENT! I think there is a good humored lazy feel to it, although there is a lot happening in it, it doesn't take itself too seriously.

9. Every song writer has a special way of creating their music. What is your process? Do the ideas just appear to you like a flash, or is it something that you must really think about? Is there a special place you like to go, that gets your creative "juices" flowing, or do you create in your studio?

**Yes. Most of my MySpace friends know this place, Travara in the west of Ireland. There are 2 parts to what I do, melody and chord sequence, I do in my head usually, and work it out later on piano. The longer more difficult procedure is creating the sounds and samples.

10. A lot of work and time goes into creating an album. How long does it take, and what happens once you are done creating the songs?

**My studio can produce a massive range of frequencies (3 hertz (HZ) to 55,000 KHZ). This would blow most sound systems to bits. Mastering compresses and enhances recordings to suit all systems. There are also frequencies that sound nice to the human ear, and others that do not. Mastering removes or enhances these frequencies. All of my mastering is done by Miles Showell at Metropolis in London. It is a very technical process, but means that I can push sounds to the absolute limit, relaxed in the knowledge that whatever I throw at him, Miles can turn to gold! WITHOUT A VOICE took me 3 years to record, and really pushed Miles to the limit!

11. So much of you is in each piece that you create. What song from all of your music was the most difficult to produce?

**TROUBLE. It was like mixing technologies from different eras together! It is also one I am very proud of!

12. The song "Trouble" was a blending of two versions of the song. How long did it take you to put it together?

**I think it was about 3 weeks, but tuning and stretching the flute and guitar samples from the original recordings took about 17 hours.

13. At times, we are far removed from the music scene in Europe, however the internet has made it easier to get exposure. Celtic Radio Network is now playing your music, but it seems that it takes time to get through to other venues. Are you primarily targeting the European market, or are you considering venturing more into the US market?

**2009 has been our best year so far. This is all thanks to the internet, which has made my music accessible to the whole world. We are not targeting the US, but my music does seem to appeal to a lot of Americans.

14. Is there anything new in the works that you can tell us about, or is it "Top Secret"?

**At the moment I am working on 3 new albums.

15. Have you ever considered doing a "Skully" remake of some of the most popular love songs from the past & present? This would be an extreme hit with your female fans!

**That's what Hallelujah is, a suggestion from a friend! I have also been asked to do a version of "Can't Help Falling in Love". So, I guess that's a yes!

16. I know that over the years, you have reached many of your goals and ambitions, but is there still something that you would like to accomplish?

**I have already achieved one of my ambitions. I wanted to touch as many people as I could across the world with my music. I have done this with Boom Boom Ba. I think most people in the world have now heard it!! My next ambition is to get my own music into a movie or TV show.

17. I simply have to ask this question, as no interview would be complete without it! Many of your female fans are quite "enamored" with you. How does this make you feel, and how do you keep all the praise and love showered on you in perspective?

**I love it!! We all have great fun on MySpace! It's like a little club of people who really like the music I make. Nothing can be more flattering than that!

18. Some of your fans are asking if you will ever go on tour? Are there any plans in the making, or have you even considered it?

**Yes, I am planning to tour, but it is complex with this kind of music, so for the moment the internet is my venue.

19. Where do you see yourself and your music 10 years from now?

**I hope exactly where I am. The internet has brought my music to people all over the world! I am learning from people everyday, how my music affects them, in some cases how it has changed their lives! It is exciting to watch my fan base grow so fast! I would change nothing. I really do have the perfect life!

**Special thanks to Pam & Berry who helped create the questions. :-)

Without A Voice - Poem by David C. Maughan

This poem was inspired by Skully's song "Arduity Sails By"

Printed with permission from David C. Maughan. You can read more of David's work at http://www.myspace.com/thewallruss

Without a Voice

by: David C. Maughan
© (2009)

Horizon

There is none,

The sea and sky

Meld into one;

Day and night

Do blend together

Time stands still

One moment, one forever

Sun and moon

And stars may shine

It matters not

When lost in time

About me feel

My love's embrace

Her cool kisses

Bath my face

She holds my heart

And thus my soul

She takes my life

Through sweet cajole

The sea and I

Will lovers be

For now

For all eternity

========================================

Inspired by the masterful music of Skully; his newly releced CD (where I got my title with his permission) "Without a Voice". More directly from the song "Arduity Sailed by"; wonderful music creating wonderful images within the mind's eye.

