 Ro Tierney is a 27 year
old singer/songwriter from Dublin, Ireland. He began teaching himself guitar
and piano at the age of 16 and began writing songs almost immediately. He
went on to form and front the band "Echo Indiana" with a few schoolmates.
They spent several years touring Ireland and select parts of Europe whilst
drawing attention from major labels, both at home and abroad.
Although the prospect of fronting a commercially successful band was extremely
tempting, Ro's gut feeling told him this was not the route he should take as it
would limit his creative freedom. He decided to go at it alone and began opening
for acts such as Damien Rice, Bell X1, Mundy, Jack L and many others. The
boundaries of a 4-piece rock band no longer caged his inspiration as he went on
to write a new breed of song. He drew influences from people like Dave Matthews,
Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan and discovered a new and infinite horizon of
where he could go with music as a solo act.
On a spur of the moment decision in 2005 Ro bought a one-way ticket to New
Zealand. "I needed to get as far away as possible from my familiar surroundings
to find new inspiration and New Zealand happened to be as far away as I could
go. It turned out to be a great move as I wouldn't have written this album at
home". He became deeply inspired by the easygoing lifestyle, the weather, the
diverse cultures, the scenery and the people he met along the way. So much so
that after a year of backpacking and performing live around New Zealand he
decided to do the same in Australia. The Aussies followed suit and reacted
overwhelmingly to his music. It soo became obvious that there was an album just
waiting to be recorded. He rejected a record deal from Universal Music in
Australia, opting instead, to return home to set up his own label, True Music.
By recording and releasing under his own label, Ro has guaranteed his total
creative freedom and has ensured complete control over the progress of his
career.
He spent the next 8 months setting up his home studio and self-producing his
debut album. "It was a daunting task at first but I soon sat proud in the
driving seat with blind faith in frequencies I knew nothing about". The album
was mixed by legendary mixing engineer Bruce Miller (Miles Davis, White Stripes)
in New Jersey and mastered by Grammy Award winning engineer Adam Ayan in
Portland, Maine. During recent months, Ro has been quietly building a loyal fan
base by treating audiences at intimate venues around Ireland to a stripped down
acoustic show with Roobie Mulvany accompanying him with his unusual, but highly
effective, fretless acoustic bass.
The album will be released on the 8th of February and will be available from
www.rotierney.com only. This is in an
effort to keep the cost of his music as low as possible by cutting out the
traditional third party distribution and retail fees. "The changing landscape of
the music industry excites me as it means we artists can finally take control
and sell our music directly to the public without greedy middlemen inflating the
price".
The album will be available as a digital download (€4.99) or CD (€9.99 inc.
postage worldwide). The debut single "Sticks and Stones" will be released in
Ireland on January 25th through iTunes and over 400 other digital retailers.
Press
Release:
JAN '08 UPDATE: A film/tv production company in New York have recently requested the rights to use Ro's song "Blood-Red Manifesto" as the main theme song for a new 10-part mini series to be aired on HBO next year! More updates soon... |
