A who’s who of Irish musicians are coming together help raise funds to purchase personal protective equipment for charity-run nursing homes with a cover recorded over Zoom.
The group includes the likes of The Riptide Movement, Jerry Fish, The Frank & Walters, John Spillane and HamsandwicH.
Aiden O'Connor, owner of Mike the Pies venue in Listowel, and Paul Linehan of The Frank & Walters are the driving force behind the cover of Bill Withers' Lean on Me. Over a dozen Irish artists will be heard singing on the track, which is due to be released on Monday, June 8th; it will be available to purchase online.
“When I heard that a local nursing home Aras Mhuire weren’t receiving any PPE because they’re a charity I thought I might be able to do something through music,” said O’Connor.
"I started texting around and got a great response. Paul Linehan was one of the first to respond but he made it more professional. A month later we have the finished product, with 15 bands/artists involved. Paul put the track together, mixed by Ber Quinn, mastered by Richard Dowling. "
Linehan explained the complexities of recording a song with multiple vocal tracks remotely: “This was all done by remote recording and we didn’t see each other for the whole time. When the backing track was in a rough stage I sent it to each artist to sing it and to send me a dry vocal. Most artists sang the whole song, I then put what I thought were their best parts on the song. It was like a jigsaw puzzle, but I did my best to make it sound as if we were all singing in the same room, coming from the same direction.”
The full line-up is The Frank & Walters, Jerry Fish, Delorentos, Marlene Enright, Cherym, Craig Walker, Columbia Mills, John Spillane, Paul Frost, HamsandwicH, Roe, Dylan Howe, Mundy, Jack O'Rourke, The Pale, Relish and The Riptide Movement.