I was filled with memories of long days and nights at sea; going to or returning from somewhere my nation thought I should be. Quite alone with my thoughts and no voices%u2026 save the ones inside my brain, finding my escape.

Thanks Skully

~Dave

Boom Boom Ba - The Correct Lyrics

These lyrics are directly from Metisse!

I have been checking the internet for the lyrics to Boom Boom Ba, and found that every site that claims to have them, do not!! They are completely wrong on every site!! So, here are the CORRECT lyrics, straight from Metisse (Aida & Skully). Part of this beautiful song is done in the Dioula & Agni dialects (Ivory Coast).

Boom boom bâ

A boom boom bâ, (x4)
Kélé, fila, saba, nani, norou

A boom boom bâ, Can you hear my heart beat in this world
A boom boom bâ, Do you know that behind all these words
A boom boom bâ, Lies a deep desire Kamélé hé !
A boom boom bâ, Mé kouman mé fora y bamê

Are my dreams to be all I can do ?
Lay o lay above, lay o lay below
And he said Anny will show them a new way
Mé kouman mé fora y bamê

Kélé, filla, saba, nani, norou

A boom boom bâ, Can you hear my heart beat in this world
A boom boom bâ, Do you know that behind all these words
A boom boom bâ, Lies a deep desire Kamélé hé !
A boom boom bâ, Mé kouman mé fora y bamê

Are my dreams to be all I can do ?
Lay o lay above, lay o lay below
And he said Anny will show them a new way
Mé kouman mé fora y bamê

Kélé, fila, saba, nani, norou

A boom boom bâ, Can you hear my heart beat in this world
A boom boom bâ, Do you know that behind all these words
A boom boom bâ, Lies a deep desire Kamélé hé !
A boom boom bâ, Mé kouman mé fora y bamê

Kélé, fila, saba, nani, norou

A boom boom bâ, Aligna donguiri ma digné
A boom boom bâ, Mé kouman mé fôra y bamê
A boom boom bâ, Aligna donguiri ma digné
A boom boom bâ, Mé kouman mé fôra y bamê

Kélé, fila, saba, nani, norou
Can you hear my heart beat in this word ( x 2)
Kélé, fila, saba, nani, norou

Metisse.....The Beginning

From ShowBiz.ie by Kevin Barry August 18, 1999

It's high summer in Fountainstown, a beach village 20 minutes from Cork city, and July is proving to be something less than a swelter: sheets of apocalyptic rain fall from the blackened skies, a nasty south-westerly is rippin' up from the Azores and there is somehow an icy bite in the seaside air. But inside a small quaint house overlooking the beach, something discordantly lush and humidly tropical is pungently a-brew.

Surrounded by banks of space age recording equipment, hemmed in on all sides by swanky keyboards, sophisticatedly humming computer gizmos and assorted techie playthings, a man called Skully is fiddling merrily with samplers and sequencers and gazing good-naturedly at the deluge outside. "Well, there's a lot of wetness that runs right through our story" he says. "A lot of water and a lot of rain". Skully is a tall, gangly, looming sort of character, mid-30's, kind of weather beaten. You see him as the sort of fellow who might have only recently crawled down from the side of a mountain in West Cork. You wouldn't be so far out, as he hails from the town of Bantry, a windswept ( and yes, very watery ) place on the verge of the Beara peninsula.

Aïda, Skully's partner and collaborator, is somewhere around her late 20's, born in the Ivory Coast and brought up in France, all poise and composure and small elegant gestures. She's very gorgeous. Together, they make up Métisse, which means 'mixture' in French and it's probably as good a coverall description of their music as you'll come up with. It's a kind of organic electronica, a blend of pastoral idyllic shades and smoothly sauntering melody lines, all of it moulded with a shrewd technological nous.

When it began to seep through about three years ago, it proved the kind of music that would quickly ignite that terrible inferno of music biz lust that is generally referred to as an A&R frenzy. A small and tasteful Parisian label you've never heard of was first off the mark, tabling a small deal, but they were shunted back down the queue ( merde! ) when Trevor Horn got to hear a Métisse tape, and sent his label, the legendary ZTT, in with an offer. According to various industry guesstimates, anywhere between six and thirteen other labels became involved in the catfight. Eventually, Métisse signed a deal with Sony Publishing and hammered out a recording contract with Wildstar, an offshoot of Telstar.

