Marcus Woods — Self Portrait & Self Funding
After 16 months of work, Marcus Woods has released his debut full-length project ‘Self-Portrait’. Ryan Cullen, the man behind the pseudonym ‘Marcus Woods’, took a unique approach to the funding of this album, opting for the support of his friends and followers through a Kickstarter pre-order model.
We spoke to Ryan about ‘Self-Portrait’, his funding approach and the life of a career artist in 2020 Dublin.
Marcus Woods has released his debut full-length project ‘Self-Portrait’, a 10 track ambient record that delves into themes such as anxiety, limerence and self-identity. Marcus Woods is known for his ethereal soundscapes and textures fused with futuristic and hyper drum patterns and pulsing 808s, creating an often eerie and dreamy audio experience.
Ryan, co-founder of Dublin record label Burner Records, used a Kickstarter pre-order model that offers a 12” gatefold LP, transparent vinyl, and a custom coloring book designed by 10 independent artists. At the time of writing, Ryan has just hit his €3,000 goal.
A debut album is a big step for any artist, how did you know you were ready to finally take the plunge and release a full length LP?
I guess it was the fact that I didn’t think I could really evoke the emotions I wanted with an EP. I always wanted a full-length release from the moment the concepts and themes came to mind. Originally, the album was 20 tracks with like 7-10 of them being collaborations with other Irish artists and producers, but after a while I realised that dropping a 20 tracker wasn’t the best thing to do. People aren’t going to sit down and listen to a project that long unless it’s from The 1975 or Drake or whatever, who have put out albums recently that have been 20+ tracks.
I felt 10 was perfect, as it hit just under 45 minutes and was long enough to get across what I needed. I’ll probably put out an EP or two after this just to bridge the gap between the next big release, but I feel really happy with the debut project being a full length LP.
As an independent artist, financing is always an issue. What made you consider Kickstarter as a viable option for releasing ‘Self-Portrait’?
When I got the cost back for the vinyl and colouring book, it was €3,000, which I naturally didn’t just have sitting about. I saw what District did with their fundraiser and wanted to do something similar to that with the vinyl pre-orders. A lot of the money invested into the album went into visuals and engineering, alongside a new Macbook and software to go with it. It was a lot I had invested independently, so having the Kickstarter meant that I didn’t have to take the risk of investing €3,000 alongside all the other funds I had spent for the album. It’s been incredibly handy and means that the album is going to get a physical release, which is even better!
What are your opinions on being a career artist in Ireland in general? Do you find it tough to generate money to achieve your goals and fund your day to day life through gigging or streaming?
100%. At the moment with no gigs, I’m virtually making nothing as an artist. I managed to get a €750 grant from Spotify in May which was a huge help, but other than that, nothing. However, Bandcamp Fridays are a huge help to artists and producers with 100% of the fees going to us, but unfortunately it’s not enough to really fund anything crazy like a music video or a project. Most of the funding for the album and in general came from gigging pre-Covid, I’m lucky the album was 95% done before the virus hit as I got most of the pieces done.
Besides the money, being an artist in Ireland is great to have as I feel hugely supported and have a lot of belief invested into me by friends and other artists and producers. The scene is tight and people are close, we’re all looking out for each other and we clearly care a lot. Take God Knows including so many different artists in the remixes for Who’s Asking?. Take Anomaly including so many artists on their roster and even more in their events. Take the many media outlets in Ireland looking out for more artists and producers. Besides the lack of money coming in for most of us, especially now, being an artist here can be a great thing, it’s just frustrating at the moment, but hopefully it will pass.
Do you have any suggestions as to how the Irish art scene could help drive revenue for projects? Have you seen any good examples of unique ways of funding art projects in other countries?
I was actually in the Guinness Storehouse the other day and saw they had a ton of work Irish artists all over the walls and hanging from the ceiling. Jacob Burrill, who made the album and single artworks, was there too, it was great to see the support! We need shit like that all over the country. It’s not the best at the moment with no grants or funds being given to anybody in the arts sector who are currently out of work due to Covid-19, we’ve got pretty much nothing. I see so many people say “get a real job”, but if that’s the case, try to go without Spotify, Netflix and other socials, alongside having no art in town, just cranes and stone buildings. We need the government to help fund us and help us out during this pandemic. It’s amazing to see people look for commissions from artists at the moment, but we need some sort of funding or something to keep our heads above water.
Starting an independent label seems to have been greatly beneficial for all involved at Burner Records. How important is it to have a community of other artists around you to help achieve your goal?
I think it’s essential. As much as artists like to do things by themselves, which isn’t a bad thing at all, don’t get me wrong, we need others around us. Not just for support as an artist, but for support as another human being. Burner has been incredibly beneficial for myself and the lads with helping us get more gigs, more connections and just having each other as best mates. If it weren’t for them, this album wouldn’t exist; the same goes with Silent Ghost. Michael was the catalyst for the last phase of the album production in regards to finding my well-being again and finishing it. Being in the studio with him speeds things up immensely and having him to engineer the tracks while I’m there with him is amazing.
Alongside the music, I’ve had so many artists who I’ve commissioned for the visual aspects of the album; Jacob Burrill, Darragh Crowley, Demon Sanctuary, Aoife Dunne, Colm Calahane, Oisin Sloan-Starr, and Aaron Fahy to name a few of the many. I literally couldn’t have made this album on my own, these people from outside the Burner camp have been just as important. You need people for these aspects and just to have as friends too and establish relationships; working alone can take its toll, it did on me for the first year of production. I’m extremely grateful to have that community around me.
For the music community/club scene, space seems to be an ever growing issue. Do you have any ideas for how the lack of venues and open spaces for people to run their own events could be combatted?
This is a tricky one. A year ago I would have recommended using art spaces such as The Chocolate Factory and Hen’s Teeth to run small events, even the likes of the (old) Bernard Shaw and Wigwam. Now, it doesn’t look like anything is going to be on for a long time; on top of that, what is open is being destroyed to build hotels and car parks. Fuck that shit, honestly; it fucking sucks to see a bunch of cranes and rubble over the venues I used to go to and gig at. I’ve met so many friends and had so many opportunities at these places, same for many others. Fuck this city for destroying that. They’re chewing the culture up and spitting it out back on the ground.
It’s great to see local collectives like Indigo Sessions, Vision and Constellation running events in venues and keeping the culture alive, alongside the likes of Whelan’s and Workman’s supporting Irish music and putting on so many shows, but there needs to be a stop put to the fucking abundance of hotels being built on top of these venues. Props to Sunil Sharpe and Give Us The Night for their tremendous work on the current state of the scene in Ireland in regards to closing times and the closure of our venues; as bleak as it may look, I have so much faith in Sunil and the team to change things, big ups to him. We’ll hopefully be back soon after Covid when it’s safe and feasible to open venues and clubs and be better than ever.
You can support the project and pre-order a copy of ‘Self-Portrait’ on Ryan’s Kickstarter, you can also find Marcus Woods on Instagram, Twitter, Spotify and Bandcamp.
Alternatively, you can stream ‘Self-Portrait’ on Spotify.
Album imagery shot by Finn Harney.
Jordan Kenny
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