About
Cork Songs is best described as "pretty much all the creative stuff that has anything thing to do with music, that Ronan is involved in". Ronan, being a contrary, manic-depressive with restless attention and massive imagination, does a lot of things. He puts on gigs for other acts that he really; celebrates music by DJing and podcasting, writes and performs his own music (incidentally this is his financially and critically least successful endeavor); and even invented his own game called Ringo which is a mixture of song intros, music jokes, trivia and puns lathered in fun.
In a perfect world, all these strands would all tie up to be one tangible enterprise, they don't though. Simply put corksongs is ronan's many layered ways of expressing his enthusiasm for music. As much a cynical as it is romantic. Corksongs is always up for a coffee, pint or e-mail exchange to throw around ideas and brainstorm things; feel free to get in touch.
if you want to keep reading, here is another "about corksongs" I wrote maybe 2 years ago - June 2006)
About Corksongs
Essentially, corksongs is the combined work of Ronan Leonard, from putting on gigs, releasing records and encouraging others to do the same (especially younger people who don't have many or any resources to draw upon). It also includes years of graphic design experience, publication production, art administration work and event management.
A honest, informal, imaginative irish man makes corksongs an honest, informal, imaginative irish company.
If you want to read more of his thoughts on the company it is below (please note, these were written late at note when he felt particularly right about everything)
What is Corksongs?
Corksongs is a self sufficient, independent making group that is convinced there is a another way between the well worn "independent" route and the equally established corporate industry, primarily music but also in all media forms.
Trained and experienced in every facet of creating music and it's associated product - from writing to recording to mastering to CD design to distribution to publicity and marketing as well as tour management and merchandise - any thing you want done, we can get done.
We Have Simple Principles
1) we think folk, hip-hop, punk etc are all nouns, not sounds.
Personalities, character and intentions are more important than genre and social habits. We need music to mean something to both the player and listener, man. Virtuosity does not forgive pomposity. Talent is generic, it's what you do with it and how you do it that counts.
2) music/creativity/expression is not a competition,
we don't support or encourage any battle of the bands, song contests or reality TV shows in any form. It's a clear line and if you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
2.1) Industry is not a good thing
I always find that sometimes a point about art is best expressed through a sports metaphor, and a point about sport is best expressed through an art metaphor. here's one - while working hard is a given to success, too many people seemed to follow the conventions of the music industry with incredibly blandifying results. If you ever hear Eamon Dunphy describe someone as an "industrious player" you know that's not a compliment, there is a lot of bands out there who are the musical equivalent of Kevin Kilbane.
3) we think that Irish audience does not always get enough value for it's money
We think ticket prices are too high, there is no one section specifically to blame, we are all to blame as part of “the industry", no matter how much we preach. corksongs events have tickets prices that we can say with our hands on heart we think are fair. Using the fugazi rule of thumb, that you should use the price of a cinema ticket as a guide. however I can sleep at night, if I massage the price to be able to make an artist come to Cork.
4) we support moderation in downloading and cd burning.
Simply put, for every album that is downloaded it makes it roughly €8 harder for any artist to make another album, be they U2, the frames or a band who made 500 copies to sell at gigs. We support music sharing, just not stealing.
5) rising tides lift all boats. We try to keep as much of our business in our cork, which is my home town (obviously) not because of parochial blinkers but more so that we are from, and wish to work here and live here, and create as much work in this city as possible, where possible.
- I are aware of how pompous all this sounds, (particularly the not using of capital letters and also the constant flitting between first person singular and first person collective, and then third person plural) but we guarantee you we are not pompous. We take this seriously, but not ourselves. For god's sake, I show off in pubs to fund most of these activities.