This pincer movement of a development project has to date seen a figure in the high, high six figures invested in the act. They're getting the best of everything: the best studio in the best recording house in London, the niftiest engineers, the tastiest video-makers, personal security people, and for the photo sessions, Rankin, the man who shoots Madonna.

It's a quare size of a leap from just a couple of years ago, when the pair were living in Bantry. " We were in the grocery shop one day," recalls Skully " and there were actual tears when we found that we didn't have the price of bread." But the ink dried on the contracts and the bucks started to roll in. Métisse relocated from Bantry to Fountainstown because it was handier for Cork Airport, facilitating the relay of agents and publishers and assorted industry gurus who now arrive from London on an almost daily basis. The house got kitted out with state-of-the-art recording equipment ("a happy day" - Skully) and work continued at pace. The act's first single, 'Sousoundé', has just been released in Ireland to test the waters and, next month, their debut album gets an international launch.

Sitting back in Fountainstown as the pair play back tracks from the record, you can understand why. The music is very polished, baroque and orchestral, very lush and velvety, with Aïda's stunning voice colouring the tunes in a many-hued wash. You could be cruel and say it's coffee-table-ambient-dance -music-for-adults, songs for swinging mortgage holders. It's very radio friendly, and it's just a little different, what with Aida singing in French and English and a couple of African dialects - Dioula, her mother's and Agni, her father's. It's all pretty catchy, and kind of cute. It certainly sounds as if it could sell a million. And so, as the rain gossips viciously on the windowpane, and the clouds thicken and squat on the deserted beach, we talk about the way it all panned out. "I was about 14," says Skully, "and I set up this band called Real Mayonnaize, with me on keyboards. We were megastars around the northside of Cork city and it was great fun, but we were kind of ropey. This was the heyday of Microdisney and Burning Embers and all that and we all hung out around Elm Tree Studios. That was just its own little world. "The first band split and I put together Chapterhouse and that got a little further. We were the best new band of '86 in Hot Press, there was airplay and TV and we met a guy from Virgin but he signed Something Happens instead and I gave up. I followed my heart and went to Toulouse." Music was by now off the agenda. "I gave it up completely. I started teaching English and enjoying the sun. France was very different from Ireland then, it wasn't in recession and I was living it up. I avoided music completely, I didn't even listen to it. In the end, I didn't touch a keyboard for nine years." So there was joy, there was fun, there were seasons in the sun. But it couldn't last. "I hit a low point in my life," says Skully, "I was down and a friend came to me in Toulouse and said go back to the music, give it a try. So I hauled the keyboard out from under the bed, an old DX7, and I started doodling onto a cassette machine and instantly, I was in love. That was it. It wasn't going to be put away again."

Things developed a little. Skully messed around with a reggae band and then a close-harmony girl group ("great fun") but he needed something to set his own music off. "I heard about Aïda. She was singing with this cabaret and I tried to get along to see her a couple of times but it never worked out. Then one day I was sitting in a coffee shop looking out the window and I saw this girl loading amps and speakers into a car and I knew it had to be her. So I went up approached her and said, "scuse me, you wouldn't by any chance be a singer?" Eventually, she agreed to listen to some stuff and I wrote some tracks specially. After a couple of weeks of hassling her, and stalking her, basically, she agreed to come up to the house." One thing led to another. Tapes were sent out and things started to roll at quite a clip. "For the first time in my life, I had record companies ringing me, pestering me," says Skully. "It all seemed kind of unreal." By this time a couple, Skully and Aïda decided that Toulouse was just a shade too far removed from the main action ( this was pre-Air, pre-Daft Punk ) and they hit the road for Bantry. "We gave up our lives in France," he says. "We packed everything into a van and took off in the middle of the night to catch a ferry. We drove right across France in lashing, pouring, awful rain, and we got on the boat and crashed and the we woke up and looked out and we were sailing past Cobh. It was just the most glorious sunshine."

