Joe Chester

Chester performing with The Waterboys in 2010

Joe (Joseph) Chester is an Irish composer and musician. His albums have won acclaim, from his debut solo record, A Murder of Crows, The Easter Vigil (which was named the "Best Irish Album" of 2017), and Jupiter's Wife, which was his sixth (the Best Irish album of 2020 according to the Irish Daily Mirror).

In recent years, he has turned his attention to composing contemporary music for classical guitar. His first major commission, LUCIA, commissioned by Axis Ballymun for the centenary of James Joyce's Ulysses, was inspired by fragments of the life of Lucia Joyce, James Joyce's daughter. According to The Irish Times, it was "deft and well-considered, the work spins and soars. An elegant, discordant gem." The Times called it "a stunning tribute."

He has been lead guitarist with many groups, including The Waterboys and Gemma Hayes, and is the producer and guitarist of Dublin band A Lazarus Soul.

1990 - 2000

From 1990, he worked as an engineer and producer in Dublin's Elektra and then Sun Studios, Joe Chester recorded many of the emerging bands of the vibrant and celebrated underground indie scene of the time, including Sack, Sunbear, The Plague Monkeys, Turn, Nina Hynes, Doctor Millar, Future Kings Of Spain, Ten Speed Racer, Bobby Pulls A Wilson in addition to many others.

Having played guitars and keyboards on several of these records, he joined Sunbear as keyboardist and guitarist in 1994. The band landed a record deal with Tom Zutaut's (the man who signed Guns N' Roses) The Enclave, a subsidiary of EMI Records, and went into the studio for several months to record their debut album. However, shortly after signing, both EMI and The Enclave were shut down, resulting in the recordings being shelved.

He then formed a band with Nina Hynes called Nina and The Dreamweavers. After a residency in Dublin's Whelan's venue, the band signed with Reverb Records, and after several months of recording what would become the first Nina Hynes record, Creation, went on to perform two tours in the United States. Many of the recordings from this time remain unreleased.

Around this time, he recorded some of the first demos for Gemma Hayes's first record as well as records by Halite (Graham Hopkin's band), Juniper (featuring Damien Rice and members of Bell X1), Nick Kelly and Doctor Millar.

He signed a publishing deal with UK publisher Daylight Robbery in 1997 and went into Trevor Hutchinson's Marguerite Studios in Dublin for several months to make his first solo record, Winter, under the name The Sound of Bells. Winter was never released, although four tracks—"Worldwept", "Spiritbuilding", "Dorian", and "Are You Paul Varjak?" were released as 7-inch singles by Daylight Robbery.

Around this time, under the guidance of Trevor Hutchinson, he began recording many Irish traditional artists, including Lunasa (with whom he went on tour, recording their shows from which he compiled their first album), Breda Smyth, The Barleyshakes, and Gerry O'Beirne amongst others.

While on tour in America, he joined Ten Speed Racer and, on returning to Ireland, went into Sun Studios in Dublin to begin recordings for Eskimo Beach Boy, their first album.

Ten Speed Racer

In 2000, Ten Speed Racer released their first album, Eskimo Beach Boy, on Reverb Records in Ireland and on Catapult Records in the USA. The album was recorded and mixed by Chester at Sun Studios, Dublin, who also played guitars, keyboards, and sang backing vocals. The album garnered rave reviews, with Hot Press Magazine saying "the playing throughout is both subtle and superb, and the production is also first-class." However, the band parted ways with Reverb Records and signed to UK Indie label Red Flag Records for the follow-up.

Recordings for that follow-up began once more at Sun Studios in Dublin, with Chester once more producing (several tracks from these sessions remain unreleased.) The band decided to quit Dublin and moved en masse to a large farmhouse in rural Wexford where they set up a rehearsal and recording studio and where they would live together for the next three years.

After a period of writing, the band decamped to the famed Livingston Studios in London to record the EP Girls & Magazines, with Chester producing. The EP, released in 2002 on Red Flag Records, was characterised by a shift to shared songwriting duties, with three of the five songs written by the band's singer, Dermot Barrett, and two by Chester: "It Ain't Gonna Last" and the single, "Don't Go Out". The EP had been preceded by a single, "Listen to Bits" (also written by Chester.)

