Congratulations on Beyond The Water - how does it feel to finally have the album out after such a long gestation period?
Thank you so much. It feels surreal - it’s been a long time coming, but really four years since the album plan started for real. Writing and recording the demos kept me grounded and focused during the early stages of the pandemic in 2020: having unrestricted creative time, due to everything else being put on hold for a while, allowed for my ideas to flow into something much bigger, and I am so lucky to be able to say that I have something so positive born out of such a dark time.
Recording in Los Angeles in 2022 was easily the coolest summer of my life and I’m so proud of how the album sounds (and looks!). It feels great that people can finally hear these songs that mean so much and I’m looking forward to this next chapter of Sister Ghost.
How did the Derry album launch show go on Halloween night?
Great - one of my friends told me it was like I was attending my own wake - which I found both funny and on brand - because when else do you get to be in a jam packed room with family, friends and strangers celebrating your achievements?
The excitement grew throughout the day too - while friends and I set up the room we could see all the people walking the Derry Walls and we watched the parade and fireworks later before door time.
It feels great that people can finally hear these songs that mean so much and I’m looking forward to this next chapter of Sister Ghost
— Shannon O'Neill
It was definitely a night to remember and I’m so grateful for everyone who came along, especially to anyone who helped out that day too and to the person who made the Beyond The Water cake - that blew my mind.
How did you end up recording the album in LA with Brad Wood (Liz Phair, Veruca Salt), it seems like a total ‘dream come true’ scenario?
It totally was. Gary [Lightbody, Third Bar label co-founder] asked me who my dream producer would be and Brad was number one on my list. So my album demos were sent to him and I was over the moon when I found out he loved the songs and was delighted to produce the record.
I was already due to be teaching in California that summer so everything lined up perfectly to spend that time in LA.
What was the recording process like - did you feel the benefit of having an experienced ‘name’ producer like Brad at the helm?
It was honestly one of the greatest moments in my career - I had the absolute best summer in 2022 making this record. I had been a fan of Brad and the albums he’d produced since I was a teenager, so it was literally like my dreams were coming true when I got word in 2021 that he was delighted to produce it.
I remember on the first day in the studio being starstruck by the gold discs of Exile in Guyville by Liz Phair and Veruca Salt’s American Thighs in the studio, knowing that a few years prior I’d been listening to them on my iPod on a school bus daydreaming of being a musician.
Brad was such a funny and kind person the entire time and we’ve stayed in touch, meeting up for a catch up any time I’m back in LA. I was just made to feel so welcomed by him and his family - they even let me sleep over in the studio toward the end of that summer when I was tracking vocals.
Jeff Friedl drummed on the record as well - he’s played with A Perfect Circle, Puscifer and is the touring drummer with legends DEVO. So when I was in the studio performing with him it was amazing, as well to feel affirmed in that way, to be trusted and valued enough in my craft to be working alongside someone of that level meant the world to me and that all the years of graft were worth it.
It honestly still blows my mind sometimes to think about how I grew up in this tiny rural village in Ireland and ended up in Los Angeles making a record with people like Brad and Jeff. I never took a second over there for granted and fell asleep every night excited for the next studio day to begin.
Is there any one song on the album you are particularly pleased with in terms of how it progressed from demo to final album form?
The album closer Scent never got the level of production I felt it deserved until I finally got to re-record it with Brad - it was written in 2014 and released as my first Sister Ghost single in 2015 but was very lo-fi and scuzzy, which worked at the time but I’m glad it got a makeover.
I’m also pleased that Brad helped me with my vision to mix my field recordings of sea waves in Culdaff and the nightscape of crickets, frogs and wind chimes from a balmy summer evening in California into the intros of both Dark Matter and Scorpio Moon.
In the sleeve notes, you’ve included a line about where each song was initially written. Where is the strangest/most inconvenient place that songwriting inspiration has struck for you over the years?
This summer I actually wrote loads of lyrics and song ideas while on a 36 hour train from LA to Seattle. It’s maybe not strange or inconvenient but it’s definitely a different location than the usual spots.
My phone was dead and I only had my notebook and pen so I used the day and a half to just be as present as possible and to channel things on to the pages. I actually made friends with so many people, the ye olde fashioned in-person way and we’ve stayed in touch - I definitely recommend that kind of adventure. It’s early days, but I hope maybe the seeds for a future release were sown while I was coasting up the scenic and mystic Pacific Northwest.
Sister Ghost began with the intent of it being a solo project where you’d be free to play/record with different friends/musicians of your choosing. Can you recommend this as a blueprint for other musicians rather than the ‘traditional’ band format?
I suppose it’s just whatever works for each person but yeah I love being a solo artist with Sister Ghost because it allows me to do creatively whatever I feel! It’s been cool to have had so many different musician friends guesting in Sister Ghost over the years, and most recently in LA this summer my second guitarist was one of my guitar past-pupils (now a staff member) whom I’d taught at Amplify Arts summer camp in 2019 - that was a really nice full-circle moment for me and her.
I still love to jam with my friends and family and have been in a few bands over the last 10 years alongside Sister Ghost - all that’s been enjoyable and rewarding for different reasons too.
In the 10 years you’ve been doing Sister Ghost and your band Vanilla Gloom prior to that, what ways have you seen the music scene here change for better or worse?
I’ll start with the lows, so as to end on the highs: I’ve definitely seen a huge change in the increase of social media pressures on artists - in the Vanilla Gloom days we only needed a Facebook page and a Soundcloud account - now the industry makes you feel the need to be on everything.
I also feel disappointed that it feels like not much has massively changed in terms of funding support for artists based here - we’re all still having to do loads of other work just to stay afloat.
In better news, a real positive has been that I have witnessed the growth and expansion of the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast over the years. I first visited it in 2009 when I was part of a summer youth project, attended college classes there between 2012 and 2014 and have taught music or volunteered there on and off since 2016, so I’ve seen the place evolve a lot. I still remember when the second floor was just a giant empty hall and now it’s at capacity with local arts offices and music businesses. That place is such an important part of the music scene and it will always feel strangely like home to me.
I’m also glad to say that through organisations I’m proud to be a part of such as Girls Rock School NI and the Women’s Work Festival that there are substantially more women and non-binary musicians taking up space in the scene now compared to when my band Vanilla Gloom were the only all-female band in 2011 to 2013.
There’s always more work to be done of course, especially representation for trans musicians, people of colour and those from rural areas (which is obviously close to my heart).
Oh and while we’re on that, I still miss Glasgowbury Festival dearly. I know Paddy and Stella Glasgow are still doing essential work for the rural music community, but maybe someday we’ll get a reprise - a ghoul can dream!
Finally, what are Sister Ghost’s plans for 2025?
To finally enjoy playing the hell out of this album in as many places as possible!
Beyond The Water is out now on Third Bar, stream and buy online via sisterghost.bandcamp.com. Shannon will play a solo set at Abbazappa Records in Derry on Saturday at 2pm.