The meteorology aglimmer with happy portents, they set up home and studio in Bantry and waited for a deal to be completed. "After we turned down ZTT, there was a scarey couple of months," says Skully. "We were broke and wondering if we'd done the right thing. We were a bit shaky about the whole business." Then Sony came through. "The guy came over from Sony and we brought him up to Sheep Head in West Cork, drove up there on the most wretched bloody awful night imaginable - pouring, lashing, pouring rain - and we got out the contract and the pencil and we signed it on the bonnet of the car." All the while, the pair had continued recording and with the move to the rugged splendour of County Cork, the music started to subtly change. "It had to really, I suppose," says Skully. "Looking out the window at Bantry Bay while you're recording, or down here, looking out at the beach and ships rolling into the harbour, it has to have an effect. But that doesn't mean it all went Celtic. Our music definitely isn't that sort of Afro-Celt thing. Actually, when you're away from Ireland, there's probably more of a temptation to go down that diddley-aye road." Much of the preliminary work for the album was recorded in Fountainstown before an intensive period in the plush environs of London's Townhous complex ("Studio A" - Skully ). All the vocals were put down in Cork. " It's just so much more relaxed," says Aïda. "In a big studio, everyones looking at you and talking to you and moving around and because the songs are so intimate, it's very difficult for me. But here it's quiet and dark. "

"And it's just the two of us." Says Skully. "and it might be four in the morning and we're talking to each other on headphones and the ships are rolling in and out of the harbour and the gas lamp is going." "And it'll usually start with some music," says Aida. "and that might give an idea for a line or a melody." By now, there are 37 tracks in the can, currently being whittled down to ten or a dozen for the record. Skully boffins together most of the music, Aïda most of the lyrics. " It's all about how we live," she says. "and the people who are around us. Some of it would be quite dark." Métisse first caused a stir in the clubs, when remix icons FreqNasty, 4 Hero, and DJ Cam reworked one of their tracks. It zoomed to the top of the deejay charts and got hyped in the dance mags. The band, however, see this element of their work more as a side project. "It's very useful," says Aida. "That kind of collaboration with people you never meet can send you in all sorts of new directions, can give you so many new ideas." But the album won't be a dancefloor thing. " It's got more of a late night feel," says Skully.

 "We have done some serious dance tracks but we have ballads too. The technology allows us to do so much, we sample stuff around the house. You can record the sound of a pepper-shaker and with the equipment, you can give it emotion." Sometimes, the music needs to be opened out and for one track, a song about domestic abuse called 'My Fault', Métisse recorded with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. "They did a take of it and it was technically superb," says Skully. " but it was kind of cold. So we went back in to them and told them what the song was about and the second time, it was unbelievable. It turned into a very emotional thing, the double bass player was crying. It was a huge day for us."

After the album's release, Métisse will do a series of live shows and they are confident of presenting something of a spectacle. "We just want to do it right," says Skully. "We've all seen the same stuff at gigs for so long, the same flashing lights and the same two speakers in front of the stage. We want people to leave our shows saying, 'well, that was different'. The music is kind of cinematic so we'll synchronise images with each track and the way we'll work it, I'll be in the middle of the crowd with the keyboards while Aïda will be alone on stage. So I'll be able to gauge the crowd's mood and at the same time, they won't have to look at me! We'll mess around with quadrophonic sound and we've been talking with Macnas about getting involved and The Light Surgeons and it seems to be coming together."

Right now, things are tensing up for Métisse as they await the album's release. They will stay based in Fountainstown, shuttling back and forth to th UK to take care of business. Aïda is happy with the place, though she sometimes misses French food and French sun. "Who could want more?" asks Skully, his eyes pinned to the sodden beach. "We're looking out to sea . . . making music . . . getting paid for it . . . it's unreal" I leave them to it and head back to Cork. The rain doesn't stop.

Kevin Barry . . . HOT PRESS . . .18th August 1999.

Irish Musician and Producer Skully Releases His First Solo Album!

Article for The Echo by Mark McAvoy.

SKULLY STEPS OUT OF METISSE SHADOW AND GOES DIGITAL ON HIS NEW ALBUM.

Stepping out of the shadow of his popular and extremely successful duo Metisse, acclaimed Irish musician and producer Skully is blazing a trail to chart success with the release of his eagerly awaited solo album.

The culmination of two years' work, WITHOUT A VOICE (2007) has just been released worldwide and sees the Irish man explore new musical and technological territory.

The Cork-based producer, together with his management, has decided to break new ground with the distribution of his debut album.

Skully reveals : 'This is my first totally digital release. We felt that there was still a demand for CD's but the people that are still looking for them as a group is getting smaller and smaller and smaller, So we decided, lets be brave and just give it a digital release. So this is our first one."

Given the huge success that Metisse have enjoyed in various online Myspace Charts, Its not surprising that Skully would see the obvious merits of a digital online release. The talented Irish music veteran points out : " I'm number two to Metisse at number one. Metisse have been number one for seven months and I have been number two for nearly four months. Metisse are so far ahead that i'll never catch up with them." But it is striking the gap between America and Europe when it comes to using digital music as the famed producer discovered.