Both singles and the EP garnered significant airplay in the UK and Ireland, with "Don't Go Out" in particular being championed by Tom Dunne on his Pet Sounds show on Today FM and leading to a protracted period of touring and promotion in the UK including sessions on BBC Radio 6 and XFM.

The band returned to Wexford to commence writing for their second album. Recording for the album commenced at Chapel Studios, Lincolnshire, in late 2022. The band took the decision to record with no producer, but Darren Alison (Spiritualized, My Bloody Valentine, The Divine Comedy) was drafted in to mix. The resulting album, 10SR, was released on Red Flag Records on November 19, 2003. The artwork for the album and accompanying singles was by celebrated 4AD artist Vaughan Oliver. The album was mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Nick Webb with Allison and Chester in attendance.

Shortly after the release of 10SR, Chester left the band but continued to live at the farmhouse in Wexford to commence work on a solo album, which would become A Murder Of Crows.

A Murder Of Crows

Beginning in 2003, Chester began writing the songs that would feature on the album A Murder of Crows. Some songs, such as "Charlie for a Girl", were originally intended for the second Ten Speed Racer album but were deemed unsuitable. Another song, "A Drop of Rain", had originally appeared on the unreleased Sound of Bells album, Winter, six years previously. The rest of the tracks were written in a burst of songwriting and recording at his home studio in Wexford through 2003 and into 2004.

In 2004, looking for feedback, he sent a rough, unmixed version of the album to Tom Dunne, who had been a champion of the Chester-penned Ten Speed Racer single, "Don't Go Out". Rather than provide feedback, Tom immediately played both the title track and "Charlie for a Girl" on his Pet Sounds radio show that night, playing "Charlie for a Girl" twice. He has since described A Murder of Crows as one of the best albums he ever had sent into the show and "one of the top ten albums I turn to when I want to lift my soul."

Moving back to Dublin, Chester set about finishing the album, with Bryan McMahon of Future Kings Of Spain playing drums and Gemma Hayes providing vocals on "A Safe Place to Hide".

Meanwhile, Tom Dunne was continuing to play the unfinished tracks on his show every night, leading to invitations to play showcases in late 2004 at Hard Working Class Heroes in Dublin (a full band show featuring Gemma Hayes) and a televised solo set on RTE's Other Voices show.

Chester signed a licensing deal to release the album with BARP, a label set up by Damien Rice's manager, Bernadette Barrett.

A Murder of Crows was released on Barp on February 25, 2005. Reviews were ecstatic, describing it as "melodic genius, an absolute joy" (Hot Press), "a perfect pop record" (The Sunday Times), and "A modern alternative pop gem" (The Irish Times).

The album has become something of a cult classic, with many musicians citing it as an inspiration. It has been featured in two books (101 Irish Albums to Hear Before You Die by Tony Clayton-Lea and Buried Treasure Vol 2 by Dan Hegarty) and often features in lists of the best Irish albums of all time.

In 2017, Bohemia Records released A Murder of Crows (Special Edition) which features the original album plus live tracks and demos as well as liner notes by Tom Dunne, Tony Clayton-Lea and Dan Hegarty.

The Tiny Pieces Left Behind

Unfortunately, despite glowing reviews and nominations in the Choice Music Prize and the Meteor Irish Music Awards, A Murder of Crows did not get an international release, and so by 2006, Chester found himself dropped by his manager, label and publisher in quick succession.

On April 14, 2008, he released his second solo album, The Tiny Pieces Left Behind, on his own label, United Pacific Recordings. Self-financed, it was recorded at Cauldron Studios, Dublin, and was initially mixed at Black Box Studios by David Odlum. However, the released version features mix by Chester himself. More of a full-band record than its predecessor, it featured Binzer Brennan on drums and Ann Scott and Gemma Hayes on additional vocals.

The first single from the album was "Maybe This is Not Love", premiered by Tony Fenton on his Today FM show and named Irish Single of 2008 by John Meagher in the Irish Independent.

The reviews were positive, with Totally Dublin saying, "Connected to the thumping indie-pop heart at the centre of this opus are veins of bittersweet twists, electro influenced turns, and gratifying avenues."

Adrienne Murphy, writing in Hot Press magazine, declared it a humdinger, comparing it to John Lennon and Neil Young. "It's that good! There are lots of goodies on The Tiny Pieces Left Behind, but the best for me has to be the beautiful Fluorescent Light, which I listened to compulsively 15 times in a row until I'd learned it by heart. Well done, Mr Chester. The Tiny Pieces Left Behind is a great album."

