Who Says Nice Guys Always Finish Last?

By Joe Kavanagh

Once again those charged with selecting the beneficiary of Ireland's Choice Music Prize have thrown somewhat of a curveball, with their winning pick, for what is widely viewed as the highest honor available on the Irish music scene.

In contrast to the Meteor Awards, basically seen as a rigged, self-congratulatory, back-slapping festival for Irish music industry insiders, the Choice Prize carries a certain gravitas, as it is chosen by a rotating selection of judges from across the Irish music media.

While the effete Meteor Awards is largely a celebration of commercialism, the Choice Prize is all about rewarding artistic creativity and endeavor, and is open to any Irish album, irrespective of how much product it moved.

With bookmakers touting worthy albums such as David Holmes' soul-bearing Holy Pictures, or Lisa Hannigan's excellent Sea Sew, as potential winners, judges once again bucked the odds by choosing Ritual, by Jape, a.k.a Richie Egan.

Their decision captures perfectly the spirit of the award, as it represents the victory of an artist who earned his place by virtue of his talent alone.

Raised in the Dublin suburb of Crumlin, Richie Egan was already proficient on several instruments by his teen years, taking his initial musical lead from acts like Simon & Garfunkel, Blues Brothers and REM.

As his tastes expanded, he developed a love of punk music, particularly bands like Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys and Black Flag, acts whose energy and ethos created the template for his own fledgling career.

In his words, the genre thought him to "do whatever the f**k you want and don't answer to anybody except yourself", a creed that he has since abided by.

By the late 90s, he had become a fixture on the Dublin music scene, through his involvement with bands like Parasite and Black Belt Jones, acts that built a loyal following by virtue of their incendiary shows throughout the capital.

True recognition, however, did not arrive until he became a founding member, and bassist, with the Redneck Manifesto, a Fugazi/Mogwai-inspired outfit who worked strictly as an instrumental band.

In 2000, they released their debut single, TRM:1 on their own Greyscale Records label, following it up a year later with the album Thirtysixstrings, which is regarded as one of the seminal Irish melodic punk albums of all time.

Over the next three years, they released two more highly-charged albums, Cut Off Your Heart From Your Head and I Am Brazil, which established them as darlings of the underground music media and owners of one of the most passionate fan bases that Ireland has ever seen.

Their songs are intricate without ever being overdone, crammed with melodies infectious enough to easily overcome any absence of vocals.

Each member is a virtual virtuoso on their instrument, exuding energy, confidence and pure balls as they throw themselves around the stage with near-contemptuous abandon.

Their explosive shows are the stuff of legend in Ireland and their ability to sell out some of the biggest venues in the country, purely on a word of mouth basis, has won them an iconic status amongst the nation's music lovers.

They also developed a solid European following, which has seen them tour the continent twice, playing to packed houses, enjoying rapturous critical reviews along the way.

They even managed one DIY tour of the US, existing on a shoestring budget eked from album sales on the road and the goodwill of fans, who frequently provided the band with lodgings as well as an audience.

Running concurrently with his work with Redneck Manifesto, Egan also hooked up with singer/songwriter David Kitt, and the two became close friends as well as musical co-conspirators, with Egan providing bass duties in Kitt's band during those moments he was not on the road with the Redneck Manifesto.

The pair also became important musical influences on each other with both men appearing on each others records as they shared ideas and production responsibilities, a factor that would eventually create a defining moment in Egan's solo career.

Throughout all of these events, he had continually worked on his own songs, specifically those that he felt did not fit into the parameters of his work with Redneck Manifesto and David Kitt.

An admirer of the singer/songwriter genre, he would often rise at 9am to work on his own material, driven by a belief that his most creative moments come during daylight hours.

An enormously dedicated songwriter of prolific proportions, his approach to writing music borders on the businesslike, as he once revealed saying: "For me the only place I can create music is in my house, because that is where all my equipment is set up. I usually write electronic stuff downstairs at my desk, and guitar songs upstairs, staring out of my window. I live in a small house, with a bedroom upstairs and a kitchen/sitting room/studio/angry girlfriend downstairs."

The vehicle for these solo ideas formed in 2003, when he was inspired to create Jape, after a week spent living in Avoca, County Wicklow, with fellow Redneck Manifesto member, Niall Byrne.

Jape was subsequently unveiled to the public when only 500 copies of the eight-track debut album, Cosmosphere, appeared later that year.

The heady mixture of lo-fi singer/songwriter elements and what Egan terms "really f**ked up, weird Gameboy electronica", saw many Irish pundits agree that it heralded the arrival of an important and innovative talent on the Irish music scene, although Ireland's national broadcaster RTE memorably declared him to be an unconvincing electronic producer, even going so far as to suggest that he should never have left the confines of Redneck Manifesto.

Among those tracks lay the wonderful Floating, which was co-produced by David Kitt; a track that would literally change the life of its author.

In 2006, singer Brendan Benson arrived in Dublin for a gig with his band, The Raconteurs, and while enjoying drink in a local watering house, heard a track playing over the speakers and was so taken with it that he asked the person behind the bar for the name of the song and the artist behind it.

Upon discovering that it was Jape's Floating, Benson immediately sought out Egan and asked his permission to cover the song.

Only days later, Benson and Raconteurs/White Stripes-guitarist, Jack White were belting out their own version of the track in Dublin's Point Depot, while Egan sat anonymously in the crowd with a grin fixed on his face.

As if such an homage was not enough, Benson, White and company went on to use the song to close their set on each and every night of their world tour, giving full credit to Egan every time they played it.

Within weeks, a steady parade of labels, managers and assorted music industry types began beating a path to his door, culminating in him signing a multi-album deal with V2 Records and a publishing deal with Universal Records.

An acclaimed turn at Texas's South By Southwest Festival and a series of tour dates throughout Europe all built toward an album release, and November of 2007 saw the release of Jape Is Grape EP, which featured a clutch of new tracks in addition to Floating, as well as a superb video to the latter track, which created something of a stir on the internet.

Sadly, however, fate cruelly intervened when V2 Records imploded, leaving a frustrated Egan without a label once again and pondering if he would ever release an album that had been over three years in the making.

Thankfully, his obvious talent saw him through and he was snapped up shortly afterwards by Co-Operative Records, a broad collective of influential indie labels, which includes Moshi Moshi, Bella Union and Memphis Industries.

The superb rock-electronic hybrid album, Ritual, consequently appeared last year to broad critical praise in indie quarters throughout the globe.

Upbeat, hugely-imaginative and instantly engaging, it offered proof positive of an artist whose creative powers continue to expand with each release, and one that is fast becoming akin to a national treasure.

That endeavor and talent was recognized with his victory at the Choice Music Prize two weeks ago, and given his wit, humility and pedigree as one of the nicest people on the entire Irish music scene, his victory was enjoyed by more than just those directly involved with his band.

During an eloquent acceptance speech he claimed: "It's getting harder to make a living as a musician today but it's a fight you have to fight if it's in your heart. It's much better to be a sinking ship after all, rather than a rat jumping off."

With any luck, the award will mark the start of a long and storied voyage for the good ship Jape.