He recalls: "America seems to have decided that CD's are a thing of the past. We are using a digital system where we can provide radio stations in America with broadcast quality MP3s, "What we found was that we sent the same player out to radio stations in Ireland and their response was to ask us to send out hard copies. We did the same thing with America but when we sent them out to America we asked them if they required hard copies and none of them did."

WITHOUT A VOICE features 12 instrumental tracks. Asked how he would describe the album, the former REAL MAYONNAIZE front man responds ; " I won't describe it! the wonderful thing about MYSPACE is fans can come back and tell me. The feeling I'm getting back from everybody is that they love the emotion in it. There is a lot of emotion in the songs. There are two very personal piano tracks on the album. "With an instrumental album it is very difficult to vary it, but I'm very happy with the mix of tracks. It jumps from being very electronic to very acoustic to a kind of a strong jazz feel to it and yet it hasn't strayed too far from the Metisse sound."

Released on BLINDFAITH DIGITAL, WITHOUT A VOICE is now available on iTunes.

Fans can hear tracks from the album by visiting Skully's Myspace : www.myspace.com/skullymusic

WITHOUT A VOICE Tracklist:

1. Nomah's Land (for 3 pianos)

2. Arduity Sails By

3. Important Staff Announcement

4. Crime Of Honesty

5. Self Fulfilling Prophecy

6. Trouble

7. The Arcadia Ballroom

8. The Seaport Fudge Factory

9. Gare De Montrabe

10. Release The Balloons

11. It rained That Morning

12. My Waltz With Matilda

****ALL SKULLY MUSIC CAN BE PURCHASED FROM ITUNES, OR ON SKULLY'S WEBSITE AT WWW.SKULLY.IE.  METISSE MUSIC IS AVAILABLE FROM ITUNES ALSO.

INSPIRATIONS (From Skully's blog)

(GARE DE MONTRABE)
MONTRABE TRAIN STATION

I used to live in the GARE de MONTRABE. (Montrabe Train station) near Toulouse in France.

I was living with the Station Master. A beautiful French girl who would open the station every morning while I made the coffee!

My life revolved around the movement of trains. I became immune to the unbelievable noise of a train racing by outside our window. Unlike many of our guests who would end up screaming in panic at the foot of our bed thinking the world was ending, because the 3.30am goods train was trundling past.

In my tribute to that beautiful old building, MONTRABE TRAIN STATION, perhaps you can hear the rhythm of the trains, and a slight French flavor from the accordion that makes an appearance from time to time...

TROUBLE

SKULLY makes TROUBLE!

TROUBLE was one of the most difficult tracks I have ever recorded, Here is the reason why!

In the 1970s Irish rock legends HORSLIPS had a massive hit with their song TROUBLE WITH A CAPITAL T, on which my great friend Jim Lockhart played this legendary flute melody.

In 2004 HORSLIPS came back together to record ROLLBACK a selection of their greatest hits, recorded Acoustically. And for this album, they recorded a wonderful acoustic version of TROUBLE, this time a different melody equally as good, played on guitar.

I wanted to hear what the song would sound like with the FLUTE and GUITAR together. So although recorded over 20 years apart I set to work. Firstly isolating both samples. Then tuning them to each other, and finally stretching and synchronizing them to each other.

In my version, I introduce the two instruments separately, first the FLUTE then the GUITAR and then both together. So now for the first time you can hear the FLUTE and the GUITAR together. 2 melodies written years apart, and yet fitting together like a glove. I think you will agree, well worth the TROUBLE.

ARCADIA BALLROOM

My Father's Band played there! My Manager was DJ there, and my record
company promoted it!! It was a huge concert hall here in Cork city, Ireland.
That had obviously seen better days, before I knew it!!

Live bands played at this massive venue every weekend, and every weekend I
was there!! The bands that performed there read like a who's who in the
music world : THE BEAT, THE SPECIALS, THE WHO, UB40, U2, HORSLIPS, ASWAD,
CIMERONS (best gig I ever saw) DR FEELGOOD, LINA LOVICH, BOOMTOWN RATS, ELVIS COSTELLO........ (Cork people
might help me with the rest?)

And so at the tender age of 14 when I formed my first band REAL MAYONNAIZE.
Our whole ambition was to play "THE ARC"

After months of practice, and dozens of concerts, including some amazing
gigs at the legandary SIR HENRYS, we were finally good enough to play the
ARC!