The difficult circumstances of the making of the record led Chester to decide to step back from live performances, and a one-off album launch show at Whelan's was to be his last show for several years. The show was all-acoustic and featured Gemma Hayes and Ann Scott, playing most of the new album and a selection from A Murder Of Crows.

Working with Gemma Hayes

Simultaneous to the recording of The Tiny Pieces Left Behind, Chester was recording guitars and vocals at Black Box Studios and in Dublin for the forthcoming Gemma Hayes album, The Hollow Of Morning. Gemma and Chester had first worked together in the 1990s, recording demos for her first album and again on "A Safe Place to Hide" from A Murder of Crows. This was to be a more long-lasting partnership, however, as, after the launch of The Tiny Pieces Left Behind, Chester embarked on an extended period as Gemma's live guitarist, first as part of a band including Binzer Brennan and Karl Odlum and then as a duo. Long tours of Ireland, the UK, America and Europe followed, including stints opening for My Bloody Valentine on their reunion tour. Their last show together took place at Dublin's Crawdaddy in April 2010. A recording of their version of Kate Bush's Cloudbusting from this show was featured on Gemma's live album, Night and Day.

Although they have never performed together live since, they were reunited in 2015 for promotional appearances in Paris and in Dublin, including RTE's The Works, TG4 Imeall, Today FM's Ian Dempsey show, RTL 2 and La Bruit de Graviers.

The Waterboys

In 2010, Mike Scott of The Waterboys recruited Chester into a new extended lineup of the band he was putting together for a ground-breaking run of shows at Dublin's Abbey Theatre called An Appointment With Mr. Yeats. According to the concert programme, "Mike Scott headhunted Chester for Mr. Yeats after hearing and loving his albums."

The show consisted of the poetry of W.B. Yeats set to Mike Scott's music. Beginning with jam sessions at Scott's Dublin home, the pair (subsequently joined by Katie Kim) worked for several months on vocal arrangements before the full band convened at Smock Alley Theatre for full production rehearsals.

The show ran for five sold-out nights at the Abbey Theatre before heading out on a tour of Ireland and the UK. A subsequent studio album was made with recordings taking place in London and Dublin. The shows were incendiary, and critics raved.

In reviewing the show, RTE said that to have an audience of all ages and different nationalities hanging on every line and chord of almost entirely new material was some achievement - "Scott and his band could've played the whole set twice and still had people wanting more."

A 5-star review of the Barbican show in London in The Daily Telegraph said it was, "one of the most magical shows you could hope to see."

Chester's first stint in the Waterboys ended in 2012, although he returned for a run of classic Waterboys shows in 2014 and has occasionally performed with them as a special guest since.

Performing with Sinéad O'Connor

On December 10, 2011, Joe Chester performed a duo set with Sinéad O'Connor to celebrate the 50th birthday of Amnesty International. The concert took place at Amnesty Ireland's headquarters in Dublin. The set included O'Connor's songs The Healing Room, Whomsoever Dwells and Thank You For Hearing Me.

She Darks Me

While touring with Gemma Hayes and The Waterboys, Chester had begun experimenting with a fresh approach to his songwriting, using material from short stories he had written as lyrics for new songs. These songs ultimately became the album She Darks Me, his third solo album, released in 2011.

A much more organic-sounding album than anything he had previously done, the album once again featured Binzer Brennan on drums along with fellow and former Waterboys Steve Wickham (fiddle) and Trevor Hutchinson (bass), as well as harmonica by long-time Willie Nelson sideman, Mickey Raphael, whom Chester had met in Dublin.

The album contained nine new originals and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Most Of The Time".

"Irish artist's masterwork is one of those rare albums that can dig deep, capturing the complexities and subtleties inherent in any relationship." - Hotpress

"Several tracks (notably Acid Rain, Foreign Correspondent, and Heart of Stone) bear his hallmark attention to observant detail. Musically, it's Chester's usual mix of innate melody and carefully prepared arrangements." - The Irish Times

Originally released in download-only form and then deleted, in 2017 Bohemia Records released a remixed and remastered version of She Darks Me on CD and digital.

