Q&A: Steeljoy

Born in Ireland and a resident of Scotland, Jen O’Brien is a musician, composer and singer-songwriter. With her music and voice described as a gothic Debbie Harry. One of Jen’s many projects is Steeljoy.

Steeljoy’s new album All Us On Fire was released only two weeks ago, the nine tracks have been built around a common theme of a widely shared anger at the state of the world, fuelled by the lack of representation and empathy shown for women, non-binary, LGBTQIA+ and marginalised persons within society, as well as ever-present concerns on climate change and our impact on the environment. 

We spoke to Jen to find out more about the record, if there is enough support for marginalised creatives in Scotland, and dream collaborations with Resonate alumni…

Tell us all about your latest album All Us On Fire. 

‘All Us On Fire’ has been pretty much 3 years in the making, I had a lot I wanted to say! I’d describe the album as a creative act of joyful resistance. There’s some deeply personal and community relatable stuff in there, fuelled by the lack of representation and empathy shown for women, gender diverse, LGBTQIA+ and marginalised persons within society, as well concerns for our impact on the environment. 

It does reflect mine and others frustration at the current state of the world; exploring how misogyny, stereotypes, biases, judgement and discrimination affect everyone in different ways, but affect us all. ‘All Us On Fire’ meaning we’re part of the problem, and it’s difficult, but we’re also all creative flames ourselves and can be part of the solution. The cross-genre songs are united by this common thread of uplifting us to harness our own fire to make change.

I had the absolute privilege of working with amazing artists in collaboration on the album: Rosie Bans, Jenny Tingle, JP Waksman, Empress MC, Choirstaidh Iona McArthur, EYVE, Becci Wallace, Freya Giles, Ainsley Hamill, Jordan Stewart, Bell Lungs, Ingrid Ewan McRae, and Olav Christensen.

Do you think there is enough support for women, working class, LGBTQIA+, POC,  and other marginalised artists and creatives in Scotland?

Oh ‘enough’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that question! I think most of the support is grassroots driven, there are some fantastic organisations set up and run by hugely passionate dedicated people that have self-created some of the support needed; Hen Hoose, Girls Rock Glasgow, We Are Here Scotland, Pitch, QueenzSounds, Music Space, and my own organisation Music Broth to name a few. 

In Scotland we have benefits of funding bodies such as Creative Scotland for provision of essential financial support. Drawbacks to funding tend to be it being generally short-term for a specific project, and form-filling can also be a barrier for some. 

There’s still much improvement needed to provide equity of access and representation I believe, especially festival line ups, ageism with the lack of available support for emerging artists older than 25, and the universal issue of monetary devaluation of music listening and performance creating a widening access gap for working class people, meaning only those who have alternative income can persue music as a career. 

As evident from the content, important recommendations, and UK parliament rejection of the recent Misogyny in Music Report, there’s a way to go in making music a supportive space for those who least benefit from patriarchal society. I believe Scotland has the opportunity, ambition, and talent to lead on this, if those most in power choose to listen and act on the grassroots action and support we’re generating.

As an artist who was born and brought up in Ireland, has that shaped the way that you create music? 

In some ways yes, I grew up without any music tradition in my family, so I’m entirely self-taught. That has maybe given a non-prescriptive organic quality to my music, and also that I tend to create music that’s not easily defined by genre. Impromtu music and singing, with everyone joining in, is a big part of most life events in Irish culture.

All my music I hear first in my head, then I work to transcribe what I hear into individual parts of lyric, melody, percussion, etc. I’ve worked with two amazing producers on ‘All Us On Fire’ album; Rosie Bans and JP Waksman, who’ve been stellar in actualising my music into the way I want it to be. 

I write songs in both English and Irish (Gaeilge) languages, which is maybe unusual, and important also I think, to hear a minority language in contemporary music. The way this comes about is not a conscious decision though, I think in both languages so the individual songs come to me in the language of their choosing. 

I’ve lived away from Ireland for over 20 years, however, and consider Scotland my home. Being part of the Scottish music scene has supported a real quality range of diverse influences on my music, and options for collaboration too, which I enjoy.

Tell us your three desert island albums.

Katell Keineg – Jet (totally underrated Breton-Welsh singer songwriter)

PJ Harvey – Stories From The City, Stories from The Sea (just wall to wall pure quality that never gets old)

65daysofstatic – The Fall of Math (a desert island scenario would definitely need some contrasting glitchy heavy beats)

Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes (groundbreaking and lyrically superb) 

I know that’s 4 I’m never good at sticking to rules!

If you could collaborate with anyone on future music, who would it be?

I love a good collaboration! I pulled a lot of fab people I wanted to collaborate with into All Us On Fire already. Thom Yorke, Tricky, or Elizabeth Stokes from The Beths would be pretty cool future music collaborators! Our Steeljoy band just supported Seattle band Atrocity Girl on their UK tour so writing something with that awesome crew would be sweet. Closer to home Rory James, Venn Smyth, Queen of Harps, Jigsawtiger are all doing some amazing stuff, and I’ve been meaning to give my pal Susan Bear a shout for quite a bit so maybe we’ll do something there, ha you’ve heard it here first, nae pressure, watch this space! 

What advice would you give to aspiring musicians who are looking to establish themselves in the Scottish music industry? 

Be yourself. And show up. Go to gigs, play gigs, talk to people, support your fellow musicians, shout about the grassroots music you love. Especially starting out support and be part of local scenes, local venues, local press and local radio. I’ve found the Scottish music industry really welcoming since I moved here and in the main people are up for supporting each other and bigging each other up, whether it’s sharing gig, collaboration, or funding opportunities, working together on DIY events, or with grassroots organisations, or helping each other when someone’s looking for a rehearsal space, or a drummer, etc. Being a decent person in the scene goes a long way towards getting opportunities, as well as writing and performing good music.

And finally, what can we expect to see from Steeljoy throughout the rest of 2024? 

The album launch gig for ‘All Us On Fire’ is Thurs 6th June at Audio, Glasgow. We’ve been getting fab feedback from our live sets, so get your tickets booked and be there! Our Steeljoy band is myself Jen O’Brien on vocals, Jenny Tingle on drums, JP Waksman on guitar and backing vocals, and Caroline McGregor on bass guitar. We have some brilliant ‘All Us On Fire’ album collaborators playing on the night including EYVE and more TBA! The third single from the album will be out before the summer, along with remixes, loads more gigs across Scotland and wider… keep an eye on our website for announcements! See you out there.

Connect with Steeljoy:                                                                                                                            

Website | Instagram | Twitter | Bandcamp | YouTube | Facebook

Join us at Resonate 2024 on the 28th November at Platform, Glasgow. Limited Early Bird tickets are still available and close to selling out! Click here for tickets.