After a grueling negotiation with the promoter Elvera, REAL MAYONNAIZE was
booked to play the ARC for £15.

And so it was that two days before the gig was to be played, I recieved a
phone call to say, that the ARC had closed down, and REAL MAYONNAIZE was to
be one of the first bands to play at the beautiful new SAVOY in Cork City.

A few days ago I drove past the ARCADIA BALLROOM, it is no more!
replaced by luxury appartments, And I wondered if the people living there
know how important that location was to so many people?

My track ARCADIA BALLROOM can be downloaded from iTune

Back in the day - Skully - Jobs

This article is from an interview with Harry Guerin after the release of My Fault single.

When I left school I worked for a bottling company in Cork. I was a filler operator, putting lemonade into bottles. It was soul destroying: no heating in the factory, raw concrete, you'd go in there at 6.00am on a winter's morning and freeze to death. From there I went on to do the same thing in Canada Dry, which was only a minor improvement. I stood in front of this machine that had 180 filling heads on it, the one in the other place had eight. I went to the interview and I said, "I'm a filler operator" and they said, "how much experience do you have? Oh, I've been doing it for two years. Right, you've got the job." I didn't lie in the interview but I was out of my depth there.
I was nearly shot one morning when the police were looking for Dessie O'Hare. I cycled through this checkpoint and they stopped me and questioned me. When I went into the factory I discovered I'd forgotten my keys to get in so I was waiting for the next guy to arrive and I got into a lorry and went to sleep. The next thing the door opened and there were all these army guys standing around me with machine guns, wanting to know what I was doing hiding in a lorry!
I was banging my head off a brick wall with my band and I was going out with a French girl who told me that the grass was greener in France so I packed my bags and moved. I sent my CV from Ireland and I had a job in an English school in Toulouse the day I arrived. It must have looked kind of strange, my CV going to an English school with 'operator of a filling machine' on it. When I went to France I couldn't even say the word 'merci'!
It was a huge language centre but the job was teaching adults so I was doing all this technical English stuff and making it up as I went along more or less. It was 99% bluff and I taught the same English lesson for the six years! Nobody used French - they all thought I was absolutely brilliant at French but if they knew...
I taught fascinating people. Toulouse is like the hi-tech capital of France so you've got the space and aircraft industries and I was teaching all those people. One of my proudest possessions is a photograph of Cork taken by the Spot 2 satellite. I taught the team which was involved in the building of Spot 2. I was with the team all the way through the whole process so they basically said that if the satellite fell into the sea it was going to be my fault for not teaching them the right numbers!
I went in at the bottom as a pleb teacher and I worked myself up until I was sort of head teacher. Then I went away and set up my own school. But I remained an 'Indian' - I was no good being a manager. I just had the ideas so I just used to go around, put all the ideas together and get other people to do it. I was actually the owner of the school but I worked teaching English all along. Cork was a big part any lesson: "where is the centre of the world?" "The centre of the world is Cork". "Paddy Whiskey is the best whiskey in the world." I'm probably half responsible for the Celtic Tiger!
I had some incredible experiences. One time I went in and taught this group and I had a dreadful cold. I was wrecked but I taught them numbers, went home and spent the weekend in bed. A couple of days later I had the same group again and I said, "right, I'm going to go back and revise everything we did last week. Who wants to start?" And this guy stood up and goes, "wub, choo, tweeb", They had all mimicked exactly the way I was speaking with a cold!
I taught another guy and there was a warning sent in with him saying, "this guy is a jinx". In he came and the whole building crumbled around him. Everywhere he went, everything he touched, fell to pieces. He made a cup of coffee and managed to bust the coffee machine, he went to class and knocked all the books out a 15th floor window. When we asked why he had been sent to us we found out that he was actually responsible for the department that did vibration tests on satellites! This multi-billion pound satellite had been brought in and his job was to set the numbers: 22.8 vibrates per millisecond or whatever. He set it all wrong and put in 200 instead of 20 or something like that and he nearly vibrated the satellite into cinders so they sent him into us to learn English to get rid of him!
All through my life up until then I had been sending out demo tapes of music and getting hundreds photocopied replies from record companies. Then I spent a weekend recording with Aida and sent the tape out. The day after the tape arrived in London and the next day companies were on the phone to me. That was the first time anybody had ever phoned me about my music. That was it: I walked into teachers' room and said, "this is it, this is my last day." Sold the house, sold the car, moved back to Ireland. I'm still shocked when I think about it.

