Bio
Skully, (Ireland's most famous) master of sound first started out as a DJ at the age of fourteen before moving into the freshly developing 'electronic' sound that was starting to find it's foothold in the international music industry. His experiments with sound engineering on the cutting edge of electronica soon earned him the title of 'The Professor' among Ireland and the UK's musical community. His first band, Real Mayonnaize had local success in the Cork area, but came to an abrupt end with the tragic death of the groups drummer, David Rudd. Skully then teamed up with Anne Redmond and Paul Moore to form The Chapter House.
Despite alot of success with the band, especially in Ireland - he grew tired of the band's international limitations and decided to go on a seven year solo spree as a real 'Professor' teaching English language to students in Toulouse, France. It was while teaching on the campus that he ended up going to a concert of a dance teacher who just also happened to be one of the most talented choreographers to have ever come out from Africas Ivory Coast. Her voice was astoundingly beautiful and the songs and sounds of her own African culture at that particular concert became a seed of inspiration in a fresh wave of musical creativity that led Skully into writing a few albums worth of material specifically geared to surround, capture and and highlight that female choreographers voice. The singer, it seems, was just as impressed by his musical creations as he was by her voice and in 1997 Aida Bredou and 'Professor' Skully formed their unique two piece musical masterpiece called Metisse.
'Metisse' - the French for 'mixture' is exactly what it is... a blending of the Celtic Irish electronic music of Skully with the intensely expressive and powerful African traditional and soulfulness of Aida as expressed in the French language. As the demos of their new musical mixture found their way into the offices of the worlds record companies, the return of post brought offer, after offer, for recording contracts and signings. Sony Publishing offered them a worldwide publishing deal even though they hadn't yet signed a recording contact with anyone...and the sound engineers of every record company to hear them out were all so impressed that they all refused to tamper with Skully's home studio recordings as they were all made to a quality that was higher than their own best technicians could accomplish. Skully's recording, engineering and production skills were it seemed, second to no one else in the entire music industry worldwide.
A contract with Telstar looked very promising, but when it became apparent that the label were more interested in marketing and commercialization than anything artistic Skully bought their first album 'My Fault' back from Telstar. This brave move led to much greater freedom and success. It soon transpired that one of their greatest fans was Madonna. When she embarked on the film project 'The Next Best Thing' she chose the 'very best' for the soundtrack by using the music from her favorite band 'Metisse' . The singles and album quickly made their way to the top of the Billboard and every top compilation album producer conceivable requested tracks from Metisse for their upcoming releases from 'The Ministry of Sound' and 'Chillout' to 'Essential Soundtracks'.
A 'Metisse V Horslips' track -using the now world famous Dearg Doom riff from the founders of Celtic Rock- became the Irish football teams theme tune as well as the RTE World Cup theme for the 2002 World Cup...
A 'Metisse V Horslips' track -using the now world famous Dearg Doom riff from the founders of Celtic Rock- became the Irish football teams theme tune as well as the RTE World Cup theme for the 2002 World Cup...
The same year also saw the pair play to crowds of between twelve to a hundred thousand throughout Europe. RTE also use Metisse creations for their 'Nationwide ' news program and their music has been featured in countless TV programs throughout Ireland, the UK, Canada and the United States in programs such as 'ER, The Bill, Dead Like Me etc. When the UK electrical giant 'Curry's' were looking for an artist to help them test and advertise the most powerfull new sound audio systems for home use on the market today it seemed only natural to approach the sound engineer that the worlds most reknowned sound authorities described as the very best...Professor Skully. Metisse's second album was entitled 'Nomahs Land' and again it drew heavily on Aidas haunting African cultural vocalisations and Skully's rich electronic and classical soundscapes to draw its listeners on to a deeply moving and emotionaly empowered musical journey that keeps up the emotional momentum from the very first note until the very last. Metisse's music has recently been used in USA tv series The Gates and Undercovers, and was once again played in the 2010 World Cup!!
Skully's first solo album, released in 2007 entitled 'Without A Voice' features wave after wave of laid back, funked up, upbeat and chilled out musical genius - including the purely musical renditions of former Metisse masterpieces such as 'Nomah's Land'. Hi CD 'Irish Makeover', a chillout makeover of famous Irish folk songs and tunes featuring many established gifted vocalists was released in October 2008 and has seen great success. Skully has also released his album "Piano & Coffee" available as a download on iTunes. His most recent album is due to be released in early 2011, and is to include songs 'Fort Camden (Winter)' and 'Break The Fall". The musical empire of Professor Skully is expanding rapidly so there is plenty to explore for this Master of Irish trance, dance and electronica!
Written by Mairtin O'Riaian
Written by Mairtin O'Riaian