A Lazarus Soul

In 2001, A Lazarus Soul released their first album, titled Record, which was produced by Chester, who also played guitar and keyboards. The band has had a fluid lineup ever since (including members of Ten Speed Racer, Future Kings Of Spain and Mexican Pets),all built around the songs and voice of Brian Brannigan. However, in 2014, after a show paying tribute to Mark E Smith of The Fall, Chester joined the band as full-time guitarist (having had a long association with the band, producing every album) This lineup (featuring Anton Hegarty on bass and Julie Bienvenu on drums) went on to make the albums Last of the Analogue Age and The D They Put Between the R & L, which featured the much-loved single "Long Balconies". The band are currently working on the follow-up, scheduled for release in 2024.

The Easter Vigil

In January 2017, Chester returned after a six-year gap with a new single, "Juliette Walking in the Rain", with an accompanying video filmed on the Col de Turini on the French/Italian border. It was the first single from his fifth solo album, The Easter Vigil, released on February 24, 2017. The song was inspired by seeing French actress Juliette Binoche walking across Meeting House Square in Dublin at night.

Alan Corr of RTE, in an interview with Chester from his new home in France said, "It's an album full of striking imagery. Spy Wednesday bristles with lyrics worthy of Elvis Costello and on Like a Rose Tattoo, he sings about "the national razor," a decidedly sinister sounding implement."

In describing the writing of the song, "Like a Rose Tattoo", Joe recounted a staging of the play The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams in the fifties at the Pike Theatre and how uproar ensued after one of the characters dropped a condom on stage. On the instructions of Archbishop McQuaid, the theatre was raided, and the cast was arrested. This was the starting point of "Like A Rose Tattoo", "but there's a bit of Hilton Edwards and Michael MacLiammoir in there too."

"It was a little bit of a stream of consciousness but it's very hard to say with all the songs on the album that this song is about this or that. It's more like trying to create a sound world in each song and then bring people in to inhabit a world for four minutes."

Speaking in the Irish Daily Mirror, he spoke about how rising rents in his home city of Dublin had forced him to emigrate: "We were renting a place in Dublin, and we were getting by as it was, but we were looking at a rent increase and life was becoming impossible. We felt we had to up sticks and get the f**k out."

Speaking about the song "Valley of Tears", he talked about how it was inspired on the surface by a story he had heard on the Aran Islands. "But, like James Joyce said, the quickest way to Tara is via Holyhead. I never would have written a song like that in Ireland".

In terms of the overarching themes of the album, it is structured like a Passion, beginning with "Spy Wednesday", continuing through Holy Thursday on "Like A Rose Tattoo", through to "The Easter Vigil" itself and finishing on Easter Sunday with "Not A Christian Anymore". "It's about the rewinding of a man's faith. The loss of belief, almost a perverse enlightenment told through the story of the passion."

The record received rave reviews with Hot Press describing it as, "genuinely breathtaking, truly transcendent, "melody incarnate, brimming with chiming guitar chords and wistful lyrics," The Sunday Business Post, "The Easter Vigil is his most profound and moving work yet."- RTE, The devil may indeed always lurk amidst the details, but it takes the confidence of a master to allow the magic to flourish deep inside the quiet. - Blackpool Sentinel

It was Album of The Week on RTE Lyric FM and Newstalk and Irish Album of the Year in the Irish Daily Sun.

The album was launched with a sold-out show at Dublin's Unitarian Church with a full performance of the album with Steve Wickham (fiddle), Vyvienne Long (cello) and Brian Brannigan of A Lazarus Soul on keyboards.

Jupiter's Wife

In late 2017, Chester travelled to Memphis, Tennessee, to begin recordings for what would become the double album, Jupiter's Wife at Sam Phillips's legendary birthplace of rock and roll, Sun Studio. Speaking in 2020, in the accompanying audio commentary for the album, Chester spoke of how he travelled by train from Chicago to Memphis, still working on the lyrics for the songs that would be recorded there, "Staying Together for the Children", "My Shipwrecked Mind", "Red Balloon" and "Novena", all of which were recorded to tape on the original 1950s equipment and microphones used on countless iconic recordings, from Howlin' Wolf to Jackie Brenston and indeed Elvis Presley.