Irish musician raises the flag for self-help

After thirty years of neglect and vandalism the Irish flag flies proudly once again over Crosshaven's 'Fort Camden'.

At the beginning of the Summer well known Irish musician Skully, now based in Crosshaven, got together with locals Vincent Farr, Noel Condon and Paul Brierley to set up the 'Rescue Camden Group'.
They all shared the belief that Camden Fort, which at that time was derelict, overgrown, and fenced off from the public, could become not only a valuable local amenity but also a much needed focal point for tourism both in the lower harbour and for Cork in general.

Camden Fort is a sprawling complex of military buildings, gun emplacements, tunnels, and underground chambers. Positioned on Rams Head near Crosshaven, and overlooking the entrance to Cork Harbour, the Fort is internationally recognised as one of the worlds finest remaining examples of a Classical Costal Artillery Fortification. It dates from the Napoleonic Wars, through its occupation by the British, and up to its eventual occupation by the Irish State forces in 1938. The fort was occupied up until the 70's when the last Irish forces abandoned it, locking the gates behind them. In the years since then time had not been kind to Fort Camden. The weather had eaten away at the vulnerable structures and vegetation had consumed and hidden much of the complex. Man had taken his toll too, with various structural elements such as floors and hand-rails being pillaged and underground caverns vandalised. It had even been proposed to use the fort as an asbestos dump at one stage.

Over the years various proposals were touted for the development of the Fort, none of which had ever materialised.
The 'Rescue Camden Group' decided that the only way that anything was ever going to happen was if they 'got stuck in' and started work on the Fort themselves.

The task ahead of them was enormous.
Undaunted, Skully and Vince set to work. Under the early summer sun and armed with only a collection of garden tools brought from home, they started to take the first steps on the long journey that lay ahead. Fighting back briars, lost rooms were revealed, and the sun shone where it had not done so for thirty years.
Progress was slow however and they soon realised that more volunteers would be needed. Luckily, word of activity at the Fort had started to spread and when Skully put out an appeal on the Fort Camden Facebook page, there was no shortage of people willing to lend a hand. People who had always felt that it was a shame that someone didn't do something with the Fort could now see that something was being done and they were happy to be a part of it.
The community was reclaiming their Fort.
Photographs of the progress and stories about the Fort from people who remembered it as a child, or who had served or lived there, started to appear on the Facebook page and everyone could now follow the story as it happened.

The Rescue Camden Group decided that the first stage of the renovation would be to restore and convert two rooms to accommodate a museum and gallery. These rooms would depict the Fort in its former glorious past and as it is today, overgrown and decaying. This proposal was made to Cork County Council where funding was sought. The County Manager, seeing the potential and the enthusiasm, rode behind the Rescue Camden Group. The challenges and costs involved in tackling this project were daunting, and our voluntary group had extremely limited resources. They were, however, fortunate to experience a great level of co-operation and goodwill from various individuals and groups. Some donated time and expertise. Some organised fundraising events. Others sponsored products.
(Dulux Paints sponsored all the paint for the project.
Calor Gas provided heating for the rooms with elegant Provence Gas Stoves.
Pat McDonnell Paints supplied brushes, rollers, trays and buckets.
Blue House Architects offered expertise and finance.
O'Callaghan TV and Munster Sound provided audio-visual equipment.
Lynch's Centra of Crosshaven and HM Yachts donated the proceeds from fund-raising events held in the community.

Skully, Vince and this enthusiastic band of volunteers worked tirelessly and in just six weeks, this daunting task was achieved. The Gates were once again, open'.
Fort Camden opened its doors to the public for the first time in September this year.
A symbolic raising of the Tri-colour by the next generation of Custodians - Nomah Sullivan aged 9 and Katelyn Farr aged 10.
Proof that with the right attitude and the will to get it done, communities can achieve things for themselves.

The next year will see further developments at Fort Camden with more and more sections opening to the public all the time.
Keep up to date at the 'Fort Camden' page on Facebook.

All of the work carried out by the Rescue Camden Group has been on a voluntary basis.

