Paul McDermott (documentarian)

Paul McDermott is an Irish producer and broadcaster best known for his audio documentaries on the bands Five Go Down to the Sea?, Stump, Microdisney and the 1970s experimental musician Michael O'Shea. His programmes tend to focus on bands who had attracted attention in their time but whose history had been lost; in particular he is regarded for his coverage of the early 1980s Cork music scene. McDermott has written for RTÉ Culture, The Irish Times and the Sunday Independent, and is the host of "Songs to Learn and Sing" with Dublin City FM.

For other people named Paul McDermott, see Paul McDermott (disambiguation).

Originally from Cork, he now lives in Dublin where he is Head of Media & Arts at Rathmines College of Further Education.

Career

In the mid-1990s, McDermott was the Information officer of the Cork Music Resource Co-op, established in 1994 to "provide information to [local] musicians and bands on all aspects of the music industry."[1] The co-op provided a practice room and general information and advice to aspiring bands. They also organised the design and printing of posters and flyers, promoted series of gigs, and reached out to UK record labels.[1]

McDermott began to produce audio documentaries in the early 2000's. Describing "Get That Monster Off The Stage, parts I & II", broadcaster Mike McGrath-Bryan said that they "comprehensively cover both the legacy of Finbarr Donnelly and really the post-punk scene that was operating out of [Cork in the early 1980s]. [The documentaries] lead to an increased knowledge of the history of the Cork music scene; the relative ahistoricality has been shaken off".[2] The documentary won the "Radio Production of the Year" award at the 2002 SMEDIA Awards. Myles Dungan, chairman of the judging panel, said: “This is a fascinating snapshot of the vibrant Cork music scene of the 80’s. The producer constructed a compelling account of cult rock hero Finbarr Donnelly. The program itself is an excellent weave of music and the spoken word, and is unobtrusively informative." The documentary was re-edited in 2008 to include contributions from band guitarist Ricky Dineen. In a later interview, Dineen said that he had withdrawn from playing music until the revival of interest created by the documentary.[2]

McDermott's 2017 documentary on Microdisney, "Iron Fist in Velvet Glove", was described by The Guardian as "brilliant",[3] while Hot Press wrote it was "the stellar work of [a] post-punk historian".[4] "No Journeys End" debuted in August 2019 on RTÉ lyric fm, and covers the life of Michael O’Shea, a travelling street musician from Carlingford, County Louth, whose only album, the self-titled "Michael O’Shea", was released in 1982.[5] A review in the Irish Times described the documentary as "retracing the picaresque life of innovative street musician Michael O’Shea to fascinating effect".[6]

Documentaries

References
  1. Power, Ed. "B-Side the Leeside: 'Ten by Ten' and Cork’s mid-90s indie soundscape". Irish Examiner, 1 July 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2020
  2. McGrath-Bryan, Mike (22 May 2019). "Red on Red - Episode Sixty Eight - Big Boy Foolish". redfm.ie. Cork's Red FM. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  3. Collins, Pádraig. "How I fell in love with Microdisney". The Guardian, 4 February 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2020
  4. "Microdisney documentary premieres on Cork radio on Friday". Hot Press, 23 November 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2020
  5. "No Journeys End, the story of Michael O’Shea". Medium.com. Retrieved 22 June 2020
  6. Heaney, Mick. "Lyric FM faces high noon". Irish Times, 21 September 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2020
  7. "Cult musician Michael O'Shea's journey - The Lyric Feature". RTÉ, 26 August 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2020
  8. Mccrea, Jonathan. "Documentary On Newstalk: Iron Fist in Velvet Glove– the story of Microdisney". Newstalk, 19 May 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  9. "Lights! Camel! Action! – The Story of Stump". UCC 98.3FM. Retrieved 14 June 2020
  10. Carroll, Jim. "The wrap says “freeze”". The Irish Times, 11 January 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  11. "New Finbarr Donnelly oral history". Hot Press. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
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