The album was released on May 1, 2020, in the middle of the first Covid lockdown, thus making any live promotion impossible. Instead, the album was accompanied by a launch film, The Candle From The Shadow, filmed in lockdown in the south of France and featuring live performances of "Is Cuimhin Liom", "The Heart of Saint Laurence O'Toole", "Synge's Chair", "Staying Together for the Children", "Hilton & Michael" as well as "Juliette Walking in the Rain" from The Easter Vigil.

The album was named best Irish album of 2020 in the Irish Daily Mirror (who described it as the best Irish album of the decade), Album of the Week on both RTE Lyric FM and Playirish Radio, as well as receiving rave reviews in both the Irish and French media with long, prose reviews in Benzine Magazine comparing it to early Waterboys and Van Morrison and Magic Revue Pop Moderne describing it as folk in its purest form. RTE's review simply stated that Chester now belonged in the rarified territory occupied by the likes of Robert Forster of the Go-Betweens.

There would be no live shows to promote the album, due to the ongoing pandemic and so, instead, in late 2020, Axis Ballymun hosted a special concert film, Under The Ragged Thorn, which featured a full-length solo set from Chester, filmed in the 17th century baroque chapel, l'Eglise du Gésu in Nice, France. The film (shot live but with no audience present) opened with Chester's arrangement of "O'Farrell's Slip Jig" on classical guitar before performances of songs from all of his six albums, beginning with "A Murder Of Crows" and finishing with "Hilton & Michael" from Jupiter's Wife. The concert was released as a live album in January 2021

Speaking about the album Chester underlined the retrospective nature of the record and how it was likely be his last album for some years to come.

LUCIA

Having made an arrangement for classical guitar of "O'Farrell's Slip Jig" (which opened the live album, Under The Ragged Thorn in 2020) Chester continued to explore the instrument with an EP, Carolan/Cage, released under the name Joseph Chester on October 1, 2021. The EP contained transcriptions for classical guitar of Turlough O'Carolan's "Sí Bheag, Sí Mhór" and "John Cage's Dream". Carolan/Cage went to Number 1 in the global Contemporary Classical chart on Bandcamp.

In early 2022, he announced on social media that his latest project, on which he had been working for the previous two years, was to be an instrumental suite for classical guitar and strings, named Lucia, inspired by the life of Lucia Joyce, daughter of James Joyce, a talented dancer who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and subsequently spent 47 years in institutions until her death in an English asylum in 1982.

The piece, commissioned by Axis Ballymun had its world premiere at Axis Ballymun, with Chester on guitar accompanied by a string section named The Sound Of Bells on Bloomsday, June 16, 2022 - the centenary year of Ulysses.

There were further performances at the All Together Now Festival and a special adaptation for solo guitar at Dublin's James Joyce Centre.

The piece was recorded and released on CD, vinyl and streaming on the Bohemia Records label on January 28, 2023, with an album launch, Fragments of Lucia, at the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin.

The Sunday Times called it "a stunning tribute to the lost Joyce daughter." No More Workhorse said it was "an extraordinary piece of work," The Irish Times gave it 4 stars, saying that the expansive study of mental illness, "spins and soars," while the Irish Independent called it "a quietly beautiful triumph." The Irish Daily Mail simply called it, "A triumph." The BBC review was that it was "a beautiful piece of work."

There were several special features on the album in the press and on radio including on BBC's Classical Connections, RTÉ Radio 1's Arena, RTE Lyric FM broadcast a lengthy analysis and review of the album and the Three Castles Burning podcast devoted a whole show to it. A live interview with Joseph Chester and Irish Times journalist Eamon Sweeney was recorded at the All Together Now festival.

LUCIA and its solo incarnation, Fragments Of Lucia have gone on to be performed at a reprise at Axis Ballymun as well as shows in Paris and a solo performance at the James Joyce Tower & Museum in Sandycove. This performance was recorded for a live album, Fragments Of Lucia, released on August 4, 2023.

Joseph Chester also released a follow-up to Carolan/Cage with Carolan/Bach released on April 7, 2023.

Further reading

• "I had to try to tell her story : Joseph Chester on his dedication to Lucia Joyce." - The Irish Times
• Joe Chester Interview - Goldenplec
• Joseph Chester: "I empathise very strongly with Lucia, and what happened to her. I spent two years walking in her shoes, in a way"
• Joe Chester hits bullseye yet again with latest album, Jupiter's Wife
• Chester bridges six-year gap to produce what is his most uncompromising album.