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| Image compliments of GC Photographics |
to record once more with the Never Records project. The project which was set up by Ted Riederer,
a New York based artist, had been set up in the city in what was the Context Gallery in 2011.
Teknopeasant explains the kind of impact the project had in Derry. “It was an amazing three
weeks for the town, everyone went in to record there from a 12 year old Palestinian boy, singing
an unaccompanied song to a couple of old guys who used to work up in the old hifi factory , the
BSR factory up in Creggan down chatting about making record players in the 60s in Derry. There
was everything from punk rock, folk, poetry, unaccompanied song, a real range of stuff and very
democratic. You come in do the stuff, a records cut, it stays in the record shop, one copy does and
he gives one copy to the artist and the copy that goes to the record shop remains in the never
records archives and goes on tour around the rest of the world with it. So everywhere that project
goes now there’s a wee section of records from Never Records Derry and people can come in and
listen to that stuff, sort of hands on covers.” And it wasn’t to be the only time Derry artists would
feature in this project as Teknopeasant stumbled onto some more local voices that had moved
further afield and taken part from there.
“I was at the Never Records London in September last year, I preformed at a couple of concerts in the South Bank as part of that. When I was flicking through the London records there was a guy from Derry who had been living in London for thirty years and he recorded an old republican song from the 70s, sort of a Bogside anthem and then there was another older song that he put down.”
One of the highlights of this trip for Teknopeasant will be the first showing of the Derry made film
created at the time the project was in the city. “They’re hoping to bring that back to Derry as part
of the city of culture thing next year to show it. It’s an amazing record of a particular time in the life
of the city when you’ve got new and emerging artists, older established ones, and people that just
appeared and disappeared again and people coming through. It would be seeing really familiar faces
doing stuff and I’m really really looking forward to seeing the whole film. Now I’m privileged that
they’re going to show the film in New Orleans whenever I’m out there. I think they thought ‘we’ll
wait until we can get someone over from Derry and then we’ll show the film’”
As anyone who has seen Teknopeasant perform will know, it’s not your standard ‘run-of-the-
mill’ performance by any stretch on the imagination and he explains how it all began after some
prodding from Danny and Conal of Beatnik Soul “At the time they wanted me to do support for one
of their gigs and the idea was dirty, low down, punk blues and that’s what I was rattling out on the
banjo at the time but rather than go up as Conor O’Kane it was like I need another name for this.
Teknopeasant was actually my email address from way back in the days from when I was out living
in a caravan doing organic farming, very different to what I’m at these days and it was that two sides
of hands in the dirt, that kind of primitive organic side of life but also the technological, the digital
cameras which were a big thing back in ’97 and the interweb and all of that. It was combining those
two sides of it.
Having been involved in the creative scene for years there have been many highlights for
Teknopeasant including playing with some great artists but he explains that the smaller more
intimate gigs are sometimes the ones he likes the best. “Sometimes the best craic isn’t on a stage in front of ten thousand people there’s a great rush out of something like that but I think the one to
one conversations that you have and the small intimate gigs where people shout back and abuse you
and you can give it back to them and it’s about interaction and really people being part of it as well.”
Teknopeasant has a lot in the pipeline to be excited about including possibly having one of his songs,
an adaptation of “Fiddler Jones”, picked up by Spirit Family Reunion who recently performed in the
City. Teknopeasant has just recorded this song which is due to come out at the end of November
on 7 inch vinyl in time for the Hunters Moon Festival in Carrick-on-Shannon. The Liberty Tree Folk
Club which Conor runs will continue to host local performers and those across from across the
globe. There will also be more performances coming up from local group Ard Rí in which Conor is a
member, at the Atlantic Sessions on the 8,9 &10th of November in Portrush. “The Dead Pheasants”
a collaboration of Conor and Alan Arkeye will also be releasing a “more beats orientated” ep in the
new year and if you can’t make it to any of that keep an eye out for Teknopeasant at any traditional
sessions going on in the town.
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