Get Into The Grooves

Wired for lift-off

efore Spotify took the thrill of the chase out of music, hunting and gathering a much-desired disc was almost sexual.

If you did it right.

Not only did you have to use all your wits, cunning and pocket money to get your paws on that potentially perfect piece of pop platter, but then there was the reverent ritual surrounding its unwrapping and its much-anticipated virgin blast.

Leon! Pic: Tom Scott

Be. The. Hole in the middle.

It’s the thrill of the chase that has inspired local music nut Leon Byrne to open Greystones’ first record shop since Soundz, that popster pop-up opposite Mooney’s back in the early 1980s. It’s a dream that Leon quickly realised – given our town is toppermost of the commercial property rates – might have to begin life in the much more affordable real estate of the internet.

And so, Sundial Records is now up and gunning, with Leon bringing us back to the hi-fi life again with CDs and vinyl of old favourites such as The Beatles, Bowie, Blondie and Belle & Sebastian alongside such new sensations as Big Thief, Snail Mail and Yard Act. Leon has smartly included a tidy line in used vinyl too. For those who like a little slap, crackle and pop with their classics.

To mark Sundial’s launch, we asked Leon to reveal the songs that he would grab in a fire, and just how he got suckered into a life of collecting music…

I got into music at a young enough age, around 12 or so, through my best friend’s older brother’s music collection. He had a vast amount of CDs which we used to listen to whenever he was out.

I remember there was Guns N’Roses, Metallica, Queensryche, Nine Inch Nails, you name it. I used to soak them up, and absolutely loved the idea of having my own collection.

Over the years I must’ve bought thousands of CDs and eventually, inevitably, I moved into vinyl. I love the scratchy sound it makes, especially with older LPs.

My wife bought me a new record player some years back as a Christmas present, and that pretty much sealed the deal.

With no older siblings playing music in the house, and my parents not really into it anyway, I missed the boat on vinyl as a kid. All my music came on cassette or CD, so it’s exciting to me now to be able to collect and hear those sounds of my teenage years on vinyl. There’s something magical about this music that helps you develop and explore your identity at such an important stage of life. It stays with you.

It feels kind of like we are coming full circle with vinyl. We moved away from it to the ‘better, cleaner’ sound of digital, but now we realise that there are unique qualities to each of the formats – so why not enjoy the best of all of them?

My lifelong obsession with keeping up to date with music developments has seen me dipping my toe in music journalism, attending gigs weekly and it now brings me to opening my own record store.

I cannot imagine going a day without music, whether it comes through my phone, the radio or my record player.

Radiohead Creep
One of my first ever favourite songs. Jonny Greenwood’s crunching guitar sound before the chorus just floored me when I first heard it, still does.

Radiohead All I Need
My favourite song from my favourite album of my favourite band. Every song is perfection and this one still stands out. It’s moody and dark with a distinct drum and strings sound giving a white noise effect behind Thom’s usual sombre wavering vocals.

Nirvana The Man Who Sold the World
I remember this as my Dad’s favourite song. He loved Kurt’s guitar solo especially. It’s probably the best cover song ever.

Smashing Pumpkins Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Another grunge track from my school days in the late ’90s. It was my introduction to their famous double album Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness. It’s loud and angry with lyrics my mother would have hated if she could have brought herself to listen! Perfect for exercising all that teenage angst.

The Cranberries Zombie
The one that launched The Cranberries into the world, and what a way to do it. Dolores O’Riordan’s incredible voice, defiant, clear, angry and yet still distinctly Irish in a way that none of us had heard before. She helped define a generation.

Elbow A Day Like This
My wedding song which we ‘danced’ very embarrassingly to. Song still sounds great but the dancing hasn’t improved.

You can check out Sundial Records right about here, and follow them on Instagram here and Twitter here.