YnoT (UK)
First and foremost Tony Healy is a songwriter; the rest is born out of necessity. While some people hear little voices in their heads telling them to kill, to eat, to stay fit, Tonys voices have always given him rhymes and words to conjure with. From the age of fifteen the words started coming in many different forms, at his creative high Tony can produce up to ten sets of lyrics a week, yet at the creative lows this can stretch to months at a time. I think it is apparent by the vast body of work that Tony has created almost single handily to date shows just how diverse and unique he can be, from rock to punk, from country to pop, Tony has written them all.
Inspiration in the early days of writing came from what Tony saw and experienced in everyday life and what he endured through his childhood (but that is another story). Through the early years as Tony continued writing he switched between playing bass and guitar never really mastering either, while some would spend hours mastering their art, Tony would spend hours dreaming of being like his idols (Kiss, Queen and T Rex to name but a few). With redundancy and personal changes Tony pulled himself closer to music, though Tony had always claimed to be a musician he was for want of a better word lazy and ill disciplined in the art of music (apart from writing).
It was only after his meeting with likeminded local musician Ryan Trotman that Tony started to dedicate himself to playing guitar more often, the pair struck up a relationship which led to Tonys lyrics finally finding a voice. For two years Tony got the music bug and became hooked as he played the live circuit with a host of local musicians, it seemed Tony had reached the place he had always longed to be, on the stage.
What should have been a springboard to better things soon faded away as lives and people moved on, Tonys crippling lack of self confidence became more apparent as he soon retreated into himself once more. Sure the lyrics and music kept coming but Tony was hitting a low after finding his high, with no band and no gigs it truly felt as if the music would be something consigned to the memory banks, a little tale for future generations.
The music took a serious nose dive for years until the sad passing of Tonys uncle; however this only served as a catalyst for Tony to reignite his passion for music. This was to be the birth of YnoT, the birth of Tony as a musician. Tonys self titled début album released with proceeds going to cancer research raised its head in 2005 with a whole new batch of freshly written songs. Recorded on an old tape machine the production and overall aesthetics left a lot to be desired, a fact that was never lost on Tony. With no disposable income Tony just made the best of what he could and still does, song writing comes first; the rest is as Tony says just gloss to highlight his words. Anyway the album soon sank without a trace and the promise of more sales for the noble cause of cancer research never materialised.
Undeterred by the poor showing of the first release Tony quickly hit back with a second, 4 You. It was a feeble effort only consisting of three original songs and two cover versions, badly produced, badly mixed and badly played. This was however the first release to bare the name YnoT. It was also around this time that Tony (with some confidence) sent demos to various small record labels. One response finally arrived from a label called Chromium records. Alas Tony committed the cardinal sin of any musician and parted with a few quid to be on Chromiums roster, the deal went well for a few months or so and the song you wanted happy appeared on the compilation album the future of music. After six months it became apparent that Chromium werent working as hard as they should have been and the money made from their bands was being used to fund their lifestyles, the result of which meant that the money, deal and company soon went belly up.
This would have soured many a musician but Tony ploughed on and released his next album Sexland. Again the production and mixing quality were lacking but we were starting to hear a more confident vocal performance from Tony. It is a well known fact that Tony never wanted to sing, this is the part that was born out of necessity; the songs had to have a voice. Anyway Sexland again sank like a stone and was soon confined to the history books.
After three releases and tireless promotion work, the part of the process that Tony hates. We have talked about confidence already and Tony no matter how great he feels about the work he has put out (at the time) has never been able to sell himself, promotion has never been Tonys strong point, he isnt a salesman. One man can only do so much.
Life soon followed Sexland and was more sophisticated musically than earlier releases, packed with a handful of memorable riffs and songs to boot. Again production and mixing were not of the highest standards but Tony was learning new things all the time and trying to move YnoT forward. Sales and enthusiasm for Life were pretty much the same as before. By this time however even the dreamer in Tony was starting to lose faith; the dreamer was starting to lose his shine.
This became all too apparent when Tony put out the next release, kill a classic and more. A collection of badly chosen cover versions and unreleased songs from previous years, probably because Tony knew it was a bad showing or the fact nothing had sold previously, the album remained unreleased.
With kill a classic quietly swept under the carpet Tony hit back with gone to the dogs. Gone to the dogs begins were life finished off, packed with memorable riffs and songs. Okay so maybe now you are getting fed up with me saying about bad production and mixing, Tony will hold his hands up and admit some of what he has released should have never seen the light of day. But if you go back to the first album and listen all the way through every release since, you can hear how hard Tony has worked at trying to progress and move the experience forward. My job isnt to disrespect or undermine Tony as so many have done over the years; my job is to relate exactly what Tony felt or feels about each release.
Anyway after years of being stuck in a rut and working hard on the music Tony finally cracked, the once observational lyrics became personal and deep. Its true Tony probably lived with depression from an early age, but with music he had somehow learnt to suffocate it. Then one day bang, it soon came right on up and bit him on the arse. Out of this depressive haze came confessions of a tortured soul, this release offers up more insight than anything previously released by Tony, over twenty songs of pure emotional power. I think even with all the darkness that may have loomed large over the recording of this album it stands testament to how dedicated Tony really is to his music. For the once lazy musician to produce something of this calibre in god knows what state shows nothing but dedication to the dream.
This leads us in nicely to the latest release Almost, a more polished and pleasing album. With Almost you can hear all the hard work and years of dedication seep through the speakers. Shamefully Tony hasnt released this album to the general public yet, I say shamefully because to date it is by far the best album recorded, I think more people need to hear this (my personal opinion). Maybe he will release it one day, maybe he will finally get recognition for the hard work and dedication he has shown over the years. Tony has always called this a journey and I for one have enjoyed the journey, watching Tony blossom as a musician, songwriter and producer.
I know this isnt the end, I know there is another album (or two) in the works, I know Tony feels he has cheated some with previous releases and is working hard on re recording those earlier songs. I know Tony has had to constantly fight those who doubt and put him down, they are the non believers. Do you believe?Admin
Tony
@ynotuk