Vincent Farr works for Cork City Fire Department and is Officer in Charge of Irish Coast Guard unit in Crosshaven.
He spends all his spare time working on and planning for Fort Camden.
Skully composes music for TV and Movies in the US and is half of the duo Metisse, his music has recently been used by MGM, NBC,ABC, and The Jay Leno Show,
he just doesn't sleep, working in the Fort by day and writing and recording by night.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100
001078621193

The Scent and Sight and Soul of a Moment By Mairtin O'Riain

Inspired in part by Skully's new album called 'Scent of A Moment'

Skully has just announced the name of his new album due out on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2011. SCENT OF A MOMENT is now in the process of being mastered and will be available soon!! This beautiful poem by Mairtin O'Riain was inspired by the name of Skully's new album. Of course, Mairtin.....being the wonderful hairy creature he is (his avatar is a gorilla!!) has added a little twist to the ending for those who like a little humor!!! Enjoy!!

The rushing sound of the wind and waves of shouts and traffic beyond stilled

and disappered into a stiller silence

as the power of that moment took hold

everything beyond the focus of our eyes dissappeared

vanishing into the stillness that clothed us like a blanket

our closeness melded into the moment

closer and closer

close enough to feel and hear our hearts beating

close enough to feel the warmth of our bodies

resisting not touching though every atom cried out to draw us close

resistingl not touching as the pull of desire like a magnet drew our souls into one around us

surrendering stil not touching as every scent, image and sparkle of that moment

captured us and enshrouded us completely

as your breath washed over my skin

as every feeling, every desire

draws close and closer still

like scented oils poured out

washing over us

drawing us together

our breathing deep and heavy,

drawing oh so deeply in that moment

deep, deeper into the depths of our souls

filling us with that warmth,

surrendering us that oneness, that wholeness, that moment

that lifted us out from the world

and into each others arms

(here's the alternative ending for that 'coldshower effect' peeps...)

we spun together holding

tighter and tighter still

till we tripped on the cat

fell over the dog

and right out of through the window sill.

The Trenwith Legacy

About The Song By Skully

THE TRENWITH LEGACY

My Grandmother had a hobby, Genealogy.

Night after night she would sit beside her fireplace, light a cigarette, and pour over the thousands of letters,
documents, graphs and photographs she had accumulated throughout her life. In the small hours of the morning
her clock would chime, and she would pack everything back into its appropriate brown envelope, and carefully
return it to her wooden writing box.

She used to tell me amazing stories about the family history, about
her memories, about the mysteries the old wooden box contained, but I was young and could not keep up with
the wealth of information she had in her memory.

When she died, the family trusted me with this wooden box. Knowing that I would treasure it. There was an awful
lot of information, hundreds of beautiful hand written letters, each one revealing its own little secret.
There were letters from all over the world, letters dating back to the seventeen hundreds, letters about love,
about romance, poverty, wealth, death, and murder, secrets, all held together by one thread,

THE TRENWITH LEGACY.

Many of the treasures from my Grandmother's house seem to loose their magic when they left the old house,
but this old box was an exception. Night after night I would lift the lid of the box, and the room would fill with the smell of old documents and cigarettes. "A Scent of a Moment"

The Trenwith Legacy was a colossal fortune left by William Trenwith to his next of Kin, tantalizingly close, never claimed and yet unobtainable. For hundreds of years people had been trying to find proof of links between their branch of the family and the Trenwiths. My Grandmother would smile.
If only William Trenwith knew what a treasure he REALLY left, it is thanks to him that we have a vast wealth of family history that would be long forgotten if it wasn't for his legacy.

To Buy THE TRENWITH LEGACY on iTunes or the complete cd Scent of a Moment

Who was Mrs. Noble?

Skully's Song "Mrs. Noble" and the meaning of the song!

When Skully writes his music, it usually comes from an experience or happening in his life, or something that has left an impression on him, great enough to inspire him to write. He calls that SCENT OF A MOMENT, and therefore his new album is aptly named. One of the tracks from the recently released album is called "MRS. NOBLE". What is this all about?? Here it is in Skully's own words.

MRS NOBLE

Biddy Noble has no grave, there is no where to leave flowers, no where to remember her.

BRIDGET NOBLE.

Bridget (Biddy) was born in a tiny stone cottage near Ardgroom in the West of Ireland in 1876. Daughter of John and Mary Neill.
They were very poor, but managed to scrape an existence out of West Cork's stunning but very unforgiving landscape.

Bridget was harassed, humiliated, Kidnapped, tortured and eventually murdered by "Diehards"

Firstly she had her hair cut off in public, this was to act as a warning for what was to come.

What had Bridget Noble done? What could bring such horror down upon her?? Read the rest of the story on Skully's website,
www.skully.ie