Sometimes when you’re alone and it’s quiet, thoughts come into your head that need to be expressed creatively and a moment like that was the genesis of this particular song. When the words are written on paper by the ghostly hand of inspiration it can take some time before you realise that the subconscious has spoken. Upon reflection “Light Shines into a Space” can be traced back to a poignant photograph of a Ukrainian soldier inside the Azovstal steel plant in 2022 when a ray of sunlight pierced the palpable darkness of the factory and shone on the welcoming face of the soldier. The darkness of that factory as with other holdings of hostages was more than an exclusion of light in the physical sense, it was more the penetrating darkness of the soul that held these people in such inhumane conditions. In the song, despite having “your back against the wall but you can still stand tall” reflects the indomitable spirit of resistance and perseverance. The song had to be uplifting and the chorus as rousing as possible to portray a spirit that will not be denied its freedom.
Every song has its challenge but this song really came quite easily as it was from inspiration and it almost wrote itself from start to finish. The real challenge in such a case is to perform it in such a way that we do justice to the ideas in the song itself. Then comes the delicacy of the instrument arrangement.
Yes. When we start recording all we have to draw on is what we have been doing in rehearsal – two people on their instruments along with the main vocal and harmony. When we get into the recording studio we start off with a drum track. After that, we build it up with guitars, come up with a bass line, put down main vocals, and lead and solo. Finally, we let our imagination and enthusiasm get the better of us and before we know it we have layers of different things happening – hopefully pleasing to the ear! The icing on the cake this time was Dave’s last-minute idea to add an electric guitar phrase to the very beginning of the song – a sort of pre-intro which then leads into Trish’s soprano sax intro. It had a totally different feel to it and we both loved this new idea. Dave had discovered a sound on his guitar effect pedal which had echoes of the guitar sounds from ‘Better Call Saul’ and felt that the lonely feel of this particular sound suited the beginning of this song.
We are both in agreement that the total surprise of going to No.1 on the first internet charts back in the nineties with our song ‘Make My Day’ from our first CD album ‘Vision’ which we released independently as with all of our recordings. Then for the song to remain in the first position for the next four consecutive weeks was beyond belief. The story made the ABC TV Evening News across the continent dubbing us ‘CyberStars’. We then put on a ‘CyberStars in Concert’ in a theatre which was a total success and from that we undertook another concert in a larger theatre in Melbourne called ‘Sahara CyberStars Live @ The Malthouse’ which we filmed due to a request from ‘Celtic TV’ in New York. The concert video was very popular and streamed on multiple occasions.
The particular moment was having to migrate from our homeland of Ireland all the way to Australia during the major economic downturn in eighties Ireland. Having moved to Australia we worked in day jobs and did gigs at night. The Australian audience did have an impact on our music. As we referred to it years ago as ‘the mist meeting the haze’ we had written a substantial amount of ballads and slow songs but in Australia, we noticed that the audience really enjoyed our more upbeat, fast, and rocky numbers. So we made a conscious decision to write a few more of them. With a quick throwback to the previous question the last song we wrote in Ireland before leaving was a love ballad. Then in Australia, we decided to turn it on its head completely. We speeded it up, wrote new lyrics, and swapped the darker tones of the alto sax for the bright and sprightly sound of the flageolet. This reborn song we renamed ‘Make My Day’ and as they say the rest is history.
Interview by Carl Maloney of RGM (UK)
09th Sept 2023
Hiya folks thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today, grab a brew and take a seat.
What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
Our love of music was the driving force between writing songs, recording, and performing gigs.
Introduce us to you and your musical history.
Trish Long is a singer/songwriter who plays saxes, flute, flageolet, recorder, aerophone and synth. As a teenager played with the ITGWU union marching band in Dublin. Studied classical sax at the Dublin College of Music. Then went on to play gigs with various bands from jazz to rock to original music, and also did some session work in recording studios.
Dave Long is a singer/songwriter from Dublin who sings lead vocals and plays acoustic & electric guitars, keyboards, and synth. Started writing songs as a teenager. Played the Dublin music scene with various bands and also did some session work singing and performing.
