Bill Shanley

Originally from Clonakilty, West Cork and now based in Dublin Bill Shanley grew up playing with amongst others, Noel Redding of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. As a close family friend, Noel and Bill’s relationship grew from teacher when Bill was 9 years old, and went on to play hundreds of gigs together, culminating in an unforgettable trip to Paris in 1990 to mark the 20th anniversary of Hendrix’s death - Noel put together a band, including Randy California and Bill on guitar to play at Paris' famous Olympic Theatre – the location of the JHE’s first ever gig in 1966!

Also in his early years Bill frequently played gigs and jammed with people like Mitch Mitchell, Eric Bell (Thin Lizzy) and Tom McGuinness (Manfred Mann).

In 1990 Bill moved to Dublin where he is now based and for many years has been working as a much sought after studio and live player. Now guitarist with legendary “Kinks” frontman Ray Davies, Bill also works closely alongside artists like Paul Brady, Sinead O Connor, Mary Black (with whom he's been a key member of her band since 1995 - frequently taking on production duties) and also with Gilbert O Sullivan.

In 2000 Bill was involved in setting up “The Cauldron Recording Studios“ which is now one of Irelands foremost recording facilities. You can check it out on www.cauldronstudios.com.

In 2007, Bill released his debut instrumental album entitled “Fingerpainting” which includes some great players such as Martin Ditcham, Brian Byrne and Micheal Buckley... ”Fingerpainting” is available through itunes music store
and www.myspace.com/billshanley
and www.mary-black.net/bill/fingerpainting.htm

Other acts Bill has recorded and toured with over the years:

  • Acabella
  • Mary Black
  • Micheal Bolton
  • The Black Family
  • Paul Brady
  • Brian Byrne Big Band
  • Fil Campbell
  • Cisco
  • Judy Collins
  • Mary Coughlan
  • Shay Cotter
  • Ronnie Drew and Eleanor Shanley
  • The Celtic Tenors
  • Cara Dillon
  • Leslie Dowdall
  • Mandy Durante
  • Rory Faithfield
  • Mark Feehily
  • Tommy Fleming
  • Kieran Goss
  • Deirdre Gilesan
  • Paul Harrington
  • Janis Ian
  • Emmylou Harris
  • Lindsey Hinkle
  • Hannah Jane Fox
  • Aaron James
  • Hazel Kaneswaren
  • Niamh Kavannagh
  • Ronan Keating
  • Jon Kelly
  • Brian Kennedy
  • Larry Klien
  • Lasaoirfhiona
  • Calum Malcolm
  • Eleanor McEvoy
  • Ian Melrose
  • Pat Moran
  • Van Morrison
  • Samantha Mumba
  • Caitriona O Sullivan
  • Maura O’Connell
  • The Real
  • Lynn Ryan
  • Gavin Ryan
  • Sephira
  • Claire Sproule
  • Ronan Tynan
  • Roger Taylor
  • The Vard Sisters
  • Damien Wilson
  • Westlife
  • Woody Woodmansey
  • Andrea Zonn

Ciarán Byrne

Ciarán Byrne is a recording engineer producer whose credits read like a who’s who in the music industry. Having started his career in Dublin’s Windmill lane studios in July ‘87. Progress in this company was rapid. An assistant early in 1988 he quickly moved on to be house engineer.

While at Windmill lane he worked on projects such as Van Morrison and the Chieftains “ Celtic Heartbeat”, U2 “Rattle & Hum” and “Achtung Baby” while also developing a production style which saw him regarded as one the few producers to which live in studio type recordings didn’t suffer to poor sounds (heard on productions with Dublin band Revelino, Ronan Browne, Eleanor Mc Evoy, Albert Niland). His engineering style, built on the fact that Byrne is a multi-instumentalist, lets him deal with a myriad of guitar, drums and noises , melodic and experimental soundscapes. This is a reason he is first choice for a lot of top artists today.

The more acoustic seminal Irish traditional albums such as Sharon Shannon “Sharon Shannon”, Cooney and Begley “Meitheal” Seán Smyths “Blue Fiddle” and Liam O Flynn “Pipers call” is an area where his expertise is renowned. Since going freelance in 1992 old and new clients like U2, Metallica, The Cranberries, Garth Brooks and Sinead O Connor have enabled Ciarán to work with some of the worlds top producers like Daniel Lanois, Pat mc Carthy, Jimmy Iovine ...the list goes on.

Orchestral recordings with The Three Irish Tenors (Ronan Tynan etc...) and Brian Byrne's “The Island” tv/”Beautiful Night “ programmes for RTE/BBC the state broadcasters is an area of expertise Ciaran has nurtured and spends a lot of time on these days .

Currently co-owner of “The Cauldron” studios with guitar supremo Bill Shanley, life in studioland is much more autonomous with a facility of his own with which to hone his talents on the musicians of today.

Credits include

  • U2 various
  • Metallica
  • Marianne Faithfull album tracks
  • Adrian Utley(Portishead) soundtracks
  • Elvis Costello tracks
  • The Chieftains various
  • Steve Earle tracks
  • Donal Lunny various
  • Liam O Flynn Albums/tracks
  • The Blue Nile tracks
  • Sinead O Connor tracks
  • Sharon Shannon Albums
  • Elmer Bernstein soundtracks
  • Midge Ure tracks
  • Hazel O Connor Album
  • Moya Brennan tracks
  • Garth Brooks live recording
  • The Waterboys tracks
  • Van Morrison tracks
  • Paul Young tracks
  • Chris De Burgh tracks
  • Dario Marianelli soundtracks
  • The Irish Tenors tracks
  • Revelino Album/singles
  • Mary Black Album
  • Ronan Browne
  • London Gospel Choir
  • Brian Byrne
  • Divine Comedy
  • Gabrielle
  • Chaka Khan
  • Roger Daltry
  • Gladys Night
  • Jeffrey Osbourne
  • Hothouse Flowers
  • Woodstar