Ian Hand, a drummer from Drogheda, now living in Port, is releasing his debut EP “Ethel’s Odyssey” on December 28th in Bigmoon Records in Laurence Street with all proceeds from sales of the physical record going to Drogheda’s Alizheimer’s Day Care Centre, Tredagh Lodge.
Ian has played in many acts over the years including local bands Holy Matrimony and The Carolan Brothers, and most recently with Dublin indie band,The Elephant Room.
Ian has been a drummer for twenty years and also started playing bass within the last decade and added keyboards to his personal skillsets during the various lockdowns.
“I have played in a variety of bands throughout the last 20 years, namely Drogheda acts Civil Slaves (rock/grunge), Trouble Boys (Thin Lizzy tribute), Holy Matrimony (funk and blues and The Carolan Brothers (folk, blues and rock)” Ian told Drogheda Life.
“My most recent band that I have been playing in for the last six years has been Dublin indie band The Elephant Room. As we couldn’t play together during the pandemic, I started writing some of my own material on drums first then coupled with bass and keys afterwards, leading to the release of this EP.”
The EP, which has taken four years to produce, was all performed, recorded and mixed by Ian himself using just two mics for the drums in his garage (one close mic and another room mic). He then recorded the bass and keys himself in his spare bedroom.
Ian layered and mixed all these tracks together using a program called Audacity. He also used various audio clips from archive.org ranging from old 1950s/60s infomercials and documentaries and sliced these together on to the album, the last track of which is an ode to Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmastime.
The physical album is a 7 inch 45 rpm lathe cut transparent vinyl of which a very limited run will be exclusively on sale in Bigmoon Records during the EP Launch on the 28th of December at 6pm when there will be an audio visual installation showcasing the songs.
Ian chose Tredagh Lodge as the charity to receive all the proceeds of the physical sales because his late nana Eileen Hand was a founding member when her late husband, Ian’s grandad Brendan Hand, had Alzheimer’s and, in a cruel twist of fate, Eileen herself had to avail of Tredagh Lodge’s services after she too developed dementia.
Use the following link to pre-save the digital release:
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/ethelsodyssey/ethels-odyssey