We both met and formed a duo called ‘Interfusion’. We gigged in Ireland, did a couple of shows in the UK and performed live to air on RTE TV. Our first single received airplay on RTE radio along with community/pirate radio stations. We also played a very difficult role as a couple of musicians on an Irish soapie called ‘Inside’ which we really enjoyed.
Once we escaped from ‘Inside’ we dashed off to Australia. We changed the band name from ‘Interfusion’ to Sahara and more recently to ‘Sahara CyberStars’. We have toured extensively for years in Australia and appeared on all the major TV stations. We also performed live to air on various radio stations. Our first album was on cassette called ‘Thinking of You’ after the song had a win on ‘New Faces’.
Our first CD album ‘Vision’ had a track called ‘Make My Day’ which was voted No.1 on the first internet music charts in New York. This success landed us on the ABC TV evening news where we were dubbed ‘CyberStars’. We’ve composed music for a TV documentary that was awarded the United Nations Media Award. To date we have released six albums and six singles, the latest being ‘Light Shines into a Space’
What was life like for you before music?
Trish worked in the bank and Dave worked as an electrician.
What was the first song you heard that steered you into a music path?
For Trish it was the ‘Pink Panther’ by Henry Mancini and for Dave it was the Beatles hit ‘The Long and Winding Road’
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
We’re still standing, waiting for a seat.
What’s the biggest thing you have learned from someone else in the industry?
If you’re not doing music for the right reason, then you’re not doing music for the right reason.
Tell us Two truths and a lie about you.
One is we work hard. Two is we work very hard. It would be a lie to say we enjoy working extremely hard.
If you could wish for one thing to aid your career what would it be?
Meritocracy
Do you ever worry about people taking things the wrong way or cancel culture? Discuss….
We are aware of the power of words and the construct of sentences when we write our lyrics. We give freedom to the creativity of lyric writing but when written we do check them to ensure that there is no ambiguity that we are aware of. Words are powerful and as we can all see via social media can inspire or hurt.
Do you sign up to any conspiracy theories? If not why not?
Why? What have you heard that we don’t know about? Or do we? We could go on an(d)on but we choose not to.
What was the worst experience on stage?
Only one…wishful thinking!!! We’ll choose one out of our large bag of awful experiences. Here we go….we’re up in the Mountains…freezing cold….on tour….doing concerts of all original material…mostly art centres.
On the way between towns we were asked to perform in a pub the night before St. Patrick’s Day. However, the same night we were booked they hired the biggest TV they could find forgetting about the concert as there was a very important football game on the telly. They set the TV up on the stage beside our PA. When we arrived that night to a full house watching the TV we had to stand in front of it and try to sing while the match was on, we weren’t sure if we would get out alive. Not quite a battle of the bands but it sure was some sort of war. Nobody on the staff would own up to this colossal mess up, an episode of survival couldn’t compete with this.
Tell us something about each member that you think people would be surprised about.
Dave had over a decade of hospital stays with several major life-saving surgeries due to a genetic disease. However, he never stopped writing and recording songs.
What makes you stand out as a band/artist?
Hopefully the quality of our songs.
I hear you have a new music, what can you tell us about it.
Yes, we have just released a new single called ‘Light Shines into a Space’
It was written in 2022 and recorded in 2023 in an era where darkness has cast a shadow in places where light is desperately trying to shine. Sometimes a feeling of love is enough to illuminate someone’s life, a glimmer of hope, a dream of better times. In darkness there is an unfathomable strength when someone stands up against oppression, endures through deprivation and by survival alone succeeds. Love and dreams will always escape, they are the light that shines into a space.
What was the recording process like?
Over the years in our studio, we’ve developed a recording procedure where we start with a rhythm track and build from there. We never really know what the outcome will be except for what we do live when rehearsing, the rest seems to fall into place.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
Our writing is mostly from inspiration and is always a surprise.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
No, not really. We are critical during the process of writing and recording and perform to the best of our ability. The audio mixing is always a challenge, we do have to step away for a few days to clear our heads. However, once the mixing and mastering is done we are happy to leave well enough alone.
