Having sent press packs and material to all the country’s major radio stations and shows in support of the release of our new single “C’mon, go rising!”, we were shocked when on Friday morning we received an irate phone call from Yvonne Judge, series producer for the Ryan Tubridy radio show.
Ms Judge informed us that she had found the cover for our debut E.P. “You don’t know my name” grossly offensive. The image had simply been included within the biography included with the press pack, as part of the promotional materials for our new release “C’mon, go rising!”.
The image in question was used on the cover of our first release and went on to feature in a number of Irish publications; including two page spreads in the both the UCD observer and the lifestyle supplement of the Sunday Independent. The shot, taken by Tony Gavin, includes myself, David Sayers and Daniel McConnell seated on a tattered, worn out couch, placed in the left hand side of the background - while an illusive girl sporting ripped stockings and lingerie, stands hands on hips, looming in an authoritative stance over the sheepish looking trio.
While we appreciate RTE’s quick feedback, perhaps Ms Judge could have taken the extra four minutes and eight seconds to actually listen to the single. While we certainly didn’t intentionally set out to offend Ms. Judge or any of the staff at The Tubridy show; personally, I deeply resent the condescending tone with which she has responded. As a producer on any radio show, let alone one of the biggest in the country, Ms Judge, and producers in general, are in position of great authority over artists exercising any medium, but especially those writing, recording or performing music.
As an artist, once you have put your product, and therefore part of yourself, to the public, you are obliged to accept and take on board the public’s subsequent response, for better or for worse. But I strongly believe that any good producer must be capable of distancing themselves from the reactionary responses of the layman. In her role, surely Ms Judge will naturally find many forms of media cross her desk; some of which she might not like or necessarily agree with. When we sent our press material to Ms Judge, we were not sending it to Yvonne Judge, a randomly selected member of the public, for her personal response. We sent it to Yvonne Judge, listed as series producer on the Tubridy Show website. In this role Ms Judge is the representative, or point of contact, for artists wishing to contact RTE and The Tubridy show. We sent our details to the show in the hope that they might be willing to facilitate the presentation of our song to the public, after which we would, with relish, receive any feedback that may be generated.
Over the last fifty years the role of artwork and album sleeves has played a vital role in the music industry. I firmly believe that the artwork featured on album covers, and traditionally vinyl sleeves, can often make almost as valuable a contribution to the artistic and creative content of the finished product, as the songs themselves. Ironically this is one area in which today’s music industry has started to place less value on the aesthetics of the final product.
Whether Citizen hit the nail on the head, or grossly missed the target when developing the concept for the artwork to feature on “You don’t know my name”, is a matter for the public and the consumer to decide. If Ms Judge were to simply have decided that she didn’t want our material featuring in her show, that would have been a matter entirely for herself. However, as far as I am aware, her professional position does not include filling the role of some kind of moral watchdog or censor. Further to the point, if it did, surely she would have at least been required to listen to the song to which the cover art was making reference!

I feel it is a dangerous omen for Irish artists in general, if in 2009 the national br

http://www.downloadmusic.ie/citizen

Hello all,
Just a quick message to let ya's know that we spent last bank holiday Monday in the studio recording some new tunes. This time we had "bass player and studio extraordinare" Keith Farrell behind the desk. Although we were only demoing new tracks, the results are quite tasty (well we think so anyway). The two new tracks are called "Screaming out my name" and "I'm standing alone". They should be online and avalable for free download within the next day or so.
Anyway, hope you like 'em,
Danny, Ben, Sayers.